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).
Changes to farming systems require managing trade-offs—many of which have not yet been considered, according to IWMI/WLE senior researcher Soumya Balasubramanya in the new Economist report Fixing food 2018: best practices towards the sustainable development goals.
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.
In Today.AgriLife.org, the International Water Management Institute's partner Texas A&M receives funding for Feed the Future Innovation Laboratory for Small Scale Irrigation project.
A special ‘Synthesis’ issue that collates research outputs from participating CGIAR centers was one of the key action points discussed at a workshop on Land and Water Solutions (LWS) – Flagship 2 of the CGIAR Research Program Water, Land and Ecosystems.
The collapse of a dam in southeastern Laos triggered massive flooding that killed dozens and displaced thousands of people, bringing a renewed focus on hydroelectric dams in mainland Southeast Asia. In an email interview, Diana Suhardiman, a senior researcher at the International Water Management Institute, discusses the trade-offs associated with large-scale dam projects.
A hydropower dam failure in Southern Laos has destroyed villages and left many homeless or dead. WLE and IWMI researchers are offering assistance to the flood relief efforts.
Nature based infrastructure was at the forefront of this year's Stockholm World Water Week, and the Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice (GRIPP) special session looked at how we can harness the “green” infrastructure beneath our feet for improved water security and resilience for vulnerable communities.
In recent years, the mitigation of climate change and the improvement of soil fertility by sequestering carbon in the soil has become a hot research topic. The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), supported by WLE, have had great success in developing projects to provide individual farmers and extension officers with soil information of relevance for their management decisions, meeting an increasing need for spatial data on soil properties at multiple scales.
Across Asia, man-made structures have stood powerless to avert tragedy after tragedy during 2018’s rainy season. Dams are vital for energy needs and economic growth. But they’ve been criticised for posing risks to local communities and the fragile environments in which they are built. WLE and IWMI research proposes several innovative solutions that mitigate the threats of these fragile environments through natural infrastructure.
Inland fisheries are being overlooked in policy, management and development decisions, which is ultimately undermining the vital food and livelihood benefits they provide to the poor.
Launched this year at Stockholm World Water Week, GRIPP has curated over 20 solutions for Groundwater-Based Natural Infrastructure, or GBNI, contributed from experts around the world. Groundwater is natural capital, and if managed properly, can provide resilience and water security in the face of future changes. Check out some case studies and learn more about the solutions on the new GRIPP platform.
