The document discusses the critical need for improved water management in agriculture to address the challenges of climate change and food security, emphasizing strategies like sustainable agricultural intensification and efficient use of resources. It highlights successful case studies and initiatives aimed at enhancing water use efficiency, restoring degraded landscapes, and increasing productivity for smallholder farmers. Policy reforms and institutional changes are identified as essential for achieving water security and agricultural sustainability across vulnerable regions.

1. Institutions and Policies for Scientific Water Use:
Game changers for climate risk management in agriculture
Jeremy Bird
International Water Management Institute
CCAFS Workshop
Colombo, 2-3 December 2013

2. Humanity’s greatest challenge
To feed 9 billion people in
2050, we need to produce
50-70% more food and raise
nutrition levels…
…and at the same time
reverse environmental
degradation
…and reduce vulnerability to
climate shocks

3. Climate change is an additional stress
AR5: Global surface temperature change for the end of the
21st century is likely to exceed 1.5oC
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

4. Managing Variability
TOO LITTLE…
TOO MUCH…
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

5. Physical scarcity:
Water resource
development approaching
or exceeding sustainable
limits
Water scarcity is already common
Economic scarcity:
Water resources can meet
needs; but human,
institutional and financial
capital lacking to actually
harness and use these
resources
Institutional scarcity:
Institutions limit access to
certain groups and exclude
others

6. Annual Rainfall Trends at Nuwara-Eliya
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

7. Changes in Climatic Zone Boundaries by 2050
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

8. CLIMATE CHANGE VULNERABILITY HOTSPOTS -1
Exposure Index based on:
Frequency of exposure to
historical droughts, floods,
cyclones
Sensitivity Index based on: Population
density, % employed in agriculture,
irrigation water availability, agricultural
diversity (crops diversity, livestock
farming, fishing)
0 – lowest vulnerability
Adaptive Capacity Index
based on: education level,
poverty incidence, level of
infrastructure development
100 – highest vulnerability
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

9. CLIMATE CHANGE VULNERABILITY HOTSPOTS -3
Highly vulnerable areas are:
• Typical farming areas
• Have low socioeconomic and
infrastructural assets (low adaptive
capacity)
• Show high levels of exposure to
historical climate extremes
Anuradhapura
Nuwara-Eliya
• Primary food producing areas - rely
heavily on water availability for
agriculture
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org
Ratnapura

10. Myanmar Dry Zone – Variability of wet season onset
McCartney et al, 2013
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

11. One response has been irrigation, but…
…. we seem to be reaching the limit of ‘formal’ irrigated area

12. Instead, look at a broader perspective – the rainfed to
irrigated continuum
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

13. Need to re-think water storage to manage rainfall variability
– but institutional complexity
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

14. Game changers for adaptive water management –
do the right incentives exist?

15. Sustainable Agricultural Intensification

16. Unleashing the potential of 2 billion small-scale
farmers who collectively produce 70% of current
global food. WLE tackles 3 key issues.
1. Ensuring the efficient use of resources so that farmers can profit with limited
environmental impact.
2. Restoring productive capacity of degraded rainfed and irrigated landscapes and
impaired water systems to improve incomes and livelihoods of farmer.
3. Reducing risk and uncertainty of poor farmers within rainfed and irrigated
landscapes resulting in improved productivity through the sustainable management of
land, water and ecosystems.

17. What if the benefits of canal
commands increase to meet
higher demand within the
resilience of natural ecosystems?
Identify incentives to influence
behaviour at all levels

18. What if the potential for
increasing the productivity of
agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa
can be realized?
Identify policy measures and
business models

19. What if conjunctively managed surface
and ground water resources becomes a
reality?
Address both over-abstraction
and under-utilization

20. What if there is a greater balance
between natural capital and the
built environment?
Bringing ecosystem services
into the discussion on
sustainable intensification of
agriculture

21. Natural and built infrastructure… striking a
balance – increasing the total benefit stream
Intensively utilized basin
Natural basin
Hydropower
Hydropower
Crops
Industrial
Crops
Industrial
Regulation of
water balance
Regulation of
water balance
Recreation
Recreation
Erosion control
Erosion control
Nutrient
cycling Soil
formation
Nutrient
cycling Soil
formation
Climate
regulation
Climate
regulation
Multifunctional “green” basin
Hydropower
Provisioning services
Crops
Industrial
Regulatory services
Cultural services
Recreation
Regulation of
water balance
Erosion control
Supporting services
Nutrient
cycling Soil
formation
Climate
regulation

22. Examples of institutional and policy reforms
leading to more sustainable agriculture
growth exist….
others are being developed…
and more are needed

