This year we step in to a virtual World Water Week (#WWWeek) right #AtHome. World Water Week 2020 is planned around the theme ‘’Water and Climate Change: Accelerating Action”.
Water is not just a central part of the problem – it is also a central focus for adaptive solutions. It is with this focus that we launched our #water4climate campaign this year in line with World Water Day.
The virtual adaptation of #WWWeekfollows suit to bringtogether a broad rangeof convenor-hostedsessions on water and climate with IWMI co-hosting and taking part in several.
The event, organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), provides an opportunity for scientists, policy makers and representatives of the private sector and civil society to foster new thinking and collaborative action on today’s most pressing water-related challenges.
If we can manage water better, we can adapt to climate change. Across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, IWMI and partners research and develop evidence-based water solutions for a…
Claudia Sadoff at COP25 High-Level Segment
Hear Dr. Claudia Sadoff, Director General, International Water Management Institute, address the 2019 COP25 High-Level Segment in Madrid.
Claudia Sadoff at COP25 High-Level Segment
Hear Dr. Claudia Sadoff, Director General, International Water Management Institute, address the 2019 COP25 High-Level Segment in Madrid.
We advance a gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) framework for incorporating climate information services (CIS), which is now becoming central due to the ongoing climate change and climate variability. We understand gender as a social construct of who women and men are supposed to be. Gender inequalities seem to be enduring such that, despite innovations in agricultural and climate information technologies, unequal gender power dynamics will still emerge. As far back as the 1960s, the gendered inequalities in accessing technologies could be identified. Such a historical analysis clearly shows that the different technological solutions are clearly embedded within the society in which they evolve in. The paper uses a literature review methodological approach whilst informing the implementation of an ongoing Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) Project. The findings reveal that unless women are intentionally included in designing and developing agricultural technologies, specifically climate information systems, there is a danger that women will be excluded from the benefits. Conway’s law clearly stipulates that technological innovations are not neutral as they are a projection of the values of their creators. It is, therefore, central to grasp the values of creators of different technological solutions and innovations. The key findings are built around the espoused conceptual framework, which has five indicators, namely: (1) gender targeting by intentional design, (2) collection of sex-disaggregated data, (3) conduct an analysis of the sex-disaggregated data, (4) dissemination of the technological options and (5) conduct continuous monitoring of gender and ongoing empowerment evaluation. The five indicator domains are further complemented by their respective assumptions. Our GESI recommendations are on the five selected indicator domains. These domains must be used within the three focal development areas: agricultural data hub, climate information services training, and flood and drought indicators, which are all being implemented in Zambia. Other AICCRA Project countries are Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, and Senegal. This paper engages why CIS has not gained significant traction in Africa, as it has not genuinely incorporated the differential gender technological nuances.
Empowerment / Women / Climate variability / Climate change / Technology / Access to information / Climate services / Frameworks / Social inclusion / Gender equality Record No:H051578
Domfeh, M. K.; Diawuo, F. A.; Akpoti, Komlavi; Antwi, E. O.; Kabo-bah, A. T. 2023. Lessons for pumped hydro energy storage systems uptake. In Kabo-Bah, A. T.; Diawuo, F. A.; Antwi, E. O. (Eds.). Pumped hydro energy storage for hybrid systems. London, UK: Academic Press. pp.137-154. [DOI] More...
Pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) has for years been touted as a suitable alternative for balancing the mismatch between demand and supply of electricity. As the world transits from a fossil fuel-based electricity sector to a renewable energy-based one, PHES is also continuously being used to resolve challenges regarding variable or intermittent sources of energy. This chapter presents lessons from countless literature and studies on the global development and market environment of PHES. The study reveals that critical factors such as investing in public-private research, development and deployment, instituting regulatory frameworks that stimulate innovative operation of PHES, increasing digital operation of PHES systems, and retrofitting PHES facilities could foster the uptake and revolutionize the development of PHES.
