The CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) is an international, multi-institutional research initiative with a strong emphasis on north-south and south-south partnerships. Its goal is to increase the productivity of water used for agriculture, leaving more water for other users and the environment.

Water scarcity is one of the most pressing issues facing humanity today. Provision of sufficient water is necessary for human health and poverty reduction. However, water quality and availability are highly variable around the world. Typically, the most extreme shortages are experienced by those least able to cope with them; the most impoverished inhabitants of developing countries. more...

The Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture critically evaluates the benefits, costs, and impacts of the past 50 years of water development, the water management challenges communities are facing today, and solutions people have developed. The results will enable better investment and management decisions in water and agriculture in the near future and over the next 50 years. The assessment is produced by a broad partnership of practitioners, researchers and policy makers. more...

The Global Water Partnership's vision is for a water secure world. Its mission is to support the sustainable development and management of water resources at all levels.

GWP was founded in 1996 by the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) to foster integrated water resource management (IWRM), and to ensure the coordinated development and management of water, land, and related resources by maximising economic and social welfare without compromising the sustainability of vital environmental systems. During the past 12 years, the GWP Network has become active in 13 regions and over 70 countries. more...

The International Centre for Underutilised Crops (ICUC) is a global research, development and training organisation. It provides expertise and acts as a knowledge hub for tropical, sub-tropical and temperate plant development.

ICUC is a Partner Organisation to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and is in a prime position to support and collaborate with all CGIAR Centres in the implementation of the related new System Priorities, as well as work with the many smaller initiatives scattered around the world doing important work on underutilised species.

Since its inception in 1992, ICUC has supported research on national priorities for germplasm collections, agronomy and post-harvest methodology of underutilised species and associated scientific conferences and training events. More recently, our focus has expanded to include processing and marketing assessments and training to local people. more...

Predictions in Ungauged Basins (PUB) is an IAHS initiative for the decade of 2003-2012, aimed at uncertainty reduction in hydrological practice. It is a bottom-up movement which engage hydrologists world-wide. This site is maintained by the PUB Secretariat located at the International Water Management Institute in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

PUB is an initiative that emerged out of discussions between IAHS members on the World-Wide Web and during a series of IAHS sponsored meetings in Maastricht (18-27 July, 2001), Kofu (28-29 March, 2002) and Brasilia (20-22 November, 2002) about the need to reduce the predictive uncertainty in hydrological science and practice.

PUB aims to shift the prediction of stream flow, sediment and water quality variables from calibration- based to new, and largely understanding-based methods. more...

The Consortium for Spatial Information (CGIAR-CSI) is an initiative of the many geospatial scientists within the Consultative Group for International Agriculture Research (CGIAR), linking the efforts of CGIAR scientists, national and international partners, and others working to apply and advance Geospatial Science for International Sustainable Agriculture Development, Natural Resource Management, Biodiversity Conservation, and Poverty Alleviation in Developing Countries.

The CGIAR-CSI works to facilitate collaboration and capacity building for Data Sharing, Data Dissemination, and Geospatial Analysis amongst the fifteen CGIAR Centers and their many regional activities; with geospatial laboratories, scientists and researchers throughout the developing countries; and within the broader Global Research and Development Communities. more...

IWMI-TATA Water Policy Research Program is a collaborative initiative between a research institution and a corporate body, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Sir Ratan TATA Trust (SRTT). This partnership emerged from a shared concern regarding the growing water stress in different parts of India.

While the issues and problems related to water have been well articulated by several stakeholders over time, the IWMI-TATA program aims at evolving fresh perspectives and sustainable solutions by drawing from the vast research carried out across the country and take these in the form of policy recommendations to the policy makers at the national, state and local level. more...

Food security largely depends on irrigation and good water governance. Potential solutions to the current crisis include more water storage, improved management of irrigation systems and increasing water productivity (e.g., more kg of crop per 1,000 liters of water) in irrigated and rainfed farming systems. All of these will require investment in knowledge, infrastructure and human capacity. Therefore, Human development and environmental security in the region cannot be achieved if the irrigation sector does not adopt forward –looking strategies. To achieve this, the irrigation sector and its actors need to adopt effective policies, strategies and practices to improve performance, and instruments to monitor and evaluate the results of change.

The water knowledge hub on Irrigation Service Reform led by IWMI and FAO would support action at different levels through knowledge sharing, capacity building and project implementation with a view to furthering the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS). more...