Presented by Dr. Claudia Sadoff, IWMI Director General,at the 13th International Conference on Development of Drylands, February 12, 2019, in Jodhpur, India

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A water-secure world
Water Security and Sustainable
Growth in Drylands
Dr Claudia Sadoff
Director General
InternationalWater Management Institute
13th International Conference on Development of Drylands
February 12, 2019
Jodhpur, India

2. Food Climate Growth
To improve food security while
sustainably managing water resources
& conserving ecosystems
To adapt and mitigate climate
change while building resilience to
disruption
To reduce poverty and advance
inclusion and equality as agriculture
transforms, energy transitions and
urbanization intensifies
Our mission is to find
water solutions for sustainable development
Our vision is
a water-secure world
The International Water Management Institute is a
non-profit, scientific research organization focusing on the sustainable use of
water and land resources in developing countries

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A water-secure world
Our history
• 1984: Established in Sri Lanka as
the International Irrigation
Management Institute (IIMI)
• 1991: Joined the CGIAR
• 1996: Broadened mandate:
became the InternationalWater
Management Institute (IWMI)
• 2012: Awarded
StockholmWater Prize
• 2013: Selected to lead CGIAR
Research Program “Water, Lands
and Ecosystems”

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A water-secure world
Our offices

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A water-secure world
Outline Drylands
Drylands and water security
Drivers of change in Drylands
Five innovations for strengthening
water security in drylands

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A water-secure world
DRYLANDS
Drylands are a defining feature of our
planet
• Drylands cover 41%
of the Earth's surface
• Home to 1/3 of the
world’s population
– 90% in developing
countries
• GDP in drylands is 50% lower than non-drylands

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A water-secure world
DRYLANDS
Why are drylands important?

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A water-secure world
Outline Drylands
Drylands and water security
Climate Change in Drylands
Five innovations for strengthening
water security in drylands

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A water-secure world
Water scarcity
Physical & economic
Delinking hydrology & growth
Climate/water-related resilience
Water risks
Water security vs water scarcity
DRYLANDS ANDWATER SECURITY
What is water security?

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A water-secure world
Leverage
productive
aspects of water
Manage
destructive
aspects of water
Sink or Swim
Sadoff & Grey (2007)
“The availability of an
acceptable quantity and quality
of water for health, livelihoods,
ecosystems and production,
coupled with an acceptable
level of water related risks to
people, environments and
economies”
DRYLANDS ANDWATER SECURITY
Water security: a working definition

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A water-secure world
• Water scarcity is by definition characteristic of dryland systems
• Only 8% of global renewable water supply is in dryland regions
• 4 billion people live in areas of severe water scarcity globally
• 1 billion of these are in India
DRYLANDS ANDWATER SECURITY
Water scarcity
Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2016)

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A water-secure world
• Substantial inter-annual
and seasonal variation
• Frequent water related
disasters, droughts and
floods
• Makes water management
more challenging
Inter-Annual water variability
Seasonal water variability
DRYLANDS ANDWATER SECURITY
Unreliable and erratic water availability
Gassert et al. 2013 [WRI]

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A water-secure world
• Scarcity & unreliability
leads to more reliance
on groundwater
• Drylands have
low recharge rates
• Steady decline in
groundwater reserves in recent decades
Wada and Bierkens (2014)
DRYLANDS ANDWATER SECURITY
Groundwater depletion: running out
of water “savings accounts”
Share of unsustainable groundwater use

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A water-secure world
• Failure to address water
security:
– Compounds disruptions
in economic and social
systems
– Acts as a threat multiplier
– Undermines sustainable
development
DRYLANDS ANDWATER SECURITY
The cost of inaction to secure water

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A water-secure world
Outline Drylands
Drylands andWater Security
Drivers of Change in Drylands
Five innovations for strengthening
water security in drylands

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A water-secure world
JRC (2018) World atlas of desertification
DRIVERS OF CHANGE
Extent of drylands increasing due to
climate change
2011-20402071-2100