Trends / Financing / Infrastructure / Markets / Electricity / Climate change / Socioeconomic aspects / Public-private partnerships / Decision making / Pumping / Storage / Renewable energy / Hydroelectric power Record No:H051549
An accurate estimate of crop coefficient (Kc) values at different development stages (Kcini, Kcmid, and Kcend) is crucial for assessing crop water requirements in semi-arid regions. The objectives of this study were first to quantify the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and to calculate the actual evapotranspiration (ETa) over citrus in a semi-arid climate under drip irrigation. For this purpose, a site of a citrus orchard in Souss-Massa, planted with the Esbal variety of clementine, was equipped with an Eddy-Covariance (EC) system, and sensors to measure radiation, soil heat flux, and micrometeorological forcing data, during 2020 and 2021 seasons. Also, the soil moisture content at various soil depths in the root zone near the EC tower was monitored. The energy balance closure (EBC) approach was adopted for flux assessment to ensure a quality check for the EC measurements. The obtained EBCs were about 82% and 79% for the daily measurements in 2020 and 2021, respectively, which can be considered acceptable considering the nature of the citrus orchard (relatively tall and sparse). Second, the study aimed to estimate actual Kc act values for citrus under the same irrigation strategy. The derived values were compared to different recommended Kc values in the literature. In the third stage, this work aimed to offer an alternative plan to sustainable irrigation management by elaborating an irrigation schedule for citrus crops in the region using the FAO-56 simple approach to avoid water stress and deep percolation (i.e., Ks = 1 and DP = 0). Eventually, an irrigation schedule was drawn following the crop’s phenological stages. The seasonal mean citrus evapotranspiration (ETa) values are 1.68, 3.02, and 1.86 mm/day for the initial, mid, and end-season. The seasonal actual Kc act values were 0.64, 0.58, and 0.64 for Kcini, Kcmid, and Kcend, respectively. Additionally, the application of the water balance equation revealed that a large quantity of water is lost through deep percolation (52% of total water supplied). The study focuses on Citrus trees being a strategic crop with important socio-economic values in the Souss-Massa region. Thus, the results should support both scientists and farmers in planning and strategy development.
Eddy covariance / Mediterranean climate / Crop water use / Rain / Water stress / Water supply / Irrigation scheduling / Irrigation management / Water management / Agriculture / Energy balance / Soil water balance / Commercial farming / Semiarid climate / Deep percolation / Evapotranspiration / Citrus / Irrigated farming Record No:H051504
Climate change is causing serious challenges for smallholder farm households, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The overarching objectives of this study are as follows: (i) to estimate household resilience and vulnerability indices, (ii) identify factors that explain these indices and (iii) to examine the impact of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) on households’ resilience and vulnerability, and (iv) to identify which CSA package performs better in enhancing resilience and reducing vulnerability. For this study, 278 farm households from 4 districts and 8 kebeles from the Central Rift Valley (CRV) of Ethiopia were randomly selected using a three-stage proportional to size sampling procedure. Cross-sectional data applying a structured and pretested survey questionnaire was collected for 2020/21 production season. Household resilience and vulnerability indices were estimated using resilience index and measurement analysis and indicators approaches, respectively. Multinomial endogenous switching regression was used to estimate the average treatment effects (ATEs) of the adoption of CSA practices on households’ resilience and vulnerability. The results show that livestock holding, land size, level of education, and state of food consumption are major explaining factors of resilience, whereas educational level of households, livestock holding, and access to credit are found to be major factors explaining vulnerability. The estimated ATEs indicate that households which adopted more diversified combinations of CSA packages were more resilient and less vulnerable than non-adopter households. The impacts of soil fertility management and conservation agriculture practices have better performance in improving resilience, whereas conservation agriculture and small-scale irrigation performed better in reducing the vulnerability of rural households in CRV. Boosting resilience and reducing vulnerability, hence, requires scaling up CSA among smallholder farmers by diversifying and raising farm households’ income, educational status, and livestock holding.
Infrastructure / Water supply / Local government / Communities / Capacity development / Risk / Policies / Social inclusion / Women / Gender equality / Extreme weather events / Vulnerability / Climate change / Water, sanitation and hygiene Record No:H051909
Various precipitation-related studies have been conducted on the Yangtze River. However, the topography and atmospheric circulation regime of the Source Region of the Yangtze River (SRYZ) differ from other basin parts. Along with natural uniqueness, precipitation constitutes over 60% of the direct discharge in the SRYZ, which depicts the decisive role of precipitation and a necessary study on the verge of climate change. The study evaluates the event distribution of long-term variability in precipitation classes in the SRYZ. The precipitation was classified into three precipitation classes: light precipitation (0–5 mm, 5–10 mm), moderate precipitation (10–15 mm, 15–20 mm, 20–25 mm), and heavy precipitation (gt;25 mm). The year 1998 was detected as a changing year using the Pettitt test in the precipitation time series; therefore, the time series was divided into three scenarios: Scenario-R (1961–2016), the pre-change point (Scenario-I; 1961–1998), and the post-change point (Scenario-II; 1999–2016). Observed annual precipitation amounts in the SRYZ during Scenario-R and Scenario-I significantly increased by 13.63 mm/decade and 48.8 mm/decade, respectively. The same increasing trend was evident in seasonal periods. On a daily scale, light precipitation (0–5 mm) covered most of the days during the entire period, with rainy days accounting for 83.50%, 84.5%, and 81.30%. These rainy days received up to 40%, 41%, and 38% of the annual precipitation during Scenario-R, Scenario-I, and Scenario-II, respectively. Consequently, these key findings of the study will be helpful in basin-scale water resources management.
