Water, Land and Ecosystems - Central Asia

Water and irrigation in Central Asia (Bilateral activity cluster)

Amanda — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 08:57:00 +0000

This project is comprised of six bilateral projects which are implemented by IWMI in Central Asia region.

1. Water management in Uzbekistan: This Programme is funded by the European Union in line with the wider framework of the EU bilateral MIP 2014-2020 for Uzbekistan. It pursues the overall objective to contribute to sustainable and inclusive growth in the rural sector in Uzbekistan in the context of a changing climate. *ENDING IN 2019*

2. Tajikistan WUAs evaluation. Objectives are: I. econometrically evaluate impacts of WUAs interventions made by the USAID project II. To identify key factors that may compromise the ability of WUAs to successfully provide irrigation services over time. III. To understand cropping decisions on kitchen plots, and identify opportunities for and constraints in cultivation of key food crops, and improving crop diversity. IV. To identify opportunities for and challenges in accommodating the increasing roles of women in water management. *ENDING IN 2019*

3. iMoMo outscaling in Central Asia iMoMo - Innovative Technologies for Monitoring, Modeling and Managing Water) *ENDING IN 2019*

4. Reduce Water pollution and carbon: This research provides a first major attempt to integrate, quantify and analyze linkages between water, energy, food, climate and health while accounting for stakeholder perceptions and social challenges in rural settings through bottom-up, cross-border cooperation.

5. Monitoring and Controlling Groundwater Levels for Improved Agricultural Outcomes in the Uzbek Ferghana Valley, Central Asia;

6. Background study to inform structuring of potential EBRD technical engagement with the Government of Uzbekistan on water management issues.

Contact Person

Anarbekov, Oyture <o.anarbekov@cgiar.org>

Lead Center

International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Donors

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC)

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Partners

CREA - Council for research in agriculture and analysis of the agrarian economy (Italy), GIZ - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit / German Society for International Cooperation, iMoMo - iMoMo Innovation HUB, IWMI - International Water Management Institute, TIIM - Tashkent Irrigation and Melioration Institute, UBA - Environment Agency Austria (Umweltbundesamt), USAID - U.S. Agency for International Development

Completed

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

Research ThemeLand and Water Solutions

Cluster

2.1 ALWM Solutions for Resilient Smallholder Livelihood and Landscape Systems

Regions

Central Asia, Southeast Asia

Countries

Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

Improving sustainability by better incorporating the environment in water trade-off assessments

Amanda — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 08:00:00 +0000

This project will support IWMI researchers who are contributing to international conventions and other prominent fora (e.g. IPBES, Ramsar, JAXA) through application of IWMI research. This involvement contributes to better assessment of trade-offs and how to manage them and highlights the value of WLE related research in an international arena.

Contact Person

McCartney, Matthew <m.mccartney@cgiar.org>

Lead Center

International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Donors

CGIAR

Partners

IPBES - Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IWMI - International Water Management Institute, JAXA - Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Ramsar - The Ramsar Convention Secretariat

Completed

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

Research ThemeVariability, Risks and Competing Uses

Cluster

4.2 Managing Competing Uses and Trade-offs

Regions

Central Asia, Eastern Africa, Middle East and North Africa, Southern Asia, Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, Western Africa

Countries

Sri Lanka

Seed systems for land restoration and improved food security

Amanda — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 09:19:00 +0000

This project will enhance access to a diverse portfolio of crops and crops' varieties that are more suitable to address farmers needs, particularly to meet restoration as well as food security needs. Access to seeds, and therefore functioning and efficient seed systems, both formal and informal, is essential to ensure delivery of appropriate locally adapted seeds for restoration, food security or nutrition.

Contact Person

Otieno, Gloria <g.otieno@cgiar.org>

Donors

Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC)

CGIAR

Partners

Bioversity (Alliance) - Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT - Headquarter (Bioversity International), PROINPA - Fundación para la Promoción e Investigación de Productos Andinos, TSAU - Tashkent State Agrarian University

Completed

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

Research ThemeRestoring Degraded Landscapes

Cluster

1.1 Landscape Restoration

Regions

Central Asia

Countries

Bolivia, Uzbekistan

Impact of Water Users Associations on Water and Land Productivity, Equity and Food Security in Tajikistan