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A water-secure world
• Drylands at higher risk
from climate change
• In a 4 °C warmer world:
– Dryland areas could
increase to an additional
7% of the global land
surface by 2100
– Up to 1.9 billion more
people would be living in
drylands
DRIVERS OF CHANGE
Global warming of 1.5oC

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A water-secure world
Source: Prudhomme et al. PNAS 2014;111:9:3262-3267
• Likely increase in
severity of drought by
end of the 21st century
• In a 4oC warmer world,
drought events increase
by 50%
Percentage increase in the number of days with
drought
DRIVERS OF CHANGE
Increase in the global severity of droughts

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A water-secure world
• Degradation
– About 10% of drylands are
degraded
• Urbanization
– By 2050, about 40% of the
urban populations will live
in cities located in
drylands
Share of the population living in urban areas in
2050
JRC (2018) World atlas of desertification
DRIVERS OF CHANGE
Desertification and urbanization

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A water-secure world
In our future:
more dryland farming
and
scarcer and more unpredictable water

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A water-secure world
Outline Drylands
Drylands and water security
Drivers of Change in Drylands
Five innovations for strengthening
water security in drylands

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A water-secure world
Better water capture, storage &
conservation
• Small-scale irrigation systems
• Participatory groundwater management
• ‘Green’ solutions i.e., rainwater
harvesting, integrated watershed
management
Water productivity innovations
• Crop varieties that use less water
• Micro irrigation to increase water-use
efficiency
• Increased investments & enabling policies
INNOVATION #1
Water smart agriculture
Conservation
Agriculture
Broad bed
& furrow
MicroirrigationRain harvesting

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A water-secure world
SPaRC – Solar Power as a Remunerative Crop
An innovative concept linking farmer’s solar
irrigation pump to electricity grid with the choice
to sell the surplus power
SPICE – Solar Pump Irrigators’
Cooperative Enterprise
Institutionalizing the idea of SPaRC through a
cooperative model -- Pilot in Gujarat [dryland]
• Solar potential is high in dryland areas
• Improving Productivity and
Livelihoods through smart Solar
Irrigation
INNOVATION #2
Solar irrigation

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A water-secure world
From small-scale, ground-based, citizen
science like mobile weather stations…
http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/resources/mobile-weather-stations/
INNOVATION #3
Advanced monitoring and sensing platforms

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A water-secure world
http://wateraccounting.org
…to large-scale, remotely sensed water
balance frameworks like Water
Accounting + that estimate water
flows, stocks, consumption & services…
INNOVATION #3 (cont’d)
Advanced monitoring and sensing platforms

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A water-secure world
• South Asia Drought Monitoring System
(SADMS)
– Forecast & early warning of drought
• Linking forecast & early warning with
drought management plans
• Last mile connectivity, i.e., apps
• Bundled drought information through
Smart phone for directly disseminating
to farmers for drought preparedness
Remotely sensed drought monitoring
IWMI – ICAR weekly drought bulletins
INNOVATION #4
Digital agriculture & information systems

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A water-secure world
Safely return resources - water,
nutrients & energy – to productive uses
• Groundwater recharge
• Industrial & landscape water
• Salt-water intrusion barrier wells
• Fertilizer pellets from sludge
• Energy from biogas
Wastewater recycling removes hazards
from the environment
INNOVATION #5
Wastewater recycling and reuse

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A water-secure world
Water is a master variable
of dryland development
Water
Efficient
collection of
runoff
Soil moisture
retention
Efficient
irrigation
practices
Strategic
groundwater
use
Drought
monitoring
Wastewater
reuse

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A water-secure world
Conclusion:
Water security is a defining challenge
for drylands
• Water management is fundamental to achieving
sustainable development in drylands
• Innovation is needed at multiple scales from small-
holder to central government
• Innovation must be integrated with learning, policy
dialogue, enhanced governance and increased
investment
• Research has a key role to play in piloting solutions
and building capacity

30. Thank you