Water, Land and Ecosystems - Ecuador

Tools for wetland management: lessons learnt from a comparative assessment

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 22:02:41 +0000

Regions

Latin America

TypeJournal Article

Languageen

Authors

Cools, J.
Johnston, Robyn M.
Hattermann, F.F.
Douven, W.
Zsuffa, I.

This paper provides the synthesis of the special issue on the ''role of wetlands in river basin management'' and reviews lessons learnt from a comparative assessment of the presented case studies in Europe, Africa and Latin-America. Although wetlands are important for local communities and biodiversity, the services and products they deliver for local livelihoods and river basins are insufficiently known, and inadequately valued and understood by authorities. Wetlands are too often perceived as standalone elements and poorly integrated into river basin management plans. In this volume, an analytical framework is developed to formulate and compare wetland management options, also in data-poor contexts and to bridge the gap between science and policy. The framework is a set of tools and processes to structure the information flows needed to identify and score management options in terms of their impact, feasibility, vulnerability to future changes and trade-offs. In practice, it was found that the framework provided a useful set of tools to promote understanding and underpin negotiations. The major barrier for a better integration of wetlands in river basin management was found to be the lack of understanding of what the important issues were and the institutional capacity to organise cooperation and consequent implementation of the agreed plans. This paper presents the following conclusions. Firstly, rapid assessment tools and simplified scoring methods were used and proved useful in explaining issues across sectors and scales, and were important in creating mutual understanding, even though they did not necessarily present new insights for local or disciplinary experts. Secondly, in order to improve the knowledge base, an integrated database is developed, especially with regard to water quantity simulation at the river basin scale and wetland scale, potential habitat availability and the quantification of adaptive and institutional capacity, including the impact of future changes. Data has been compiled from various, scattered sources, including global data sets, sectoral wetland and/or river basin-specific quantitative and qualitative data sets. Thirdly, in case of limited data availability, rather than improving the accuracy of available quantitative data, it is proposed to better use alternative qualitative sources of data, from local experts, authority representatives and wetland users.

Citation

Cools, J.; Johnston, Robyn; Hattermann, F. F.; Douven, W.; Zsuffa, I. 2013. Tools for wetland management: lessons learnt from a comparative assessment. Environmental Science and Policy, 34:138-145. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2013.01.013

Accessibility

Limited Access

Research Themes

Restoring Degraded Landscapes

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/10568/40266

Global and local genetic diversity at two microsatellite loci in Plasmodium vivax parasites from Asia, Africa and South America

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 22:02:41 +0000

TypeJournal Article

Languageen

Authors

Schousboe, M.L.
Ranjitkar, S.
Rajakaruna, R.S.
Amerasinghe, Priyanie H.
Konradsen, Flemming
Morales, Francisco José
Ord, R.
Pearce, R.
Leslie, T.
Rowland, M.
Gadalla, N
Bygbjerg, C.
Alifrangis, M.
Roper, C.

Background: Even though Plasmodium vivax has the widest worldwide distribution of the human malaria species and imposes a serious impact on global public health, the investigation of genetic diversity in this species has been limited in comparison to Plasmodium falciparum. Markers of genetic diversity are vital to the evaluation of drug and vaccine efficacy, tracking of P. vivax outbreaks, and assessing geographical differentiation between parasite populations._x000D_ Methods: The genetic diversity of eight P. vivax populations (n = 543) was investigated by using two microsatellites (MS), m1501 and m3502, chosen because of their seven and eight base-pair (bp) repeat lengths, respectively. These were compared with published data of the same loci from six other P. vivax populations._x000D_ Results: In total, 1,440 P. vivax samples from 14 countries on three continents were compared. There was highest heterozygosity within Asian populations, where expected heterozygosity (He) was 0.92-0.98, and alleles with a high repeat number were more common. Pairwise FST revealed significant differentiation between most P. vivax populations, with the highest divergence found between Asian and South American populations, yet the majority of the diversity (~89%) was found to exist within rather than between populations._x000D_ Conclusions: The MS markers used were informative in both global and local P. vivax population comparisons and their seven and eight bp repeat length facilitated population comparison using data from independent studies. A complex spatial pattern of MS polymorphisms among global P. vivax populations was observed which has potential utility in future epidemiological studies of the P. vivax parasite.

