A new urgency is being felt on climate change. Schoolchildren are striking, there are protests in the streets, and politicians across the world, including the UK, are pushing to call climate change a national emergency. In some regions, heat and pests will not be the most significant climate threat – flooding will. The International Water Management Institute is therefore trialling several options to keep farmers’ yields and profits safe from the storms.
In the mountainous areas of Nepal, springs are the primary source of water for remote communities, serving as a mainstay of rural livelihoods. Springs are especially critical for dry-season agriculture because they can provide access to water stored in groundwater aquifers. The discharge from springs is declining, however, possibly as a result of population growth and changes in land use (including agricultural expansion and deforestation) and the climate. Recharging and sustaining groundwater aquifers is key for ensuring year-round water availability in connected springs and for reducing the reliance of upland communities on rainfall.
In mountainous areas of Nepal, springs are the primary source of water for remote communities, serving as a mainstay of rural livelihoods, but discharge from springs is declining. Recharging and sustaining groundwater aquifers is key for ensuring year-round water availability. IWMI researchers are using environmental isotopes analysis, hydro-meteorological and hydrogeological measurements to identify the dominant recharge zones for springs.
Much of the developing world, including Sri Lanka, is facing an organic waste challenge, but the right economic incentives and business models can help turn waste into food and energy, WLE/IWMI told a recent business forum in Colombo.
Following the successful debut of index-based flood insurance (IBFI) in India’s Bihar State during 2017, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and its partners have continued their search for ways to make this tool more effective in helping farm families manage disaster risk. Bihar is the country’s most flood-prone state, with about 40 million hectares subject to periodic flooding.
Colombo is one of the first 18 cities that has been accredited as a Ramsar Wetland City at the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP13) held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on October 25, 2018.
The case for adopting climate-smart agriculture practices – which can improve productivity, build resilience and reduce emissions – has been underlined by a series of events at the United Nations climate talks in Poland. Via WLE and IWMI.
Raman Parmar, 48, a farmer of Thamna village Gujarat’s Anand district had become the country’s first solar power farmer. By connecting a solar powered irrigation pump to an electricity grid, Raman had received the first payment for his ‘solar crop’ in the form of a cheque of Rs 7,500 from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
With over 6.5 million shallow tube wells in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh, the Ganga basin is one of the most densely plumbed aquifer systems in the world. More than 80% of farmers depend on these wells. But affordable electricity or solar pumps could wean farmers from canal irrigation, leaving more water to flow in Ganga and its tributaries, without adversely affecting hydropower.
Against a backdrop of worsening vulnerability to climate-related risks in India’s agriculture, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is launching a mobile app, called AgRISE, in support of a new national agricultural insurance scheme.
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