Decision Support Systems to Manage Water Resources for Irrigation at District Level in Southern Italy Using Remote Sensing Information. An Integrated Project

Abstract

In this number of the Italian Journal of Agronomy, ten scientific papers are published on the results obtained from the AQUATER project (along with one keynote), which were presented during a final conference held in Bari, Italy on 12-13 May 2009. The rationale of this project, supported by Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry policies in the framework of Research and Development for areas of Southern Italy, is based on the consideration that the availability of irrigation water for agriculture is becoming ever more limited due to climate change, a deterioration in water quality and an increase in irrigated areas. Consequently, agricultural research must provide guidelines and products in order to achieve the sustainable use of such an important natural resource.