Overview of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food. With a number of examples including one from the Andes on Benefit Sharing Mechanisms.

1. CPWF Highlights
Learning how to conduct integrated R4D
Alain Vidal, Director
Larry Harrington, Research Director

2. Global food crisis:
a poverty “countdown”
3 billion poor below US$2.5/day
2 billion suffer from malnutrition
1 billion suffer from hunger
 75% of them are rural poor
 Alleviating hunger means reducing
rural poverty
Reducing rural poverty
 Increase the income of the rural poor to
enable food security and investment into productivity
 Ensure they can cope with short-term and
long-term changes

3. The resilience challenge
Food production communities and ecosystems
should be able to cope with local and global
changes (climate, economy, demography,
migrations…), ie become more resilient
 Achieved through improved water
productivity (more food with less water)
together with empowerment, equity,
market access, health and ecosystem
services
3

4. CPWF aims to increase the resilience of social and
ecological systems through better water management
for food production
Through its broad partnerships, it conducts research
that leads to impact on the poor and to policy change
4

5. CPWF Basins in phases 1 and 2
2
1

6. Lessons learnt from Phase 1
Restoring ecosystem services in the Andes

7. Downstream – where the concern
for ecosystem services emerged
High altitude
wetland (paramo)
degraded by potato
cropping and
overgrazing
Eutrophication
and shrinking of
Fuquene Lake
(downstream)

8. Restoring upstream and
downstream ecosystem services
Water quality and
downstream ecosystem
services from Fuquene
Paramo restored Lake improved
through
conservation tillage
and oat/potato
8
rotation

9. Understanding resulting changes
on upstream water 60
58
56
54 Conservation
agriculture
More water stored, 52
% volumetric water
% Volumetric Water
50
restoring the buffer Traditional
48
agriculture
role of paramo 46
44
42
40
Better soil 38
porosity, filtration, i 36
ncreased carbon 1
Horizon
2
Accumulated Organic
0.20
storage
Conservation
Matter (g/g)
0.15 agriculture
AOM (g/g)
Traditional
0.10
agriculture
0.05
0.00
1 2 3 4
9
Size fraction
RT-Horizon 1 CT-Horizon 1 RT-Horizon 2 CT-Horizon 2

10. Understanding triggers for change
between alternate resilient states
Annual net income: Conservation
US$ 2,183/ha agriculture and
paramo
restoration
Revolving fund credit: Farmers‘ supported by
+180 farmers /year insufficient gain
and risk revolving fund
aversion: only
11% converted
Potato S
cropping, grazing
pressure, degradation
of paramo
Annual net income:
US$ 1,870/ha
10

11. CPWF Phase 2
(2009-2014)
What it takes to do problem-solving and integrated
research for development in 6 river basins

12. Focusing the CPWF strategy
Focus on priority “basin development challenges” or BDCs in
specific parts of six basins
Use all scientific tools needed to address the challenge,
emphasizing those with the greatest potential for
development impact within the 15 year CPWF time frame
Investment in each BDC research program:
USD 5-6m distributed across 4-5 strongly inter-linked projects
Further integration into CRP5
12

13. Six basin development challenges
(highly abbreviated versions)
Andes – Benefit-sharing mechanisms
Ganges – Floods and salt in the Delta
Limpopo – Small reservoirs, rainwater and livelihoods
Mekong – Dams and livelihoods
Nile – Rainwater management in Ethiopia
Volta – Small reservoirs, rainwater and livelihoods

14. BDC research programs
Coherent strategy focused on problem-solving
Integration of policy, institutional, governance, access, and
technical innovations
Spatial targeting of innovations
Cross-scale analysis of downstream consequences, including
for ecosystem services
Engagement with senior policymaker, other stakeholders,
communications, gender, capacity-building
Functional links among projects (output from one project
used as input by another project)
14

15. An example of a BDC research program–
the Ganges – the challenge
Water, water
everywhere, all year
round, but farm families
barely subsist on a single
low-yield rainy season
rice crop per year . . .
Because of water
scarcity
Post-rainy season water
outside of polders
becomes too saline
15

16. An example of a BDC research program–
the Ganges – the vision
Store more fresh season
water within polders
Use for high value post-rainy
season crops and aquaculture
Change in sluice gate
management to let water in
when it is fresh, but keep it
out when it is saline
16

17. An example of a BDC research program–
the Ganges - projects
Water governance: who gets how much water, when, and for what
purposes – and who gets to decide (sluice gate management)
On-farm water management: getting the most value out of scarce stored
fresh water
Spatial targeting, which strategies for which polders
External consequences and global drivers, downstream consequences of
success, likely effects of global drivers
Coordination and change: policy engagement, communications, CB,
impact pathways
17

18. An example of a BDC research program– the
Ganges – partners (incomplete list)
Water governance IWMI, BIRD, Socio-Consult, BWRB
On-farm water management IRRI, WordFish, BRAC, BRRI, BFRI, CSSRI, CIRA
Spatial targeting, IRRI, Soil Resource Development Institute,
Local Government Engineering Department
External consequences and IWM, BUET, BWRD, IWMI
global drivers,
Coordination and change: WorldFish, IRRI
Red font = national partner (NGO, GO, university)
18

19. Thank you
a.vidal@cgiar.org
www.waterandfood.org