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

IWMI has been commissioned to design and conduct an impact evaluation (IE) of the water users associations (WUAs) that were established and supported under the ‘water management’ component of the Family Farming Program (FFP) (2010-2014) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). FFP is implemented in the Khatlon Province of Tajikistan as part of the US Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future. The goal of FFP is to continue USAID-funded activities to promote equitable and sustainable access to water for irrigation, by creating new WUAs and strengthening existing ones. FFP, which commenced in 2010, is a follow-on activity to the USAID Water Users Association Support Program (WUASP) (2004-2011). Thus the experiences of WUAs since 2004 provide an opportunity to evaluate and document the effectiveness of USAID’s WUA approach in addressing the overall goal of increasing agricultural productivity and profitability through improving water management. This 5-year impact evaluation project (2014-18) is based on a program theory approach, quasi-experimental design and mixed methods to generate both robust and contextually rich impact findings. It comprises three sequential phases of data collection and analyses: (a) a qualitative exploratory phase at inception through field visits and documentary review, (b) a major quasi-experimental quantitative phase through survey research at three data points - baseline (2014), mid-term (2015-16) and end-line (2017), and (c) a qualitative in-depth follow-up phase. In addition, GIS-remote sensing (RS) imagery is used to facilitate the selection of study sites and verify and map the ultimate impact findings on water management and crop productivity obtained through survey and case study research. The results of the study are aimed at helping the USAID, the Government of Tajikistan as well as other donors in this Central Asian country in formulating more efficient institutions for water management, strategize their water sector investment portfolios and improve water-use efficiency and water productivity.

Contact Person

Murat Yakubov (m.yakubov@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Partners

United States Agency for International Development, Z-Analytics Group, Design-and-Research Institute ‘FAZO’ of the State Committee for Land Surveying and Geodesy of the Republic of Tajikistan, National Agency for Land Reclamation and Irrigation

Completed

Start/End dateMay 01, 2014 — June 01, 2018

Research ThemeLand and Water Solutions

Cluster

2.2 Revitalizing irrigation systems

Regions

Central Asia

Countries

Tajikistan

Gender responsive tools for improving irrigation performance

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

The primary activity is piloting, refining and out-scaling a framework and user-friendly tools to assess and improve gender performance in irrigation. The activity seeks to contribute to gender-equitable performance and outcomes in agriculture water management investments in Asia and Africa. 1. Pilot tools for gender performance for small-scale irrigation investments 2. Share learning across targeted projects and countries on methods/approaches to achieve gender-equitable impact with agricultural water and NRM management 3. Enhance collaboration between research and implementation to design gender responsive irrigation plans, implementation and research

Contact Person

Nicole Lefore (n.lefore@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2014 — December 01, 2016

Research ThemeLand and Water Solutions

Cluster

2.1 Agricultural water and land management

Regions

Southern Africa, Central Asia

Countries

Malawi, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan

Ecological footprint of food security: irrigated and rainfed areas in Asia and Africa

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

Investments in sustainable irrigation and agricultural water management help to insulate communities against food insecurity and hunger, generate income and push for economic development through better integration with markets. Yet, less than 5% of the land area in Sub-Saharan Africa is irrigated. Lack of information on the location and the extent of irrigated areas remains a key challenge to instrument policy framework and direct investment for targeted development both in terms of food security, water resources management, and managing the irrigation externalities to maintain healthy ecosystem functions based on which agriculture and human wellbeing are sustained. In 2012 IWMI embarked an initiative to map agro-ecosystems across Asia and Africa, including irrigated areas and the way that agricultural water management practices are expanding in traditionally rainfed areas as part of its strategy moving towards impact oriented research. This initiative builds on IWMI’s previous attempt on Global Irrigated Area Mapping (GIAM) but aims to monitor agricultural water management and irrigation development to better support water resources and agriculture development in developing countries where reliable reporting and monitoring system is yet to be established. Our niche in such efforts in an already crowded mapping world lies in IWMI and WLE's core business in relation to agricultural water management: how could such maps inform better water resources and agricultural planning and investment, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where accurate and up-to-date information is not often readily available. The comparative advantage of IWMI will be to link ecosystems to food production to add value to conventional land use/land cover mapping, and support policy making and investment decisions. An operational system of such map updates will further enable adjustments in decision making processes at this era of changes. We will establish a system which will generate maps of irrigated and rainfed areas for Africa and Asia and disseminate the products through IWMI and WLE web portal. Such maps can contribute to development of IWMI’s flagship products and metrics, and be a base information layer for many of IWMI’s projects. It is also a product system which truly integrate water, land and ecosystem, the three pillars of WLE CRP. It will be beneficial for broad research communities and stakeholders including investors, governments, and donor agencies for informed decision making to improve land and water productivity in a sustainable manner and contribute to poverty alleviation and economic growth.

