Table Of ContentWater Scarcity, Livelihoods
and Food Security
This volume reviews the evolution of ten years’ learning and discovery about
water scarcity, livelihoods and food security within the CGIAR Challenge
Program on Water and Food. It draws on the experiences of over 100 projects
conducted in ten river basins in the developing world.
The book describes how the program’s design evolved from an emphasis on
water scarcity, water productivity and water access to an emphasis on using
water innovations to improve livelihoods and address development challenges
in specific river basins. It shows how the research was used to foster change in
stakeholder behavior, linking it to improved knowledge, attitudes and skills,
which were fostered by stakeholder participation, innovation, dialogue and
negotiation.
The authorsdescribe development challenges, their drivers and their politi-
cal context; how to address them through technical, institutional and policy
innovations; and the consequences of change at different scales and time frames
on equity, resilience and ecosystem services. Overall, the work represents a
major synthesis and landmark publication for all concerned with water resource
management and sustainable development.
Larry W. Harrington was Research Director, Challenge Program on Water
and Food (CPWF) of CGIAR, based at the International Water Management
Institute (IWMI), Colombo, Sri Lanka, now at Ithaca, NY, USA.
Myles J. Fisheris an Emeritus Scientist, Centro Internacional de Agricultura
Tropical (CIAT), Cali, Colombia.
‘From a water scarcity and productivity programme to one of development challenges,
this book presents the commendable work of the CPWF in very diverse basins all over
the world. The processes implemented built on participation, innovation, dialogue and
negotiation among the locals, ultimate users of the resource, will ensure the positive
legacy of the programme. Since lessons learnt will stay with the locals, and will not
leave with the donors, the initial expectations of research for development may even
be surpassed. Certainly a lesson for many donors.’
Cecilia Tortajada, President, Third World Centre for Water Management, Mexico.
Earthscan Studies in Water Resource Management
Water Management, Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in
Developing Economies
Edited by M. Dinesh Kumar, M.V.K. Sivamohan and Nitin Bassi
Governing International Watercourses
River Basin Organizations and the Sustainable Governance of Internationally Shared
Rivers and Lakes
By Susanne Schmeier
Transferable Groundwater Rights
Integrating Hydrogeology, Law and Economics
ByAndreas N. Charalambous
Contemporary Water Governance in the Global South
Scarcity, Marketization and Participation
Edited by Leila Harris, Jacqueline Goldin and Christopher Sneddon
Water Governance, Policy and Knowledge Transfer
International Studies on Contextual Water Management
Edited by Cheryl de Boer, Joanne Vinke-de Kruijf, Gül Özerol and Hans Th. A. Bressers
Water as a Catalyst for Peace
Transboundary Water Management and Conflict Resolution
By Ahmed Abukhater
Sustainable Water and Sanitation Services
The Life-cycle Approach to Planning and Management
By Livelihoods & Natural Resource Management Institute, International Water & Sanitation
Centre, Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Watershed Support Services & Activities
Network
Water for Food Security and Well-being in Latin America and the
Caribbean
Social and Environmental Implications for a Globalized Economy
Edited by Bárbara A. Willaarts, Alberto Garrido and M. Ramón Llamas
Water Scarcity, Livelihoods and Food Security
Research and Innovation for Development
Edited by Larry W. Harrington and Myles J. Fisher
Adaptation to Climate Change through Water Resources Management
Capacity, Equity and Sustainability
Edited by Dominic Stucker and Elena Lopez-Gunn
For more information and to view forthcoming titles in this series, please visit the Routledge
website:http://www.routledge.com/books/series/ECWRM/
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Water Scarcity, Livelihoods
and Food Security
Research and innovation
for development
Edited by Larry W. Harrington
and Myles J. Fisher
Led
by:
First published 2014
by Routledge
2Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
©2014 International Water Management Institute
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
orutilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice:Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Water scarcity, livelihoods and food security : research and innovation for
development / edited by Larry W. Harrington and Myles J. Fisher.
pages cm. – (Earthscan studies in water resource management)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Water resources development–International cooperation. 2. Water-
supply–International cooperation. 3. Food security–International
cooperation. 4. Challenge Program on Water and Food. 5.
