CGIAR // River Deltas: Scaling up Community-Driven Approaches to Sustainable Intensification
The residents of the Ganges and Mekong River deltas face serious challenges from rising sea levels, saltwater intrusion, pollution from upstream sources, growing populations, and infrastructure that no longer works as planned. In both deltas, scientists working for nearly two decades with communities, local governments and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) have demonstrated the potential to overcome these challenges and substantially improve people’s livelihoods. There are cost-effective solutions to improving the totality of ecosystem services and market opportunities for young women and men.
Recommendations
- In both the Ganges and Mekong deltas, prioritise strengthening and reforming local water management institutions to improve their performance and equity.
- Implement physical improvements that are driven by local communities themselves, when the local water management organizations (WMOs) are strong enough, have agreed on what is needed, and are willing to make a reasonable commitment of resources to implement the improvements.
- Promote sustainable agroecological diversification in ways that are appropriate to the specific conditions encountered by men and women farmers and prioritize strengthening the value chain, for example, by improving access to effective input and output markets to increase profitability.
- To address complex and entrenched gender inequality, and disaffected youth, work with interested women and youth to identify attractive opportunities, such as new crops, production technologies and business models that would enable them to benefit more.
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CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems website (PDF download)
Published
January 2018
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CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE): The CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) promotes a new paradigm, in which sustainably managed agricultural food systems are the key to healthy, functioning ecosystems and human well-being. Led by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), WLE is a member of the CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. It finished its first phase at the end of 2016 and began its second phase of work in January of 2017.