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WATER MANAGEMENT Farmers have always lived with climate variability and have coping strategies that they can build on to adapt to climate change. or even reducing – the impact on already stressed ecosystems and while adapting to a progressively changing climate. This means making each unit of water produce more. Poverty and food insecurity are often highest where water productivity is lowest. Increasing water productivity is an effective way to intensify agricultural production, improve community resilience, and reduce environmental degradation. In many areas this is already happening. In South-East Asia and Africa, farmers who have adopted the ‘system of rice intensification’ not only use less water – because they irrigate intermittently instead of flooding paddy fields continuously – but also raise yields and benefit the environment. Nevertheless, adoption of such technologies often involves trade-offs. In this case, growing rice more intensively requires more labour, more weeding, and more attention to water management. There are very few completely win-win solutions. Managing variability Farmers have always lived with climate variability and have coping strategies that they can build on to adapt to climate change. They already deal with variations between seasons, and rains coming earlier or later than usual and lasting for shorter or longer periods. Following several years of low rainfall, farmers in the Upper Bhima River Basin in South-West India, for instance, are already shifting from ‘thirsty’ sugar-cane to less-thirsty soybean: an adaptation to water scarcity that also gives them a better return. In diversifying their cropping system by An International Water Management Institute review has shown that women in Nepal have less access to land, education, information, and social networks than men, so are less resilient than men and have fewer options for adapting to changes in climate. Indigenous and Dalit women in Nepal are more vulnerable still, as they face gender and caste discrimination. Although Nepal has a strategy for targeting adaptation programs to the vulnerable, such as Dalits, women, and disabled people, this is mainly through groups. Storing water at farm level is an effective insurance policy against periods of water scarcity Unequal access to adaptation funds in Nepal planting vegetables as well as rice to adapt to urbanisation and developing markets, rice farmers on the outskirts of towns and cities in South-East Asia are producing more food per unit of water. At the same time they are also becoming more resilient to climate change. Combining tactics such as growing a greater variety of crops, growing crops that are more drought-resistant or need less water at critical times, installing micro-irrigation, and constructing small ponds or tanks However, a study on ‘unequal citizens’ found that Dalit men and women have no time to be involved in group activities. Groups are dominated by men and women from higher castes. This means that although the national climate change adaptation policy endeavors to direct adaptation funds to women and marginalised groups, Dalit men and women, and indigenous communities are not accessing these funds because group members from higher castes control their distribution. Source: Sugden et al. Forthcoming decrease the risk of crop failure, raise overall farm yields, sustainable use the resource, and build resilience to changing conditions. In Madhya Pradesh, incomes of farmers who constructed on-farm ponds to irrigate pulses and wheat have risen by over 70 per cent. In Tanzania, meanwhile, half of the dry-season cash incomes of smallholders come from growing irrigated vegetables. In Zambia, meanwhile, the 20 per cent of smallholders who cultivate vegetables in the dry season by irrigating on a small scale earn 35 per cent more than those who do not. While farmers can be helped to adapt to climate variability and change at local level, the authority to plan and approve basinwide projects, such as diverting saved water from irrigation to preserve the environment and benefit from ecosystem services, may lie in political or other spheres. Assessments – for example, that value the benefits forgone by reallocating water from canal irrigation to environmental flows under different water allocation schemes and climate change scenarios – can help decision-makers understand trade-offs and manage demand. 54 SSD_Water_Management.indd 54 04/03/2015 17:56