Agriculture–Research–International cooperation. I. Harrington, Larry
W. II. Fisher, Myles. J.
HD1691.W363 2014
333.91–dc23 2014007179
ISBN: 978-0-415-72846-1(hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-72847-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-85166-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Keystroke, Station Road, Codsall, Wolverhampton
Contents
Foreword ix
Abbreviations xiii
1 The Challenge Program on Water and Food:
A new paradigm for research in the CGIAR 1
MYLES J. FISHER, AMANDA HARDING AND ERIC KEMP-BENEDICT
2 Water scarcity and abundance, water productivity
and their relation to poverty 15
ALAIN VIDAL, LARRY W. HARRINGTON AND MYLES J. FISHER
3 Harnessing research for development to tackle
wicked problems 45
MICHAEL VICTOR, BORU DOUTHWAITE, TONYA SCHUETZ,
AMANDA HARDING, LARRY W. HARRINGTON AND
OLUFUNKE COFIE
4 The institutional history of the CGIAR Challenge
Program on Water and Food 77
ILSE PUKINSKIS
5 Innovating in a dynamic technical context 99
LARRY W. HARRINGTON AND MARTIN VAN BRAKEL
6 Research on institutions for agricultural water
management under the CGIAR Challenge
Program on Water and Food 125
NANCY JOHNSON, BRENT M. SWALLOW AND
RUTH MEINZEN-DICK
viii Contents
7 Partnerships, platforms and power 156
AMY SULLIVAN, TERRY CLAYTON, AMANDA HARDING AND
LARRY W. HARRINGTON
8 From research outputs to development
outcomes—selected stories 178
TERRY CLAYTON AND MICHAEL VICTOR
9 Messages and meaning 200
LARRY W. HARRINGTON AND ALAIN VIDAL
Appendix: Projects financed by the CGIAR Challenge
Program on Water and Food 217
Index 234
Foreword
The CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) was designed as
a 15-year program (2004–2018) that addressed interrelated issues of water
scarcity, water productivity, livelihoods, food security, poverty and the environ-
ment. It was conceived as a response by the CGIAR to a perceived global crisis
of water scarcity and the urgent need to use increasingly scarce water resources
more efficiently. With the passage of time, the CPWF broadened its agenda
to focus on a range of water-related development challenges in river basins.
The CPWF came to see that water provides a useful, even essential, entry point
for addressing many development challenges. These included challenges related
to the sustainable intensification of agricultural systems and preserving eco-
system services wherethese also see positivechanges in rural people’s poverty.
Through the latest CGIAR reform, the duration of the Program was shortened
to ten years.
The CPWF was designed, as were three other CGIAR Challenge Programs,
to explore new ways of doing research with partners for development pur-
poses. In its more than 50-year history, the CGIAR has had long experience
with cross-Center initiatives (Ecoregional Programs, System-wide Programs,
Challenge Programs, and more recently CGIAR Research Programs or CRPs).
These have helped the whole system progress despite recurrent financial
insecurity and uncertainties arising from multiple rounds of institutional change.
The CPWF was not immune to this type of turbulence.
This is a good time for us to express our admiration and sincere thanks to
the project teams, and to their institutions and partners, for their perseverance,
their inspiration and their cooperation. In a sustained and enthusiastic effort,
they have demonstrated adaptability and a willingness to change, producing
the scientific outputs and the development outcomes presented in this book.
In research-for-development, scientificresults aremost useful when theyare
credible and relevant, and when they inform engagement with policy- and
decision-makers. An important measure of our success lies therefore in the role
those results will play in future decisions.
In preparing this book, we aimed to provide in one place a top-level
summary of what has been learned through the CPWF experience covering
Phase 1, the Basin Focal Projects and Phase 2. The book tells the evolution of
