FAO's Experience and on-going collaboration on Drought Management Planning Thierry Facon, FAO.

FAO's Experience and on-going collaboration on

Drought Management Planning

Thierry Facon, FAO

Drought Specific Actions and Achievements

Piloted in Near East Region since year

2000

- Drought normal component of region’s

climate

- 1980s-1990s: Severe drought episodes

affected nearly all countries (in addition to

parts of Africa and Asia), particularly Iran,

Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, and Syria

- 1998-2001: More drastic wave

- March 2000: Near East countries collectively requested FAO assistance at national and regional

levels in formulation of long-term drought management strategies

- 2001: Drought adopted as “Priority Area for Inter-disciplinary Action – PAIA”, with focus in the

Near East

• Multi-disciplinary Focus area + financial allocation and mobilization

• Data collection and systematic reporting on biennial basis to FAO Regional Conference

for the Near East (Ministers of Agriculture)

- Establishment, jointly with ICARDA and CIHEAM of a Regional “Network on

Drought Mitigation” in 2001

- Network evolved into “Drought management network for the Middle East,

Mediterranean Region and Central Asia – NEMEDCA”

• Review Drought Preparedness and Mitigation in the Near East, in Aleppo. Syria (2001)

• Capacity development workshop on drought preparedness in Rabat, Morocco,

November 2002

• Partnerships with regional and international organizations and centers of excellencies,

particularly the National Drought Mitigation Center of UN-L, Nebraska

• Direct support to member countries through field projects and regular programme

activities

Drought Specific Actions and Achievements

- Projects: Iran, Jordan and Syria as pilot countries for elaboration of pro-active national

drought management strategies

- Drought mitigation components in projects in other countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Central

Asian countries)

- Status report on drought occurrence and management in the Near East (2008)

- Manual: Guidelines on Drought Mitigation and Preparedness Planning (2008)

- Development of a Training Module on the Guidelines (one week)

- Training sessions: Near East (Tunisia, 2008), Near East and Central Asia (Turkey, 2010) ,

ICID (2010), Support for Iraq project (2011), country level training (Iran, Jordan, Syria)

Drought Specific Actions and Achievement jointly with NMDC

1. Political will is the foundation of drought management policy

2. Successful drought policy hinges on full integration and stakeholders’ participation

corollary: Lack of institutional collaboration and top-down culture of decision

making are hindrances

3. Integrated drought/climate monitoring is key to early warning, in parallel with a

comprehensive decision support system

4. Drought planning must be integrated across spatial scales (decentralization)

5. Process of drought planning is lengthy (2 years to elaborate if necessary data is not

already available) and requires training, support and collaboration

Lessons Learned from Pilot Work

1. Disaster Risk Reduction Framework of which Drought is an Integral Component

2. Federating partnerships and stakeholders

• Collaboration with WMO and UNCCD for the preparation and organization of a

“High Level Meeting on National Drought Policy”, Geneva, 11-15 March 2013,

• Partnership with the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute in 2012 / through

NMDC for drought activities

3. Capacity Development

• HMNDP Follow-up Initiative on Capacity Development

• Up-scaling initiative piloted in Near East to global level, jointly with WFFI / NMDC

4. Continued provision of direct support to countries and collaboration with development

partners

FAO’s current response to exacerbated drought events

FAO’s response to New Developments

HMNDP Follow-up Initiative on Capacity Development

FAO, WMO and UNCCD Secretariat initiative, coordinated by UN-Water, aimed at providing capacity

development on national drought management policies,

Consists of regional training workshops on national drought policies in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and

Latin and Central America, in addition to a wrap-up conference, in 2013-14.

Southeast Asia

• Regional training workshop

Hanoi, March 2014

• Follow up

Laos: national drought risk management strategy as component of national disaster

risk reduction strategy (on-going)

FAO’s response to New Developments

SOME ISSUES FOR ASEAN

- The nature of the water economy- River basin trajectories- Wet/dry countries- Water use efficiency

Informal Formal

Self-supply predominates Service providers dominate

Vast numbers of tiny, primary water diverters from nature

Very few, but large primary diverters of water from rivers, lakes

Water institutions are local, fragmented, informal

Water institutions are few, formal, legal bodies

Intermediation in water services are low or absent

Very high degree of intermediation in water provision

Even if water is scarce its free… Even if water is plentiful, it costs money…

How Informal or Formal are your Water Economies?