Vegetation / Dry spells / Hydrological factors / Time series analysis / Drought / Rainfall / Rivers / Trends / Precipitation / Climate change Record No:H051888
Digital innovations and interventions can potentially revolutionize agri-food systems, especially in coping with climate challenges. On a similar note, digital research tools and methods are increasingly popular for the efficient collection and analysis of real-time, large-scale data. It is claimed that these methods can also minimize subjective biases that are prevalent in traditional qualitative research. However, given the digital divide, especially affecting women and marginalized communities, these innovations could potentially introduce further disparities. To assess these contradictions, we piloted SenseMaker, a digital ethnography tool designed to capture individual, embodied experiences, biases, and perceptions to map vulnerabilities and resilience to climate impacts in the Gaya District in Bihar. Our research shows that this digital tool allows for a systematic co-design of the research framework, allows for the collection of large volumes of data in a relatively short time, and a co-analysis of the research data by the researchers and the researched. This process allowed us to map and capture the complexities of intersectional inequalities in relation to climate change vulnerability. However, we also noted that the application of the tool is influenced by the prior exposure to technology (digital devices) of both the enumerators and researched groups and requires significant resources when implemented in contexts where there is a need to translate the data from local dialects and languages to more dominant languages (English). Most importantly, perceptions, positionalities, and biases of researchers can significantly impact the design of the tool’s signification framework, reiterating the fact that researcher bias persists regardless of technological innovations in research methodology.
Social aspects / Technology / Transdisciplinary research / Agriculture / Women / Gender / Marginalization / Communities / Vulnerability / Climate change / Ethnography Record No:H051885
Research and policy analyses of climate change adaptation in Africa are often centre to examine adjustments in agricultural operations. This mainly bases on a misconception that rural households merely depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. This research aimed at positioning livelihood (farm and non-farm activities) as the centre of climate adaptation strategies to better understand rural households’ adaptation strategic options and capacities, using two rural communities in the Northern highlands of Ethiopia. The result showed that rural households have broader options both in farm and non-farm strategies for combating adverse climate condition than previously reported. A strong and positive association are found between wealth indicators such as farm size (0.08) and productive assets (0.0917) with farm-level adaptation strategies such as short maturing crop and irrigation. Non-farm adaptation strategies (such as business activities and wage employment) are, mainly, influenced by household demographic characteristics such as age of the household head (0.01) and adult household size (0.09). This indicates that there is no specific adaptation strategy panacea for rural households. Rather, rural households use a mix of strategies to meet the particular agro-ecological settings (for farm-level adaptation strategies), and infrastructure and the location of the community, which enable to access market and other services (for non-farm adaptation strategies). Thus, national level climate policies and strategies need to be tailored to address the specific agro-ecology, and infrastructure of the local area and the socio-economic context of the households in the two communities. In this regard, the different levels of government and nongovernmental organizations should provide more adaptation measures on agricultural extension services, access to loans, roads, transport, market, knowledge and creation of wage employment and business opportunities in the vicinity of rural communities and its surrounding towns.
On Wednesday morning in Manhattan, the United Nations Water Conference began in dramatic fashion when Mina Guli, a 52-year-old Australian foundation CEO and water activist, broke a blue ribbon stretched across the U.N. Plaza, completing her 200th marathon in a year.
The country’s experts cognisant to the issue have forcefully suggested on Monday to adopt groundwater recharge wells technology as a national policy to counter urban flooding and ensuing drought due to climate change.
