CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)

There is a growing global consensus about the critical importance of groundwater for sustainable development and climate change adaptation. The World Economic Forum, in its Global Risks Report 2019, stresses for the first time that depletion of this critical resource is causing megacities to sink, with significant risks to water security and resilience, while also threatening food production systems.

Following the successful debut of index-based flood insurance (IBFI) in India’s Bihar State during 2017, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and its partners have continued their search for ways to make this tool more effective in helping farm families manage disaster risk. Bihar is the country’s most flood-prone state, with about 40 million hectares subject to periodic flooding.

IWMI/WLE contributed to and ran sessions at the 13th International Conference on Dryland Development, brought together national and international stakeholders to discuss sustainable dryland development under the theme “Converting Dryland Areas from Grey into Green.” 

IWMI director general Claudia Sadoff was a guest of honor, addressing the inaugural session and also making a plenary presentation titled ”Water security and sustainable growth in the drylands.”

IWMI and ICAR organized a mini symposium during the conference to foster knowledge exchange among researchers on the present status and future prospects of water productivity in the drylands. The symposium aimed at framing a strategy to boost water productivity and mainstream it in drylands at scale through appropriate institutional frameworks and policies

Alok Sikka co-chaired a technical session on “Soil Health Management, Carbon Sequestration and Conservation Agriculture.”

Tushaar Shah presented on groundwater governance challenges in arid areas. Alok and Tushaar also presented at sessions related to water harvesting and water productivity.