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Citation

Schousboe, M. L.; Ranjitkar, S.; Rajakaruna, R. S.; Amerasinghe, Priyanie; Konradsen, F.; Morales, F.; Ord, R.; Pearce, R.; Leslie, T.; Rowland, M.; Gadalla, N; Bygbjerg, C.; Alifrangis, M.; Roper, C. 2014. Global and local genetic diversity at two microsatellite loci in Plasmodium vivax parasites from Asia, Africa and South America. Malaria Journal, 13:1-9. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-13-392

Accessibility

Open Access

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/10568/77529

Multiple origins of mutations in the mdr1 gene—a putative marker of chloroquine resistance in P. vivax

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 22:02:41 +0000

TypeJournal Article

Languageen

Authors

Schousboe, M.L.
Ranjitkar, S.
Rajakaruna, R.S.
Amerasinghe, Priyanie H.
Morales, Francisco José
Pearce, R.
Ord, R.
Leslie, T.
Rowland, M.
Gadalla, N.B.
Konradsen, Flemming
Bygbjerg, C.
Roper, C.
Alifrangis, M.

Background Chloroquine combined with primaquine has been the ecommended antimalarial treatment of Plasmodium vivax malaria infections for six decades but the efficacy of this treatment regimen is threatened by chloroquine resistance (CQR). Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the multidrug resistance gene, Pvmdr1 are putative determinants of CQR but the extent of their emergence at population level remains to be explored. Objective In this study we describe the prevalence of SNPs in the Pvmdr1 among samples collected in seven P. vivax endemic countries and we looked for molecular evidence of drug selection by characterising polymorphism at microsatellite (MS) loci flanking the Pvmdr1 gene. Methods We examined the prevalence of SNPs in the Pvmdr1 gene among 267 samples collected from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Sudan, Sao Tome and Ecuador. We measured and diversity in four microsatellite (MS) markers flanking the Pvmdr1 gene to look evidence of selection on mutant alleles. Results SNP polymorphism in the Pvmdr1 gene was largely confined to codons T958M, Y976F and F1076L. Only 2.4% of samples were wildtype at all three codons (TYF, n = 5), 13.3% (n =28) of the samples were single mutant MYF, 63.0% of samples (n = 133) were double mutant MYL, and 21.3%(n = 45) were triple mutant MFL. Clear geographic differences in the prevalence of these Pvmdr mutation combinations were observed. Significant linkage disequilibrium (LD) between Pvmdr1 and MS alleles was found in populations sampled in Ecuador, Nepal and Sri Lanka, while significant LD between Pvmdr1 and the combined 4 MS locus haplotype was only seen in Ecuador and Sri Lanka. When combining the 5 loci, high level diversity, measured as expected heterozygosity (He), was seen in the complete sample set (He = 0.99), while He estimates for individual loci ranged from 0.00–0.93. Although Pvmdr1 haplotypes were not consistently associated with specific flanking MS alleles, there was significant differentiation between geographic sites which could indicate directional selection through local drug pressure. Conclusions Our observations suggest that Pvmdr1 mutations emerged independently on multiple occasions even within the same population. In Sri Lanka population analysis at multiple sites showed evidence of local selection and geographical dispersal of Pvmdr1 mutations between sites.

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Citation

Schousboe, M. L.; Ranjitkar, S.; Rajakaruna, R. S.; Amerasinghe, Priyanie H.; Morales, F.; Pearce, R.; Ord, R.; Leslie, T.; Rowland, M.; Gadalla, N. B.; Konradsen, F.; Bygbjerg, C.; Roper, C.; Alifrangis, M. 2015. Multiple origins of mutations in the mdr1 gene—a putative marker of chloroquine resistance in P. vivax. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 9(11):1-17. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004196

Accessibility

Open Access

Research Themes

Variability, Risks and Competing Uses

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/10568/69468

What can the Latin American cities of Cali, Quito and Medellín learn from each other’s efforts to build sustainable food systems?

