http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/afns/en/ Presentation from Fabrice De Clerck (Bioversity International) describing CGIAR’s Water Land and Ecosystems (WLE) research program and outlining its relevance to sustainable intensification and ecosystems preservation. The presentation was prepared and delivered in occasion of the International Symposium on Agroecology for Food Security and Nutrition, held at FAO in Rome on 18-19 September 2014.

1. Water Land and Ecosystems (WLE): Building resilience in food production systems
Uniting Agriculture and Nature for Poverty Reduction

2. WLE believes
Sustainable intensification provides a pathway for agriculture productivity, human development and resilient landscapes.

3. Why
Increasing environmental degradation.
Rising risks associated with the current growth agenda.
Rapidly rising human demands and inequity
•We are consuming natural capital in a way that is not sustainable and equitable.
Recognition that the sustainability agenda is at the heart of development.

4. ‘Water and climate crisis’ is the high on global risk
.. and biodiversity loss also very high
Global Risks Report 2014, World Economic Forum

5. How
Influencing development choices to improve sustainable agricultural intensification through nature based solutions by providing:
•Evidence-base knowledge that sustainable intensification provides improved food security, equity, livelihoods and healthy landscapes.
•Integrated solutions to better manage risk related to rising shocks.
•Models and scenarios to understand trade-offs and synergies.
•Institutional innovations to address inequity and gender imbalances, while promoting inclusive and sustainable growth.

6. WLEs uniqueness
Not about protecting ecosystem for the sake of ecosystem.
Support human development by working with ecosystems and people.
Ecosystems as the foundation for agriculture productivity, equity, livelihoods and prosperity.
We go beyond the paradigm of minimizing the impacts of agriculture.
We are exploring the interface between rural and urban systems.
Working across sectors to provide integrated solutions to reverse land and water degradation.
Combining an ecological approach with a natural resource management approach to build resilience.

7. VISION
A world in which agriculture thrives within vibrant ecosystems, where communities have higher incomes, improved food security and the ability to continuously improve their lives
MISSION
Informing the development of policies, institutions and investments toward sustaining ecosystems and their services as a prerequisite for sustainable and resilient agricultural intensification and improved livelihoods
WLE VISION AND MISSION

8. WLE Program Structure
decision-making tools to assess the power and benefits that women and marginalized groups receive from natural resource management. Finally, the flagships integrate around WLE’s core concepts of sustainable intensification: livelihoods, productivity, efficiency and sustainability. Figure 1: Program structure and theory of change

9. WLE At Scale
is able to leverage the extensive capacity and research of its partners. WLE recognizes that transition to integrated and holistic sustainable intensification systems requires decision makers levels—from local to international—to make complex choices among competing uses of, management strategies for, water, land, ecosystems, energy and other resources.

10. Socio-Ecological system: WLE ES&R Framework

11. Focal Region Flagships.

12. UNITING AGRICULTURE AND NATURE FOR POVERTY REDUCTION
WLE contributing to sustainable and resilient food systems

13. ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND RESILIENCE
Almost 30% of Bangladesh fish come from flood plains (beels).
Building community based organizations to increase fish production using ecosystem based approaches.
Led to increases in catches and important livelihood benefits to landless farmers.
Understand trade-offs and synergies, both short and long term, on how mixed use landscapes can be managed for their multi-functionality.
Managing floodplains for livelihoods in Bangladesh

14. Acknowledgements: Meynell, P-J.
Constructed wetlands in reservoirs

15. Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction
GENDER, POVERTY AND INSTITUTIONS
Gendered decision making – Identifying livelihood
options in resettled communities in the Mekong
Men
Upland rice control limited (material,
relational and subjective costs)
Fishing control increased
(material benefit)
Livestock control decreased
(material cost)
Women
Riverbank gardens control
decreased (material cost)
Weaving control increased
(material, subjective benefits)
Education increased participation
(relational and subjective benefits)
Decisions result in benefits or costs to men and women.
These are social (relational), cultural (relational/subjective),
emotional (subjective) as well as economic (material).
Identify where, when and how women can gain equitable access to water, land
and other natural resources

16. REVITALIZING DEGRADED ECOSYSTEMS
Reduce land degradation and increase resilience of small scale farming communities in sub-Saharan Africa and other hot spots across the globe.
Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) for amelioration of salt- affected soils and income generation, Uzbekistan
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Net income, USD/ha
Net profit from Licorice production
Natural conditions
Cultivated crop
Salt-affected soils in Syr Darya, Uzbekistan, 2005
Growing licorice on abandoned salt-affected soils can:
Ameliorate salt-affected soils
Return them to productive use
Improve fertility of soils
Generate high income for poor farmers

