Farmer-led Irrigation

Smallholder farmers produce more than a third of the global food supply but face challenges such as increasing competition for water, unpredictable rainfall, limited financial capacity and restrictive gender norms. Farmer-led irrigation has significant potential to support agricultural transformation and adaptation to climate change by enabling farmers to produce greater quantities of high-value crops in areas with rainfall variability. Built on the belief that farmers should have agency and autonomy over decision-making related to irrigation, farmer-led irrigation is a process where farmers invest in, expand or improve their agricultural water use by adopting or developing small-scale, locally relevant and market-oriented solutions.

IWMI’s research on farmer-led irrigation focuses on six areas. These aim to influence policy, strengthen irrigation markets, services and value chains, test innovation bundles using renewable energy such as solar and accelerate farmer-led irrigation development in an inclusive and sustainable way. All the focus areas contribute to the broader ambitions of a unified One CGIAR. These are defined by ways to grow, catch, trade and consume healthy and nutritious food while helping the world to live within planetary boundaries, stop the loss of biodiversity and maintain a safe climate.

Click on the icons on the right to find out more or browse the resources below.

Focus Areas

Highlights

BlogsEventsVideosProjectsPublicationsTools & DataExpertsPartners
  • Knowledge exchange conference: Investing in farmer-led irrigation development in sub-Saharan Africa

    Hosted by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the knowledge exchange conference will bring together stakeholders from across the irrigated agricultural sector to create synergies, catalyze efforts and further boost FLID for high-value crops and other farming activities in Africa.

    26/04/2023 - 27/04/2023 | Accra, Ghana


  • Virtual forum: Operationalizing farmer-led irrigation development at scale

    Co-organized by the African Union Commission (SAFGRAD), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the World Bank, the forum will provide an interactive platform to discuss and share learnings on the design of public and private interventions to catalyze farmer-led irrigation development (FLID) on a larger scale, at a faster pace and in a more inclusive and sustainable way.  

    02/09/2021 | Online Only, Ghana


  • SIWI World Water Week: The role of water in transforming Africa’s value chains

    Using the World Bank-funded AICCRA (Accelerating the impact of the CGIAR’s climate research in Africa) project, this super interactive session will provide an opportunity for participants to unpack the role of water in food systems transformation in Africa.

    23/08/2021 | Online Only, Sweden


Displaying 6 publications (Show all records)
Enhancing gender and youth inclusion in Ghana’s irrigated vegetable value chain. Adaptive Innovation Scaling - Pathways from Small-scale Irrigation to Sustainable Development (5/12/2023)
Enhancing gender and youth inclusion in Ghana’s irrigated vegetable value chain. Adaptive Innovation Scaling - Pathways from Small-scale Irrigation to Sustainable Development
2023
More... [DOI] | Fulltext (3.60 MB)
Price, credit or ambiguity? Increasing small-scale irrigation in Ethiopia (12/28/2022)
Price, credit or ambiguity? Increasing small-scale irrigation in Ethiopia
World Development, 2023
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Unlocking the potential of farmer-led irrigation development in central and northern Nigeria: what does it take? (08/24/2023)
Unlocking the potential of farmer-led irrigation development in central and northern Nigeria: what does it take?
2023
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Determining the marketing margin for irrigation technologies in Ghana: a supply chain perspective. Adaptive Innovation Scaling - Pathways from Small-scale Irrigation to Sustainable Development (08/23/2023)
Determining the marketing margin for irrigation technologies in Ghana: a supply chain perspective. Adaptive Innovation Scaling - Pathways from Small-scale Irrigation to Sustainable Development
2023
More... [DOI] | Fulltext (1.05 MB)
Determining the marketing margin for irrigation technologies in Ethiopia: a supply chain analysis. Adaptive Innovation Scaling - Pathways from Small-scale Irrigation to Sustainable Development (05/16/2023)
Determining the marketing margin for irrigation technologies in Ethiopia: a supply chain analysis. Adaptive Innovation Scaling - Pathways from Small-scale Irrigation to Sustainable Development
2023
More... [DOI] | Fulltext (4.45 MB)
Sustainable and inclusive scaling of irrigation technologies and services in Ethiopia. Adaptive Innovation Scaling - Pathways from Small-scale Irrigation to Sustainable Development (03/31/2023)
Sustainable and inclusive scaling of irrigation technologies and services in Ethiopia. Adaptive Innovation Scaling - Pathways from Small-scale Irrigation to Sustainable Development
2023
More... [DOI] | Fulltext (2.47 MB)

Potential for Solar Photovoltaic-based Irrigation

An interactive online tool to identify suitable areas for solar-based irrigation depending on water sources, soil and land characteristics, market proxies and pump characteristics across sub-Saharan Africa. The solar suitability mapping framework was developed using a GIS-based multi-criteria evaluation technique and implemented by combining spatial information from a number of geospatial drivers for solar-based irrigation.