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 22:02:41 +0000

Regions

Latin America

TypeReport

Subjects

Food systems
Policy
Urban agriculture

Languageen

Authors

Rankin, Sara
Bonilla Findji, Osana

• Movements to create sustainable food systems in Latin America are beginning to transform agri-food dynamics and the concept of conventional urban development. • Addressing the problems associated with ensuring food and nutritional security in urban areas requires a systemic approach, collective action and the involvement of different actors and sectors. • Regional exchanges allow learning about experiences adapted to the realities of each territory, identifying successful practices, generating cooperation linkages as well as inspiring and encouraging innovation.

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Citation

Rankin, Sara; Bonilla-Findji, Osana. 2019. What can the Latin American cities of Cali, Quito and Medellín learn from each other’s efforts to build sustainable food systems?. Colombo: Sri Lanka. CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems.9p.

Accessibility

Open Access

Research Themes

Rural-Urban Linkages

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/10568/100304

Solutions

Urbanization

Stakeholder dialogues and outreach on rural-urban food systems

Amanda — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 05:26:00 +0000

The funds will support between the involvement of RUAF at key urban stakeholder meetings and the production of publications and outreach material to promote the WLE agenda and impact pathway of the RUL Flagship . They will also be used to support cities in uptake and implementation fo the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFFP). The latter will be specifically implemented in Quito (Ecuador) to support them in the development of a vulnerability analysis of their food system. It will also involve the participation in a regional meeting in Cali (Colombia) that seeks to strenghten capacities of participants from 5-6 cities in this area. Work in 2018 will also involve targetted support to other cities participating in the ICLEI-RUAF CITYFOOD network in uptake of the MUFFP.

Contact Person

van Veenhuizen, René <r.van.veenhuizen@ruaf.org>

Lead Center

RUAF Global Partnership

Donors

Hivos

CGIAR

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 31, 2017 — December 31, 2021

Research ThemeRural-Urban Linkages

Cluster

3.1 City-Region Food Systems and Urban Food Security

Regions

Global

Countries

Ecuador

City Region Food Systems Forum

Amanda — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 05:16:00 +0000

One international meeting among ca 100 city representatives, researchers, NGO and private sector and international organisations in charge of agriculture or food on resilient city region food systems and its contribution to city and international agendas. Organised in the context of the 2017 ICLEi Resilient Cities Congress in Bonn (May 2017). Participants are exposed to emerging topics, international agendas, tools and approaches related to city region food system.

Contact Person

van Veenhuizen, René <r.van.veenhuizen@ruaf.org>

Lead Center

RUAF Global Partnership

Donors

CGIAR

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Local Governments for Sustainability, Bonn (ICLEI)

Partners

FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, RUAF - RUAF Foundation

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2017 — January 31, 2018

Research ThemeRural-Urban Linkages

Cluster

3.1 City-Region Food Systems and Urban Food Security

Regions

Global

Countries

Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Kenya, Sri Lanka

CityFoodTools - Mapping City Regions Food Systems

Amanda — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 05:06:00 +0000

This project supports analysis of city region food systems in Colombo Sri Lanka and Quito, Ecuador. The CRFS analysis in Colombo is part of the FAO Food for the Cities Project implemented together with IWMI and RUAF (see further: https://www.fao.org/in-action/food-for-cities-programme/pilotcities/activ...). The Quito assessment is part of the RUAF CityFoodTools project (https://www.ruaf.org/projects/developing-tools-mapping-and-assessing-sust...). The Colombo assessment will support (1) Introducing by-laws on RRR from food waste at the level of CMC.; (2) Development of an implementable action plan on UPA at the level of the Western Province (3) Introduction of food safety and hygiene aspects along the entire value chain in the national food act. The Quito assessment will help the city to collect data (gender sensitive) key indicators for food related policies and actions for building more resilient city region food systems. Baseline data will be mapped onto a GIS system to allow for design of future spatialised interventions and monitoring (CoA 3.1, outcome 3.1, 2 cities in 2 countries).

