Large‐scale siting of sand dams

A participatory approach and application in Angolan drylands

Bibliographic Data

ID21649875
AuthorsLuigi Piemontese (0000-0002-1600-5450, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI) Università degli Studi di Firenze Florence Italy, corresponding author), Giulio Castelli (0000-0002-0209-0869, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI) Università degli Studi di Firenze Florence Italy), Natalia Limones (0000-0001-9578-3391, Department of Physical Geography and Regional Analysis Universidad de Sevilla Sevilla Spain), Alice Grazio (COSPE Onlus Florence Italy), Elena Bresci (0000-0002-1988-1720, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI) Università degli Studi di Firenze Florence Italy)
Year2023
Volume34
Issue3
Pages844-858
Publication date2023-02-15
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLand Degradation and Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1085-3278 • E-ISSN: 1099-145X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ldr.4500
OpenAlexW4304842820
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited51

Sand dams are simple and effective structures built across ephemeral riverbeds in arid/ semiarid regions to harvest water within sand pores and increase water availability and quality for rural communities. The complex morphological, hydrological, social, and economic conditions that make sand dams a beneficial tool for water resilience are largely influenced by the siting phase. Proper location of a sand dam can reduce communities' travel time to water points, reduce water conflicts, and increase food security through expansion of irrigated agriculture. On the other hand, a misplacement of sand dams can, at worst, increase disparities in water access and increase local conflicts. To approach a viable siting of sand dams, most projects are developed and delivered with the community through a bottom‐up approach. However, in the case of large‐scale projects, remote sensing and biophysical analysis are the dominant approach, leaving the socio‐economic component at the margins of the siting strategy and eventually affecting the benefits to local communities. In this paper, we propose a large‐scale participatory methodology to sand dams siting, which draws on mixed‐methods connecting the conventional top‐down biophysical analysis with bottom‐up participatory research. We first describe the generic approach developed for sand dams siting in Namibe, a semi‐arid region of Southwest of Angola, then we draw on our case to propose a generic approach to large‐scale participatory siting beyond Namibe

Arid · Citizen journalism · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Ephemeral key · Geography · Geotechnical engineering · Rainwater harvesting · Water resource management · Computer Science · Environmental Science · Flood Risk Assessment and Management · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology · Soil erosion and sediment transport · Ecology · Geology

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