23. The Bright Spots Initiative
Comprehensive study of 286
cases in 57 countries where
individuals and communities
that have adopted sustainable
crop intensification systems.
Bright spots influenced:
12.6 million households
covering 37 million hectares
increased yields by an average
of 79% with average carbon
sequestration of 0.35 t C ha-1
yr-1.
Relative yield change after/with project
11
10
Maize
Sorghum/millets
Pulse crops
Rice
Wheat
Cotton
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
2
4
6
8
Yield before/without project (Mg ha-1)
10
Pretty et al., 2006; Noble et al, 2006
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

24. #1: Jyotigram in Gujarat, India
Upscaling the recovery of groundwater tables and reduced
electricity usage
– “Free’’ electricity led to groundwater
overdraft
– Recommended separation of electricity
supply to villages and pumps and
rationing of pump supply
– It has brought substantial improvement in
and outside the water sector:
• Ground water balance improved
• Electricity distribution losses down from 31%
to 21%
• Farmers get continuous good quality electricity
schedules. Domestic supply 24/7
• Yield increases -recent agricultural growth rate
is 9.6%, the highest in India.
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

25. Ground water policy reform in West Bengal
1. Why groundwater (GW) based solution for
Bengal?
•
•
2.
High underutilized GW potential
Low agricultural productivity
Research led to removal of water permits
and rationalization of capital costs of
initial electrification including tariffs
3. Policy change could benefit more than 5.6
million smallholders farmers
4. After policy implementation, the demand
for electric pumps has risen rapidly
5. Need efficient irrigation to minimize
energy use
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

26. Small-scale irrigation in Africa
Back on the agenda in Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia,
Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and elsewhere
Unlocking the potential for
smallholder agriculture to
improve the lives of
smallholder farmers in 5
countries in sub-Saharan
Africa and 2 states in India
(Giordano et al, 2012)

27. Outputs
Smallholder Agricultural Water Management: Potential to Impact
Millions
SSA: motor pumps
• 122 million potential rural beneficiaries
• Net revenues up to US$7.5 billion/yr.
Tanzania: motor pumps could benefit 2-3
million people.
High
Medium
Low

28. Potential Solution: “Under Ground Taming of
Floods”.
Basin Scale Conjunctive Use to Mitigate Floods,
Improve Livelihoods and Increase Food Security.
Currently
Wet Season
• Store extreme flood peaks underground
• Use later for irrigation
• Proof of concept stage
UTFI
Wet Season
CURRENT ACTIVITIES:
• Assessing regional prospects (Eastern Ganga
initially)
• Developing conceptual hydrological modelling of
pilot design
• Selection of pilot catchments (Ganga & Chao
Phraya basins)
• Determine costs and benefits of options
• Identifying institutional arrangements for sharing
benefits and costs between farmers and flood
agencies
UTFI
Dry Season
Flood
risk in the

29. HARVESTING FUTURE FLOODS
Chao Phraya River Basin, Thailand
Harvest Floods
Do Not Harvest

30. In the economically important
rural –urban interface it is
difficult to find a reliable
unpolluted water source

31. Using waste as a resource?
Waste water
Piped water

32. Towards Outcomes from Safe Wastewater Use
in Agriculture
2010: Co-authored the World Bank policy on
wastewater
2011: Member of the UN-Water Task Force on
wastewater SDG targets
2012: MoU with WHO to institutionalize
collaboration on safe wastewater use
2012: Co-authored the international chapter
of USEPA-USAID Wastewater Use
Guidelines
2013: Regional wastewater reuse workshops
involving 160 participants from 73 countries
(together with UNU, UNEP, FAO and WHO)
2013: Partnering with FAO within WLE to
update the AQUASTAT Wastewater
database
2013: Joining UNEP’s Global Wastewater
Initiative and UNEP’s initiative to write the
First World Water Quality Assessment.
2012: Two IWMI researchers joined the WHO
Global Expert Group on water quality
2012: FAO Farmer Field School manual based
on IWMI research
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

33. Example of a business model currently being implemented
in Ghana as a Private Public Partnership :
Fecal Sludge Valorization
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

34. ICT – TO FARMERS IN AFRICA
Ethiopia, Mali, Egypt, Sudan
Cell Phones
in Africa
From Remote Sensing data –
to crop/ water data
to simple messages to farmers
Water for a food-secure world

35. These examples
demonstrate there are
water management
solutions. Together with
reduction of food waste we
can feed 2 billion more
people while reducing
agriculture’s footprint and
reducing climatic risks
Photo: Tom Van Cakenberghe/IWMI

36. The CGIAR Research Program on
Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)
wle.cgiar.org
wle.cgiar.org/blogs
iwmi.org