Presenter Dr Colin ChartresDirector General, International Water Management Institute

Topic “About CGIAR* Research Program #5: water, land and ecosystems”

Date 12.30pm, Wednesday 25 January 2012

Venue Conference Room, ACIAR House, Canberra.

Acknowledgements Chartres CJ (2012) Water, land and ecosystems: improved natural resource management for food security and livelihoods, ACIAR Seminar Series presentation, 25 January 2012, Canberra, Australia.

*CGIAR: Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

A global NRM partnership

The Challenge – sustainable intensification

• To learn how to intensify farming activities, expand agricultural areas and restore degraded lands, while using natural resources wisely and minimizing harmful impacts on supporting ecosystems.

Focus

• Water scarcity• Land degradation

and soil health• Ecosystem services

The Conceptual Framework

CRP5 focuses on external and internal drivers of change in agriculture, how these affect water, landscapes and ecosystem services and how policy and management changes can be used to adapt production systems in a sustainable manner

Five Strategic Research Portfolios1. Irrigated Systems2. Rainfed Systems 3. Resource Reuse and Recovery 4. River Basins, and 5. Information Systems

Two cross-cutting themes1) Ecosystem Services, and 2) Institutions and Governance

Gender and equityissues are also mainstreamed

(CPWF)

Where we will work

Examples of problem sets for each Strategic Research Portfolio

Irrigated Systems SRP• Finally unlocking Africa’s irrigation

promise• Revitalizing public irrigation systems in

Asia• Managing groundwater

overexploitation in India through the energy–irrigation nexus

• Revving up the ‘Ganges Water Machine’ through intensive groundwater use for livelihoods and environmental benefits

• Managing salt–water balance in Indus and Central Asian irrigation systems

(IWMI)

(Re, ICRAF)

Rainfed Systems SRP

• Recapitalizing African soils and reducing land degradation

• Revitalizing productivity on responsive soils

• Using agro-biodiversity to sustain agricultural production

• Reducing risk by ensuring water access for pastoralists

• Reducing risk by providing farmers with supplemental irrigation

Resource Recovery and Reuse SRP

• Creating wealth from waste• A grey revolution in wastewater management

Basins SRP

• Payment for Environmental Services (PES) as a water management tool: Andes group of basins

• Water storage to reduce regional drought risk: Volta–Niger • Integrating environmental water allocations and climate change

impacts with water resources development: Ganges–Indus • Harmonizing the water–energy–environment nexus in the

Mekong Basin• Managing water resources to reduce poverty and improve

wetland management in the upstream Nile • Solutions for transboundary water management hotspots in

transition economies: Aral Sea basins

(IWMI)(Bioversity)

Information Systems SRP

• Monitoring longer-term spatial and temporal change in agroecosystems

• Harnessing water and land information to improve management ?

Cost surfaces, etc.

Elevation

Vegetation

Hydrology

Topographical properties

Climate

Legacy data

Problem definition: an example from the Nile basin

Issues motivating CRP5 research• Poor live in rural areas (except in Egypt) and most

make their living in agriculture.• Egypt and Ethiopia have large populations and high

growth rates. Ethiopia’s plans to develop hydropower and irrigation are resisted by Egypt.

• Unsustainable agricultural practices have inflicted upon Ethiopia some of the most severe land degradation problems in the world.

• Accelerated soil erosion from agricultural land poses a threat to the health of Lake Victoria.

• There is substantial poverty in Sudan, despite notable agricultural potential, particularly in the Gezira region. Little information on the current state of land resources to guide development in South Sudan.

(IWMI)

CRP5 Research Activities in the Nile Basin• Examine opportunities for improving agricultural productivity in irrigated areas of

the Nile Valley and Delta, given the likelihood of increasing pressure on water supplies in the region.

• Develop recommendations for investing in new irrigation schemes in Ethiopia and Sudan, while cognizant of international discourse regarding new water development in the Nile Basin.

• Develop strong technical capacity in the Nile countries in surface and groundwater resources assessment and management.

• Develop options for recovering water and nutrients from marginal quality water and other waste resources for agriculture and aquaculture.

• Establish a basin-wide land health surveillance system to provide a baseline on ecosystem services, a basis for prioritizing interventions, and mechanism for monitoring impacts. Ground sampling through sentinel sites will be a high priority in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan.