17. INCREASING WATER AND LAND PRODUCTIVITY
Banking on groundwater: How policies can lever change in India
Agricultural growth in West Bengal had slumped by more than half.
Research identified a major block to agricultural productivity was getting access to groundwater.
Policies recommended by IWMI were adopted to improve groundwater access for smallholder farmers.
Estimated rise in irrigated area from 3.0 to 4.8 mill ha and an additional 4.6 mill tons of paddy per year.
Develop technical, managerial and institutional solutions for managing water and land

18. RECOVERING AND REUSING RESOURCES
20 promising business models for the safe reuse of human waste based on 200 case studies across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The first investment pledges exceed $4m with several banks in the pipeline.
Outputs being used by WHO, FAO, UNEP and UNU (Global guidelines, assessments, methodologies, databases and training).
Reduce the negative urban footprint on ecosystems and human health through market driven incentives that promote investments in water and energy recovery and reuse
Business models and innovative partnerships

19. Waste to fertilizer – closing the nutrient loop
Co- composting

20. Introducing business models to turn waste into an asset
Solid waste and fecal sludge composting in Asia and Africa could save billions of US$ per year, assuming a market for only 25% of the urban organic waste.
Not a new concept, but many pilots not viable or sustainable
Business models for resource recovery & reuse (RRR) target private and public investors and business schools.

21. Resource recovery and reuse - Sustainable waste and wastewater treatment Source: Drechsel
Water Energy Nexus benefits:
Energy reduction in: Water treatment, chemical fertilizer production and transport
Environmental benefits: Reduced pollution of water bodies, reduced nitrogen and phosphorous demand, reduced GHG emissions

22. MANAGING RESOURCE VARIABILITY AND COMPETING USES
Assist decision makers to reconcile natural variability, competition among sectors and trade-offs, and the importance of equitably sharing these resources
Sharing water benefits in the Andes
Institutional innovation to improve how benefits of water are shared up-stream and downstream:
Developed Benefit Sharing Mechanism for Caneta Basin, funded by IFAD and Peru Government.
Inputs and advice into to developing new PES Law in Peru.
Support to implementing BSM in more than 30 locations throughout the Andes.

23. Managing resource variability and competing uses
Assist decision makers to reconcile natural variability, competition among sectors and trade-offs, and the importance of equitably sharing these resources
Resolves water variability by accelerating surface–subsurface interactions
Process:
Extract groundwater before monsoon
Fill sub-surface storage using distributed recharge mechanisms during the monsoon
Results:
Increased water for dry season irrigation
Reduced downstream flood impact
Increased river flow in the dry season
Ganges Aquifer Management for Ecosystems Services (GAMES)

24. INTEGRATING ECOSYSTEM SOLUTIONS INTO POLICIES AND INVESTMENTS
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Dry season
Integrated solutions in Southern Bangladesh
System productivity can be increased from 3-6 tons per hectare to 11-19 tons per hectare, depending on location.
Planning Commission has directed key departments to adopt improved planning, maintenance and management of polders.
Sub-watershed management recommendations taken up by Blue-Gold project and Delta plan sponsored by DGIS.
Wet season
Shrimp
Rice + Fish
Provide policy makers, private sector, NGOs and donors with evidence based research to assess the long-term impacts, risks and trade-offs of large-scale investments and strategies in a given region

25. STRENGTHENING DECISION ANALYSIS
Use information analysis tools to help governments and investors reduce risk and enhance rural farm livelihoods
Merti Aquifer
Working with Government of Kenya to assess impacts of 120 KM pipeline using probabilistic decision-making models.
Convening stakeholders and engaging them in model building has shown potential to overcome some of the controversy surrounding the Merti aquifer project.
Important aquifer for Wajir City, Somali refugees and pastoral communities and outcomes will support their development needs.

26. CONCLUDING REMARKS
Building resilient and sustainable food systems can be achieved.
Key to this is how we manage our natural resources on which our entire food system is contingent upon.
There are no magic bullets or quick fixes to the challenges we face.
Our current production systems and approaches to food production need radical changes that place sustainability and resilience first.
To achieve this will require greater perseverance, hard decisions and political will.

27. Thank you
Learn more at wle.cgiar.org
Agriculture and Ecosystems Blog: wle.cgiar.org/blogs