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24. Livelihood Resilience in Dry Areas

Full Title:

Strengthening Livelihood Resilience in Upper Catchments of Dry Areas by Integrated Natural Resources Management

Download project proposal [PDF 240Kb]

The challenges for the rural households in the upper catchments of the Karkheh river basin (KRB) are similar to those in other dry areas.  As agricultural options are limited, wheat and extensive sheep rearing dominate the landscape.  Agricultural output is unstable and usually low, due to resources degradation and unpredictable droughts (e.g., the severe drought during 1999-2001).  Irregular rainfall on poor-vegetated hill slopes results in severe soil erosion, downstream flooding and sedimentation.  Consequently, the lifetime of the Karkheh dam reservoir is dwindling rapidly. These environmental constraints combined with their economic remoteness make this southwest corner of Iran one of the poorest of the country with a very high out-migration rate.

The overall goal of this research-for-development project is to strengthen livelihood resilience of the rural poor and to improve environmental integrity in upper catchments of the dry areas.  Due to the complex combination of biophysical and economic constraints, it is not an easy task to strengthen farmers’ livelihoods.  Besides the usual technical skills, this also requires participatory skills, livelihood analyses and strong interdisciplinary and interinstitutional cooperation.  Most of these “soft skills” are underdeveloped in the region.  Therefore, two main objectives are envisioned for this project.  First, in the course of the project, we aim to improve the adaptive capacity of the involved stakeholders to strengthen livelihoods in these marginally dry environments in a sustainable way.  Second, an appropriate methodology will be developed that will combine livelihood strategies with watershed management, and that can be used beyond the study sites in a wide spectrum of dry environments.  The specific objectives are to:

1.         Develop a framework for evaluating livelihood vulnerability and resilience in dry upper catchments.
2.         Identify and evaluate watershed management principles for upper catchments in dry areas.
3.         Build the capacity of communities in four upper catchments to strengthen their livelihood resilience and to manage their catchments in a sustainable way.
4.         Develop an effective strategy for outscaling and upscaling of research results and lessons learned.
5.         Improve coordination and process skills.

The research process will be guided by the “Integrated Natural Resources Management” (INRM) framework.  This will be operationalized by a number of strategies and a well-balanced effort between diagnostic, problem-solving and process tools.  The research work will combine a large-scale analysis of the KRB by GIS and RRA, with a detailed study at four contrasting sub-catchments.  This project is only possible by a concerted effort of Iranian research agencies, a development organization and local community organizations.  ICARDA, CIAT and Leuven University will assist the Iranian partners with coordination, networking in dry areas, INRM framework, participatory approaches, specific technologies for drylands and degradation assessments.

At the end of the project, we expect an increased capacity of the local communities at the benchmark sites to improve their livelihoods, an increased understanding on rural livelihoods in dry upper catchments and watershed management principles, improved organization and research capacity for integrated projects, and a methodology and toolbox to facilitate research and development in these areas.