ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 focuses on the importance of water management and its role in mitigation of GHG emissions in the Asian region. Efficient water management is required to suppress the emission of methane from paddy fields, which is the major source of methane in agriculture. In addition, water saving is possible through improved water management as water resources are becoming scarce due to climate change and extreme weather. According to the authors, alternate wetting and drying (AWD) is a promising option for reducing methane emissions from paddy rice and at the same time improving water-use efficiency. This is possible with the alteration in redox state of soil through AWD. Although its methane-reducing and water-saving effects were demonstrated by previous studies, AWD is not widely practiced in rice growing regions in Asia due to other associated challenges. To implement and realize the benefits of AWD at the systemic level, it is necessary to manage the irrigation system collectively by farmers. The chapter discusses in detail the practical AWD implementation through ‘block wise distribution of water’ managed by farmers themselves in the paddy district of the Red River Delta area in Vietnam. In addition, the institutional and technical issues supporting organizational environmental-friendly agricultural water management that will be needed to upscale AWD are discussed in the chapter.