Contact Person

Cai, Xueliang (x.cai@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Partners

International Food Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Tsinghua University, Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, Group on Earth Observations

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2014 — December 31, 2015

Research ThemeLand and Water Solutions

Cluster

2.1 Agricultural water and land management

Regions

Eastern Africa, Western Africa, Southern Africa, Southern Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa

Revitalizing Irrigation Management Organisations

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

During 2013 and 2014 the focus of the project was on historical analysis of the irrigation departments in 2 provinces in Uzbekistan and Pakistan. The objective for 2015 is to present the findings of the past two years in a workshop, which will bring together other researchers for experience sharing, wider lessons learnt and to develop uptake strategies, to integrate a specific gender component into the historical analysis of the irrigation departments as well as exploring on the one hand up-scaling dynamics of one alternative to state run irrigation systems as well as starting to explore an additional alternative, which comes in the form of private investment, which is so far under researched regarding its potential on revitalizing irrigation systems. The research is particularly important from an ecosystem service perspective – looking at different dimensions of regulating and provisional services of different ownership and management forms (public, participatory/community and private).

Contact Person

Wegerich, Kai (k.Wegerich@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Completed

Start/End dateMay 01, 2013 — December 01, 2016

Research ThemeLand and Water Solutions

Cluster

2.2 Revitalizing irrigation systems

Regions

Eastern Africa, Southern Asia, Central Asia

Countries

Ethiopia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan

Institutional Development in Small Transboundary Catchments: Deriving Lessons & Supporting Progress

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

Virtually every basin in which WLE operates crosses borders, adding a layer of complexity to the dynamics of water management. In 2014, the project addressed a set of critical issues related to transboundary water management. A first component of the project focused on measuring the degree of water cooperation in transboundary waters, with an eye toward supporting implementation of an SDG target on improving water cooperation. The component is also developing a framework of assessment for basin plans in transboundary waters and applying it to derive lessons concerning spatial and temporal basin plans. Findings are being ground-truthed through interactions with various actors in selected basins such as the Zambezi, Inkomati, Pungwe, Shire and Limpopo. A second component of the project is looking at how donor project cycles and logframe approaches affect project implementation in projects focused on transboundary water cooperation. This component is also classifying agreements related to Syr Darya tributaries and developing a paper analyzing this set of agreement to understand trends and derive lessons. A third component is working to understand how impacts of foreign direct investment affect power relations in the Nile. In 2015, the project will make a bold transition toward greater connection with on-the-ground institutional development in small transboundary catchments with particular focus on those in Africa. A first component of work in 2015 will place focus on smaller scale water cooperation which tends to much more practical. This component will seek to foster progress by informing and learning from water cooperation at the level of transboundary tributary or catchment. There is currently considerable important but perhaps neglected activity at a transboundary catchment level (e.g, Inkomati, Songwe, Shire, Pungwe basins), which presents an important opportunity to support ongoing development through tailored transboundary waters research that is focused on key topics such as i) organizational options, ii) benefit-sharing options, iii) fit-for-purpose bundles of institutional instruments that respond to specific conditions in specific basins. Dialogue has been initiated between project members and authorities in mentioned basins, and the project will seek to ensure outputs inform ongoing developments on-the-ground. Importantly, despite bias toward southern African basins, it is important to note that findings from such basins will be used to more broadly inform transboundary developments in other geographies including WLE focal regions. Notably, as well, this work has expanded to West Africa (Volta Basin), a WLE focal region. A second component of work in 2015 will seek to further mine the database of global transboundary water agreements and explore broader issues related to how scale influences the nature of transboundary water cooperation. Particular issues of focus in the database will be water allocation and benefit-sharing. The examination of how scale influences the nature of cooperation will be used to derive recommendations that are applicable to transboundary basins globally, including WLE focal regions. Uptake In addition to these more research-focused areas of work, uptake will be promoted through several channels. First, collaboration is active and ongoing with agencies such as the Inkomati Catchment Management Agency in South Africa, ARA-Zambeze in Mozambique, and the Shire Basin Development Programme in Malawi. Second, collaboration at a basin-level has been secured through Zambezi Watercourses Commission, as the Executive Director of ZAMCOM has agreed to co-edit a Zambezi basin book with myself and others; some catchment-focused outputs will be channeled through this book, and it is hoped influence Zambezi basin decision-making in the process. Third, relations with the international community focused on water such as World Bank, GIZ and SIWI are good and there is knowledge of this project’s work.

