CGIAR Research Program on

Water, Land and Ecosystems

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Humanity’s greatest challenge

• To feed 9 billion people in 2050, we need to produce 70% more food without destroying the environment

• Rising incomes and population are already contributing to:

– Water scarcity

– Land degradation

– Loss of ecosystem services

CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)

Our visionA world in which agriculture thrives within vibrant ecosystems and where rural communities enjoy a decent living and have access to everything they need to

continually improve their livelihoods..

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WLE has 3 main goals…

1. To improve food security and livelihoods of farmers through the sustainable intensification of agriculture

2. To improve the sharing of benefits and risks among users of different ecosystem services through policies that encourage collaborative behaviour and dialogue

3. To strengthen institutional arrangements that cut across sectors and national boundaries, foster equitable and sustained development, improve resource governance and support productive and resilient solutions

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Working in 8 regions covering more than a billion people

Drivers of

Change

4. Basins

Outcomes and Impacts

Ecosystem Services and Environment

5. Analysis and Information Systems

Adaptive Management

3. Resource Recovery

Reuse

1. Irrigation Systems

2. Rainfed Systems

PROGRAM STRUCTURE & FRAMEWORK

Irrigated Systems SRP

Solutions:

•Enhancing Success of Irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)•Revitalizing public irrigation systems•Water Management in the Eastern Gangetic Basin•Managing salt–water balance in Indus and Central Asian irrigation systems•Peri-urban Agricultural Water Management

Photo: Tom Van Cakenberghe/IWMI

Rainfed Systems SRP

Solutions:

•Reducing land degradation in rainfed landscapes•Sustaining productive landscapes by increasing biodiversity•Reducing risk and tackling productivity/environment challenges in farming landscapes• 

Photo :A

kica Bahri/IW

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Resource, Recovery and Reuse SRPSolutions:

•Business opportunities for resource recovery and reuse

•Safe wastewater and excreta reuse

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ndrea Silverm

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Basins SRPSolutions:

•Managing water resources’ variability and re-thinking storage in basins•Resource allocation and sharing for the benefit of all•Water and energy for food (WE4FOOD)•Water data and accounting in basins

(IWMI)

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ioversity International

Information and Decision MakingSolutions:•Decision Analysis — forecasting interventions impacts on development outcomes •Agro-ecosystem health metrics and monitoring to support intervention decisions

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WLE’s focus on gender…

WLE aims to achieve gender equitable outcomes by:

•Analyzing data from a gender and equity perspective

•Understanding gender-specific barriers for adoption

•Developing gender-sensitive policies

•Identifying ways to improve women’s access to, and involvement in land and water management (e.g. new income opportunities; safer practices for improved health; gender-sensitive policies)

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aseeh Sham

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Trade-offs in WLE

• Trade-offs in livelihoods

• Trade-offs – short-term, versus long-term

• Trade-offs in space

• Trade-offs at the landscape scale: struggling with boundaries

• Trade-offs among ecosystem services

Visit our websitewle.cgiar.org

and

the Agriculture & Ecosystem Blog

wle.cgiar.org/blogs