Analyzing the Enabling Environment to Enhance the Scaling of Irrigation and Water Management Technologies: A Tool for Implementers

Designing scaling strategies that are adaptive to context and available resources requires an understanding of the enabling environment in which the scaling processes are embedded. This can be achieved by conducting an analysis to identify enablers and hinderers influencing farmers’ adoption of irrigation and water management technologies and introducing measures to ensure success. This tool provides implementers with a structured guide to carrying out this analysis.

Considering Gender When Promoting Small-scale Irrigation Technologies

Many actors promoting irrigation technologies in low- and middle-income countries want to ensure that men, women and different social groups have equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from irrigation but are uncertain how to do so. This tool provides a set of questions to assess gender dynamics in irrigation in a specific context.

The Farmer-led Irrigation Development Guide: A What, Why and How-to for Intervention Design

Farmer-led irrigation development (FLID) holds significant potential to safeguard domestic food security and strengthen farmers’ ability to recover from shocks and adapt to a changing environment. The guide aims to provide governments with the practical strategies to catalyze FLID and scale it up, making it a faster, more sustainable and inclusive process.

Water Accounting+

Water accounting integrates hydrological processes with land use, managed water flows and the services that result from water consumption in river basins. Its objective is to achieve equitable and transparent water governance for all users and a sustainable water balance. The Water Accounting+ tool provides independent estimates of water flows, fluxes, stocks, consumption and services.

Name Role/expertise Country Focus areas
Dr. Minh Thai Innovation system scaling, multistakeholder dialogues, enabling environment, policy Ghana, Mali, Ethiopia, Zambia All focus areas except environmental sustainability
Dr. Marie Charlotte Buisson Socioeconomic analysis, agricultural economics Mali, Ethiopia, Niger, Bangladesh Innovation bundles, gender and social inclusion
Hauke Dahl Private sector financing Ghana, Ethiopia, Mali, Zambia Gender and social inclusion, financing ecosystem
Fitsum Hagos Socioeconomic analysis, agricultural economics Ethiopia Financing ecosystem
Dr. Mansoor Leh Water accounting, suitability mapping Sub-Saharan Africa Environmental sustainability
Dr. Manuel Magombeyi Hydrology, agricultural water management Ghana, South Africa, Zambia Innovation bundles, environmental sustainability
Dagmawi Melaku Enabling environment, multistakeholder dialogues Ethiopia Gender and social inclusion, adaptive scaling and partnerships
Dr. Aditi Mukherji Groundwater institutions and policies, climate change Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan Gender and social inclusion, environmental sustainability
Likimyelesh Nigussie Gender expert, institutions Mali, Ethiopia Innovation bundles, gender and social inclusion, financing ecosystem
Abena Ofosu Private sector partnerships, innovation grants and scholarships, irrigation supply chains and services Ghana Gender and social inclusion, adaptive scaling and partnerships
Dr. Paul Pavelic Groundwater hydrology Laos, Nepal, India, sub-Saharan Africa Environmental sustainability
Dr. Lisa Maria Rebelo Remote sensing, water productivity, water accounting Mali, Ethiopia, Kenya Environmental sustainability
Desalegn Tegegne Irrigation engineer Ethiopia Innovation bundles, adaptive scaling and partnerships
Labisha Uprety Agricultural value chains, irrigation supply chains and services Nepal Adaptive scaling and partnerships, financing ecosystem
Shilp Verma Water-energy-food nexus India Innovation bundles, environmental sustainability, adaptive scaling and partnerships
Dr. Azeem Shah Solar irrigation bundles Pakistan Innovation bundles, environmental sustainability, adaptive scaling and partnerships
Dr. Petra Schmitter Agricultural water management, hydrology Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, Mali Innovation bundles, environmental sustainability, adaptive scaling and partnerships, human capacity development

IWMI works with a range of national and international partners on farmer-led irrigation. These include:

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

Bahir Dar University

Where We Work

Brokering knowledge for sustainability

As a research-for-development organization, IWMI is both a producer and broker of knowledge. IWMI generates evidence to support investment in innovations that sustainably increase agricultural productivity and economic returns, support human well-being, water security and safeguard ecosystems in a changing climate. Through forums and events, often co-convened with partners, IWMI brokers knowledge exchange to catalyze change in water and food systems and accelerate innovation scaling. These forums and events include multi-stakeholder dialogues, demand-supply linkage workshops and knowledge exchange conferences.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Climate adaptation and mitigation

Enabling gender and youth inclusion

Agriculture is the bedrock of food and nutrition security and a major source of income and employment in many developing countries. Inclusive agriculture, provides opportunities for women and youth who have historically been excluded from agriculture-led economic growth. Enhancing gender and youth inclusion in high-value agricultural value chains has the potential to increase the production of nutrient-rich, profitable crops and create attractive job opportunities for currently disadvantaged groups. Inclusive agriculture includes ensuring that women, youth and other vulnerable groups gain equitable access to water resources and technologies to support agronomic growth.

