Dialogue Session: Ecosystem Services and Resilience of three basins (Volta, Nile, and Mekong)

transcript

Dialogue Session: ES and Resilience of three basins (Volta, Nile, and Mekong)

What’s poverty got to do with it?

M Sanjayan

P. Kareiva

Where are conservation efforts most needed and most likely to improve the human

condition?

Can we identify “life raft ecosystems” ?

= Areas with:

• high rates of poverty (% undernourished)

• large portion of economy dependent upon nature (agriculture, fisheries, logging)

• severely degraded ecosystem services

Slide by Kareiva and Sanjayan

Water Land and Ecosystem Vision:A world in which agriculture thrives within vibrant ecosystems, where communities have higher incomes, improved food security and the ability to continuously improve their lives

Rockstrom et al. (2009) Nature 461:472-475

Challenges

Foley et al. 2011

Minimum Goals for 2050

Environmental Goals Development Goals

Total Agricultural Production

Nutritionally Complete Production

Biodiversity Conserved

Carbon Sequestered Improved Water Quality

Water Conserved

Soil Formed

Food Security Goals

Food Distribution and Access

Conserve agrobiodiversity

Increased Farmer LivelihoodsAnd Resilience

Improve Human Health

Increase Farm Self Reliance

Adapted from Foley et al 2011

Production Goals

Ecosystem Conservation as

a result of

poverty alleviation

Ecosystem Conservation as

means to

poverty alleviation

Trade-offsSocial structure, demand,

accessibility

Financial mechanisms

Land and governance decisions, processes and investments

Landscapes

Food, energy, fiber

Income

ES benefits

Temporal processes

Climate

Knowledge and information availability

Economy

Markets, PESFarming practices

Ecosystem services

Biophysical Access and use

Social needs (demography, preferences)

LivelihoodImpactLivelihood

Impact

LivelihoodimpactsPeople

Trade-offs

system state, structure and

processes

tate, structure and processes

(Agro)-ecosystem state, structure and

processes

Agriculture

Ecosystem services

Space Groups

Principles

• People are fundamental• Human and Natural systems are tightly coupled.• Ecological processes in the portfolio of options.• Multifunctionality: trade-offs, synergies,

interactions• Resilience: shocks, transformation and feedbacks• Recognize we might have to modify ecosystems• Multi-scale: basin as maximum extent + Global

Processes

Daily flow with and without floodplain

Without floodplain (simulated) With floodplain (observed)

Flow Regulation in the Luswishi Floodplain

Understanding how ecosystems affect livelihoods

M. McCartney (IMWI)

Ecosystem Services by whom and for whom?

Rainfall less than 900 mmyr-1

Greater than 900 mmyr-1

F. Kizito (CIAT)

Facilitating intervention decisions: what and where?

DeClerck (Bioversity)

Recognizing the value of Ecosystem Services Provided by Farming Communities

My farm participates in the Management of the

ReventazonRiver Watershed (ICE)

Through targeted impact pthways in focal regions and at the global level

South East Asia: Mekong Focal Region

GOAL:better targeted investments in water, land, energy and agriculture writ large so they are sustainable and socially inclusive, and national growth and poverty goals can be met by supporting the natural resource base

What is the nature, distribution and value of ES in an increasingly commercialized agricultural system & how is it going to affect local livelihoods in the future?

How would management of water, land and other ecosystem need to be adapted to improve food and nutrition security in the least food-secure GMS countries?

What policies and institutions can communities &

policymakers use to enhance the resilience of

the GMS ES in the long term under pop & ec

growth, CC & globalization?

To move toward resilient ecosystems in the Greater Mekong Region while also achieving growth and poverty

reduction goals will require tradeoff analysis at the regional, basin-wide, GMS-wide and global level under

alternative development pathways that consider investments and policies across water, land and energy; in

food and nutrition; and associated governance and institutions.

West Africa: Volta Niger Focal Region

Resource degradation, poverty, climate change sensitivity, emigration

Crop-livestock competition, ethnic and religious conflicts

Urbanization, immigration, poverty re-distribution*; environmental degradation Humid forest

Sahara

*In 12 years from now, the majority of the poor in Africa will be living in urban as opposed to rural areas.

Main questions for WLE

Can WLE guide investors and decision makers to

(i) Better target sustainable agricultural

investments (in the rural north)?

(ii) value and manage ecosystem services under

increasing demands on water, food and energy in

both, the fragile north, and the growing peri-urban

landscapes of the south?

Small Reservoirs

East Africa – Nile Basin Countries

The Opportunity

• Huge development investments in most countries, affecting land use Include growth corridors, commodity corridors,

irrigation and hydropower dam development, upper watershed conservation, food security programs

• Multiple futures are possible in this evolving context

The challenge is to support a sustainability agenda within existing and evolving processes and investments to achieve green, resilient and equitable growth in the countries of the Nile Basin.

Trends and Intervention Areas• Huge diversity in resources, political and economic development• Strong dependence on agriculture, especially rainfed, and natural

resources• Rapid population growth and other demographic pressures,

urbanization, feminization, marginalization• Degradation of natural resources and ecosystem functioning is

pervasive

1. Negotiating trade-offs in

ecosystem services during infrastructure development

2. Achieving sustainable land

management in degradation hotspots

3. Strengthening equity and the role of

women during sustainable intensification

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