Contact Person

van Veenhuizen, René <r.van.veenhuizen@ruaf.org>

Lead Center

RUAF Global Partnership

Donors

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

CGIAR

Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation

Partners

Government of Ecuador, IWMI - International Water Management Institute, RUAF - RUAF Foundation

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2017 — December 31, 2017

Research ThemeRural-Urban Linkages

Cluster

3.1 City-Region Food Systems and Urban Food Security

Regions

Global

Countries

Ecuador, Sri Lanka

Assessment and use of agricultural biodiversity for landscape and ecosystem restoration

Amanda — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 09:30:00 +0000

Intra-specific diversity of crops is one of the principle mechanisms used by small holder farmers in low input agricultural landscapes to maintain and restore resilience and production in agricultural landscapes. Deliberate use of intra specific crop diversity in farmers field can be a productive alternative to agrochemicals. Assessment to the amount and distribution of functional intra-specific diversity for annual and perennial crops in agricultural landscapes is needed to be able to improve access to diversity and information on this diversity to restore and maintain resilience and productivity in agricultural landscapes. Benefits to farmer or farming communities from their use of local diversity, are necessary to identify the different ways of using genetic diversity within production systems to restore and maintain agricultural landscapes. The work focuses on (I) the use perennial horticultural crops to rehabilitate saline and water scarce environments, (ii) the role crop and pasture genetic diversity on farm to buffer and rehabilitate lands under unpredictable environmental change, (iii) the role of on farm crop genetic diversity to restore ecosystem services to regulate pest and diseases.

Contact Person

De Santis, Paola <p.desantis@cgiar.org>

Donors

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Government of Italy

CGIAR

Partners

Bioversity (Alliance) - Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT - Headquarter (Bioversity International), CAAS - Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, CATAS - Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, CENESTA - Center for Sustainable Development and Environment, EBI - Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute, FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Government of Iran, IAV - Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II, IER - Institut d’Economie Rurale (Mali), IFAD - International Fund for Agricultural Development, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, INRAN - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger, Kunming Institute of Botany, LI-BIRD - Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development, Ministry of Agriculture (Sri Lanka), Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources (Uzbekistan), MOE - Ministry of Environment (Sri Lanka), MUC - Minzu University of China, NARC - Nepal Agricultural Research Council, NARO - National Agricultural Research Organisation (Uganda), NCARE - National Center for Agricultural Research and Extension, PAR - Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research, Royal Government of Bhutan, TSAU - Tashkent State Agrarian University, UN Environment - United Nations Environment Programme, WSU - Washington State University

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2017 — December 31, 2021

Research ThemeRestoring Degraded Landscapes

Cluster

1.1 Landscape Restoration

Regions

Global

Countries

Bhutan, Burundi, China, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Iran, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, Uganda, Uzbekistan

Topics:

Ecosystem services

Regulating current and future damage from pests and diseases through enhanced use of intra-specific crop diversity in agricultural production landscapes