Source: Tushaar Shah

Farmers manage their groundwater resources in Andhra Pradesh

THE PRACTICE THE RESULTS•60%+ irrigation water requirement met by GW. •hydrocratic measures fail to address over-abstration •Farmers learn about GW and become the GW organizers, planners, and advocates •Farmers learn about ways to improve productivity of water used

•1700 farmer facilitators, 33% women•Outreach: 1 million farmers• 42% units have reduced abstraction permanently and 51% intermittently•Results have combined environmental sustainability and poverty reduction•The only successful project of community GW management at global level

KEY POINTS

•Farmers realize that GW conservation through collective decisions is a safeguard of their own interest•Demystify science•A promising approach to manage atomistic irrigation•A collective of NGOs, academic and civic leaders

River Basin Trajectories• The dynamics of closing river basins:

(i) the overbuilding of river basins;

(ii) the over-allocation of entitlements;

(iii) the overdraft of reservoirs and aquifers;

(iv) the double squeeze of agricultural water use, due to declining water availability and quality on the one hand and rising urban and environmental needs on the other.

• Any variation translates into a shortage

River Basin Trajectories

• A combination of vested interests, water and irrigation development institutional factors, and political dynamics favor overbuilding which manufactures water scarcity.

• There comes a point where all possibilities of additional water resources development and supply augmentation or water transfer are exhausted or become prohibitive and sub-basins as well as basins close.

• When river basins are closing: efforts at water

conservation or improving water productivity and tend towards a zero-sum game (Perry et al., 2009).

Implications

• Water allocations

• A second issue: when chaos and anarchy dominate irrigation water management in “normal” years, this makes attempts at control extremely problematic in periods of shortage.

Wet/dry countries• In arid basins, control is easier to maintain because it

tends to be concentrated in a few key points and sources of water are few, and the water regime is easy to understand.

• In more humid basins, this is much more difficult because the hydrology is much more complex and variable, and sources of water are multiple.

• Better to integrate flood and drought mgt policies (ex: conjunctive Mgt)

There will often be a need to go back to the main drawing board

A dynamic model of policy response

The Responses

• Within the water domainReducing water lossesIncreasing water productivityWater re-allocation or use restriction

Demand-side Options

• Beyond the water domain

Reducing losses in the value chain

Reducing demand for irrigated products

and services

Reducing water use per capita

Food import (virtual water)

Changing consumer’s dietary habits

Reducing water losses

Search for water use efficiency:

• Increasing consumption (Murray Darling)

• Systems become more rigid (Australia, Spain, California)

• Reduce recharge?

• Dilemma between efficiencies, resilience and sustainability

The water impacts of hi-tech irrigation expansionand implications for governance

If water is plentiful the introduction of hi tech irrigation is a good option: full control of an assured water supply allows the farmer to grow a complex mix of high value crops and significantly increase his income and water productivity ($/m3). Water consumption may increase somewhat, as will yield.

If water is scarce but access is controlled hi tech irrigation encourages the farmer to maximize water productivity, for example through crop selection or deficit irrigation. Especially where there is significant rainfall, this can enhance production because non-beneficial Evaporation from rainfall is “converted” into beneficial Transpiration on the expanded irrigated area. Return flows will reduce, so that more severe limitations to access may be required.

If water is scarce but access is uncontrolled hi tech irrigation will result in increased water consumption per hectare, in parallel with increased production. Hi tech irrigation also allows expansion of the irrigated area and consequently even higher consumption. Multiple cropping increases the irrigated area even if land is limited. The increase in consumption negatively affects aquifers, return flows to downstream users, estuaries, wetlands, etc.

Developing sound integrated water conservation strategies Using sound water accounting concepts to

develop and monitor integrated water conservation strategies in China

THE PRACTICE THE RESULTS•it is not sufficient to control abstractions and promote “irrigation water use efficiency”

•restoring a sustainable groundwater regime ultimately depends on reducing water depletion (i.e. reducing evapo-transpiration (ET) by crops)

•ET reduction and improved water productivity/ET explicit objectives and operational targets•improved infrastructure and operation to improve productivity and incomes • institutions, allocation mechanisms and supporting information management systems •a water supply organization and water users associations

KEY POINTS

•A sound water accounting basis: a necessity for critical groundwater systems, areas with significant conjunctive use, closing river basins and systems with high return flows (deltas, rice systems).

►IWRM adopted in ASEAN►WSSD: countries to “develop integrated

water resources management and water efficiency plans by 2005”.

►As IWRM is a broad concept capable of many interpretations, the project aims to rapidly develop agreed regional guidelines for national IWRM strategies, and thus create confidence and certainty for ASEAN Member Countries that their national IWRM strategy will meet regional requirements and conform to international best practice.