Water for Food SecuritySLCARP Symposium, Colombo, August 2014
Photo by Hamish John Appleby / IWMI
IWMI’s Vision: A water-secure world
IWMI’s Mission: To provide evidence-based solutions to
sustainably manage water and land resources for food security, people’s livelihoods and the environment
IWMI’s core competencies:• Applied research at field and basin
scale• Modelling of bio-physical processes• Socio-economic assessment• Policy and institutional analysis• Capacity development
A solution orientated research agenda:
IWMI’s expertise supports 6 key challenge areas
Intensify agricultural productivity sustainably
Manage risk and increase resilience
Benefit from functioning ecosystems
services
Enhance efficient resource use and re-
use
Promote gender and social equity Maximize shared
benefits across sectors and borders
IWMI Offices worldwide
‘Water crisis’ is the third highest
global risk
..extreme weather, climate change and
biodiversity loss also very high
Global Risks Report 2014, World Economic Forum
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We know about climate change and increasing population, but changes in consumption patterns also leads to significant
increase in water demand
1961-2000
1. How to ensure sustainable agricultural growth and productivity increases are achieved in ways that create and enhance resilience for the poor?
Water for Food Security – more than just crops
Photo by Neil Palmer / IWMI
Water for People
http://bit.ly/1BapyNq - People gather to get water from a huge well in a village in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
A photograph by Amit Dave, Reuters
www.iwmi.orgWater for a food-secure world
Water for Health
Photograph by Cherry Wolf
Resilience
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…problems are more than physical scarcity
Water & land
scarcity
Slow growth of
productivity
Unequal sharing of benefits
Unequal sharing of
risks
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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL INDIA NEWS CTOBER 1, 2009 India's Drought Worst Since 1972
Safe
Semi-critical
Critical
Over exploited
Saline
‘Free’ electricity encouraged groundwater overuse
Over past 10 years solutions have been found built on research into technical interventions supported by policy and financial initiatives and incentives
One example - over abstraction of groundwater e.g. in Gujarat
Shah, Tushaar (IWMI)
Agro-well density, Jaffna Agro- wells increased by 37 % Agricultural land increased by 6%
(in Valikamam South, 2003 - 2007)
Excess irrigation: up to 230 % Excess fertilizer: 108 in N (kg/ha)
(in Valikamam, 2011)
(IWMI, 2011)
Potential over-abstraction
Research shows signs of sustainable abstraction thresholds being exceeded in Jaffna…
(IWMI, 2011)
Suggestions: Efficient irrigation
management Increase the groundwater
recharge Salt tolerance crops Awareness programs Strengthen the water
management committee etc
Consequences on saline intrusion…
We know that: in most cases resources are limitedpressure on agriculture from urban and industrial users will
continue the poor and marginalized suffer most in shortage situations So we need to: enhance the productivity of water adopt available supply and demand solutions, and research
into new onesensure the right incentive frameworks are in place
e.g. Yield potential exists
Rainfed Minor Major Mahaweli Global Max
02468
101214
3.31 3.86 4.8 5.5
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Paddy Yields t/ha
Examples of water transfers and increased productivity exist
…as allocation to agriculture reduced and transferred to urban use
Agricultural production levels maintained…
High tech systems are moving from the lab to the field
(courtesy Jain Irrigation)
…adopting efficient systems
Kalpitiya
Photos by Herath Manthrithilake (IWMI)
Wastewater reuse – can also be a safe and valuable resource (after Drechsel)
Can we develop effective business models that promote safe recycling and reuse?
Resource recovery and reuse - Source: Drechsel
Benefits:
Energy reduction in: Water treatment, chemical fertilizer production and transport
Environmental benefits: Re-use of nutrients, reduced pollution of water bodies, reduced nitrogen and phosphorous demand, reduced GHG emissions
2. How can we plan for variable climates?
Water for Food Security – resilience to shocks
Photo by Hamish John Appleby / IWMI
Uncertainty and Ambiguity in Future Projections –complex planning challenge
Spatial Pattern of Rainfall Projections for 2050s
Dry Zone
Wet Zone
Intermediate Zone
Dry Zone
Wet Zone
Intermediate Zone
Projection 1 Projection 2
De Silva, 2006
De Silva 2006Basnayake et al. 2004
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Projection 3
De Silva, 2006
Punyawardane et al. 2010
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Identifying climate change Vulnerability Hotspots – to design locally relevant adaptation measures
Climate Change Vulnerability Index
Anuradhapura
Nuwara-Eliya
RatnapuraSensitivity Index
Exposure Index
Adaptive Capacity Index
One approach is develop tools for Disaster Relief RAPID EMERGENCY RESPONSE MAPPING
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.120452013
…another approach is to improve targeting of investment
e.g. flood duration analysis, Indus Basin, Pakistan
(IWMI) Amarnath, Giriraj
Water Storage Continuum
Source: McCartney & Smakhtin 2010
… another is to improve resilience through storage options
Underground Taming of Floods for Irrigation (UTFI)Source: Pavelic 2012
Managed Aquifer RechargeGanges Aquifer Management for Ecosystems Services (GAMES)
Encouraging more groundwater use in under-utilized areas (after Mukharji)
Agricultural growth in West Bengal had slumped by more than half
Research identified that a major obstacle to agricultural productivity was getting access to groundwater
New policies recommended by IWMI were adopted to reduce ‘red-tape’ and improve groundwater access for smallholder farmers.
The policy change could benefit more than 5.6 million smallholders
Competition for water is increasing Variability and extremes are a reality 80-90% of increased production will have to come from
investments in existing land Innovative solutions exist at various scales and across
sectors – room for optimism New technology offers new opportunities Research has an important part to play n developing a
range of viable technical, management, institutional and policy solutions
Challenges and opportunities
iwmi.orgCGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and
Ecosystems
wle.cgiar.org