IWMI : Water for Food Conference - National conference addressing water management issues, food security, environment and climate change in Sri Lanka

Water for Food Conference
National conference addressing water management issues, food security,
environment and climate change in Sri Lanka

Organized by
International Water Management Institute
Irrigation Department
Department of Agriculture and
Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute
09 to 11 June 2009
Colombo, Sri Lanka

The sharp increase in food prices witnessed in the past few years has raised serious concerns about food security, especially in the developing countries. Increasing water productivity in agriculture, making targeted investments and putting in place the right institutional measures will be critical components in effective water use for food and environmental security. These issues will be discussed at the Water for Food Conference being held in Colombo from 9th to 11th June, 2009.

The conference is being organized by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the Irrigation Department, the Department of Agriculture and the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute (HARTI) to discuss issues of water management for food security in Sri Lanka.

Organization

The two and a half day conference will include an inaugural session, presentations and discussion, reporting back, and further discussion of future directions for research in the sector.

The full agenda can be found here.

Day 1:
Morning - inaugural session with key note speakers Afternoon - three parallel sessions on the three themes, including presentations and discussion.

Day 2:
All day - three parallel sessions on the three themes, including presentations and discussion.

Day 3:
Plenary session to share the findings of the three parallel sessions and to discussion key issues and directions for future research.

Special Guests and Key Speakers

The Hon. Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka will address the conference, and the Hon. Chamal Rajapaksa, Minister of Irrigation and Water Management and the Hon. Maithripala Sirisena, Minister of Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services, will present some of the issues facing Sri Lanka in relation to food security, irrigation management and agriculture. In addition the audience will be treated to addresses by several speakers who are well respected in their fields, these include:

Dr Swaminathan, Member of the Rajya Sabha and Chairman of the Swaminathan Foundation
Dr Colin Chartres, Director General, IWMI
Eng. H. P. S. Somasiri, Director General, Irrigation Department
Dr. C. Kudagamage, Director General, Department of Agriculture
Mr. V. K. Nanayakkara, Director, HARTI

Information for Presenters

All those authors who have been selected to present will by now have received a letter of invitation and guidelines for the paper. These guidelines can also be found here, with additional information about the presentation, which should be no more than 10 minutes long.

Guidelines for Presenters

Abstracts of all the papers that are due to be presented can be downloaded here.

Flyer
Water for Food Conference (223KB)

Compendium of Abstracts
Irrigation for Food Security (477KB)

Organized by

Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute

Sponsored by