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:55 +0000

Intra- and interspecific diversity of agricultural biodiversity is one of the principle mechanisms that pest and disease regulating services are provided by agricultural ecosystems and landscapes. As much as 30% of the global harvest losses to pests and diseases occur in developing countries. The continuing evolution of tolerant species of pests and pathogens that are able to overcome resistance genes of modern breeding requires an increased use and reliance on pesticides with consequences for environmental externalities (e.g. water quality) and human health. Landscapes sown to uniform varieties (modern or local) are prone to increased vulnerability to pests and diseases that can spread rapidly (e.g. the Irish potato famine caused by the late blight pathogen in the 1840s; the southern corn leaf blight in the US in the 1970s; the fungal disease black sigatoka responsible for about 47% of yield loss in Central American countries; cassava mosaic virus causes yield losses of up to 40% in some parts of Africa). Until recently IPM methods have concentrated on using agronomic techniques to modify the environment to reduce the need for pesticides, making limited use of the opportunities offered by the effective deployment of the intraspecific diversity of local crop varieties themselves. This project concentrates on management of local crop cultivars as a key resource for pest and disease regulation for a globally agreed set of staple crops for the specific pest and disease systems in China, Ecuador, Morocco, and Uganda: (i) maize (Zea mays): northern leaf blight (Setosphaeria turcica) and stem borer; (ii) common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris): angular leaf spot (Phaeoisariopsis griseola), anthracnose (Colletotrichum lindemuthianum), rust (Uromyces appendiculatus), and bean fly (Ophiomyia phaseoli; O. spencerella); (iii) faba bean (Vicia faba): aphids (Aphis fabae), chocolate spot (Botrytis fabae), seed pod weevil (Bruchus rufimanus; B. dentipes); (iv) banana and plantain (Musa spp.): black leaf streak (black sigatoka; Mycosphaerella fijiensis), Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense), nematodes, and weevils (Cosmopolites sordidus); (v) Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. subsp. durum): Septoria leaf blotch (caused by Zysomoseptoria tritici) and brown rust (Puccinia recondita f. sp. Tritici); and (vi) rice (Oryza sativa): rice blast (Pyricularia grisea) and rice plant hopper (Nilaparvata lugens).. By concentrating on intra-specific diversity as an ecosystem service based approach to pest and disease regulation, we highlight ecological mechanisms that reduce field, farm, and landscape vulnerability to pest and disease outbreaks. To date, a global collaboration of national researchers from four countries, have been supported to train national site-level personnel in common participatory approaches and technical assessment of genetic diversity, pathogens and pests incidence, and in the implementation of on farm experimental trials. Ministries of Agriculture, NARS and local governments in all four countries have provided policy support and allocated staff and students to work with farmer communities on integrating the use of crop varietal diversity good agronomic practices to manage pests and diseases. Local research stations, extension and local NGOs support capacity building and mainstreaming methods to manage pest and diseases, including providing good quality clean diverse seeds, and knowledge of pest and disease symptoms identification for better on farm management. Early results of field trials and other project activities include: (a) finding that increased diversity of crop varieties distribution across farmers’ fields and agricultural landscapes corresponds to a decrease in mean crop damage levels and reduced risk to future damage (b) Multi-landscape on-farm experiments identified varieties with more effective resistance to pests and diseases when grown outside their home landscape emphasizing the need for landscape scale mobilization of intraspecific diversity for pest and disease based regulating ecosystem services; (c) Intra-specific (variety) mixtures with non-uniform resistance tested in all countries and specific cases where mixtures out-performed their component monocultures in reducing crop damage and increasing yields identified for further testing; (d) Locally identified resistant materials integrated into national resistance breeding procedures with farmer selection criteria; (e) Clean diverse sets of seeds provided from community seed banks have increased production for small holder farmers in some of the sites up to 30%; (f) An unexpected benefit was these community seed banks acted as a meeting point for household members which adds social cohesion by providing a common means for the communities to improve production and income; (g) Training materials were developed, and over 3 000 farmers, extension, students, and researchers trained; (h) a damage abatement methodology and choice experiments developed to determine economic trade-offs using crop genetic diversity versus other IPM, resistant breed varieties or chemical input methods; and (i) Knowledge products: radio and television programmes, videos, drama, booklets, website articles and posters and peer-reviewed publications jointly authored by national partners. The long-term benefits of this initiative will be increased human capacity of male and female farmers to improve their incomes through the development of the skills, knowledge and enabling environment to use crop biodiversity to reduce crop loss from pests and diseases. Farmers will be empowered to use diversity and conserve it for future use. Rich and unique crop biodiversity, which form the basis for food security will be available to poor male and female farmers in the quality, quantity, and diversity needed to buffer against the increasing unpredictability in the amount and onset of rainfall, temperature extremes, and the frequency and severity of pests and pathogens. Not only will different varieties be availed which are adapted to new landscape conditions, but that diversity per se, i.e., sets of varieties with variation in functional or adaptive traits, will minimize the risk of crop loss under changes in pest and pathogens. Three complementary dimensions will be essential to ensure that farmers increase their ability to benefit from the use of crop genetic resources in their agricultural production systems to regulate pest and disease. The first will be to ensure that variation in resistance to key pests and diseases continues to exist in rural landscapes and be accessible for small-holder farmers from local communities and through seed networks supported by national programs. Second that the policy environment supports the use and benefit-sharing with farmers of the diversity for agricultural productivity and ecosystems resilience, and third that the farmers in these landscapes have the knowledge, institutions and leadership capacity to evaluate and use the benefits that this diversity provides them with. By adding intraspecific diversity, this project is working to reduce current crop loss, like other IPM methods, but also to reduce the probability of future crop loss, where target crops will be resilient to future changes in pests and pathogens (CGIAR IDO on Future Options). We posit that crop genetic diversity can regulate pest and diseases for specific landscapes and farm where there is variation in the host (crop inter- and intraspecific diversity) to the pest in question. However, we are aware that crop genetic diversity may not be the solution in all cases. Although the information is collected at the farmer’s field, it is collected from households across the larger agrocological landscape and the level of analysis is both at farm and at the agricultural landscape level. In this regard, GPS coordinated are collected for each household accompanying with information collected not only on the level of intra-specific diversity, but also the pest and disease damage and levels of pesticide use. Initial maps have already been made for China, Morocco, and are on-going for Uganda and Ecuador. We are using this information to look within each agroecological landscapes whether diversity is having an impact on reducing disease damage at the landscape level. Our up-scaling is concerned with diversity deployment in space from farm to community and across community to the landscape level. Questions such as: is it good to put all the diversity out there or not; and at what spatial scale should diversity be deployed are key to this work. Wheat stem rust (UG99) is a good example of a landscape level threat where single cultivars grown over larger areas has evolved a super-race pathogen that has become a serious threat to landscape level production. Thus, this work has many large-scale implications and aims to answer how much diversity (intra-specific) needs to be deployed at the landscape scale to avoid such super races from continuing to evolve.

