Water, Land and Ecosystems |

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

WLE is a global research-for-development program working through partnerships to provide sustainable solutions for people and societies.

Research

140 research projects in 48 countries carried out in collaboration with more than 450 partners

Solutions

Evidence-based land and water management innovations for sustainable intensification of agriculture at scale

Impact

366,000 farmers use new technologies and 2,5 million hectares are under improved use or management

Highlights

Blog Post
September 07, 2016
Migration, labour, and water for agriculture
Right this second, more than a billion people are migrants. Their challenges are well-documented, but what about those who stay behind? How can they access water?
- Nitasha Nair
- Panchali Saikia
Stockholm World Water Week 2016
Blog Post
July 05, 2016
Does agriculture have a sustainable future?
At a recent roundtable discussion, members of WLE and UNESCO-IHE discussed the future of agriculture. Participants identified the complexity of incentivizing a sustainable food system and highlighted the importance of collaborating across sectors to change entrenched ways of thinking about sustainable agriculture.
- Michael Victor
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Story
August 08, 2016
Agriculture: From foe to friend of the environment
Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals on hunger and poverty will require a 50 percent increase in food production in the next 15 years. In fact, a global food revolution is urgently needed, argues a recent paper by a number of leading scientists working with WLE.
- Michael Victor
Lead Partner: International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

News

Story
September 28, 2016
Outside, whatever the weather: FreeStations in the Volta basin
While satellites and aircrafts are increasingly being used to collect data on weather and climate, ground-based weather stations are important for providing long-term information on climate. One project is working to install FreeStations in the Volta Basin.
- Sarah Jones
Lead Partner: Bioversity International
Story
September 05, 2016
Press release: Climate change likely to vastly expand malaria risk from African dams
New research indicates that the number of people at risk of malaria around dams, and associated reservoirs, in sub-Saharan Africa will nearly double to around 25 million by 2080.
Lead Partner: International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
Story
August 30, 2016
A plan for protecting our hidden water supplies
Groundwater already provides a critical lifeline for water-stressed communities, and competition for this valuable resource will only increase as almost half of the global population is expected to experience severe water scarcity by 2030. So how do we ensure its sustainable use?
Lead Partner: International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Thrive

Blog Post
September 28, 2016
Thinking local: conserving forests through use
Received wisdom on forest conservation tells us that working forests are bad for the environment: good forests are "pristine." However, there is no such thing as a pristine forest, and would-be conservationists have much to learn from those who have lived and worked in productive forests.
- Fred Pearce
Blog Post
September 19, 2016
It's not new: it's poo!
Wastewater recovery is a hot topic, but there's much more work to be done. This dispatch from SWWW identifies some of the strategies that can help mainstream wastewater recovery and make it a globally implemented and universally accepted practice.
- Mia Signs
Stockholm World Water Week 2016
Blog Post
September 09, 2016
Getting a GRIPP on Morocco's aquifer contracts
At Stockholm World Water Week, IWMI rolled out the GRIPP initiative, a worldwide partnership for facilitating sustainable groundwater management. This piece highlights one of GRIPP's projects, which examines the use of aquifer contracts in Morocco.
- Christopher Patacsil
Stockholm World Water Week 2016
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Publications

Journal Article
2016
Estimating shallow groundwater availability in small catchments using streamflow recession and instream flow requirements of rivers in South Africa
Ebrahim, Girma Y.; Villholth, Karen G. 2016. Estimating shallow groundwater availability in small catchments using streamflow recession and instream flow requirements of rivers in South Africa. Journal of Hydrology, 12p. (Online first). doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.07.032
Report
2015
Inclusive Market-Oriented Development: Demand driven innovation benefiting the poor.
ICRISAT. 2015. Inclusive Market-Oriented Development: Demand driven innovation benefiting the poor. ICRISAT IMOD Exemplars - Volume II. Patancheru 502 324, Telangana, India: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. 108 pp.
Journal Article
2016
Global linkages among energy, food and water: an economic assessment
Ringler, Claudia; Willenbockel, Dirk; Perez, Nicostrato; Rosegrant, Mark W.; Zhu, Tingju; and Matthews, Nathanial. Global linkages among energy, food and water: An economic assessment. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. Article in Press. First published online on March 3, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13412-016-0386-5

Upcoming Events

Event
October 18, 2016 — October 21, 2016
Ecosystem Service Partnership Conference in Latin America
Event
November 07, 2016 — November 11, 2016
Greater Mekong Forum on Water, Food and Energy
Event
November 21, 2016 — November 25, 2016
Ecosystems Partnership Conference in Africa