Presented by Eike Luedeling, Katie Downie, Jan De Leeuw and Keith Shepherd at the IFPRI 2020 Policy Consultation and Conference, Side Event on Measuring and Evaluating Resilience in Drylands of East Africa, Addis Ababa, 15-17 May 2014

1. Eike Luedeling, Katie Downie, Jan De Leeuw and Keith Shepherd
IFPRI 2020 Policy Consultation and Conference, Side Event on Measuring and Evaluating
Resilience in Drylands of East Africa, Addis Ababa, 15-17 May 2014

2.  Research for
development only has
impact if it leads to
better decisions
 In supporting decisions,
how can we effectively
consider resilience?
Image: http://www.mynamesnotmommy.com

3.  Various complex and dynamic definitions:
response to shocks and stressors
 Rarely directly observable
 Most resilience models are complex, data-
demanding and error-prone
 Data is scarce in most places of interest
 Difficulties in operationalizing the concept

4.  If resilience matters, it should have
measurable impacts
 Among several systems, the most resilient
should do best in the long run most of the
time, when exposed to shocks and stressors
 We have to find out which one this is –
quickly, cheaply, with imperfect
information and yet accurately to meet
demands of decision-makers…

5. Well-established business decision
analysis approach
Recommendations for optimizing decision
Plausible distribution of net benefits
Hubbard 2014. How to measure anything – the value of intangibles in business.Wiley.
Measurements if needed
Identify high-value variables
Participatory development of a comprehensive business-case
model for a decision (all relevant costs, benefits, risks)
Decision-makers define the current state of uncertainty
Simulation of the range of plausible
decision outcomes, considering all relevant
risks

6. Water
pipeline
Rainfed agriculture
interventions
Borehole
management

7.  100-km pipeline for fresh water supply to
rapidly growing dryland city
 Taps a politically sensitive aquifer
Image: http://www.mercycorps.org
 Intensive discussions with stakeholders
 Model-building with group of experts

8. Image: http://www.mercycorps.org
Key uncertainties
• Number and value of surviving infants
• Value of disease treatment
• Reduced performance due to poor
design
• Risk of political interference
• Very risky project, when considering potential shocks
• High chance of failure
• Key uncertainties related to limited stakeholder
inclusion, investor priorities and values

9.  High livestock mortality (up to 80%) during
drought
 Better managed boreholes could alleviate
this problem
 Model built based on literature and expert
knowledge

10. Key uncertainties
• Discount rate
• Milk price
• Livestock mortality reduction
• Herd growth rate
• Milk yield per cow in non-drought years
• Fairly safe bet, low chance of losses
• Key uncertainties could be reduced through
socioeconomic and market surveys

11.  Portfolio of large-scale interventions
 Improved soil management, water resource
management, intensification of trees, mixed
livestock and grazing
 Model built based on stakeholder
consultation and expert workshops
Image: http://www.rspb.org.uk/

12. Key uncertainties
• Cost per ton of CO2
• Profits from land in semi-arid zone
• Profits from land in sub-humid zone
• Additional CO2 from intensive farms
• Number of people who won’t migrate
• Substantial gains and losses possible
• High information values (100s of millions USD)
• Farming profitability studies and migration studies
Image: http://www.rspb.org.uk/

13.  High-level models can often provide sufficient
information to guide decision-making for
specific decisions
 Comprehensiveness is more important than
high mechanistic detail
 Long-term stochastic model runs allow direct
simulation of outcomes
 High-value variables are often not the ones
typically measured
 Engagement with decision-makers increases
likelihood that results will be used