Reflecting on Policy Research: Insights on Engagement

Main message Change is not the outcome of a simple “from”(research) “to” (policy) model. It is most likely to take place in the form of incremental adjustments, grounded in daily interactions between stakeholders

Valeurs d'usage ou performances techniques : comment apprécier le rôle des petits barrages en Afrique subsaharienne ?

Use-value or performance: Towards a better understanding of small reservoirs in sub- Saharan Africa Small reservoirs are a reality of rural sub-Saharan Africa. They trigger technical and institutional innovations, appear to be in high demand among local communities, and remain popular on the agendas of national policy-makers and international development partners in spite of recurrent analyses highlighting that these systems function well below the expectations of their promoters. This paper proposes an analytical framework to understand this apparent contradiction. Local communities do make use of small reservoirs in many ways but not always as implied by policy discourses and development strategies. Social, eco-technical and managerial analyses would then not disclose the real use-value of these innovations at either the local or the regional (watershed) scales. Understanding the opportunities and risks linked to an intensification of the multiple uses of small reservoirs requires considering them as rural development and planning interventions. They induce changes in the relations that societies nurture with their environment and catalyze new and multiple claims and uses that sometimes appear conflictual and irreconcilable

Irrigated agriculture, water pricing and water savings in the Lower Jordan River Basin (in Jordan)

Farming systems / Irrigated farming / Water conservation / Groundwater / Water policy / Water rates / Water costs / Pricing / Cost recovery / Economic impact / Jordan / Lower Jordan River Basin / Jordan Valley / Amman-Zarqa Basin / Yarmouk Basin

Shifting waterscapes: explaining basin closure in the Lower Krishna Basin, South India

River basins / Ecosystems / Protective irrigation / Irrigation programs / Water transfer / Water distribution / Water allocation / Groundwater depletion / Aquifers / Water scarcity / Water use / Drought / India / Lower Krishna Basin / Godavari Basin / Nagarjuna Sagar Project / Kolleru Lake

The lower Krishna Basin trajectory: relationships between basin development and downstream environmental degradation

River basin development / Lakes / Environmental degradation / Ecosystems / Mangroves / Water allocation / Groundwater / Water quality / Salinity / Irrigated farming / Institutions / Irrigation canals / Rural development

Water yield estimation and sedimentation control in two Volta sub-basins: tools towards integrated water resources management

Small reservoirs form a major source of water supply in the Volta basin. However, sedimentation of reservoirs poses serious threats to overall water yield and storage, consequently impacting community water supplies and livelihoods. This study will assess basin-level water yields and sediment inflow deposited in reservoirs in two Volta sub-basins using the WEAP and SWAT models in combination with spatial analysis techniques. The WEAP Model will assess water allocations while the SWAT model will compute water balance, runoff and sediment yields. Ancillary measured sediment yield data will be used in combination with terrain-based distributed models in a GIS to identify and predict major areas of erosion in the two study sites. Social and biophysical dynamics will be concomittantly assessed through a multi-agent modeling framework (ComMod). To this end, the WEAP and SWAT models will be linked to the computer simulation tool of the ComMod platform. This will allow for assessing the consequences of local practices -and possibly proposed intervention- in terms of erosion (see figure). The results and the approach can be used as decision-support tools to identify practical IWRM interventions that reduce erosion e.g. vegetation strip-ways. It is anticipated that this will result in improved water resources management and reduce impacts of drought spell shocks on the affected communities and could be replicated elsewhere in the Volta basin. (Texte intégral