Potential impacts Basin population: 200 million Rural population: 128 million Agricultural population: 102 millionWe expect to improve the livelihoods of 60% of the agricultural population. (IWMI)

How CRP5 will improve natural resource management and the environment

• Involving, from the outset, key stakeholdersvia participation in research and development

• Achieving critical mass among the CGIAR andits partners to solve key problems

• Integrating biophysical solutions and socioeconomic drivers to develop a holistic view of possible beneficial changes

• Taking an evidence-based approach based on a logical pathway via hypotheses and methodologies to develop solutions and catalyze change at policy level

(IWMI)

How CRP5 will improve natural resource management and the environment

• Adopting an integrated landscape/basin approach, as opposed to focusing on single issues

• Viewing agriculture as part of the solution not the cause of the problem

• Harnessing the private sector and NGOs to help deliver solutions• Using information systems and technology to ensure the message gets

to farmers and land and water managers • Being clear about the development outcomes we wish to achieve and

using adaptive management approaches to achieve them• Developing appropriate partnerships at science, policy and

implementation levels, and clearly defining responsibilities and accountabilities

Gender and EquityCRP5’s gender and poverty strategy will ensure that its outcomes target not only to the poor in general, but also women farmers.

The specific objectives are to:• ensure that all research and associated work undertaken in

CRP5 is pro-poor and benefits both men and women• ensure that, where appropriate, all data are sex-disaggregated

and analyzed from the perspective of gender and equity issues• examine the extent to which male and female farmers have

different adoption rates and identify gender-specific barriers that may work against adoption

• identify gender bias in agricultural policy and in extension systems

• improve women’s access to and involvement in the management of major resources, including land, water, infrastructure and other public services

• develop gender-sensitive policies for land and water management.

A conference on gender will be held in the inception ensure that projects will incorporate keylocal and regional gender issues.

(Bioversity)

Governance and ManagementGovernance Consortium Board

Lead CentreBoard and Director

General

Steering CommitteePartner

Representatives andIndependent

Members

Program Director ExecutiveAssistant

Management Committee

Program Manager,M&E Specialist,

Gender Specialist

Strategic Planning andManagement Team (SPMT)

[SRP Leaders andWorking Group Leaders]

Program Management

Program support/SRPPortfolio Managers

Project Delivery

SRP Basins SRP IrrigationSystems

SRP RainfedSystems

SRP ResourceRecovery and

Reuse

SRP InformationSystems

Ecosystems working group Governance andInstitutions working group

Budget

Rainfed, 93,525

Irrigation, 44,023

Resource Recover &

Reuse, 5,432

River Basin, 58,711

Information, 31,244

Latin America15%

CWANA10%

Sub Saharan Africa 45%

South Asia19%

South East Asia7%

Global4%

Other Regions0%

Annual budget 2011 $76m (46% restricted funding, 54% requested from CG)2012 $83m2013 $87m

M&E• The starting point for CRP5 support strategies, including

ME&L, are the theories of change developed at different levels in CRP5.

PartnershipPartnership objective Type of partners Area of collaboration Examples of partners

Core ResearchHypothesis testingMethodology development

ARIsNational universitiesPrivate companies

Remote sensing analytical solutions, improving hydrological measurement and modeling, economic modeling, etc.

University departments;CSIRO Australia;ITC Delft; IRD and CIRAD; Water Watch

On-ground research NARES Regional research organizations,

e.g. CONDESAN, ASARECA, APAARI

Studies of nature and extent of nutrient decline and land and water degradation, field trials

ICAR (India) NAFRI (Laos) CSIR (Ghana)

ImplementationChanging on-ground management practices

NARES; private sector; FAO Jain Irrigation; Nestle; R. Tata Foundation; WWF

Changing policy at government level Ministries of Water, Natural Resources, and Agriculture

Developing policy options All major countries in which we are operating

Changing river basin policy and management

River basin organizations Water accounting, allocation, biodiversity and environmental flow assessment, water economics

Mekong River CommissionVolta Basin AuthorityNile Basin AuthoritySIC (Uzbekistan)

Up-scaling management practices NARES; NGOs; FAO; private sector; World Bank; Asian Development Bank; African Development Bank; Islamic Bank

Roll-out of new technology and innovation

ISRIC; FAO; IDE International; Care

Influence and Outreach International treaties and

conventions Global and regional networks

International conventions FAO Transboundary water agreements

International public goods relating to wetland and habitat protection

Regional synthesis and map products

RAMSAR; UNCBD; UNCCD; FAO; UNESCO; IMAWESA

A global NRM partnership