Claudia Ringler

Deputy Division Director, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Deputy Program Director for the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)

Co-leader of the Managing Resource Variability and Competing Use Research Theme, WLE

c.ringler (at) cgiar.org

Claudia Ringler is Deputy Program Director for WLE and is an ex-officio member of the WLE steering committee. She co-leads WLE's research theme on Managing Resource Variability and Competing Use.

Claudia was appointed Deputy Division Director of the Environment and Production Technology Division at IFPRI in 2011. Claudia manages IFPRI’s Water Research group and since 2015 is also the Natural Resource Management Theme Lead. From 1996 until her current appointment, she served in various other research positions in that division.

Claudia’s research interests are water resources management, in particular river basin modeling for policy analysis and agriculture and natural resource policies focused on sustainable agricultural productivity growth. She received her PhD in agricultural economics from the Center for Development Research, Bonn University, Germany.

Content authored by Claudia Ringler

Blog Post
Blog Post
December 21, 2021
Accelerating rural energy access in the race to net zero
Policy and action research by the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems to improve rural energy access for smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs shows full alignment with the UNFCCC Race to Zero global campaign for decarbonizing economies.
- Marilia Magalhaes
- Claudia Ringler
News
August 24, 2021
An Integrated Approach to Realize Multiple Benefits Across Water, Energy, Food, Forests, and Biodiversity
CGIAR researchers are proposing a systems approach to realize multiple benefits across water, food, energy, and ecosystem health.
- Stefan Uhlenbrook
- Claudia Ringler
News
July 12, 2021
Groundwater to play a key role in transforming Africa's food systems, finds AMCOW event
Accelerating the development of sustainable groundwater use in Africa could be pivotal in the transformation of the continent's food security and prosperity. This was the key message from a side event of the UN Food Systems Summit Science Days, organized by the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) with support from WLE.
- Claudia Ringler
Blog Post
Blog Post
May 21, 2021
Agriculture and biodiversity conservation: five critical factors for success
Although agriculture remains the biggest threat to biodiversity, experience suggests we can produce more food on less land without overexploiting natural resources and degrading wildlife habitats. We explore five critical factors to ensure agriculture becomes a force for biodiversity conservation.
- Izabella Koziell
- Claudia Ringler
Blog Post
Blog Post
April 21, 2021
Restoring agriculture to transform food systems
In the lead-up to the UN Food Systems Summit, a new report from the International Food Policy Research Institute calls for investment in nature-based solutions to transform food systems, drawing on a fresh understanding of the relationship between biodiversity and agriculture.
- Claudia Ringler
Blog Post
Blog Post
March 10, 2021
Solar or diesel? Unlocking groundwater’s potential in sub-Saharan Africa
Taking a closer look at the advantages and challenges of solar-powered groundwater irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Claudia Ringler
- Hua Xie
Blog Post
Blog Post
October 06, 2020
Water and nutrition in a COVID-19 context: Where do we go from here?
Challenges to water resources and nutrition security require new approaches, and a recent online workshop brought together communities from the two closely intertwined sectors to discuss the key linkages and identify a sustainable way forward.
- Claudia Ringler
- Julienne Roux
Blog Post
Blog Post
March 25, 2020
Water for all – making SDG 6 a reality
The link between water security with food security reveals why pro-poor focused interventions are critical in Making SDG6 a reality.
- Claudia Ringler
Blog Post
Blog Post
December 12, 2019
Seven climate resilience questions to help guardians of nature
With these seven questions in hand, farmers and other guardians of nature have a better chance in boosting resilience of their natural systems, with the help of policy measures, political pressure and commitments from the private sector.
Blog Post
Blog Post
November 26, 2019
Water stresses are risking food security. Here’s how to turn this around
A combination of right policies, technological innovation and financial incentives may help alleviate the intensifying water stresses from agriculture, expanding urbanisation and climate change.
2 comments
Blog Post
Blog Post
June 04, 2019
World Environment Day: The need for strong institutions and policies to restore and protect planetary health
Practical suggestions for preserving the environment—and with it, public health and well-being—by strengthening sustainable agricultural and food system practices. Originally published on IFPRI blog.
- Claudia Ringler
- Ruth Meinzen-Dick
- Approach
- Manual
A Guide to SDG Interactions
Trade-offs and synergies
May 29, 2019
A blueprint to help countries implement and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- Claudia Ringler
Blog Post
Blog Post
March 20, 2019
The unfulfilled promise of farmer-led irrigation
When farmers invest in irrigation, improved productivity, income and nutrition usually follow. How can we ensure that women and less privileged farmers don't miss out?
- Claudia Ringler
- Nicole Lefore
World Water Day 2019
Blog Post
Blog Post
March 12, 2019
New Diet, New Destiny? Saving the Planet Takes More Than Changing What We Eat
Can changing our diets really save the planet? Steps forward mean changing not just what we eat. It's equally about how we produce our food.
- Claudia Ringler
- Learning / Training
Collective action games for groundwater
Groundwater
June 11, 2019
