The total support provided by the Fund amounted to US$32,000. In the days following the Tsunami, IWMI's Remote Sensing/Geographic Information Systems (RS/GIS) group collaborated with Map Action UK at the Sri Lanka Government's Center for National Operations (CNO). The Team worked around the clock for over two weeks to create a constantly updated GIS database, providing mapping support for the Government of Sri Lanka and organizations involved in the relief effort.

Moving on from the relief phase, IWMI undertook a livelihoods-focused rapid needs assessment in the Hambantota district in southern Sri Lanka —one of the country's worst hit and poorest districts. IWMI has had a long-standing relationship with the district as most of its area falls within IWMI's Ruhuna Benchmark Basin . The study contributed to the post-tsunami rehabilitation efforts, including the preparation of a Master Plan for the Reconstruction and Recovery of the Hambantota District.

In all three districts of Sri Lanka 's east coast, groundwater Salinity and contamination of wells was recognized as a serious problem, but the technical expertise needed to assess its extent and implications was insufficient and advice urgently needed. IWMI responded to this need by providing guidance on groundwater and well cleaning to organizations and communities in the area. A research study on both the Short-term and long-term impacts of Stalinization on groundwater and water supplies are being carried out in collaboration with the Water Resources Board and the Eastern University of Sri Lanka with financial support from Care International.

Pro Poor Study

The Dynamics of Poverty

Lessons from a Study on Pro-poor Interventions in Irrigated Agriculture in Asia

DDespite the massive investments in irrigation, technologies, institutions and policies that spurred the "Green Revolution" in Asia , poverty still persists in many Asian countries. IWMI scientists and national partners from six countries, namely Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Pakistan and Vietnam , launched a major study in 2001, to uncover the linkages between irrigation and poverty. This study, the first of its kind in terms of geographic scale, coverage of issues and depth of research was sponsored by the Asian Development Bank. Study findings presented at a regional workshop in August 2004 in Colombo , opened up a whole new dimension to the problem of poverty, pointing to the factors that perpetrate it and the options that can alleviate it.

In addition to offering a comprehensive framework for identifying and designing pro-poor Interventions, the study provided a menu of pro-poor intervention options and a detailed set of specific actions and guidelines. Irrigation and system performance has a definite impact on Poverty in developing countries but it can be pro-poor, poor - neutral or even anti-poor, depending on certain conditions. Studies showed that Southeast Asian and Chinese systems showed a better performance than South Asian systems because there was land and water equity. The linkages between irrigation, gender, diversity and poverty were also explored in detail.

Factors that determine the poverty –reduction potential of irrigation 

• The condition of irrigation infrastructure and its management

• Irrigation water allocation and distribution practices

• Access to resource-conserving technologies, cropping patterns and diversification to high value crops and enterprises.

• Access to support services like information, input and output marketing

• Access to land, land distribution and the quality of land. Unless irrigation reforms are sharpened with a pro-poor focus, the poor are likely to be bypassed. The study identified the targeting of locations with higher densities of poor people and socio-economic groups for new investments. It recommended the design of investment models according to poverty types, as no single intervention suits all types. Irrigation packages should also be more comprehensive and Support services should be provided to increase agricultural productivity.

Poverty Mapping

Examining the Incidence of Poverty

IWMI has developed poverty maps to assess spatial patterns of human poverty across geographic regions. These maps depict different dimensions of human well-being and help researchers to understand how much access poor people have to productive land and water resources within a river basin, while identifying target groups that could benefit from improved access to such resources. Poverty mapping also identifies the factors that contribute to poverty in different economic settings and under different farming systems, for example in irrigated or rained agriculture. Since Agriculture is the dominant economic activity of rural people, poverty as a unit is associated with indicators such as land, water and soil as well as access to roads and markets. IWMI's research has shown that the provision of irrigation is effective in poverty alleviation. Finding the poor and identifying the spatial patterns is important in order to design interventions for different economic activities.

DSP - IWMI's Data Storehouse Pathway (IWMIDSP):

Opening a gateway to remote sensing and GIS data on river basins, nations, regions, and the world. The IWMIDSP project offers, for the first time, an opportunity for accessing high quality science data in standard formats for rapid assessment, monitoring, and reporting on the conditions of river basins, nations, regions, and the world.

