报告专家： Dr. Brent Clothier, Principal Scientist, Plant & Food Research, Palmerston North, New Zealand

报告题目：Irrigating with Saline Waters in the Hyper-Arid United Arab Emirates

报告时间：2023年11月27号下午 4 - 5点

报告地点：水利与土木工程学院304

联系人： 郝新梅  13601004284

报告摘要：

Groundwater is the main natural water-resource in the hyper-arid United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is mostly a non-renewable resource. Groundwater has been extensively extracted to meet the UAE’s water needs for various purposes. About 95 % of the total groundwater consumption is used by agriculture and forestry. Over-extraction threatens groundwater sustainability. The UAE seeks to meet the increased demands for water and avoid further reduction in groundwater quantity, as well as the degradation of water quality through increased salinisation. Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) is the government entity mandated to protect and enhance groundwater resources in the Emirates.  In this talk I describe work we have carried out for EAD over the last decade to improve water and salt management of date palms and arid forests, as well as the growing of halophytes with the reject brine from the desalination units used by farmers to ‘sweeten’ groundwater for use on high value crops.  I discuss these results in terms of the total water required, salt leaching requirements, and EAD’s water allocation policies, as well as the gross economic productivity of the saline waters used for irrigation.

Dr. Brent Clothier 简介：

Brent Clothier is a Principal Scientist with Plant & Food Research in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Brent is currently the President of New Zealand’s Royal Society Te Apārangi.

Brent has a BSc (Hons) from Canterbury University, and a PhD and DSc from Massey University. Brent is a Fellow of Royal Society Te Apārangi, and the New Zealand Society of Soil Science. He is also a Fellow of four foreign science academies: Soil Science Society of America; American Agronomy Society; American Geophysical Union, and; an Academician (Foreign Member) of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Brent has published scientific papers on the movement and fate of water, carbon and chemicals in the root–zones of primary production systems, irrigation allocation and water management, plus sustainable vineyard and orchard practices, including adaptation strategies in the face of climate change. He also published on life-cycle assessment, carbon and water footprinting, environmental policy, the economic return from the investment into ecological infrastructure, plus natural capital quantification and the economic valuation of ecosystem services.

Brent has visited China 10 times since 2001, and these exchanges have been with Government research institutes and Universities and have involved many keynote addresses, as well as the mentoring of Chinese students.  Brent has been, or is still involved in water-related aid and development projects in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, as well as in the Middle East, and Africa.