Water, Land and Ecosystems - 1.5 Innovation Fund

A generic ABM framework for complex ecosystem service analyses in WLE focal regions

mgadeberg — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 09:37:00 +0000

The primary goal of this project is to develop a generic ABM framework with an online user interface and to test this approach in up to 3 WLE focal regions: the Niger, Mekong and Indus. We will thus advance a WLE basin scale modelling and synthesis platform that can be applied across all focal regions. This nested modelling platform will enable (i) assessment of management choices (explore “what if” questions, (ii) aggregate lessons, (iii) integrate outputs/insights, (iv) explore scalability and do scenarios exploring BAU/Sustainability pathways under different futures (e.g., climate change) (new investment, build on existing models, MVR and Innovation Fund investment).

The envisioned framework couples a distributed hydrologic model with an agent-based river basin model, where water users, including people and ecosystems are defined as agents, and will build on a framework and application originally developed for the Yellow River Basin Focal Project (Ringler et al. 2010, https://waterandfood.org/2011/10/21/bfp-yellowriver/).

This “next generation of river basin modeling,” ABM approach allows model builders to interact with key stakeholders: policy makers, the private sector, NGOs and large scale investors to develop better, evidence-based research on coupled human-natural systems. It also provides a framework that allows key stakeholders to engage with each other. Using available data, human agents will be defined based on their location, purpose and gender and ecosystem agents will be defined as critical habitats (or protected ecological areas). The utility function of each agent is the major driving force that regulates agents’ behavior. Data mining and analysis techniques will be used to construct utility functions for each agent.

Contact Person

Claudia Ringler, c.ringler (at) cgiar.org

Partners

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, University of Massachusetts, L’Institut de reserche pour le developpement, Wetlands International, WorldFish.

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 02, 2015 — December 01, 2016

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.5 Innovation Fund

Finding common ground: bringing together ecosystem services, agricultural productivity and smallholder livelihoods in landscape planning

mgadeberg — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 09:25:00 +0000

The Finding Common Ground project will create a novel stakeholder-engaged planning framework—along with an investment optimization tool—to integrate ecosystem service and agricultural development objectives. This framework will incorporate gender disaggregated priorities of smallholder farmers and incentives for land use change in agro-ecological landscapes. The project builds on the foundation of ongoing planning tool development and stakeholder engagement work by this team. It will co-develop and test a novel integrated ecosystem service and agricultural management practice investment tool with stakeholders and development partners from: (1) the Nairobi Water Fund (upper Tana River) in Kenya; and (2) the Peruvian pilot scheme on Rewards for Ecosystem Services in watersheds (Cañete Basin); and introduce the tools to stakeholders in (3) the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT).

This project will 1) incorporate agricultural productivity into ecosystem services planning tools (e.g., RIOS, InVEST, SWAT) by drawing on existing agricultural modeling (e.g., APSIM, CropSyst or, DSSAT) and will include an expanded set of sustainable land management and intensification technologies than traditionally considered in watershed planning; 2) account for gender-sensitive livelihoods considerations and economic valuation through the use of gender-disaggregated household survey data; and 3) develop high resolution remote sensing land cover maps as inputs to the ecosystem service planning in both study sites. The tools developed will be open-source and tested within stakeholder engaged processes in Kenya and Peru.

Contact Person

Evan Girvetz, e.girvetz (at) cgiar.org

Partners

The Natural Capital Project, The Nature Conservancy, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Nairobi Water Fund.

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 01, 2016

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.5 Innovation Fund

Targeting Agricultural Innovation and Ecosystem Service Management in the Northern Volta basin

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:00 +0000

The ability of agricultural systems in the Volta River basin to provide for the needs and demands of a growing population is not evident and those demands are compounded by environmental degradation from population growth and climatic pressures. In areas with little precipitation, improving rainfed crop water productivity through improved water-use efficiency can increase agricultural production. But these technologies must be suitable for both the people living in the region and the ecosystems that support production. Managing how specific interventions are integrated into landscapes with a diversity of agro-ecosystems, from grazed to rainfed and irrigated systems, and the interaction between the private and common pool resources of each system, remains a challenge.

This project is working to improve the capacities of NGO and extension workers in the northern Volta River basin to identify and implement irrigated and rainfed technologies that increase adaptability and transformability of local livelihoods and close yield, nutrition and ecosystem service gaps. Building this capacity will require the co-development of benefit sharing mechanisms with stakeholders, along with trainings, professional development and the introduction of targeting tools.

Contact Person

Fabrice DeClerck (f.declerck@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

Bioversity International

Partners

CIAT, CIRAD, International water Management Institute (IWMI), King’s College London, Natural Capital Project, SNV World, Stockholm Resilience centre, University of Development Studies, University of Minnesota, World Agroforestry Centre, Washington State University