Presented by Andrew Noble, Director of CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems Revitalizing the Ganges Coastal Zone Conference 21-23 October 2014, Dhaka, Bangladesh http://waterandfood.org/ganges-conference/

1. Water Land and Ecosystems (WLE):
Building upon the success of the CPWF
Uniting Agriculture and Nature for Poverty
Reduction

2. What WLE believes can be achieved working together
§ Sustainable
intensification
provides a pathway
for agriculture
productivity, human
development and
resilient
landscapes.

3. Why
§ Increasing environmental
degradation.
§ Rising risks associated with the
current growth agenda.
§ Rapidly rising human demands
and inequity – we need to meet
the human agenda
• We are consuming natural capital
in a way that is not sustainable
and equitable.
§ Recognition that sustainability
agenda is at the heart of
development.

4. How
§ Influencing development choices to
improve sustainable agricultural
intensification through nature based
solutions by providing:
• Evidence-base knowledge that
sustainable intensification provides
improved food security, equity,
livelihoods and healthy landscapes.
• Integrated solutions to better manage
risk related to rising shocks.
• Models and scenarios to understand
trade-offs and synergies.
• Institutional innovations to address
inequity and gender imbalances, while
promoting inclusive and sustainable
growth.

5. WLEs uniqueness
§ We are not about protecting ecosystem for the sake of ecosystem.
§ We support human development by working with ecosystems and
people.
§ Ecosystems as the foundation for agriculture productivity, equity,
livelihoods and prosperity.
§ We go beyond the paradigm of minimizing the impacts of
agriculture.
§ We are exploring the interface between rural and urban systems.
§ Working across sectors to provide integrated solutions to reverse
land and water degradation.
§ Combining an ecological approach with a natural resource
management approach to build resilience.

6. Focal Region Flagships.

7. Focal Region (FR) Flagship: Integrating ecosystem
solutions into policy and investments.
§ Builds on the CPWF model in the priority four focal regions i.e.
Niger/Volta, Nile/East Africa corridor, Ganges and the Greater
Mekong.
§ Calls for EOI have gone out – completely open and competitive –
over 300 EOI received. Writeshops to be convened in each FR.
§ Minimum of 40% of all funding to go to National and Regional
Partners.
§ 20% of funding to go to equity (gender, youth, marginalized groups)
research.
§ Key integrating factor within and across regions is a focus on
ecosystem services within agricultural landscapes.
§ New model in the Mekong where WLE and a donor (DFAT) are
combining their resources to build a significant investment over
three years.

8. Thank you
Learn more at wle.cgiar.org
Agriculture and Ecosystems Blog:
wle.cgiar.org/blogs