Contact Person

Lautze, Jonathan (j.lautze@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Partners

River and Environmental Management Cooperation (REMCO), Inkomati River Basin (Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland), Zambezi Watercourses Commission (ZAMCOM), 5. Mr Paiva Munguambe, Director, National Institute for Irrigation, Mozambique (pmunguambe@inir.gov.mz), Volta Basin Authority (VBA), Orange Senqu River Commission (ORASECOM), Ruvuma Joint Water Commission, Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission (OKACOM)

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2014 — December 01, 2015

Research ThemeVariability, Risks and Competing Uses

Cluster

5.2 Resource allocation and sharing of benefits for all

Regions

Central Asia, Southern Africa

Countries

Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Salinity Management in Central Asia

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

Irrigation and in particular large public irrigation schemes are often criticized for mortgaging the future of ecosystems services. Some would even go so far as to argue that the problems of salinity and waterlogging, degrading the ecosystem are an inevitable consequence of irrigation. This research addresses a problem in the Aral Sea Basin, namely degrading of ecosystems services through waterlogging and salinity. The area of the waterlogged soils alone in Uzbekistan is estimated at 2.47 M ha (~60% of total) and the salt affected is 2.43 M. ha (~60% of total). The objective of this project is sustainable intensification of water management in salt-affected irrigation scheme areas based on healthy functioning ecosystems with minimum return flow to the natural watercourses. The study tests technologies for reducing return flows to the natural water courses of the Central Asia. Specific objectives are examining changes of return flow quantity and quality and its impact on river water quality. In Uzbekistan, the traditional practice of saline land amelioration in Central Asia consists of heavy winter leaching of salt-affected soils and intensive drainage. In many cases drainage flow returns to the rivers and affects the provisioning ecosystem services in the downstream. Recent increasing irrigation water deficit multiplied evaporation from shallow water table followed by accumulation of salts in the topsoil. The Government has tried to reduce the water losses by rehabilitating the canal system and improving the drainage to increase the return flow. However these costly measures do not guaranty sustainable farming practices on salt affected soils and continue affecting to provisioning ecosystems downstream. This study focuses on: (1) evaluating enhances of the provisioning services by improving salinity management practices in Central Asia; (2) evaluating the impact of irrigation system rehabilitation projects on soil salinity levels; (3) evaluating the impact of alternative methods of salinity management, including sub-surface evaporation basin and cultivation of licorice on salt-affected abandoned soils on ecosystem services and healthy functioning ecosystems. Wide scale adaption of licorice technology of reclamation is limited due to planting of roots which require significant labour and high investment and time consuming. During this stage alternative technologies will be tested to increase germination of seeds of licorice. Subsurface evaporation basin will be modelled using Hydrus 2D.

Contact Person

Akmal Karimov (a.karimov@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Partners

Gulistan State University, Tashkent State University

Completed

Start/End dateJune 01, 2013 — December 01, 2015

Research ThemeRestoring Degraded Landscapes

Cluster

3.1 Landscape restoration and their impacts

Regions

Central Asia

Countries

Uzbekistan

Improving water management in the lift irrigation areas of the Central Asia

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

Large scale irrigation projects based on water lift from the rivers to highlands are un-sustainable under emerging new climate and water availability conditions. These pump stations were installed in past in 1960-1970s without consideration of economic sustainability and environmental impacts. They lift much more than required for productive transpiration by crops and form high return flows and pollution of river systems. These lift irrigation schemes cover more than 50% of the irrigated land of Uzbekistan, 46% in Tajikistan and wide-spread in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Irrigation systems of Bukhara region, Karshi steppe and northern Tajikistan are the examples of such development. Water supply of those systems is energy intensive and reliable energy supply is challenging issue in those sub-basins. These energy intensive and low water use efficient lift irrigation schemes affect ecosystem services downstream. The objective of this project are twofold: (1) to enhance the provisioning services and of the ecosystem in lift irrigation schemes of Central Asia; (2) sustainable intensification of water management in lift irrigation scheme areas based on healthy functioning ecosystems with minimum return flow to the natural watercourses. Specific objectives are: examining changes of return flow quantity and quality. The return water quality (TDS) will be estimated under lift canal and groundwater irrigation. The project will closely work with the TajikGiprovodhoz Institute, responsible for designing and modernizing the lift irrigation schemes. The institute staff will be involved in the project and the schemes modernization strategies will be developed to achieve the objectives of the project. Ecosystem services will be estimated with and without modernizing of the schemes. Discussions with the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources will continue to promote groundwater development within lift irrigation schemes. Findings of the study will be shared with the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources.

Contact Person

Karimov, Akmal (a.karimov@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Partners

National Agency for Land Reclamation and Irrigation, Uzbek Research Institute of Plant Industry

Completed

Start/End dateJuly 01, 2012 — December 01, 2016

Research ThemeVariability, Risks and Competing Uses

Cluster

5.3 Water and Energy for Food

Regions

Central Asia

Countries

Tajikistan, Uzbekistan