It will come as no surprise to much of Pakistan’s population that their country ranks among the lowest for disaster risk management for water security in Asia, according to the Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO).
Millions of smallholder farmers in Bangladesh pump huge amounts of groundwater for irrigation, helping to triple the country’s rice production and possibly mitigate floods during monsoon season.
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Economics and equity
At IWMI, researching underlying economic and social trends helps us understand why people migrate. They also explain the impact of remittances and loss of agricultural labor, as well as consequences of migration on gender roles and food and water security. For instance, communities with higher levels of income inequality, or relative deprivation, may experience greater levels of out-migration compared to consistently low-income communities. In addition, migration changes intra-household gender-labor composition, which can change the access of smallholders to water resources, affecting the functioning of community-based institutions and consequently household and local food security. IWMI also focuses on circular economy, a strategy to recover and reuse waste, to boost food security and understand how interventions can encourage refugee and host communities to retain scarce resources.
This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:
Urban & rural transformation
As agricultural opportunities fluctuate in rural areas, migration, particularly to urban areas, is an adaptation technique to secure incomes and alternative livelihoods. Income generated by migrants is often sent back to family as remittances to support communities at home. At IWMI, we assess linkages between rural and urban areas, as well as the role of agricultural knowledge systems and food and water security. We recognize there are complex push and pull factors such as individual aspirations, economic opportunity, social norms, climate variability and government policies which drive migration and affect rural communities, particularly youth. Our work follows a ‘positive migration’ philosophy, framing migration as an adaptation technique and socio-economic choice (in many cases) rather than a problem to be solved, and focuses on establishing safer, more regular migration by supporting changes to migration governance in sending regions.
This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:
Covid-19 disruption & adaptation
Covid-19 has caused a rupture in migration logistics and exposed inequities in the migration system, yet drivers of movement remain. Government lockdowns and closed borders due to the pandemic curtailed movement for migrants, posing complex problems for migrant hosting and origin countries. There have been significant economic shocks, with a sharp decline in unemployment for migrants and an inability to send money home through remittances to support family. Some migrants face social stigma for returning home without an income, particularly if families relied on loans to support their journeys. Consequences have been severe for informal migrants who lack government protection in their host countries. Migrants, particularly those living in crowded, lower-income neighborhoods, have been experiencing stigmatization related to the spread of Covid-19. We look at the impacts of Covid-19 on migration governance and rural areas across seven countries,development planning in Ghana, migration challenges in Southeast Asia, and community-based disaster management and resilience building in South Africa.
This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:
Water, climate change and agrarian stress
Migration, water and climate stress are inextricably linked to rural development. Water stress and climate variability can act as a driver of fragility, intensifying pre-existing political, social, economic and environmental challenges. Initiatives designed to address migration-related challenges must tackle inequalities and the exclusion of women, youth and marginalized groups; governance opportunities to better manage water and natural resources and technology and innovations to help communities escape socio-ecological precarity and thrive despite climate challenges. IWMI intends to build climate resilience by implementing projects which tackle gender-power inequalities in the face of dynamic, economic-social-ecological challenges. Our work brings together affected communities, institutional stakeholders and social actors to manage water in response to climate variability and agrarian stress, striving to address complex physical and social variables.
This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:
Gender, intersectionality and social inclusion
It is critical to center gender and intersectional identities when unpacking migration phenomena. Gender as a social construct guides social norms and relations, including the decision-making processes and mechanisms leading to migration. We recognize that the intersections between race, age, class, sex, caste and region shape the migrant experience.
IWMI strives to offer transformative approaches and solutions for women, youth and marginalized groups, regarding them as equal partners in our work rather than passive end-users. For example, within communities that experience male out migration, socio-political systems are restructured to make women, youth and other groups active agents in their own agri-food transformation. Migration patterns contribute to the feminization of agriculture, and women may experience a greater burden of responsibility coupled with an increased ability to access and control resources and policies to build sustainable livelihoods. Acknowledging social complexities helps researchers and communities understand migration trends and address structural power imbalances to build a more equitable world.
