The scientific activity of ICID to improve the irrigation in arid environments

The International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) was set up in 1950, with support from 11 countries as Founder Members, including Italy. Ital-ICID is the Italian National Committee of ICID founded in 1971, and is a scientific, technical, and professional not-for-profit organization working in the field of irrigation, drainage, land reclamation, and flood management, in accordance with the topics of the International Commission.

In this moment the environmental protection and the green economy are a very important goals, in this contest the ICID promotes and achieves equitable and sustainable development in agriculture water management. The actions of ICID are dedicated to improving the status of agricultural water management practices including rain-fed agriculture, supplemental irrigation, deficit irrigation and full irrigation, with a particular attention to the areas involved in extreme climate events, such as flood and droughts. ICID approach suggests cooperation rather than competition, and collaboration rather than individual actions to pave the way towards effective water management for securing the right of each and every individual to attain a fair share of water, food, energy, and stressed on the need to promote environment-friendly traditional wisdom.

ICID develops many annual and special publications promoting its activities, but “Irrigation and Drainage Journal” is the official international journal, and the flagship publication of ICID. It is a prestigious, peer-reviewed specialized publication that publishes papers on all scientific, technical, environmental and socio-economic issues associated with irrigation, drainage and flood management. The journal covers a wide range of subjects centering on dissemination of experience and new ideas in the quest for the sustainable use and protection of water and land to meet the World's increasing demand for food. Only in the last issues more than ten papers have been published concerning study on arid and semi-arid area, which involve the human intervention in the control of water for sustainable agricultural development.

For the future, ICID works towards enabling balance between agricultural and water policies, improving publicly operated irrigation schemes, advocating increased public and private investment in expansion of irrigated land, and modernizing existing infrastructure. The knowledge-based sharing of all aspects of agricultural water management, including collation of irrigation statistics, data and information exchange, sharing of successful management strategies, best practices, and local community involvement will be supported by ICID. It supports and encourages the multiple use of water, the use of non-conventional waters and the promotion of goods and services provided by irrigation systems, also supported by Information and Technology Communication tools. The cooperation mechanisms in ICID’s network are based on simple exchange of information through annual meetings, where practitioners, researchers and planners from all over the world share latest research and innovations. However, ICID also organizes triennial world irrigation and drainage congresses, world irrigation fora, regional conferences and workshops to address and discuss agricultural water management issues at global or regional level.