Water, Land and Ecosystems in the Ganges

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Water, Land and Ecosystems in the Ganges

May2014

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Overview

• Overview of WLE – what we are? - Michael• Focus on ESS/R – martin and Benoy• Focus on WLE’s R4D Approach - Michael • Ganges Focal Region - Craig• Take home messages – Michael

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

CPWF External Review on Ganges

“Collectively, the evidence-based science within local livelihood practices conducted by CPWF has built up essential political and institutional capital…..”“it is the assessment of this review that the CPWF partners have demonstrably brought scientific-based evidence, and the accompanying engagement process into tangible advances in opportunities for food security within the distinctive characteristics of the Ganges polders.

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Shifting how we think of food production and research

Productivity enhancement while

reducing environmental impacts

Management of healthy ecosystems are an entry point for sustainable intensification.

Governance & equity are a pre-requisite

Development challenge approach

Outcome based R4D Problem and client driven

Engage in development and establish alliances

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

CGIAR Research Program on Water Land and Ecosystem (WLE) Vision:

A world in which agriculture thrives within vibrant ecosystems, where communities have higher incomes,

improved food security and the ability to continuously improve their lives

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

WLE Theory of Change • In order to sustain food production we need to manage our natural

ecosystem. • Complement technolgy and system approach by influencing how

decisions are made in relation to food production and its impact on ecosystems.

• Shift in thinking is about changing behaviour/changing decision making patterns – need to work with broad alliances

• Need to work at multiple scales – farm to basin• Key targets:

• Communities • local governments • Investors (donors, private sector)• Policy makers (influence national policies, investments, plans) • NGOs, Development/implementing agencies

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Partner driven program

Looking for wider range of partners who can support working with those engage and can reach different end targets

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

WLE Areas of Research

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Gender

Three over-arching strategies:• Research on on women as stewards of natural

resources • Gender responsive research – strengthening

gender within WLE projects • Gender in Focal regions – gender profiling

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

WLE Approach to work in Focal Regions

• Goal is to stimulate well-targeted investments in agriculture taking full account of possible costs and benefits associated with ecosystem services and resilience that ensure sustainability.

• Objectives:• Better define and geographically target through

appropriate landscape and water resources analysis and planning sustainable agricultural investments

• Value and better manage ecosystem services to deliver improved and sustainable land use under increasing demands on water, food and energy

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

WLE Focal Regions

WLE challenge is to bring a sustainability agenda to existing and evolving processes and investments to achieve green, resilient and equitable growth to the countries of the Ganges Basin.

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

WLE research outputs

WLE research outcomes

WLE Intermediate Development Outcomes

Opportunity identification

Client analysis

Decision analysis

Partner engagement

Levers and incentives

WLE uptake strategy: significant focus on the research client

System Level Outcomes

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Risk analysis: major decisions affecting agro-ecosystems that support large numbers of people

Opportunity analysis: research needed to provide alternatives that improve ecosystem services for human development

Client analysis: decision makers demand research

Niche analysis: limited research available

WLE opportunity space

In each focal region, WLE is identifying the “opportunity space” for research to support client decision making

WLE integrated portfolio of research is designed to capitalize on this opportunity

Example of client focus: WLE resource recovery and reuse

Issue: Urban areas are growing and consuming more resources. How do we recover nutrients and water at scale? Technical knowledge is available, but few projects go to scale. WLE seeks to change this by analyzing business models and returns on investment.

Clear client focus: the private sector, public private partnerships, and business schools

The research portfolio is designed for the client: analyze successes and test promising business models for replication at scale

Multi-disciplinary research team includes economists, business developers, and environmental scientists

Faecal sludge Nutrients for agricultural production

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

WLE research outputs

WLE research outcomes

WLE Intermediate Development Outcomes

Opportunity identification

Client analysis

Decision analysis

Partner engagement

Levers and incentives

Supporting research client decision making through decision analysis

System Level Outcomes

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Example: the decision analysis process Northeast Kenya: Tap the Merti aquifer to pump water > 100 km to town of Waiir?

Identify risks and uncertainties in decision of interest

Engage decision makers

Make probabilistic cost/benefit impacts on different stakeholder

groups of likely outcomes of decision

Compute value of additional information (uncertain variables with high information value = priorities for

measurement)Probabilistic outcomes (benefits/negative impacts) for different stakeholder groupsApplied Information Economics D. Hubbard,

“How to Measure Anything”, 2010

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

WLE research outputs

WLE research outcomes

WLE Intermediate Development Outcomes

Opportunity identification

Client analysis

Decision analysis

Partner engagement

Levers and incentives

Focused partner engagement, levers and incentives

System Level Outcomes

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Banking on Groundwater: How policies can lever change in India

• Agricultural growth in West Bengal had slumped by more than half.

• Research identified a major block to agricultural productivity was getting access to groundwater

• Policies recommended by IWMI were adopted to improve groundwater access for smallholder farmers.

• Estimated rise in irrigated area from 3 to 4.8 mill ha & additional 4.6 mill tons of paddy per year.

Take Home Messages

• There are no magic bullets or quick fixes to the challenges we face.

• It will require greater perseverance, hard decisions and political will.

• We can achieve this together.

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Thank You

wle.cgiar.org

wle.cgiar.org/

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