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Issue 26 CPWF newsletter, June/July 2008

Welcome back to Water and Food. Did you miss us? Then let’s go…

Notes from the Program Coordinator

Following the successful completion of the CPWF External Review in December, the Consortium Steering Committee approved plans for the second of three proposed phases of the CPWF. In their meetings during the last six weeks, the CGIAR Science Council and the CGIAR Executive Council have also provided supportive guidance. During the rest of the year we shall be working with stakeholders to develop our Phase 2 plans in more detail. As well as bringing you up to date on some of the process, I’d like to emphasise a few features of Phase 2 which are particularly important.

Focusing the research agenda

Based on achievements from CPWF Phase 1, the need to generate basin-level impacts through more effective coordination of our project portfolio has grown:

• The six benchmark basins with the highest levels of poverty among the current nine will carry over to Phase 2. All six are multi-country: the Limpopo, Volta and Nile in Africa; the Mekong and Ganges in Asia; and the Andean System in Latin America.
• In each basin, research will focus on one or two major Basin Impact Challenges and concentrate in geographical areas where these challenges are most urgent. Yet in order to continue to work with issues of scale, research will maintain a whole-basin perspective: downstream consequences of upstream interventions will be taken into account, as well as global drivers and processes of change.
• The generation of International Public Goods will be facilitated by cross-basin learning and synthesis focusing on four Topics that link the parts of Phase 1 Themes in which CPWF has made most contribution. The Topics are: Improving Rainwater Management; Multiple Uses of Water; Benefit Sharing; and Drivers and Processes of Change.
• To qualify for the Phase 2 agenda, new research projects must: address basin challenges or foster cross-basin (Topic-based) learning; be interdisciplinary; feature cross-scale analysis; foster resilience; and contribute to a better understanding of links among water, poverty, productivity and ecosystems in the context of global change.

Scientists from Phase 1 CPWF basins in Brazil, China and Iran will be invited to continue contributing to the CPWF by helping strengthen research in the six benchmark basins. We hope they will also continue work in their own basins, in association with the CPWF, using national funds and bilateral or multilateral grants or loans, thereby contributing to research on global drivers and processes of change.

Improving partnerships for scientific impact

To achieve the best science that we can – and in our case, that’s science with real world impacts in the complex interface of water and food research - our Phase 1 experience demonstrates that the best successes are obtained when institutional partnerships and science are addressed simultaneously and linked with each other. As those studying the management of institutions in many different sectors have found, insufficient attention to process and team-building ultimately leads to problems in achieving goals; in our case: the development of relevant, adoptable scientific results.

All our partner institutions have their own successful programs. CPWF seeks to act in those cases where it is more effective to work in wider partnerships than in smaller institutional groups. In Phase 2, CPWF provides the platforms in specific geographical areas so that many institutions can work together, without necessarily having a previous strong presence. Building on lessons uncovered from Phase 1 research, the CPWF will focus more on projects that will have development impact within the program’s remaining 10 year timeframe, especially current work with promising technical content.

Science and Impact will be closely linked both at Program level and in each basin. CPWF will shortly be advertising for both Science and Impact leadership positions at program level to work closely with the Program Director. Later, individuals and institutions will be invited to tender for Impact and Science leadership positions at basin level.

We look forward to working with you on these exciting plans over the rest of 2008.

Collective action in water management: Bogotá Forum on Water and Food

Latin America had a great opportunity to showcase research results at the CPWF Regional Forum on Water and Food, in January, with strong interactions occurring among 80 researchers, policy makers and regional organizations working in the water and food related issues.

Research assistant Marcela Quintero (centre) working with PN22 stakeholders in the Fúquene Lake area. Photo by Shinji Fukuda.

The Director of the Colombian Institute of Meteorological, Hydrology and Environmental Studies, Dr. Carlos Costa opened the forum by discussing the benefits of research for working communities. Dr. Costa emphasised the importance of finding opportunities for interactions between policy makers and researchers, highlighting policy makers’ capacity to generate communication links between research and its end-users: Better policies benefit the entire society. Dr. Costa also pointed out the need to engage the policy makers from the beginning of the research process, as scientific community needs to fully comprehend what the communities themselves state that they need.

“Dialogue is always welcome,” Dr Costa concluded, but said there is now an expectation for the CPWF to transform dialogue into strategic processes of interaction as the program approaches the second phase.