IWMI conducts comprehensive analyses of the policy framework and interventions in value chains in key geographies to clarify the barriers to gender and youth inclusion. Inclusion segmentation is also carried out to understand the investment needs and abilities of women and youth regarding innovation. IWMI then makes recommendations and develops evidence-based strategies to enable public and private sector actors to achieve sustainable and inclusive scaling of water solutions and agricultural innovation bundles. Among these strategies are internships with private sector companies for young professionals and entrepreneurs. These create win-win situations in which companies benefit from interns’ specific knowledge or skills while interns gain valuable private sector work experience and mentorship.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion

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:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion

Co-developing innovation bundles

Although agricultural water is still mainly funded by the public sector, private sector organizations and farmers are increasingly investing in innovative water management and irrigation technologies. At the same time, simply increasing the amount of finance flowing to the agricultural water sector is not enough to guarantee the uptake of innovative solutions. Investments must also be responsible, targeted and bundled with improved inputs and services, market information and access, and digital payment methods.

Consequently, IWMI partners with farmers and public and private sector actors to co-develop contextually relevant socio-technical-institutional-financial and process innovation bundles that are contextually relevant. IWMI integrates the scaling of innovation bundles into agricultural and food value chains, for instance by strengthening market linkages, to enhance the impacts on farmers’ investments, incomes and livelihoods.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Nutrition, health and food security  Gender equality, youth and inclusion  Climate adaptation and mitigation

Strengthening and sustaining the enabling environment

Making agricultural innovations and water solutions available to farmers on a massive scale is crucial if the world is to meet growing food demands and mitigate climate change impacts. However, innovation scaling efforts often do not have the desired impact because they do not sufficiently consider the factors enabling and inhibiting farmers’ adoption of these innovations. In some instances, they may even produce undesirable impacts, including environmental degradation, loss of access to resources and social inequality. IWMI develops tools and other evidence-based resources to help partners and stakeholders understand and sustain the enabling environment and introduce measures to ensure scaling success. In addition, IWMI co-designs innovative, inclusive financial modalities to accelerate investment in innovations by farmers and agri-businesses.

A key part of this focus area is the Accelerator Program, for which 12 small and medium-sized agribusinesses were selected to scale five innovation bundles that support climate information services and climate-smart agriculture.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion Climate adaptation and mitigation

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:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion Climate adaptation and mitigation

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:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion

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:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion Climate adaptation and mitigation

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:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion

Enhancing capacity for system transformation

Food, land and water systems are complex networks of actors, institutions and activities related to the production, value addition and consumption of food. These systems are connected to and influenced by the structures and supporting mechanisms that underlie them. System transformation cannot occur without changing these underlying structures and supporting mechanisms. However, the capacity for actors to take up specific roles and responsibilities in scaling processes is sometimes lacking. Stimulating system transformation therefore requires enhancing actors’ capacity to assume their roles and responsibilities in the system to ensure that scaling processes provide equitable opportunities and contribute to sustainable development.

As a research institution, IWMI stimulates system transformation by building capacity within institutions and facilitating dialogue and collaboration between various stakeholders across sectors and their respective networks. IWMI does this by developing evidence-based capacity-strengthening programs and strategies. These include demand-driven internships with private sector entities and innovation hackathons.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion Environmental health and biodiversity Climate adaptation and mitigation

Fostering scaling partnerships

Private sector actors play a central role in the dissemination and adoption of technologies and services such as information, financing, and pre- and after-sales support. IWMI has established scaling partnerships with private sector companies across Africa and Asia. Besides technical assistance, IWMI provides its partner companies with research evidence and advice, risk and suitability assessments and capacity strengthening for effective climate change-related planning and management.

Armed with these tools and resources, companies are better equipped to identify and reach their target customers in ways that are equitable, economically viable and environmentally sustainable. At the same time, farmers benefit from better access to innovations vital for improving livelihoods and climate adaptation.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion Environmental health and biodiversity Climate adaptation and mitigation

Cultivating scaling preparedness

Scaling preparedness is a set of actions undertaken throughout the scaling process to maximize the adoption of innovation bundles, accelerate scaling and increase the likelihood of achieving transformational change. In cultivating scaling preparedness, stakeholder engagement is key to gain stakeholders’ buy-in, commitment, resource contribution and investment as well as adaptability. By cultivating scaling preparedness, IWMI is better able to identify and develop high-potential innovation bundles with the greatest chance of being successfully scaled.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Nutrition, health and food security  Gender equality, youth and inclusion  Climate adaptation and mitigation

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:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion Environmental health and biodiversity Climate adaptation and mitigation

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:

Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion

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:

Environmental health and biodiversity Climate adaptation and mitigation

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:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion Environmental health and biodiversity Climate adaptation and mitigation

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:

Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion

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:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion Environmental health and biodiversity Climate adaptation and mitigation