Groundwater is one of the most challenging common pool resources to govern. Collective action games can improve local understanding of groundwater relationships and governance.
- Claudia Ringler
Blog Post
Blog Post
February 21, 2019
Can Sub-Saharan Africa Feed Itself? A New Entry Point to An Old Question.
Can sub-Saharan Africa feed itself: This is a question that has been asked for decades, but no satisfying answer has been found up to now - and is unlikely to be found in the near to medium term future. Why?
- Claudia Ringler
Blog Post
Blog Post
November 15, 2018
How agricultural research can navigate the perfect storm
Agricultural research faces a complex, interconnected and stormy world. Here’s what we can do face the storm.
Science Forum 2018
Blog Post
Blog Post
June 27, 2018
Achieving the Niger Basin Shared Vision by Drawing on its Cross-sectoral Strength
The Niger River Basin in arid West and Central Africa, home to more than 130 million people across nine countries, is in a buzz of development activity.
- Claudia Ringler
Big Question: Responses
March 07, 2018
Let’s start asking the right questions about women in agriculture
The truth about women in agriculture is often obscured by myths and stylized facts, which ultimately hinders effective development programming.
Webinar: Improving gender equity in irrigation
Blog Post
Blog Post
July 06, 2017
Linking up the SDGs: the key to food and nutrition security
With growing populations and the worst food crisis since World War II, implementing the SDGs in a way that takes advantage of overlaps while accounting for conflicting interests is more important now than ever before.
Blog Post
Blog Post
March 24, 2017
Bridging Gaps: Cross-sector collaboration is the future of sustainable business
When stakeholders and policymakers operate in silos, maximizing one interest at the expense of everyone else’s, the result is often disaster.
The Economist's Sustainability Summit 2017
Blog Post
Blog Post
March 08, 2017
We’re all in the same boat: How shared risks might foster sustainable solutions
Shared risks of natural and infrastructural disaster across the water, food and energy sectors are seldom recognized until after it's too late. Is there a way to develop solutions before disaster strikes?
- Nathanial Matthews
- Claudia Ringler
The Economist's Sustainability Summit 2017
Blog Post
Blog Post
February 21, 2017
It’s hard to manage something you cannot see – can we feed billions from the ground up?
Irrigated agriculture can contribute to lasting deterioration of groundwater quality, preventing its use for drinking and endangering ecosystems and bio-diversity. If we're going to get global agriculture right, we'll need to promote good groundwater governance.
Agriculture and groundwater: feeding billions from the ground Up
1 comment
Blog Post
Blog Post
June 28, 2016
Trade-offs and synergies: ICSU's draft framework for understanding the SDGs
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) encompass a vast set of development targets. A draft framework from the International Council for Science (ICSU) presents a concrete way to understand SDG interactions and the resulting trade-offs and synergies.
- Nathanial Matthews
- Claudia Ringler
Blog Post
Blog Post
March 20, 2016
Water Pollution: The Invisible, Creeping Threat
Every other week we read of a new water pollution scandal, often after people fall sick, but sometimes because of large-scale fish die off or other adverse environmental impacts. Can we turn the tide of growing water pollution around?
- Claudia Ringler
6 comments
Blog Post
Blog Post
February 02, 2016
The Goldilocks Dilemma of irrigation
Proper water management is a particularly tricky balancing act to achieve. There must be sufficient access to clean and safe water for consumption, sanitation, and agriculture, while communities must have enough disaster-risk infrastructure in place to deal with drought, flooding, and any other water-related issues. Too little and we have a problem, too much, and again, it’s a problem: this is a Goldilocks dilemma.
- Claudia Ringler
2 comments
Blog Post
Blog Post
July 19, 2015
Irrigation needs forgotten at #Fin4Dev
The draft outcome document from the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa rightly mentions that efforts to end hunger and malnutrition need to be scaled up and that ecosystems need to be protected for the benefit of all. Irrigation, however, is not mentioned at all.
- Claudia Ringler
1 comment
Blog Post
Blog Post
March 25, 2015
Can we meet future global food demand without causing any further environmental damage?
Researchers from the Technical University of Madrid, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Harvard University have just published a paper in PLOS ONE which jointly assesses issues of future global food security and environmental outcomes. The study describes different future agricultural production pathways in one of the most important food baskets of the world: Latin America.
1 comment
Blog Post
Blog Post
February 23, 2015
SDGs fail to address interlinkages between goals and targets
In a recent review of the SDGs, the goal on food security, improved nutrition and sustainable agriculture is a vast improvement over the MDGs, which did not consider agriculture at all. But, the SDGs fail to address important complementarities and tradeoffs among goals and their targets.
- Claudia Ringler
3 comments
Blog Post
Blog Post
September 02, 2013
What’s really causing water scarcity in Africa south of the Sahara?
In Africa south of the Sahara, where agriculture is predominantly rainfed, farmers’ access to water is limited based on time and space. But water scarcity in the region is not necessarily caused by a physical lack of water.
- Hua Xie
- Claudia Ringler
2 comments
Blog Post
Blog Post
May 23, 2013
Is hydropower for or against Irrigation?
Many large river basins support both—energy production from hydropower and withdrawals for irrigated food production (in addition to many other uses, such as for households and industries, fisheries and the environment).
1 comment