Cairo Water Week 2019 Cairo 20th-24th October 2019 Plenary Session 1: “Achieving the SDGs under Water Scarcity” Sunday 20/10/19 (9:30-12:00) The panelists of this session brought broad perspectives to respond to the many water-related linkages across all the SDGs. Panelists • Ms. Bianca Nijhof, Director of the Netherlands Water Partnership, board member of the Amsterdam International Water Week, The Netherlands • H.E. Mr. Mohamed AbdEl Aty, Minister of water resources and irrigation, Egypt • Eng. Yousef Al Aitan, Ministry of the Environment and water Resources, Jordan – ‘Sustainable Development Platform of Water & Sanitation in Jordan’ • Eng. Eweda Morshed, Chairman of the Department of Energy, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates • Dr. Felix Reinders, President of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) • Mr. Aly Abousabaa, Director General ICARDA, ‘DryArc Initiative: Systemic innovation to achieve the SDGs under water scarcity in the drylands’ (tbc) • Mr. Manuel Sapiano, Chief Executive Officer at The Energy and Water Agency, Malta

1. The DryArc Initiative
Systemic innovation to achieve the SDGs
under water scarcity in the drylands
A. Abousabaa

2. Increased marginal areas
 In general, the global area of drylands is
expected to expand as the climate
warms.
 Projections under the RCP4.5 and
RCP8.5 emissions scenarios suggest
drylands will increase by 11% and 23%,
respectively, compared to 1961-90.
 This would mean drylands could make
up either 50% or 56%, respectively, of
the Earth’s land surface by the end of
this century, up from around 38% today.
Carbon brief 06/08/2019

3. Increased complexity
High unemployment,
unrest and migration
Food and nutrition insecurity
Demographic changes, gender
inequality
Land degradation and desertification
Loss of agrobiodiversity
High water scarcity and low efficiently
Double impact of climate change; increasing
temperature and reducing precipitation
Urbanization and heat islands
Conflicts and Fragility
Malnutrition
High Population
Land Degradation
Loss of Biodiversity
Water Scarcity
Climate change

4. We need to move faster
Only 10 harvests before 2030

5. We need to eat differently
From Water Guzzling to Water Saving
foods systems with more crops, rotation,
nutrition and health per care

6. We need to adapt
The number of people who may
lack sufficient water, at least one
month per year, will soar from 3.6
billion today to more than 5 billion
by 2050.
Rising seas and greater storm
surges could force hundreds of
millions of people in coastal cities
from their homes, with a total cost
to coastal urban areas of more than
$1 trillion each year by 2050.

7. We need to accelerate CGIAR efforts
The Global Coalition Promises more
than $650 Million to Accelerate
CGIAR Efforts to Help 300 Million
Smallholder Farmers Adapt to
Climate Change.
“Investment in the CGIAR has
proven to be cost effective and the
rate of return is 70 USD for every
dollar invested with significant
economic benefit for producers and
consumers”
New York. 23/09. United Nations
Climate Action Summit

8. Accelerate
scaling-up
Combined
knowledge
ICARDA
IWMI
ICRISAT
IITA
IFPRI
ILRI
WF
CIMMYT
Technology
development
& Transfer
NARS
Others Research
centers
RuralCommunities
Support
decision
making
CSIRO
ICBA
CAAS
Farmer
communities
Cooperatives
/FPOs
…
ARCINRA IRESA
•research partnership
•strengthen resilience
of rural communities
and agri-food
systems
•systemic solutions
•through designing,
implementing, scaling
out and building
capacity
Privatesector
NGOs
…
ICAR
…
SMEs
Start-
ups
Companies
…
8
We need to unlock the potential of S&T

9. Why do Dry Areas Matter?

10. Water for agriculture matters
85 80
70
53
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1990 2000 2025 2050
Cubicmeterpercapita
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
%oftotalwaterresources
% Agriculture share of total
Total available water per capita
Agriculture share of water per capita
North Africa
Agriculture uses most of the water
Agricultural water is declining
Mostly used with low efficiency

11. DryArc initiative: a systemic approach
This Initiative is not only necessary
for the countries in the DryArc
region, but critical for its future
stability and growth.
The systemic approach and
partnership-building presented by
the DryArc Initiative is key to
combine solutions from across the
different centers, and put research
into practice for impact.
It addresses the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development in a
comprehensive way, accounting for
trade-offs and maximizing
synergies across SDGs, sectors and
scales.

12. 4 Agro Ecological Systems
Agro-ecosystems Area (m ha) %
Irrigated systems 312 15
Rainfed systems 512 25
Agropastoral systems 873 43
Desert farming Potential 342 17

13. 4 Technological Innovation Systems
(integrated systems approach for reducing risks )
>> research plots, > farm
trials / demonstrations, >
international nurseries >
germplasms, > NARS
partners feedbacks, >
etc.
>> research plots, >
agronomy, >CA/Zero tillage>
livestock, > rangelands, >
household surveys, > value
chains, > etc.
>> field data, > raised
beds> Field ETs, > AWPs,
> soils, > hydrology, >
land degradation,>
erosion>, hydrology, >
etc.
>> big-data, > open access
resources, > cloud
computing, > gender data, >
> scaling > capacity dev., >
modelling, > etc.
Biodiversity & Crop
Improvement Program
Resilient Agricultural
Livelihood Systems Program
Water, Land Management &
Ecosystems Program
Cross Cutting Themes
Big Data and ICTs

14. Thank you