20 janv. 2017 00:00

Expert Panel at GFFA // Integrated Land and Water Management - A Cornerstone to A World Without Hunger

Expert panel at Global Forum for Food & Agriculture (GFFA) at Grüne Woche Berlin. Insufficient water management resulting in land degradation, as well as climate change and population dynamics bring about increasing risks for food security, employment and political stability in food insecure areas (particularly in Africa). Rain fed agriculture is in Africa the widely dominating pattern of agricultural water use. The majority of male and female farmers practice rainfed agriculture thereby producing the largest share of global food supply. In many places water availability is the key constraint to the development of a region. The efficiency of water management in rainfed agriculture also affects the water availability for other uses. Therefore, effective rainwater management on existing agricultural land is a priority and land management that maximizes water retention and infiltration is important for securing the human rights to food and water.

Conferences, Forums and Symposiums

The German development cooperation has quite a large history in supporting sustainable soil and water management for rainfed agriculture. In line with the nexus perspective it promotes inter-sectoral solutiones in the fields of water, food and energy. Land management options such as terracing, waterspreading weirs, flood areas as well as adequate crop selection are key to long-lasting sustainable maximization of agricultural yields in water-poor regions, e.g. in Africa. Support by German development cooperation in these areas has been adopted and scaled up by governments (e.g. Ethiopia). Conserving the productive resources soil and water as public goods is (also) a government task. However, priorities in agricultural policy often neither sufficiently consider the conservation of natural resources nor the related aspects of water and energy efficiency. Agricultural and natural resource management policies and strategies are often not coherent.

Questions for the panel

Good practice examples,
Which political barriers have to be overcome in order to upscale good practices?
How can agricultural policies and instruments give effective incentives for sustainable watershed management?
How do you see the role of regulation and self-commitment? What roles do private and public investments play? What about capacity development and agricultural extension?
Which role do farmers and their associations play, and where do watershed commissions come in? What is the role of international institutions, agreements and contracts (e.g. trade agreements, benefit agreements, etc.)?

Organisers

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

Inputs

Thomas Silberhorn, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Jeremy Bird, Director General at International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
H.E. Dr. Eyasu Abraha, Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Elisabeth Atangana, President of the Regional Platform of Farmers’ and Producers’ Organizations of Central Africa (PROPAC) (tbc)

Welcome Address

Thomas Silberhorn, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Panelists

Jeremy Bird, Director General at International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
H.E. Jacob Ouédraogo, Minister of Agriculture and Hydraulic Management Dr. Marcella D’Souza, Executive Director of the Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR)
Dr. Marcella D’Souza, Executive Director of the Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR)
Innocent Ntabana, Executive Director at Nile Basin Initiative
Olcay Ünver, Deputy Director Land and Water at FAO
Andreas Proksch, Head of Sector and Global Programmes Department at GIZ

Moderation

Alexander Müller, Member of the German Council for Sustainable Development

About GFFA

The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) is an international conference that focuses on central questions concerning the future of the global agri-food industry. It gives representatives from the worlds of politics, business, science and civil society an opportunity to share ideas and enhance understanding on a selected topic of current agricultural policy. The GFFA 2017 will be held on the subject: "Agriculture and Water – Key to Feeding the World” in Berlin from 19 – 21 January 2017.