BSc Minor International Land and Water Management (WUILW) / BSc

Profile

This BSc minor is an introduction to the field of International Land and Water Management. Proper management of land and water is essential for achieving sufficient and sustainable food production and food security worldwide. A large part of the world's arable land is used for rain-fed agriculture and the other part is under irrigated cultivation for which more than 70% of the world's fresh water is used.
You get to understand crop water requirements, how to quantify them and translate these into water demands over a growing season, taking into account the available rainfall and various possible types of irrigation water provision.
Land, both rain-fed and irrigated, is prone to degradation. Loss of soil and soil fertility through erosion or unsustainable farming practices threatens food production and farm income. Food security obviously is not only a matter of production, it is also a matter of distribution and access and therefore determined by (geo-)politics including processing, trade regulations and pricing policies.
In this BSc minor you can choose additionally to apply elementary geo information science or to look into the adaptation to climate change in developing countries.This BSc minor is a programme minor.

Learning Outcomes

After successful completion of this minor students are expected to be able to:
- calculate crop water requirements, irrigation demands and the relation between irrigation technology and its social and institutional context;
- understand, recognize and quantify various forms of land degradation and master the principles of soil and water conservation;
- to analyse situations of food insecurity in different contexts;
- to understand the relationship between land and water management and food production, sustainability and global food security;
- to apply elementary Geo Information Science skills or to analyse the prospects of adaptation to climate change.

Language of Instruction

English

BSc Minor Coordinator

Dr J.E.M. Baartman
Phone: 0317-(4)86131
Email: jantiene.baartman@wur.nl

Target Group

This minor is interesting for BIN, BBN, BBW, BGM, BLP, BPW and BMW.