This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:
Innovation bundles
Farmer-led irrigation development is about much more than installing a pump in a field. It requires access to financing, labor, energy, and input and output markets, so that investments in irrigation translate into sustainable returns. IWMI uses a systemic approach to understand the farming system as well as the factors in the enabling environment that prevent women, men and youth from engaging in and benefitting equitably from farmer-led irrigation. We partner with farmers and the public and private sectors to test contextually relevant innovation bundles that combine irrigation technology such as solar pumps with financing mechanisms like pay-as-you-own or pay-as-you-go, agricultural inputs and agronomic techniques. We also look at ways to improve on-farm water management and nutrient use efficiency and reduce evapotranspiration through digital advances and agricultural extension. We integrate the scaling of innovation bundles into agricultural value chains to enhance the impacts on farmers’ irrigation investments, incomes and livelihoods.
This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:
Gender and social inclusion
The barriers facing women and men in accessing irrigation technologies are not the same. Neither are the benefits. Social, cultural and religious norms influence inter- and intra-household power relations. These, in turn, affect access to resources such as land, credit, information and training. IWMI carries out cross-dimensional analysis of gender and social inclusion in policy, financing, livelihood assets and access, institutional approaches and interventions as well as gender-based technology preferences. For example, we work with farmers, financial institutions and the private sector to address gender-based constraints in credit scoring and enhance women’s purchasing power. But benefitting from farmer-led irrigation does not stop at accessing and adopting technologies; enabling women and resource-poor farmers to participate in input and output markets is equally important to ensure that investments in irrigation result in improved nutrition and economic empowerment. Other ways we enhance gender and social inclusion include tackling agency issues around financial management and literacy, livelihood diversity and social capital as well as access to infrastructure, extension services and market linkages.
This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:
Environmental sustainability
Population pressure and increasing water competition in a changing climate require us to take stock of the availability and use of water across scales. Water availability not only influences farmers’ commercial prospects but also irrigation-related enterprises and agri-businesses. Greater water scarcity could jeopardize irrigation and agricultural markets while excessive water use can lead to declining ecosystems, water quality and soil health. IWMI advises development partners and the public and private sectors on all aspects of water resource availability and use through a variety of advanced modeling and remote-sensing products and tools, including Water Accounting+, solar irrigation mapping and internet of things. These are complemented by multi-criteria analysis to evaluate the potential of irrigation expansion, taking into consideration environmental flows. With our private sector partners, we are leveraging converging technologies, such as sensors on solar pumps that capture usage data, to encourage better resource management and governance.
This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:
Adaptive scaling and partnerships
The ability of farmers to engage in or expand irrigation depends on the prevailing socioeconomic, ecological and political contexts, which are often complex, non-linear and changeable. Overcoming systemic barriers to farmer-led irrigation development while taking advantage of existing opportunities requires scaling processes to be adaptive. This means diverse actors feed off, adapt to, support, cooperate, compete and interact with each other, forming different multi-actor networks and engaging in collective action to undertake various functions in the scaling ecosystem. IWMI works with farmers and public and private sector partners to co-design and pilot contextually relevant innovation bundles and their scaling pathways or strategies, influence policies and accelerate the transition to scale of innovations with demonstrated early impact.
This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:
Financing ecosystem
A lack of affordable credit, particularly for women and resource-poor farmers, is one of the main barriers to expanding farmer-led irrigation in low- and middle-income countries. But credit alone is not enough. Financing for irrigation equipment must be embedded in a wider financing ecosystem that bundles credit with inputs and services, market information and access, and technology such as digital payment. In several countries, irrigation equipment suppliers are stepping in to provide financing directly to farmers. In doing so, they increase their own risk. To address this issue, IWMI works with farmers, private companies, finance institutions and development partners such as the World Bank Group to analyze whether credit-scoring tools are inclusive. We also help to identify gaps in the financing ecosystem and de-risk the private sector from testing innovative end-user financing mechanisms that take into account farming system typologies, financial and social capital and crop seasonality.
This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:
Human capacity development and knowledge exchange
Scaling farmer-led irrigation requires strengthening human capacity and knowledge exchange among all actors and stakeholders involved. IWMI takes an action research approach, working with national and international research institutions, governments, extension agents and public and private organizations to co-develop the scaling ecosystem and strengthen capacity to drive scaling networks and collective action. We support the development of or reinforce national multi-stakeholder dialogues with the aim of sharing scaling experiences and realizing win-win collaboration, interactive learning and capacity development. Other modalities for capacity development include hackathons, innovation research grants for bachelor’s and master’s students, private sector scaling grants and innovation internships with private companies. These all serve to stimulate local and contextually relevant innovation, close the research-private sector divide and enhance job readiness among young professionals.
This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:
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