The document highlights the interrelationship between water management, productivity, and resilience in food production systems, particularly among rural poor populations facing food insecurity. It discusses the role of improved water productivity and ecosystem restoration in enhancing social-ecological resilience while addressing poverty and malnutrition. The document emphasizes the importance of a balanced approach that considers both productivity and resilience to effectively support food security and alleviate rural poverty.

1. Water, food and ecosystemsA productivity lens vs. a resilience lensAlain Vidal & Marcela QuinteroCGIAR Challenge Program on Water and FoodIUCN Workshop on Managing Ecosystems for Food and Nutrition SecurityGland, Switzeland, 13-14 December 2010

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

3. Alleviating hunger means reducing rural povertyReducing rural povertyIncrease the income of the rural poor to enable food security and investment into productivity

4. Ensure they can cope with short-term and long-term changes2

5. The resilience challenge Food production communities and ecosystems should be able to cope with local and global changes (climate, economy, demography, migrations…), ie becomemore resilientAchieved through improved water productivity (more food with less water) together with empowerment, equity, market access, health and ecosystemservices3

6. What exactly is resilience?The capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change, while retaining essentially the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks (Walker et al. 2004)Example4

7. CPWF aims to increase the resilience of social and ecological systems through better water management for food productionThrough its broad partnerships, it conducts research that leads to impact on the poor and to policy change 5

8. Why is water so central? No food production without water for crops, livestock and fish (quantity and quality)Water links ecosystems with food production through its flow and quality, and its interactions with land, soil, vegetation, animals, people and societiesWater is key to productivity and social-ecological resilience6

9. Productivity vs. resilienceRestoring ecosystem services in the Andes

10. Downstream – where the concern for ecosystem services emerged8High altitude wetland (paramo) degraded by potato cropping and overgrazing Eutrophication and shrinking of Fuquene Lake (downstream)

11. Restoring upstream and downstream ecosystem services 9Paramo restored through conservation tillage and oat/potato rotation Water quality and downstream ecosystem services from Fuquene Lake improved

12. Understanding resulting changes on upstream water10Conservation agricultureMore water stored, restoring the buffer role of paramoTraditional agriculture% Volumetric WaterBetter soil porosity, filtration, increased carbon storageConservation agricultureAccumulated Organic Matter (g/g)Traditional agriculture

13. Understanding triggers for change between alternate resilient states11Conservation agriculture and paramo restoration supported by revolving fund Annual net income:US$ 2,183/haFarmers‘ insufficient gain and risk aversion: only 11% convertedRevolving fund credit: +180 farmers /yearPotato cropping, grazing pressure, degradation of paramoSAnnual net income:US$ 1,870/ha

14. CPWF lessons learnt on productivity vs. resilienceWater productivity approaches « more crop per drop » tend toNeglect the constraints of the poorest and most vulnerable who do not have the capacity to invest into productivityOverlook ecosystem servicesLooking beyond water productivity requires using a resilience lens But productivity should not be dropped because it is a source of income and livelihood12

15. The resilience lens:adaptability vs. transformabilityDegraded social-ecological systems are often locked in resilient (poverty) traps Institutional and technical innovations mostly enable adaptation (transformation seems to require more time and dramatic changes)Long-term efforts required to strengthen the resilience of desired statesNegative feedbacks (innovation adoption vs. risk-aversion)Precariousness13

16. What are the challenges?Sharing the benefits from waterHow do we estimate them?How can ecosystem services support enhance food security?How do ecosystem services work in larger basins?Which partners & disciplines are required?More ideas later today…14

17. Thank youa.vidal@cgiar.orgwww.waterandfood.org