Participants had the opportunity to have a first hand look to the achievements of two CPWF projects: ‘Sustaining Collective Action Linking Economic and Ecological Scales in Upper Watersheds’ (SCALES) and ‘Environmental Services Promoting Rural Development’. In both cases, research results allow local stakeholders to make better decisions. The SCALES project supported local stakeholders to better use a Colombian constitutional instrument called conversatorios, allowing communities to establish a formal dialogue with local authorities to help improve the natural resources management at the lake.

Miguel Saravia, the CPWF Andean System of Basins Coordinator, opens the Andean Forum on Water and Food. Photo by Shinji Fukuda

The Environmental Services Promoting Rural Development project reported on the positive impact of the use of conservation agriculture in the maintenance of the water quality in the Fúquene basin; specifically research undertaken on effluents and sediments from upper and lower basin areas. Due the agrochemicals attached to lake sediments, eutrophication has been mainly contributed to inappropriate agricultural practices in the upper basin, reinforcing the concept of working with conservation agriculture for improved downstream water quality.

New Yellow River BFP unites stakeholders

The CPWF’s Yellow River’s Basin Focal Project (BFP) workshop recently brought together participants from seven different organizations and governments departments to strengthen relationships and share knowledge. Event organisers, Dr. Claudia Ringler of IFPRI and CPWF Basin Coordinator Ms. Sun Feng, received 17 project workshop attendees, with seven continuing on for a four-day basin diagnostic tour. On tour participants had the opportunity to visit the Farmland Irrigation Research Institute, irrigation districts and talk with the local staff about irrigation systems and water-saving innovations.

The project group also discussed with the local farmers their response to current water tariffs as well as decreasing irrigation water, water quality and living conditions. The workshop kicked off this ‘2nd set’ BFP, which is endeavouring to find high-impact interventions for reducing water-related poverty in the basin. The Yellow River Basin supports several main food yield districts in China, but the scarcity of water poses a serious obstacle to farming livelihoods.

YRCC staff benefit from training on groundwater governance in Asia

The new Yellow River Basin Focal Project invited workshop participants to tour the Dongping Lake irrigation district, troubled by water scarcity and poor living conditions.

This past March, Kathmandu hosted the second of the CPWF’s workshops on ‘Groundwater governance in Asia- theory and practice’ as part of CPWF Project 42 led by IWMI. After successful results from three students who participated in the first training program, the Yellow River Conservancy Commission (YRCC) were among the organisations who sent along young technical staff – in the YRCC’s case the two have backgrounds in water-saving engineering and hydrology - to swap ideas with other experts and students from south Asia.

After the training, students returned to their home countries to begin a second phase of field research. Under the guidance of Dr Jin Menggui, from the China Geology University in Wuhan, YRCC’s two technical staff cooperated with YRCC team members to produce three reports: ‘Structure and management of irrigation water use in the conjunctive irrigated area in Yellow River Basin: a case study in Zhongmu, Zhengzhou, Henan, China’; ‘Assessment of Phreatic Water quantity and rationality of the management and development of groundwater in Zhongmu County, Henan Province, China’; and ‘Quality and Governance of Irrigation Water in Kaifeng of China’.

The Groundwater Governance in Asia workshop enabled young YRCC researchers, studying the Yellow River in Henan Province, to knowledge share with students and experts from around the continent.

In the Yellow River Basin, excessive extraction and pollution of groundwater is increasing in its severity and improving the management of groundwater has never been more urgent. Through the training program, the YRCC staff felt they gained a better understanding of groundwater utilization and management, and built upon the idea of combining technical solutions with social, economic, institutional and legal measures to address groundwater sustainability.

Second Call Projects and Basin Focal Projects

Kim Geheb has stepped down as Basin Coordinator, Mekong River Basin in order to take up a position with the CPWF in the role of Basin Network Coordinator (BNC), a new position that serves to support, coordinate, and streamline the work of the Basin Coordinators. As Basin Network Coordinator he will continue to represent the basins on the CPWF Management Team. Kim will be based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia hosted by IWMI, and is contactable at k.geheb@cgiar.org

Felicity Woodhams left the CPWF Secretariat on 31 July for Australia, after six months of excellent work as Communications Assistant. She begins a new career with the Bureau of Rural Sciences in the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry in her hometown of Canberra. We wish Felicity much success in her new position. Felicity is succeeded by Sanjeev Hewavitharne who joined the team as Communications Assistant on 1 August. Sanjeev studied Arts & Economics in Sri Lanka and in the UK. You can contact Sanjeev, at s.hewavitharne@cgiar.org. CPWF welcomes Sanjeev to the Secretariat.

