Water, food and waste innovations for urbanizing landscapes
Rapid urbanization is one of the defining global trends of our time.
One concern is that cities will lack the capacity to cope with rising demand for safe food and water as well as growing volumes of waste. Another is that rural areas will be unable to withstand increased pressure on agriculture and natural resources, especially in rapidly urbanizing areas of Africa and Asia, where more intensive food production has already taken a heavy toll on the environment.
While implying enormous challenges, urbanization will also create new business and livelihood opportunities. To benefit from these, societies must become adept at applying the principles of a circular economy, creating productive synergies between urban consumption and sanitation, on the one hand, and sustainable agriculture, on the other.
IWMI contributes by working with partners to provide:
- Technologies and decision-support tools that inform public and private investment as well as policy formulation and capacity development in the rural-urban continuum
- Innovative business models and technologies for recovering water, nutrients for crops and energy from food waste, domestic wastewater and human excreta
- Options for enhancing human and ecological health as well as food safety through improved resource management
Our program on rural-urban linkages offers novel means to strengthen food security, while reducing the environmental footprint of urbanization and agricultural intensification as part of the global sustainability agenda.
Enhancing capacity for system transformation
Strengthening and sustaining the enabling environment
Enabling gender and youth inclusion
Brokering knowledge for sustainability
Cultivating scaling preparedness
Fostering scaling partnerships
Co-developing innovation bundles
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 
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 
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 
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 
