By Alain Vidal. As part of a CPWF September 2011 workshop in Thailand regarding global drivers.

1. Resilience of
food and water systems
Alain Vidal
Resilience TWG
Global Drivers TWG Workshop
September 12-14, 2011, Chiang Mai, Thailand

2. Re-greening the
Uganda “Cattle Corridor”
Termites destroy any Community corralling Local organizations
attempt to reseed of cattle for 2 weeks invest in up-scaling of
degraded pasture permits pasture pasture regeneration
establishment

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

4. Questioning resilience of the
Uganda “Cattle Corridor”
Termites destroy any Community corralling Local organizations
attempt to reseed of cattle for 2 weeks invest in up-scaling of
degraded pasture permits pasture pasture regeneration
establishment
?

5. Review of two CPWF adaptive and
collective management cases
Re-greening the Uganda
“Cattle Corridor”
Restoring river flows, quality
and ecosystem services in
the Andes

6. Triggers for change between
alternate resilient states
Manure applied
through night
corralling
provides a
preferred diet for
S the termites
Wet Season:
Dry matter 4.5 T/ha
9 species / m²
Water depletion, S
grazing pressure,
loss of soil organic
matter
Wet Season:
Dry matter 0 T/ha
0 species / m²

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
rotation

9. 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 porosity, 38
filtration, increased 36
water and carbon 1 2
Horizon
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
Size fraction
RT-Horizon 1 CT-Horizon 1 RT-Horizon 2 CT-Horizon 2

10. Triggers for change between
alternate resilient states
Annual net income: Conservation
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 cropping, S
grazing pressure,
degradation of paramo
Annual net income:
US$ 1,870/ha

11. Lessons learnt on water and food
social-ecological systems
States defined by recurring (local) variables
 Soil properties (eg organic matter, carbon)
 Water quantity and quality
 Animal density (livestock, fish)
 Household income
 Community organisation
Non-linear changes,
most often reversible

12. Lessons learnt on adaptability and
transformability
Degraded water and food systems
are often locked in resilient (poverty)
traps
Long-term efforts required to
strengthen the resilience of
desired states
 Negative feedbacks (innovation
adoption vs. risk-aversion)
 Precariousness
 Socio-economic interventions

13. Resilience TWG
Revisiting definitions
 Ability to maintain functioning despite stress, shocks or disturbance
 Reflects ability of system to self-organize - build capacity for learning
and adaptation

14. Resilience Analysis: looking at our
BDCs with a “resilience lens”
After inception workshop, Basin champions now
 Develop working definitions of their respective SES
 Prioritize what their resilience research will focus on
 Deal with some aspects that are particularly relevant in their
contexts (e.g. disturbances, thresholds, capacity for renewal and
learning etc), or
 Attempt to conduct entire resilience assessments
TWG to develop of a position paper that links
theoretical approaches in resilience thinking to case
studies in the CPWF (phases I & II)

15. Thank you
a.vidal@cgiar.org
www.waterandfood.org
www.slideshare.com/CPWF