In order to facilitate high quality research, IWMI saw an urgent need to streamline all the data generated by the institute and create a knowledge bank that would be accessible to researchers across different regions of the world. To accomplish this goal, IWMI streamlined all its remote sensing, GIS, and other spatial data. This involved Organizing IWMI data and the IWMI-generated knowledge base according to river basins, countries, regions, and the entire world. It also required synthesizing and making data easily accessible from various satellite sensor systems as a near-continuous time-series. The result was the IWMI Data Storehouse Pathway (IWMIDSP) with state-of-the–art technology. The main emphasis of IWMIDSP was to enhance research and provide a service to both IWMI researchers and external users. The Data Storehouse Pathway also serves programs such as the Challenge Program Water and Food. It is used by researchers from both national and international research centers. IWMIDSP already has 100 GB of baseline data for the Limpopo river basin as well as significant data for the Ruhuna, Krishna, and Ganges river basins. It allows users to access, browse, and download data from any part of the world at: http://www.iwmidsp.org/. Currently it has about 1000 members from over 50countries.

Africa

Improving Agricultural Productivity through Better Irrigation

The APPIA project (Improving Irrigation Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa) is helping farmers and extension services to increase irrigation efficiency. It is training a network of experts across the region to assess small-and medium-scale irrigation systems and devise strategies for their improvement. The framework for this development is a new approach, designed especially for the project, known as "Participatory Rapid Diagnosis and Action Planning for Farmer Managed Irrigation Systems".

PRDA consists of an initial diagnosis of the main constraints of irrigation productivity and sustainability, made in consultation with the farmer, which is then used to plan measures to improve performance, through:

• Enhancing irrigation practices and skills among farmers through on-farm demonstrations and experiments.

• Increasing farmers' access to markets by setting up better channels of information and improving farmers' bargaining powers,

• Planning cropping calendars, quality controls and post-harvest processing.

• Monitoring the results of action-plans to determine if irrigation performance has actually improved.

In the future, the APPIA project will focus on scaling up and out its approach beyond the current pilot irrigation scheme in Ethiopia (8 schemes), Kenya (10 schemes) and West Africa (29 schemes).

The GLOWA Volta Project-Providing Technological Support for Water management

Life in the Volta Basin is built around access to water. People in the basin depend on water for cultivation, brick making, watering their herds of cattle and domestic use. Every year, uncertain rainfall condemns them to a struggle for food and livelihood security. The Volta Basin is a Benchmark Basin of the Comprehensive Assessment Program and Challenge Program.

The GLOWA Volta Project (GVP) is working on a science based Decision Support System (DSS) to provide countries in the region with the necessary information to manage their water resources. The project is carried out in partnership with the Centre for Development Research (ZEF) of the University of Bonn . The GVP is funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, with additional support from the Ministry of Science and Research of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The “Paddies Paradox”- Irrigated Agriculture versus Malaria

Africa will face an acute shortage of food and widespread starvation by 2020. While irrigation holds the promise of greater food security, it also carries the threat of malaria.

Flooded paddy fields become breeding grounds for malaria mosquitoes. Yet, research by IWMI and partners shows that in most of sub-Saharan Africa , the spread of malaria appears relatively stable. Although the potential for infection is higher in villages near rice fields, there are fewer actual cases of malaria than in the surrounding communities. Studies from Tanzania , Gambia , Burkina Faso and Cameroon also prove that income growth leads directly to better health. Relatively well-off farmers can afford to take simple, but effective protective measures—such as using bed nets and seeking appropriate treatment in time. Therefore, irrigated rice cultivation can even bring about a decline in malaria.

Creating inclusive water management institutions–the South African experience

Driven by the goal of redressing historical injustices, the National Water Act (NWA) of 1998 made profound changes to water management in South Africa . The new Catchments Management Agencies and Water Users' Associations (WUAs) were expected to empower the historically Disadvantaged Individuals (HDIs), both women and men, of African and Asian origin.

The former white, large-scale commercial Irrigation Boards (IBs) were to be transformed into inclusive WUAs. However, only one sixth of the Irrigation Boards have become WUAs So far. Research by IWMI and its partners showed that commercial farmers only took the initiative to open up their organization to small-scale farmers when they were upstream or had to pay. In several cases, small-scale farmers were unaware that they were formally entitled to more water than they received. Yet, small farmers used a mere 10 percent of the water used by the large farmers. Thus, several key issues must be addressed before the smaller players can have a significant role.

Defining WUAs and what they do

WUAs should be formally defined to include everyone sharing the same water resource—regardless of the fact that the former entitlement was for commercial agriculture only—since small-scale farmers, farm laborers and communities use the ‘irrigation' water for multiple purposes. Large-scale farmer members of WUAs need to be actively involved in developing the capacity of emerging farmers, for instance, by sharing knowledge about efficient irrigation scheduling, technology and overall water resources.

A different water agenda for HDIs

Historically Disadvantaged Individuals (HDIs) are relatively unorganized and unable to voice their specific needs, such as the lack of well-maintained infrastructure.

