NICOLAS BORDA BARRERO Representante Legal

The Water and Food Challenge Program (WFCP) is one of the three CPs selected for development

in the first phase of this new way of working in the CGIAR. The Center has engaged intensively in this process, has participated in a range of preparatory meetings, has coordinated the working group on Aquatic Ecosystems and Fisheries, has led the development of the background paper for this theme, and is a member of the Consortium that has been formed with the intention of carrying forward the Program. The proposal for the WFCP is now being considered by the Interim Science Council and a final decision on the CP is expected in October 2002 at the CGIAR AGM.

Objective

The overall development objective of the WFCP is:

To increase the productivity of water for food and livelihoods, in a manner that is environmentally sustainable and socially acceptable.

In pursuit of this objective the WFCP has been developed and will be pursued by focusing upon five major themes:

1. Crop water productivity improvement 2. Multiple use of Upper Catchments 3. Aquatic Ecosystems and Fisheries

4. Integrated Basin Water Management Systems 5. The Global and National Food and Water System

WorldFish Center’s role

The Center will seek to contribute to all five of the themes, but will coordinate the work to be undertaken on Aquatic Ecosystems and Fisheries, and it is here that most of the Center’s own research will be pursued. Work under each of these five themes will however be funded through a competitive grants scheme. The decision-making process for project approval and grant allocation will be managed independently in order to provide transparency. This also allows those centers coordinating themes to compete fairly for the funds available for each of these areas.

Work under the Ecosystems and Fisheries theme will focus upon four major research area and questions within these.

1. Policies, Institutions and Governance Key research questions include:

• What are the factors that influence people’s access to, and control over, aquatic ecosystems and their resources?

• What kinds of governance systems and enabling policies and institutions foster equitable and sustainable management of aquatic ecosystems?

• How can capacity be built within national and local institutions to understand the livelihoods of poor people and their use of aquatic ecosystems, and take account of their needs in policy development and governance processes?

• What knowledge systems are needed to help build this capacity and support development and application of these policies, institutions and governance systems?

2. Valuation of Ecosystem Goods and Services, and the Costs of Degradation. Key research questions include:

• What are the monetary and non-monetary values of the goods and services provided by different types of aquatic ecosystems, and what proportion of the household/community economy do they comprise?

• What are the social and economic costs of degradation of aquatic ecosystems and decline and loss of their goods and services?

• What are the appropriate tools to generate this information rapidly and for use by poor stakeholders?

3. Environmental Water Requirements Key research questions include:

• What are the quantitative relationships between hydrological changes (including water quality) and the goods and services of aquatic ecosystems that are of high priority for food security and livelihoods?

• What appropriate methodologies exist or need to be developed for the determination, management and monitoring of environmental flow requirements in the different aquatic ecosystems?

• What are the specific freshwater requirements for coastal ecosystems? • What quantity (and quality) of water is needed to sustain river fisheries? 4. Improving Water Productivity

Key research questions include:

• When and how can water productivity and livelihoods be improved by integrating fish production and harvest of other aquatic animals and plants into farming and irrigation/flood-prone systems?

• How do the monetary, social and nutritional values of these additional water-use benefits compare with those of crops?

• What new technologies can be designed to improve further the integration of fisheries into farming systems?

Tentative Costs

The total cost of the WFCP is estimated at some US$75 million over 5 years. It is anticipated that of this total some US$50 million would be available for grant funding over the course of the 5 years. While a pro rata sharing would imply some US$10 million for work on Ecosystems and Fisheries, the final distribution will probably be determined by a number of factors, of which the quality of proposals will be the most important. The Center will need to compete actively to obtain a portion of this funding for its work, but can realistically expect to receive several million dollars provided that the proposals are of the quality required.

In addition, it is anticipated that if the proposed budget is approved as submitted, the Center will receive some US$350 000 per year for the costs of coordinating the work on Ecosystems and Fisheries. An overhead of 4 per cent will also be levied on the budget of all CP projects under the Ecosystems and Fisheries theme, even when these are not implemented by the Center. Projects implemented by the Center will be subject to normal overheads.

Potential collaborators

The WFCP has been developed through an extensive process of consultation and collaboration and implementation will build upon this. A wide range of partnerships has already been developed through this process and will be expanded as the CP moves forward. Strong emphasis is being placed on building three way partnerships between NARES, IARIs, and CG Centers. Strong links with river basins development authorities are also being developed.

Potential CGIAR linkages

”COASTAL” CHALLENGE PROGRAM