In August, we said good-bye to Catalina Ramirez, Coordination Assistant for the Andean System of Basins who took on a position with the environmental department of the World Bank in Washington D.C. We thank Catalina for her dedication and excellent work over the past two years. Augusto Castro, joins the team as Catalina’s successor. He is a qualified Agricultural Engineer and a specialist in water resources. He will be based in Lima with CIP-Condesan and you may contact him on a.c.castro@cgiar.org. CPWF extends a warm welcome to Augusto.

New CPWF projects

The following new projects were contracted by CPWF at the end of 2007 following competitive selection processes:

Second set Basin Focal Projects (BFPs) and Project Leaders

59. Nile; David Molden, IWMI-Sri Lanka
60. Indus-Ganges; Bharat Sharma, IWMI-India
61. Yellow River; Claudia Ringler, IFPRI USA
62. Limpopo; Douglas J. Merrey, FANPRAN South Africa
63. Andean; Mark Mulligan/Jorge Rubiano, Kings College London
64. Niger; Jean-Charles Clanet, IRD France

Second call Projects and Project Leaders

65. Contribution of shallow groundwater irrigation to livelihoods security and poverty reduction in White Volta Basin: current extent and future sustainability; Barry Boubacar, IWMI-Ghana

66. Water rights in informal rural economies in the Limpopo and Volta basins; Barbara von Koppen, IWMI-South Africa

67. Improving Mekong water allocation: searching for success with scenarios, environmental flows, multi-stakeholder dialogues, and consensus-building negotiations; John Dore, Chiang Mai University

68. Improving water productivity, reducing poverty and enhancing equity in mixed crop-livestock systems in the Indo-Gangetic Basin; Madar Samad, IWMI-India

69. Valuing the role of living aquatic resources to rural livelihoods in multiple-use seasonally inundated wetlands of Yunnan and Henan Provinces China for improved governance; Suen Pheng Kam, WorldFish Centre

70. Socio-economic and technical considerations to mitigate land and water degradation in the Peruvian Andes; Hans Jansen and Máximo Torero, IFPRI

71. APIA and AEA to support decision-making for water allocation for fisheries and agriculture in the Tonle Sap wetland system; Sophie Nguyen-Khoa, IWMI-Sri Lanka

72. Participatory diagnosis and adaptive management of small-scale fisheries in the Niger River Basin; Neil Andrew, WorldFish Centre

Theme leaders hike to Andean Slash and Mulch sites

Annette Huber-Lee and Liz Humphreys travelled to the mountainous Suarez region of Colombia earlier this year to visit the validation area of the Quesungual Slash and Mulch Agroforestry System (QSMAS). Accompanied by four of the project’s research students, Augusto Castro and local leader Señor Jose, they were struck by the harsh conditions of the area.

Jose ‘Mi Gente’, Augusto Castro, Liz Humphreys and Annette Huber-Lee visit the validation area of the Quesungual Slash and Mulch Agroforestry System. Photo by Aracely Castro.

“If we hadn’t seen it we wouldn’t have believed it,” said Dr Humphreys, confronted by the reality of cropping life on the unstable slopes of the Andes, with its 1,850mm annual rainfall.

Practiced as an alternative to slash and burn agriculture, QSMAS was successfully adopted by the rural poor on the slopes of sub-humid tropics of southwest Honduras. It is being validated by CPWF project PN 15 in both Nicaragua and Colombia, supported by CIAT, the Integrated Soil Management (MIS) Consortium in Central America and the Inter-institutional Consortium for Sustainable Agriculture in Hillsides (CIPASLA). Plots for the validation - where QSMAS is being compared with the slash-and-burn system with and without fertilization - were established late last year on three farms located within the upper watersheds of the Cauca River.

The capacity of QSMAS to improve both water quality and productivity, and its potential application in regions of the world with similar biophysical and socioeconomic constraints, makes it a very exciting product from the CPWF community. Project members are now packaging the knowledge in the form of key principals and concepts for adoption, aiming to facilitate impacts in crop water productivity and natural resource management. The team expects this will provide benefits in water quality and access for both upstream and downstream users.

