Mainstreaming Land Governance in IWRM

in Response to the Food Security Challengeperspective paper – workshop proposal

Dr Jan Cherlet, ILC Secretariat

…working together to promote

secure and equitable access to

and control over land for poor

women and men through

advocacy, dialogue, knowledge

sharing and capacity building

…working together to promote

secure and equitable access to

and control over land for poor

women and men through

advocacy, dialogue, knowledge

sharing and capacity building

Perspective paper

“Mainstreaming Land Governance in IWRM

in Response to the Food Security Challenge”

Regional workshop

to get views from GWP partners and ILC members

Perspective paper“Mainstreaming Land Governance in IWRM

in Response to the Food Security Challenge”

Regional workshop

to get views from GWP partners and ILC members

Perspective paper – Context

• Past: food production 1960-2014 increased 250%

• mostly intensification, incl. doubling of agricultural water use

• minor expansion of agricultural land

• Today: degrading state of land and water resources

• freshwater withdrawal unsustainable in many regions

• agricultural land degrading and being converted

• Future: food security challenge, complicated by

• the use of arable land for non-food

• climate change, possible mass losses of harvest

Perspective paper – Context

• Past: food production 1960-2014 increased 250%

• mostly intensification, incl. doubling of agricultural water use

• minor expansion of agricultural land

• Today: degrading state of land and water resources

• freshwater withdrawal unsustainable in many regions

• agricultural land degrading and being converted

• Future: food security challenge, complicated by

• the use of arable land for non-food

• climate change, possible mass losses of harvest

→ one-sided approach to either water or land is a recipe for

increasing degradation, higher food insecurity

Perspective paper – Changing course

Coordination of water & land governance for food security

Coordination = “some form of interrelation in the management

or governance of land and water”

Could be

• Limited concerted governance, with information flows

• Interrelated governance, concerted planning

• L&W governed as part of 1 system

Perspective paper – Some examples

• Secure land rights to secure access to water

• Women’s land rights to ensure equitable access to water for

productive use

• Secure land rights to increase investment & water-use efficiency

• Accounting for water in land allocation decisions

• Coordinated investment in L&W to reduce land degradation

• Coherence between land use plans and IWRM plans

• Mainstreaming land in IRBM

Perspective paper – Conclusion

• Not a new paradigm

• True spirit of IWRM contributes to finding a way out of the

looming food security crisis

• Due consideration to land issues (land governance) in IWRM

would help strengthen the relevance of IWRM

in a world in search for alternative paradigms

Regional workshop

Perspective paper

Regional workshop

Background paper

Regional workshop – Objectives

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE

Share positive/negative experiences of coordinated land and

water governance, and the impacts of this (un)coordinated land

and water governance on people’s food security and livelihoods

→ input to background paper

OVERALL OBJECTIVE

Create a space for ILC members, GWP partners, and other

interested organisations to share perspectives on land and water

dimensions of the current global food security challenge

Regional workshop – Practicalities

Participants

� GWP partners, CWPs, RWPs, ILC members, etc.

Where

� Interest from IWMI-Africa to host in Johannesburg (TBC)

When

� Before the end of this year, probably November (TBC)

Sessions (tentatively)

� Examples of uncoordinated L&W governance, impacts

� Barriers to coordinated L&W governance

� Examples of coordinated L&W governance, land in IWRM

� Lessons

j.cherlet@landcoalition.org