Managing Rainwater to Reduce Poverty and Increase Resilience

Annette Huber-Lee, Science LeaderChallenge Program on Water and Food

Only through consideration of 100 percent of water – rainwater (which includes surface and ground water) can we alleviate poverty and achieve resilience for people and ecosystems

Opportunities (examples): •Better management of rainwater •Sharing of resources, not just water•Most important: Innovative ways for people to work together

Main points

•Looking at just surface or just groundwater limits our options to solve the world’s water-related problems – from adapting to climate change to alleviating poverty.•Looking at 100%

•Brings in ecosystems explicitly•Brings in all uses of water, including rich and poor users of both genders, all ages and all ethnicities•Brings in a broader understanding of agriculture, that includes not just crops, but livestock, fisheries and forest products

Why start with rainfall as the resource?

Opportunity: better management of rainwater

Range of Agricultural Water Management Options(source David Molden, IWMI)

6

Upgrading rainfed systems

Rainwater management has a high potential for increasing livelihood resilience through crops, fisheries and livestock

Opportunity: sharing of benefits from water

Win-win situations exist in water. But will only success if there is a willingness to share.

Sharing goes beyond WATER sharing, to assigning water to higher value uses (not just in financial terms, but also social), and sharing the BENEFITS with those who give up water.

Example: urban-based trust funds invest in upland farming practices

Sharing: Local to International

“Sharing” at present is export of food from water rich to water scarce countries. Only about 6% of agricultural water use involved

Climate change to 2070 is predicted to increase cereal production in temperate latitudes, while reducing it in tropical latitudes

Total food production likely to be sufficient until 2070. How will it be shared?

Sharing: International

Local adaptation to climate change

Opportunity: ways of working together

Resolving complex issues

Far

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Certainty

Ag

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Close to Far from

Clo

se to Simple

Plan, control

Zone of Complexity

Technically Complicated Experiment, coordinate expertise

SociallyComplicated Build relationships, create common ground

Source: Patton, 2007

Formulaic solutions have limited applicability

Past success is no guarantee of future success

Expertise can help but is not sufficient; relationships are key

Uncertainty of outcome remains

New ways of working

Diversity of people increases innovation

“Complex multi-sector problems need new ways of working: The really important issues facing society … cannot be tackled by any organization acting alone” Huxham and Vangen, 2005

“While hierarchies are not vanishing, profound changes in the nature of technology, demographics, and the global economy are giving rise to powerful new models of production based on community, collaboration, and self-organization rather than on hierarchy and control.”Tapscott and Williams, 2006.

CPWF: www.waterandfood.org