Theme 2 leadership changeover

Douglas White

The CPWF are very happy to welcome Dr Douglas White as the incoming Theme Leader for Theme 2, Water and People in Catchments. Douglas is an Agricultural and Natural Resource Economist who has worked at CIAT since 1998. He has extensive experience in Latin America and Asia, carrying out research in agriculture, water and forests. Douglas has already participated in CPWF through his analysis of compensation for environmental services and through his work with the Andean Basin Focal Project.

Nancy Johnson

At the same time, with sadness, we say goodbye to Dr Nancy Johnson who has led Theme 2 for three years. Through her dynamism and creativity Nancy has made many contributions to the research portfolio and to the integration of all CPWF Themes, especially in the area of stakeholder involvement and compensation for environmental services. The good news is that we shall not be losing touch with Nancy, who will be taking up a new position with our close partners ILRI.

Announcements

New staff at the Secretariat

The CPWF Secretariat would like to welcome Chandana Lokuge into the fold as our new Information Management Officer, as well as Anto Silva who has taken over from Stephini Fernando as the CPWF’s Administration Officer. Deepak Shanmuganathan also comes aboard as the Coordinator for the CPWF Second International Forum.

Sadly data analyst Priyantha Jayasuriya Arachchi has decided it is time to move on. Pree’s hard work, commitment and cheerful presence over the past four years contributed greatly to the spirit of the team. And after almost three years as communications coordinator Amena Mohammed is bidding us farewell and relocating with her growing family for new adventures in Rwanda. She will be genuinely missed. The communications chair is being warmed by David Clayton with assistance from consultant Tuppy McIntosh.

Annette Huber-Lee, formerly Theme 5 leader, takes a new position, effective 1 May 2008, as Science Leader to guide the transition of Themes to Topics during the preparation and initiation of Phase 2. Annette will continue as a member of the CPWF management team; she is replaced as the leader of Theme 5 (Global and National Food and Water Systems) by Mark Svendsen whom we shall introduce in the next newsletter.

Events and happenings

The CPWF Secretariat is on the lookout for a Communications Coordinator. If you, or someone you know, are a communications guru seeking a new and exciting…Challenge, please go the Challenge Program for Water and Food website to download a position description.

Special sessions on the CPWF and presentations by several of its Basin Focal Projects will be held during the second afternoon of the 13^th World Water Congress, hosted this year from 1-4 September in Montpellier, organised by the International Water Research Association.

The CPWF’s second International Forum on Water and Food will this year take place in Addis Ababa on 9-14 November. The forum’s agenda is being finalised now, so keep a look out at www.waterandfood.org for further information.  The International symposium on multiple-use water services will precede the forum from 4-6 November in Addis Ababa.

The largest international competition on development research, the Global Development Network’s Ninth Annual Global Development Awards and Medals Competition is now accepting submissions for their 2008 event. Since 2000, nearly 3,700 scholars representing over 100 countries have participated with nearly US $2 million distributed to finalists and winners.

The Aqua Foundation’s Second World Aqua Conference is now calling for abstracts for their November event in Dehli.

Global Water System Project launches Digital Water Atlas. The Atlas currently contains 50 global maps and datasets on water-related topics and more than 100 links to other data and information sources.

The Insuring Future Climate Change Conference, Oslo, 3-4 November, aims to bring together researchers, stakeholders and decision-makers from insurance, science and political arenas to discuss theoretical knowledge and practical tools for estimating and mapping climate risk and adaptation.

Time is running out to apply for the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development’s Visiting Scholar Fellowship, 2008 – 2009 for researchers from the Mekong region.

Two workshops, ‘Capacity Building on Adaptive Water Management: Training of Trainers’, and ‘From Research to Social Change: The Case of Ecosystem Services’ are being run in conjunction with the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change 7^th Open Meeting (Global Challenges of Social Change) on 12-15 October, New Delhi.

The International Irrigation Congress on ‘Management, Technology and Best Practice in Irrigation’, 18, 19 and 20 June, at Expo Zaragoza, is still receiving registrations via their website.

Share your news and views!

To make this newsletter a useful tool for all of us, share your progress, results and stories, or simply send us snippets that your colleagues might find interesting. Contributions can be short and simple — ideally with a well lit photo (please try to steer away from big group photos) or an easy to grasp graphic.
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Tuppy McIntosh – t.mcintosh@cgiar.org
Editor, Water and Food
CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food
For further information about the program contact the CPWF secretariat at cpwfsecretariat@cgiar.org