Furthermore, water restrictions on emerging farmers should be less severe during drought periods than on commercial farmers, who can cope better in theses circumstances.

Wetlands – Supporting the Livelihoods of the Rural Poor

A recent study of wetlands in Tanzania and Zambia, funded by the FAO Netherlands Partnership Program, and conducted jointly by FAO, IUCN and IWMI, recognizes that wetlands are at the heart of the livelihood strategies of many rural poor.

Wetlands are central to the lives of many rural African communities because they support livelihoods and provide food and water. The capacity of wetlands to retain moisture for long periods makes them a valuable resource for agriculture. Farmers take advantage of the year round availability of water in wetlands to diversify crops and cultivate during the dry season. However, the environmental impact of some wetland development (e.g., soil erosion and contamination of water supplies) can have negative repercussions for people dependent on the natural resources provided by wetlands.

To generate more knowledge on wetlands and the role they play, IWMI and partners propose the following actions:

• Mapping wetland boundaries and features using state of the art technology, (including remote sensing and GIS)

• Developing methods to assess the condition of a wetland, its potential to support agriculture and the likely environmental and social consequences of wetland development and change.

• Evaluating appropriate land and water management technologies (e.g., treadle pumps, drip irrigation, gully treatment)

• Determining the possible impact of climate change on wetlands.

Some useful links
http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/africawaterinvestment/index.asp
http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/africa/index.asp

Making a Practical Impact

The CPWF has progressed enormously with its portfolio of 33 projects, led by 18 institutions (with over 150 partners) in the nine benchmark basins around which the CPWF continues to develop and build its capacity becoming operational. The CPWF's approach to fostering partnerships is demonstrated with 27% of the approved projects led by non-CGIAR institutions, especially NARES, and 45% led by organizations that are not members of the CPWF joint venture consortium.

As the first of the funded projects commenced implementation in June 2004, it's still too early to show how projects and synthesis research are integrated in the Program as a whole. However, some early results from different projects can illustrate the CPWF's practical impact.

• ‘ Coastal resource management for improving livelihoods' , led by IRRI, Philippines . Farmers in Batiaghata , Bangladesh planted Aus (dry) season rice for the first time using water stored in the on-farm canal network. Working with the People's Committee of Bac Lieu province in Vietnam , farmers in Bac Lieu can cultivate crops into the drought period due to proper Sluice operation. Poor farmers producing wicker handicrafts are being encouraged to harvest sea-grass, a nuisance weed in shrimp ponds, with the promise of exporting their products through interested companies in Ho Chi Minh City .

• ‘Strategic innovations in dry land farming' led by the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute, Ghana . Construction of domestic rainwater reservoirs in pilot sites in Ghana is nearing completion. This will enable verification of survey results that suggest that women in farming households will use the time saved from not having to collect water, to invest in vegetable farming and other health and income generating activities.

• ‘Livelihood resilience in dry areas' , led by ICARDA, Syria . Several options for supplemental irrigation and water harvesting have been identified, while, a change of farmers' attitudes means that sheep manure is now viewed as a nutrient rather than a waste material and water pollutant. Generally the project is promoting institutional innovation in Iran through its ability to link organizations more easily as part of a partnership focused international program.

• ‘Multiple water use' led by IWMI, South Africa . The CPWF has enabled a multi partner approach to forming "learning alliances" in the Limpopo and Mekong basins, with other basins to follow. Action plans are identifying critical requirements in establishing multiple use systems, where the same water serves for use in drinking, hygiene and small-scale horticulture.

• ‘Rainwater and nutrient use efficiency' led by ICRISAT, Niger . Farmers in the Volta basin were exposed to some of the ‘best bet' technologies being evaluated, while project partners have acquired skills in using decision support tools and improved their understanding of land degradation issues.

• ‘Improving productivity in salt affected areas' led by IRRI, Philippines . Germplasm exchange and distribution with NARES and other partners including elite lines with multiple tolerances to abiotic stresses has occurred. Field days for farmers in India , and training activities for 300 farmers in Vietnam have been completed. Egyptian partners have decided to implement the project from their own resources demonstrating commitment.


A feature of the CPWF is adding value to international public goods contents through a synthesis of research results, which has already produced several state-of-the-art papers, including two journal issues dedicated to CPWF papers. Other activities include travel grants to young scientists; facilitating interactions between NARES and advanced research institutes; researchers' networks formed in basins to Facilitate dialogue; refinement of basin profiles; and continued dialogue with the global environmental change community.

Some useful links
http://www.waterforfood.org