RIVER BASINS: CURRENT RESEARCH AT IWMI

1. RIVER BASINS:CURRENT RESEARCH AT IWMI Vladimir Smakhtin, Inputs from Mark Giordano, Paul Pavlic, Matthew McCartney, C.T. Hoanh, Guillaume Lacombe, Sonali Selamuttu, Robyn Johnston, Charlotte MacAlister, Catherine Pfeifer, MulugetaLemenih, Katherine Snyder, Simon Langan, Barbara van Koppen, Kai Wegerlich, Jonathan Lautze, Diana Suhardiman, JP Venot, Dennis Wichelns, Akmal Karimov, Upali Amarasinghe, Lisa-Maria Rebelo, Luna Bharati, Fred Kizito

2. COVERAGE - GEOGRAPHY • Global • Ganges and Indus • Nile • Volta • Syr-Darya • Zambezi, Limpopo • Mekong • Other (Krishna, Godavari, Chao Praya)

3. COVERAGE - TOPICS • Managing resources’ variability • Water infrastructure • Allocate and manage water and land to raise productivity, improve equity and safeguard ES • Benefit-sharing • Political economy of policy selection

4. MANAGING VARIABILITY – managed aquifer recharge Chao Praya, Thailand IF SOME 15% OF INDIA TOTAL FLOW IS HARVESTED SIMILARLY, IT WILL INCREASE WATER SUPPLY BY 285 KM3 – ABOUT 50% OF TOTAL INDIA WATER WITHDRAWAL AT PRESENT • Harvest only high floods (e.g. once in 4 years); Around 25% MAF • Use harvested water for agricultural production every year • Estimated 100 km2dedicated land necessary • Some 270,000 ha additional irrigation may be possible • $200+ M /year income to smallholder farmers • Farmers must be encouraged to become flood harvesters • Desktop, preliminary study only. No precedents yet

5. MANAGING VARIABILITY – WATER STORAGE

6. MANAGING VARIABILITY – WATER STORAGE • What is the best combination of storage options that meet technical, environmental and social objectives? • Can storage evaluation metrics be developed to facilitate storage development planning? Livestock storage NEED – based on poor population density, livestock density, rainfall pattern Projects in Volta, Nile, Nepal

7. WATER INFRASTRUCTURE – Improving livelihoods: Mekong Mekong How dams can be constructed and operated to optimize benefits for all ? • Testing local livelihood enhancement strategies around reservoirs (recession agriculture, fishing) • Reviewing policy and legal frameworks to incorporate livelihoods in decision making in hydropower development Laos – Nam NounangReservoir: Suitability of land for recession agriculture - based on access, slope stability, duration of land exposure to drawdown

8. WATER INFRASRUCTUREEvaluating scenarios of CC and water infrastructure development A1B scenario with three different development scenarios Schematic of the Volta Basin with both existing and planned development Projects in Volta, Mekong, Nile, Ganges, Indus

9. WATER INFRUSTRUCTURE AND ES –Regulating functions of wetlands and floodplains: Zambezi • Method to quantify natural flow regulating impacts of floodplains for decision-making • Potential for a similar much larger study on natural water infrastructure

10. ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES FOR IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY, EQUITY AND ES EVAPOTRANSPIRATION SEDIMENT YIELD Sudd (Southern Sudan)– understanding ET and impacts of upstream water developments on it using RS Volta: Valuation of ES and Identification of hot spots for interventions to reduce land and water degradation

11. Huge tropical river- done first time ever in the world Iconic river – cultural and spiritual angles Multi disciplinary Expert Panel approach Large capacity building ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES FOR IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY, EQUITY AND ES:Environmental flows in the Upper Ganges, India Ganges

12. 1.4 Objectives • ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES FOR IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY, EQUITY AND ES: • Water footprint of crops and production systems Milk- Best in terms of land use Milk- wheat - Best in terms of water use • Milk – Punjab and all-India • Coffee – Global and Viet Nam • Biofuels – Thailand and Malaysia

13. ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES FOR IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY, EQUITY AND ES - Blue Nile Proportion of rainfall used by various hydrological processes Assessment of feasibility of Rainwater management systems (RMS) –under different water resource, policy and socioeconomic scenarios Willingness to adopt Mapping suitability of management strategies Mapping ES based on LULC and how ES change under different management strategies Current ES value distribution, USD/ ha

14. ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES FOR IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY, EQUITY AND ES : Critically evaluating concepts of basin management • Understanding policy making processes that govern basin management & planning: Volta, Mekong, Limpopo and Aral Sea Basins • Designing participatory approach to implement IWRM policies, at national level, Volta • Examining how RBOs relate to the existing formal institutions for water management (local government and line agencies) and informal water management at community level - Limpopo and elsewhere in SSA

15. ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES FOR IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY, EQUITY AND ES : Examining Transboundary Water Issues • Analyzing commissions such as the MRC and issues of legal plurality in transboundary basin contexts • Examining the entire body of transboundary water law to derive lessons on such issues and data and information sharing, flow variability and conflict resolution • Applying insights to particular regions, e.g. Central Asia Fergana Valley, Syr Darya Basin Suitability of groundwater banking As a solution to transboundary disputes

16. BENEFIT SHARING • Examining the role, or lack thereof, of Payment for Environmental Services in basin management- Mekong, Nepal

17. POLITICAL ECONOMY OF POLICY SELECTION • Examining the role of scientific assessments in shaping basin scale development (e.g. hydropower debates in the Mekong) • Conceptualizing community-driven MUS through local government as a possible missing institutional link between basin organizations and water users: the possibility of ‘bottom-up IWRM’. • Establishing Innovation Platforms at local community and regional levels (Nile) - the mechanisms of exploring and advancing tailor made institutional / biophysical interventions that improve NRM

18. THANK YOU