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Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture with Sustainable

Irrigated Agroecosystem Services

Ian W. Makin* and Herath Manthrithilake**

Submitted to: International Network for Water and Ecosystems in Paddy Fields (INWEPF) Symposium

2015Achieving the Goals of Food security in Sustainable

Paddy Water EcosystemsNovember 3-5, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka

*Theme Leader - Revitalized Irrigation Systems, International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

**Head, Sri Lanka Development Initiative, International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

This paper…presents a short discussion of:

• The challenges awaiting …• Role & issues of irrigated agriculture, - LSIS • Synergy of INWEPF & WLE • What is ecosystem-inclusive management in

LSIS• The way forward

World has challenges …Feeding over 9 billion people in

2050 !• increase food production by about

70% over the levels of 2005-2007 period

(Boelee et al 2013; FAO, 2009)

• mostly in low-income countries • ensure more equitable access to food

• 2/3 of the world’s population will live in cities

• Competition for water

• different expectations on how rural land and water sources

By 2050

• half of the people live in rural areas, and

• > 40% of the active population depend directly on agriculture for their livelihoods (FAO, 2007)

Today

• 2/3 of the world’s population lived in rural areas

• 60% of the economically active population worked in agriculture

1960’s

Large Scale Irrigation Systems (LSIS)• LSIS production USD 280-290 billion - Global

annual value (60-70% of that in Asia) (Langford, 2015)

• In South Asia, - about 24.5 (mill ha) – (1/3 of

the total area) These systems provide benefits in terms of food

and energy security, employment, economic growth and ecosystem services

Modernization of irrigation services, and its supporting infrastructure,

institutions and management systems will be essential parts of efforts to achieve food and water security

• Past attempts to rehabilitate irrigation have not delivered the expected:

»water productivity,

»equity of water distribution, »sustainable operations and »economic return on investment

• Therefore, official development assistance for agriculture, irrigation and rural development is diminishing

• generally been designed and operated for a single purpose (agricultural production)

• in isolation from the landscape of the entire catchment

• with Little or No consideration of broader ecosystem service values

LSIS have:

• Resulting in large societal & environmental costs: reduction or loss of freshwater and/or other

aquatic resources,reduced water quality with impacts on

drinking water and recreational uses downstream, and

reduced river flows with impacts on aquatic ecosystems and wetlands

• over 45 mil. ha (19.5%) of irrigated area

have salinized soils (FAO,

undated)

• However, irrigation systems– create a diverse range of agroecosystems – provide a range of valuable provisioning,

regulating and diverse habitat services (often unrecognized and undervalued)

– provide a range of subsidiary services of substantial value to the communities that depend on them and society at large

• Appropriate recognition of all services provided is essential

• There is a need for active management of irrigation systems to maximize the value of such services

INWEPF

INWEPF recognizes that agricultural water not only provides substantial provisioning services, but also

a wide range of services that add value to the community, culture and environment.

WLE* & Ecosystems• The central objective is to promote the

sustainable intensification of agriculture through evidence-based research and policy development.

• Fundamental to the achievement of this goal is the application and uptake of an ecosystem services and resilience-based approach.

WLE ecosystem services and resilience (ESR) framework

Ecosystem Services

Potential trade-offs of ecosystem services in irrigated agroecosystems (source: Pittock, 2015)

INWEPF & WLE

• The aims of WLE to improve irrigation services is central to the INWEPF program

[Multi-functionality Concepts]• Such multiple functional ag. water use must be

adequately recognized and evaluated in order to ensure the sustainability of such services.

LSIS needs aligned with concepts of ecosystem-inclusive

management

HOW DO ECOSYSTEM SERVICES RELATE TO IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE?

Historically, the drive for increased productivity and yields has often resulted in degraded environments,

reduced biodiversity and reductions in ecosystem services, affected the poor

Ecosystem-inclusive approaches …

• Unlock the currently unrecognized, and therefore untapped, opportunities and values associated with irrigated agroecosystems to the society

• Unlocking these values will contribute to:

increasing the resilience of agricultural production systems, and

enable sustainable intensification of agriculture

ECOSYSTEM SERVICE-INCLUSIVE MANAGEMENT OF LSIS

• This means new approaches to management /development, modernization, operation &

maintenance of irrigation services will be required•

• To achieve higher levels of performance and to sustainably reduce the negative impacts on

ecosystems

Irrigated agriculture

Levels of decision making that impact the ecosystem of the irrigated area

Irrigation agencies should graduate …

• Move ahead from original mandate to meet new economic and environmental constraints/ demands.

• This may require reforms:

Reorganizing structure Develop new capacities/ skills

The long-term objective

A better-performing and sustainable systems that efficiently and equitably provide a range of water-food-energy-urban-ecosystem ‘goods’ and services.

CONCLUSIONS• INWEPF (formed in 2004) addresses multiple

services and values provided to communities by the paddy ecosystem

• WLE research addresses the same objectives which guide future research on ecosystem inclusive management of irrigated agriculture, and

• INWEPF & WLE – can jointly play key roles to guide and lead the

widespread recognition of the values of paddy ecosystems created by LSIS

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Thank you

h.manthrithilake@cgiar.org