Rapid climate change is causing weather extremes in every region of the world. The global water cycle is now experiencing a structural change not seen since the last Ice Age, leaving human systems struggling to adapt and respond. Some events will have noticeable consequences in the short term, such as increased flooding from changing precipitation patterns. Others will be more long term, such as the desertification of cropland. All will have major implications for future human security.
We can view climate security as climatic stressors that amplify existing risks in society and influence the security of humans, ecosystems, economies, infrastructure and societies. In that sense, climate security is directly connected to water security defined as the ability of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water.
Sea level / Transboundary waters / Investment policies / Infrastructure / Social systems / Women / Poverty / Communities / Vulnerability / Migration / Livelihoods / Food security / Energy / Water availability / Nature-based solutions / Early warning systems / Resilience / Risk / Drought / Flooding / Extreme weather events / Natural disasters / Technology / Water management / Disruptions / Anthropogenic factors / Climate change adaptation / Water security Record No:H051228
Livelihoods / Rural areas / Private sector / Digital innovation / Technology / Farmer-led irrigation / Small scale systems / Water use efficiency / Climate change / Resilience / Food security / Food systems / Sustainable agriculture / Water management Record No:H050504
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2010. Banking on groundwater. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 4p. (IWMI Water Issue Brief 013)[DOI] More... | Fulltext (266.15KB)
Aquifers / Groundwater recharge / Groundwater management Record No:H044655
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2010. Water, poverty and equity. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 4p. (IWMI Water Issue Brief 008)[DOI] More... | Fulltext (933.19KB)
Gender / Irrigation systems / Farming systems / Poverty / Food security / Water management Record No:H044168
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2010. Water governance. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 4p. (IWMI Water Issue Brief 005)[DOI] More... | Fulltext (317.67KB)
International waters / Water governance Record No:H044167
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2010. Water pricing and allocation. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 4p. (IWMI Water Issue Brief 006)[DOI] More... | Fulltext (259.71KB)
Electricity supplies / Irrigation water / Price policy / Water allocation Record No:H044163
Investment / Research projects / Irrigated farming / Water resource management Record No:H044017
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2010. Water storage (Revised 2015). Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 4p. (IWMI Water Issue Brief 012)[DOI] More... | Fulltext (1.23MB)
Adaptation / Climate change / Water storage Record No:H044009
Farming systems / Poverty / Rainfed farming Record No:H044008
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2010. Revitalizing irrigation. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 4p. (IWMI Water Issue Brief 009)[DOI] More... | Fulltext (866.01KB)
Water productivity / Water use / Rehabilitation / Irrigation systems Record No:H044007
Water pollution / Water management / Land management / Water quality Record No:H043969
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2010. Using wetlands sustainably. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 4p. (IWMI Water Issue Brief 001)[DOI] More... | Fulltext (390.87KB)
Productivity / Farming / Ecosystems / Wetlands Record No:H043344
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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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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 
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 
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 
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