WATER MANAGEMENT Download the free book Tackling Change: Futureproofing water, agriculture and food security in an era of climate uncertainty at www.iwmi.org Sixty percent of the world’s food is produced on rain-fed crop-land. Supplemental irrigation – irrigation applied only at the critical stages of crop growth – combined with better management of soil, nutrients, and crops can more than double water productivity and yields in small-scale rain-fed agriculture. Major increases in production in the Mekong delta, for example, have been achieved by supplemental irrigation in the dry season. Simple water-lifting equipment – powered by fossil fuels, electricity, the sun, people, or animals – and micro-irrigation techniques, ranging from clay pots to drippers, can, when appropriately used, also dramatically boost the ability to cope with climatic variability, and can have a profound effect on agricultural productivity. Dry-season irrigation of rice could improve yields between 70 per cent and 300 per cent across sub-Saharan Africa. How governments can help In the short-term, adaptation in many agro-economies is likely to involve the uptake of improved agricultural and water management technologies. In the long term, however, diversifying sources of income is likely to become the main Farmers will need to diversify their crops to cope with climate change adaptation strategy. Trends in migration to urban centres, off-farm employment, remittances from abroad, and new businesses that capitalise on advances in information technology and other infrastructure, signal that adaptation to changes in climate and Data collection is vital for sustainable water management other circumstances is already underway. Governments could help men, women, and communities adapt to changing circumstances – including more variable and extreme climate – by delivering public services (such as sanitation, drinking water), and information about agriculture, livestock, and fisheries, more effectively. Taking a sustainable development approach to adaptation addresses vulnerability, rather than just climate change. Promoting broad-based agricultural development, appropriate to the respective ecosystems, to lift rural communities out of poverty, represents an effective adaptation strategy in rural areas. The sustainable development approach builds resilience in the production and ecosystems and the ability to cope with climatic variability and unforeseen circumstances both now and in the future. For many communities, adaptation and sustainable development will be one and the same. As incomes, livelihoods, and wellbeing improve, so will resilience. ■ Peter McCornick is Deputy Director General, Research, at the International Water Management Institute, and co-author of Tackling change: Future-proofing water, agriculture and food security in an era of climate uncertainty DAVID BRAZIER, HAMISH APPLEBY, DAVID WILLIAMS, PETTERIK WIGGERS, FASEEH SHAMS/IWMI 55 SSD_Water_Management.indd 55 04/03/2015 17:56
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Page 5 and 6: CONTENTS 56 Food security At first
Page 7 and 8: FOREWORD Law must prevail: setting
Page 9 and 10: FOREWORD Focus on the individual: r
Page 11 and 12: NEWS SDG investment in youth ‘cou
Page 13 and 14: BEST PRACTICE PROFILE OCHA chief Ba
Page 15 and 16: BEST PRACTICE PROFILE Aid workers a
Page 17 and 18: SPONSORED FEATURE Reflections On CS
Page 19 and 20: INTERVIEW Q & A Gerhard Putman-Cram
Page 21 and 22: SPONSORED FEATURE Natural resource
Page 23 and 24: YOUTH AND EDUCATION Helping young p
Page 25 and 26: YOUTH AND EDUCATION There has been
Page 27 and 28: INTERVIEW Q & A HE Shaima Al Zaroon
Page 29 and 30: INTERVIEW Until equal numbers of gi
Page 31 and 32: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY Why it’s worth
Page 33 and 34: SSD_Digital Technology.indd 31 04/0
Page 35 and 36: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY Impressively, th
Page 37 and 38: CITIES AND SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION S
Page 39 and 40: CITIES AND SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION
Page 41 and 42: CITIES AND SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION f
Page 43 and 44: INTERVIEW Q & A Professor Mukesh Ka
Page 45 and 46: INTERVIEW ICT is transforming the h
Page 47 and 48: NGOS In response to the Syria crisi
Page 49 and 50: NGOS People in regions where disast
Page 51 and 52: EMERGENCY AID • TEMPORARY CAMPS
Page 53 and 54: WATER MANAGEMENT Protecting our liq
Page 55: WATER MANAGEMENT Managing water to
Page 59 and 60: FOOD SECURITY The World Food Progra
Page 61 and 62: FOOD SECURITY Numerical participati
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Page 65 and 66: ECONOMIC GROWTH In recent years, a
Page 67 and 68: ECONOMIC GROWTH Bear in mind that n
Page 69 and 70: IDRF (International Development & R
Page 71 and 72: IMPACT, SCALABILITY, AND SUSTAINABI
Page 73 and 74: IMPACT, SCALABILITY, AND SUSTAINABI
Page 75 and 76: SUSTAINABLE TOURISM Islands of know
Page 77 and 78: SUSTAINABLE TOURISM Of the most pro
Page 79 and 80: AGENDA SESSIONS f y , H.E Mr. Hesha
Page 81 and 82: CONTRIBUTOR PROFILES Paloma Durán
Page 83 and 84: Print? Digital? Editorial? Design?
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