Michael Victor | Water, Land and Ecosystems

Head, Communications and Knowledge Management, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

Michael Victor is a rural development specialist with 20 years of experience focusing on communication, knowledge management, capacity development and project design in the agriculture and natural resource management sector. He was formerly Team Leader of The Agro-Biodiversity Initiative (TABI) with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Lao PDR. He was the head of communications for WLE until 2017.

Content authored by Michael Victor

Blog Post
Blog Post
September 05, 2018
We are what we eat: Rebuilding the connections
How can we connect a growing urban class to the farmers who produce our food? A new online platform in Lao PDR aims to bridge this divide and restore the country’s rich natural heritage.
- Michael Victor
Blog Post
Blog Post
May 12, 2017
Sustainable Agriculture: going under cover or taking center stage?
What changes need to take place in order to make agriculture socially, economically and environmentally sustainable while also being productive? What role does research play in bringing about this transformational change?
- Michael Victor
Stockholm Dialogue: Can we deliver sustainable transformations to our agri-food systems?
2 comments
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
January 22, 2017
China's new agro-investment: opportunity for sustainability?
China's Agriculture Investment Bank plans to inject USD $450 billion into agriculture over the next four years. If this colossal investment is put towards projects that rely on the current agroecological research, it could spur an environmentally sustainable future for Chinese farmers.
- Wei Zhang
- Michael Victor
Blog Post
Blog Post
August 30, 2016
When water flows, but cash does not
The average farmer has forty years' worth of planting seasons: forty chances to improve on his or her last harvest. If farmers cannot access the finance necessary to purchase irrigation systems, that number begins to shrink.
- Michael Victor
Stockholm World Water Week 2016
1 comment
News
August 08, 2016
Agriculture: From foe to friend of the environment
Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals on hunger and poverty will require a 50 percent increase in food production in the next 15 years. In fact, a global food revolution is urgently needed, argues a recent paper by a number of leading scientists working with WLE.
- Michael Victor
Lead Partner: International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
Blog Post
Blog Post
July 05, 2016
Does agriculture have a sustainable future?
At a recent roundtable discussion, members of WLE and UNESCO-IHE discussed the future of agriculture. Participants identified the complexity of incentivizing a sustainable food system and highlighted the importance of collaborating across sectors to change entrenched ways of thinking about sustainable agriculture.
- Michael Victor
5 comments
News
October 12, 2015
New mechanisms to improve partnerships for impact
The set of complex problems that WLE addresses in relation to sustainable intensification calls for new institutional arrangements and partnerships in order to catalyze innovation and widespread change.
- Michael Victor
News
October 13, 2015
Managing variability by turning risk into opportunity
Researchers are working with governments, farmers and private sector actors to provide information for decision makers and test new infrastructure that can help ensure that communities are resilient.
- Michael Victor
Lead Partner: International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
News
October 16, 2015
Breaking new ground with water funds
Water Funds could play an important role in improving water management, ecosystem functions and livelihoods in river basins. Scientists have explored their potential in Peru and Kenya.
- Michael Victor
Lead Partner: International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
Blog Post
Blog Post
December 03, 2014
From Underdog to Buzzword: How the Role of Communication Has Changed
When I first arrived at the CPWF, I was quite surprised at how low in esteem “communication” was perceived within CGIAR and CPWF (unfortunately it still is). This was not communication for development, as the prevailing opinion was that communications was concerned only with public relations.
- Michael Victor
6 comments
Blog Post
Blog Post
November 03, 2014
Business NOT as usual
We are all searching for ‘innovation’. It seems to be bandied about in every meeting and in every project proposal. WLE is in the process of designing and facilitating a series of workshops across four focal regions to foster innovation at the regional level.
- Michael Victor
Blog Post
Blog Post
July 25, 2014
The beauty of small things
A new film spotlights a research project that demonstrates how the ‘big win’ is actually the result of the convergence of many small interventions. The project improved inland fisheries in Bangladesh from a number of angles that acknowledged the prevailing social system, market and ecosystem dynamics.
- Michael Victor
- Ilse Pukinskis
2 comments
Blog Post
Blog Post
April 23, 2014
It’s All About Knowledge Utilization
Many lessons and experiences remain locked away in long technical and scientific reports that development managers and decision makers might find difficult to access and learn from. Find out how CPWF worked to make knowledge more accessible.
- Michael Victor
- Julian Gonsalves
Blog Post
Blog Post
February 18, 2014
Can communications help science be more relevant?
Scientists are asked to change, to ensure their research leads to concrete outcomes. As communicators, how can we change to support this push towards outcome-based research?
- Michael Victor
- Camilla Zanzanaini
5 comments
Blog Post
Blog Post
December 20, 2012
Mekong: A River, its people and Big Dam
Dam building is a complicated and messy business. The Mekong region exemplifies the contradictions, problems and concerns that different groups hold.
- Michael Victor