Suchergebnisse

This Working Paper summarizes research conducted as part of the AgWater Solutions Project in the State of Madhya Pradesh, India, from 2009 to 2012. Agriculture accounts for 21% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of Madhya Pradesh and state agriculture contributes substantially to India?s total annual wheat, pulses and soybean production. While the incidence of poverty has declined, it remains well above the national average of 21%. Researchers from the AgWater Solutions Project explored rainwater harvesting, drip irrigation and how investors might leverage the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Research methodologies included rapid rural appraisals, interviews, survey questionnaires and literature reviews. The main findings indicate that: 1) small private rainwater harvesting structures would increase farm incomes, but development requires more flexible financing options for smallholder farmers; 2) replacing the current subsidy system with interest-free loans would be cheaper for the government, give farmers more choice and stimulate private sector innovation in drip irrigation; and 3) farmers would like more involvement in the decision-making processes of the MGNREGS, which already funds thousands of agricultural water management structures every year. Soft loans and pump rental markets for water-lifting and distribution systems would stimulate further development.

Resource availability is frequently linked with historic and potential international conflict. Conventional wisdom holds that international resource conflict occurs in locations where growing resource demand and declining supplies are greatest. While relative scarcity is undoubtedly an element driving international resource dispute, a focus on supply and demand measures alone is insufficient to understand international conflict potential, because of the pervasive willingness of nations to construct regimes, structures, and frameworks – that is, institutions – for dispute mitigation. However, institutions for regulating the use of internationally scarce resources sometimes fail to develop, and when they do, they are not always sufficiently resilient to deal with changing political and resource environments. Thus, international resource conflict is most likely to occur where there exist both resource scarcity and insufficient institutional capacity to deal with it. In particular, conflict is most likely to emerge in those areas where (1) resource sovereignty is ill defined or non-existent, (2) existing institutional regimes are destroyed by political change, and/or (3) rapid changes in resource environments outpace the capacity of institutions to deal with the change. A mitigation strategy for potential international resource conflict is the construction of resilient resource management institutions, along with the improvement of existing institutions. To be most effective, these institutions should be clear in terms of resource allocation and quality control; be constructed with an intrinsic ability to adjust to changing political and environmental conditions; promote positive-sum solutions to resource problems; and incorporate structured conflict resolution mechanisms.

Sustainable participatory watershed management is an approach promoted by the Ethiopian government to restore natural resources and agricultural productivity across the country. This comparative study between six watershed programs shows that this approach increases farmers' food security and incomes (around 50% on average), as well as their resilience to drought and other climate shocks. However, the study also confirms that the nature and scale of impact can vary significantly between watershed programs. The success of watershed management depends on multiple factors from the hydrological profile of the watershed to the local social and economic environment. Tailoring watershed interventions to the local context, associating conservation and livelihoods activities, and providing further financial and technical support to watershed committees are among the recommendations of this paper.