Contact Person

Devra Jarvis (d.jarvis@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

Bioversity International

Partners

Unión de Organizaciones Campesinas Indígenas de Cotacachi, Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II, National Agriculture Research Laboratories, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yunnan Agricultural University

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2012 — July 01, 2016

Research ThemeRestoring Degraded Landscapes

Cluster

3.1 Landscape restoration and their impacts

Regions

Southeast Asia, Latin America, Global, Eastern Africa

Countries

China, Ecuador, Morocco, Uganda

Vulnerability analysis of the hydropower production at the Delsitanisagua watershed to climate change. Phase 1

wle_admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 22:28:03 +0000

The National Council of Electricity in Ecuador (CONELEC, from the name in Spanish) and the Information Systems for the Energy Sector (SISDAT, from the name in Spanish) show that the electric energy demand in Ecuador for 2013 was 17,069 GWh, which represents an increase of 220% compared to the demand observed in 1999. This increase in the energy demand in a relative short term is pushing the government towards the identification of new alternatives to augment the electric energy supply through different means. Several hydroelectric projects in the country are being planned or are already under construction as a way to respond to the increasing energy demands, and are considered a technological option that is more sustainable from financial and environment perspectives. However, according to CONELEC data, the electric energy supply system of Ecuador is increasingly reliant on hydroelectric plants that can potentially be affected by climate change. Consequently, investigating the vulnerability of hydropower production (that relies importantly on the provision of water-related ES such as stream flow regulation and sediment retention) to changes in future climate is a priority for the Ecuadorian government. Based on this, the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment with the support of GIZ-Ecuador commissioned this project to assess the vulnerability of hydroelectric plants to plausible climate change and to propose adaptation measures in the watershed to ensure the sustainability of stream flows in the long term. The project activities include simulation of stream flows under current and likely future climatic conditions; estimation of costs that likely variations on stream flow due to climate change can impose to hydroelectric plants; and identification of potential of conservation measures in the watershed that can mitigate impacts of climate change on hydropower generation.

Contact Person

Marcela Quintero (m.quintero@CGIAR.ORG)

Lead Center

International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)

Partners

ADC-supported livelihood improvement through sustainable resource management program

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — September 30, 2015

Research ThemeVariability, Risks and Competing Uses

Cluster

5.3 Water and Energy for Food

Regions

Latin America

Countries

Ecuador