Claudia Ringler, the Deputy Director at IFPRI, and WLE co-lead for Managing Resource Variability and Competing Use shares her experiences while working in the Nexus field as well as the future challenges and prospects in times of Covid19 and climate change.
Being heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture is making Mali ever more vulnerable to climate shock. But Mali’s most abundant resource – sunlight – may prove to be its ultimate savior in accessing the ever-scarce water resource.
Mali on the front-line of climate change, and expected to experience worsened food insecurity and even food shortages. Researchers have mapped areas in the country where there is a high potential for solar powered irrigation in increase climate resilience, showing that up to 69% of agricultural lands could be suitable.
Written by Petra Schmitter for the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska. Africa’s groundwater reserves are about 100 times greater than its annual supply of renewable surface freshwater. Yet, this resource remains underused. Under the pioneering Agwater Solutions Project, researchers estimated that investments in motorized pumps could significantly boost agricultural production and reduce climate change risks for smallholder farms.
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).
NDDB with assistance of the Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Limited (REIL) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) have helped these farmers to create their own micro grid which enables them to sell the surplus solar energy produced in their fields to the state-owned power distribution company – the Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Limited (MGVCL).
“As PM will inaugurate our project, we will start selling surplus energy to the grid and become first grid connected farmers’ SPICE,” said Labhubhai Patel, secretary of the mandali which has started using solar energy since December last year.
NDDB with assistance of the Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Limited (REIL) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) have helped these farmers to create their own micro grid which enables them to sell the surplus solar energy produced in their fields to the state-owned power distribution company – the Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Limited (MGVCL).
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.
