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INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON WATER SCIENCES AND RESEARCHto measure these impacts. In the eyes of potential donors, this wasa problem that prevented investment in scientific cooperation andcollaboration – a problem that is now solved within WLI.To share the WLI solution with other donors and benefit othercollaborative scientific initiatives across MENA, a series of challengesstill remain, and cooperative work among a widening rangeof partners and parallel initiatives will be needed. National expertsin land and water management are not familiar with the tools andconcepts of livelihood assessment, and often feel unqualified orreluctant to use them. On the other hand, development partners arewell-versed in analyzing the determinants of poverty and economicdevelopment, but often do not have a practical understanding ofthe complex pathways through which these may be affected by aparticular plant variety or cultivation practice. They also struggleto comprehend the possible effects of confounding factors, andmay be uncertain about whether their support would ever be ableto demonstrate that it has achieved any solidly attributable benefit.Land and water managers need to be able to reassure them of this.Collaborative work through WLI has focused on the shared challengeof identifying the best available scientific methods for capturing andmeasuring livelihood impacts from innovative land and water management.With technical guidance and support from USAID and ICARDAthrough WLI, reporting of the first five indicators in the sustainablewater and livelihoods framework by collaborating research teams beganduring 2012. This included target-setting for the coming three years interms of technological development, capacity building and implementationof improved management strategies in the field. For the remainingfive indicators, scientific cooperation is enabling WLI to develop necessarymethodological guidance. This will equip the research teams touse, critique and improve available scientific methods for the estimationand tracking of agricultural water management and productivity, basinscalewater management and effects on the income of rural households.Rewarding international cooperationFrom 2014 it is anticipated that baselines and targets for quantifiable,verifiable and collectively recognizable success in improving land, waterand livelihoods will be in place for all 10 indicators in the framework.Where impacts are systematically recognizable, shared, quantifiable andunderwritten through USAID participation, it is hoped that more partnerswill decide to invest their support, and share the common success.Ongoing collaborative work among WLI partners demonstratesthe progress made towards the operational use of the remainingfive indicators needed to connect water management innovationsto measurable impacts on livelihoods. Work remains to be doneon the framework and indicators, but the collaborative approachamong scientific and development partners is the surest way toachieve it. Scientific exchange and collaborative work is also thebest way to ensure that measurement methods meet universallyapplicable standards of scientific rigour and reliability. Collectivemethodological and measurement challenges will no doubtremain, in order to refine the indicators and enhance the qualityand specificity of results to meet all stakeholders’ expectations.Appropriate methods for assessment of rural livelihoods, povertyand income generation are sensitive topics for public debate andnational policy attention, as well as priority concerns for the internationaldonor communities.Partners collaborating in WLI so far have a lot to be proud of and,finally, a great system for sharing their achievements with others.Over the coming years, thanks to the sustainable water and liveli-Field monitoring of agricultural landand water productivityWLI researchers in Egypt are working to raise the waterproductivity of citrus fruit treesNARES are well-experienced in recording hectares of landunder agricultural uses, and assessing the volumes andvalues of crop production. But they do not systematicallycombine these statistics with water use and waterproductivity assessments to calculate the full potential watersavings that could be achieved through innovative watermanagement practices.Fruit trees offer a less water-intensive alternative tocereals, and can be cultivated at the water-scarce tailendsof irrigation canals or under drip irrigation. The WLIresearch team in Lebanon is working to raise the value ofthe more drought-tolerant indigenous soft fruit varieties byclassifying and certifying them, promoting their tastes andqualities for export, and mentoring farmers in integrated pestmanagement techniques, among other things.Researchers are interested to learn how controlled waterstress introduced to fruit crops through deficit irrigation canenhance their productivity and flavour. The WLI researchteams are uniquely placed to observe these stresses, andensure that producers in their countries can benefit fromresearch findings. Knowledge exchanges with ICARDAscientists and US university partners focused on modellingcrop-water requirements and productivity. WLI researchersin Tunisia are seeking knowledge from university partnersin Florida and Spain to help them to model the effects ofclimate change on citrus production.Collaborative work among the Egyptian Water ManagementResearch Institute, Agricultural Research Institute, AmericanUniversity in Cairo and citrus producers’ agriculturalassociations is already enabling WLI researchers in Egypt toconnect their collective research capacities, and record effectson water productivity in US dollars per hectare and per cubicmetre of water. WLI is now preparing to report these impactsfrom integrated land and water management research toUSAID and any other interested donors on an annual basis.hoods framework, they should look forward to engagingfurther additional support through a multi-donorinitiative. This is needed to scale out the innovationsachieved in MENA so far. The key to successful cooperationin the water sector is ensuring that everybodywins, especially the most vulnerable rural householdsin water-scarce areas, whose livelihoods mainly dependon agricultural water management. To succeed in this,a wider collaboration involving more scientific partnersdonors, and rural communities will be needed.Image: Caroline King[ 318 ]