SRP: IMPROVED MANAGEMENT OF MAJOR AGRICULTURAL RIVER BASINS - OVERVIEW

Vladimir SmakhtinSRP River Basin Workshop

Addis, May 28, 2012

Water for a food-secure world

PLACE OF “BASINS” IN CRP5

RRR

IrrigationRainfed

Basins

RRR

IrrigationRainfed

Information

Ecosystem Services

Institutions and Governance

Mekong

Ganges

Indus

Amu DaryaSyr Darya

Nile

Volta, Niger

Andes

Zambezi, Limpopo

Tigris, Euphrates

Water for a food-secure world

EXAMPLES OF PROBLEMS TO SOLVE

• Food security (9 bill to feed in 2050)

• Water scarcity (1/3 of the world population lives in Basins with water scarcity)

• Water resources variability ($150 bill of damage from floods & droughts in 2011)

• Uncoordinated water and land management• Dwindling resources• Competition for water resources between sectors• Environmental Issues (1.5 bill people in environmentally water stressed Basins;

no sustainability thresholds established; land degradation)

• Lack of good data (you cannot manage what you do not measure)

• Trans-boundary issues (CIA: More water conflicts possible after 2022)

• Lack of good governance

Water for a food-secure world

POSSIBLE CHANGES FOR IMPROVED MANAGEMENT OF BASINS- 1

• Understand and consider resource variability in basin management Information on water and land availability in time and space Recommendations on how to deal with variability at basin scale

• Invest in water infrastructure information on infrastructure practices, storage options How benefits and costs from infrastructure investments are distributed To which extent infrastructure can alleviate impacts of extremes

• Allocate and manage basin water and land to raise productivity, improve equity and safeguard ecosystem services Influence discourse about water rights and allocations Information on WP for different uses and how it is affected by land management How to make the most of ES in Basins

Water for a food-secure world

POSSIBLE CHANGES FOR IMPROVED MANAGEMENT OF BASINS- 2

• Introduce and consistently follow the principles of benefit sharing Quantify upstream-downstream interactions Inform the design of related institutional innovations Test them with stakeholders and measure achievements

• Pay attention to the political economy of policy selection– Understand the existing governance frameworks, players and coalitions– Multi-stakeholder platforms and other social learning techniques

Water for a food-secure world

GUIDING HYPOTHESES

• Water scarcity can be alleviated by improved water supply, management of water demand and, in particular, by reducing water resources variability

• River Basins can be managed to maximize the value of ecosystem services and benefits

• Agricultural intensification is possible without detrimental impacts on water and land

• Global drivers of change can be explicitly accounted for in basin management

Water for a food-secure world

EXAMPLES OF REGIONAL PROBLEMS SETS AND ASSOCIATED RESEARCH DIRECTIONS: next 5 years - 1

• Andes Group - Benefit sharing mechanisms as a water management tool

• Ganges and Indus – South Asia: Integrating environmental water allocations and climate change impacts with water resources development

• Mekong – Southeast Asia: Harmonizing the water–energy-environment nexus

Water for a food-secure world

EXAMPLES OF REGIONAL PROBLEMS SETS AND ASSOCIATED RESEARCH DIRECTIONS: next 5 years - 2

• Nile – East and North Africa: Managing water resources to reduce poverty and improve wetland management in upstream countries

• Amu Darya and Syr Darya – Central Asia: Transboundary water management solutions in transition economies

• Volta and Niger – West Africa: Water storage to reduce regional drought risk

• Zambezi and Limpopo – Southern Africa: Harvesting transboundary aquifers

Water for a food-secure world

ANTICIPATED GENERIC OUTPUTS

• Institutional, policy and technical innovations to increase water and land productivity arrest land degradation; alleviate adverse impacts of variability, improve resource governance and benefits sharing

• Information and guidelines on value and productivity of water in aquatic and terrestrial environment selection and evaluation of water infrastructure planning and implementation of benefit‐sharing mechanisms; allocation practices with socially and ecologically responsible goals

• Methods and techniques to: analyze trade‐offs between different water and land uses; evaluate the distribution of land and water related benefits; evaluate water availability, allocation and access

• Improved capacity

Water for a food-secure world

OUTCOMES IN 10 YEARS - 1

• Variability mainstreamed into water resources planning in all target areas

• Decisions on investments in water infrastructure and allocation are informed in all target water‐stressed basins

• Benefit‐sharing mechanisms are in place in several target river basins

• All water‐related data and information are freely shared with all national and international stakeholders

• Environmental and social water allocations firmly embedded in national water policies in all countries that share the target basins

Water for a food-secure world

OUTCOMES IN 10 YEARS - 2

• Groundwater – A shift to combined surface‐groundwater management and use is practiced in

regions where groundwater is currently underused – Agricultural groundwater use has increased by 30% in SSA, Central Asia and

East India/Nepal – Policies specifying environmental thresholds of groundwater use are in place

in all above river basins

• Impacts of LU change on water availability are considered in all basin management decision in target areas

• The number of people experiencing various forms of water scarcity globally is substantially reduced

• Improved research capacity has doubled in all target areas

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