Integrating knowledge across three NRM research programs

Taking an integrated approach is central to the new CGIAR strategy, which is now implementing its research through 16 cross-cutting CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs). Careful planning is essential, together with constant monitoring and evaluation as work progresses, to ensure that research is addressing targets in the most effective way, with fine tuning and adjustments as needed.

Farmers working in a wetland. Photo Credit: IWMI Southeast Asia on Flickr

Well planned research strategies have the best chance of producing positive results on the ground, a meeting to define future CGIAR research portfolios has heard.

Outlining their plans during the second of four sessions in a two-week meeting to define CRP research agendas, the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) and Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) programs said that though their specific targets differ, they have many common overall goals and a shared idea of how to move from research to action.

With agriculture a major contributor to climate change – it accounts for an estimated 19 to 29 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions – there is massive scope for this sector to offer solutions to problems of rural poverty, food and nutrition insecurity and environmental degradation. As well as working in different areas, such as index-based weather insurance, agroforestry development and sustainable irrigation, the three CRPs are cooperating on policies, including climate change mitigation and natural resource regeneration, and on specific sites in several parts of the developing world.

Gender is an over-arching concern for all CGIAR Research Programs, and each of the three natural resource management CRPs is investing at least 10 percent of its regional budget in the issue.

Drawing upon successes

Although relatively new, all the CRPs can draw on a large body of work done by the 15 CGIAR Research Centers and partners. A number of CRPs have outlined progress made by initiatives already under way:

• In Colombia, a project run by CCAFS and partners is developing the country’s first agroclimatic forecasts; results include an innovative South-South feature, with knowledge transfer from Senegal to Colombia on climate forecasting techniques

• In Africa and India, improved tree germplasm of high-value tree species generated by the FTA program has improved income prospects for small-scale producers

A research project led by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), focusing on the potential of smallholder irrigation to increase food security and incomes, has led to greater access to small pumps for farmers in West Bengal, India, and water-lifting devices in Zambia, with opportunities for outscaling the approach to other parts of the developing world where irrigation could produce significant benefits for small-scale producers.

Integrating knowledge

Development partners have urged strong support in developing proposals and capacity building, underscoring the new multi-faceted skill sets required of modern research organizations. CRPs will need to play a decisive role in making partnerships work, so as to produce outcomes.

“The whole is more than the sum of the parts,” Robert Nasi, Director of FTA told the meeting.

“The WLE program, for example, has the water experts from IWMI, the biodiversity experts from Bioversity, the soils experts from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), agroforestry experts from the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and policy experts from IFPRI to name just a few," says Fabrice DeClerck, program leader for Bioversity International on agrobiodiversity and ecosystem services and leader of the Ecosystem Services and Resilience (ESS&R) working group at WLE.

"So we have taken a huge step in integrating knowledge from these Centers within these CRPs. The significant emphasis we have placed on non-CGIAR partnership, both local and global, is also increasing our capacity to be both cutting edge, and relevant. And I think that is already beginning to show potential for how we work with partners on the ground,” said DeClerck.

Understanding how agriculture interacts with other ecosystem services is essential for us to start solving problems and assessing the trade-offs and opportunities of different interventions.  Farmers are important partners in the process, which is based on an understanding that landscapes are not just sources of agricultural production, but are also dependent on, and providers of other ecosystem services, such as healthy and productive soils; crop pollination or regulating pests and disease outbreaks; safe water for drinking or irrigation; and buffering communities from floods, droughts, or landslides; and mitigating the impacts of climate change.

For an example of the ecosystem services and resilience approach, see WLE blog post: Preventing Cardiac Arrest for Cambodia’s Heart

This post was taken from Planning the CGIAR research agenda - common challenges and strategies, published on June 21, 2013, and 'Healthy Ecosystems Can Support Development' says DeClerck, published on June 28, 2013 on the CGIAR Consortium website.

Both articles were produced during the CGIAR Research Program Engagement with Donors and External Stakeholders meeting that took place June 17-28, 2013 in Montpellier, France.