Watershed/Landscape Management for Multiple Benefits and Climate Resilience

- Experiences from Eastern Africa

Global Landscapes Forum, UNFCCC Warsaw, 16 Nov. 2013Session 2.5: Towards a sustainable landscape approach: New generation of Integrated

watershed management for rural development, resilience and empowerment

by Sally Bunning, Senior Land/Soils officer, and colleagues of the FAO Land and Water Division

Global Landscapes Forum, UNFCCC Warsaw, 16 Nov. 2013

Content

1. Principles of participatory, integrated watershed management 2. Experiences

• GEF/FAO Kagera River basin Transboundary agro-ecosystem management • SIDA/FAO Strengthen capacity of farmers to adapt to climate change through

land and water management in Sub Saharan Africa

3. Issues, Strategy and Actions• Awareness of effects of current practices on farm, landscape and impacts on

livelihoods and Ecosystem services• Demonstrate benefits of SLM on farm and watershed management to farmers ,

technical sectors and policy makers (local, national, global)• Demonstrate why land & water management crucial for climate resilience

4. Lessons learned making a case for investing in and promoting participatory integrated watershed management for food security and climate resilience

12 key principles of the “new generation of watershed management”

1. Treat underlying causes (not just symptoms)2. Generate scientific evidence (soil health, water quality, biodiversity effects, climate effects and resilience)3. Integrated approach (multi-sector and multi-stakeholder)4. Holistic planning and implementation (watershed plan) 5. Co-financing and low cost interventions (wider adoption)6. Institutional arrangements at all levels (local-national)7. Capacity development at all levels8. Bottom up & top down process (local empowerment; policy) 9. Gender balance in decision making10. Support & Incentive measures to adopt SLM- PES, access to finance, investment11. Monitoring & evaluation (demonstrate multiple benefits and impacts including climate resilience)12. Flexible, adaptive, long-term program /partnership

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Watershed management : integrated use and management of land, vegetation and water resources in a geographically discrete catchment or drainage area through people-centred approaches with all stakeholders, for the benefit of residents and wider society, through enhancing productivity and livelihoods and maintaining the range of ecosystem services, in particular the hydrological services that the watershed provides, and reducing or avoiding negative downstream or groundwater impacts

Participatory, people centred, wider scale approach and investment•Soil restoration OM + nutrient cycling•Hydrology-supply + quality•Biomass + C cycle•Biodiversity•Systems approach

Integrated Watershed management- approach (intersectoral)

• Productivity, + Income • Climate change A & M• Socio-cultural (wellbeing, • aesthetics, recreation, tourism, heritage

4. Holistic planning/ implementation - optimise impacts of various technologies across the watershed

1. Characterise watershed (NR and human, DPSIR ) 2. Develop integrated SLM/ watershed management plan3. Enabling environment Put in place local governance + institutional + policy support4. Implement plan

5. Monitor & Assess •Impacts of each technology & combined (on farmers, other NR users offsite, upstream down-stream, watershed) •Process: local level management, decision making and degree of adoption

6. Identify challenges, find solutions, update plan

Example 1: Kagera river basin Treat underlying causes not just symptoms

State: Degradation (soil erosion & fertility loss, poor water quality & flow, are result of loss of vegetation cover, biodiversity & ecosystem functions)Pressures multiple and accelerating

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Impacts of degradation of productive land resources on which economy depends : poverty; food insecurity; conflict over resources, youth out-migration (labour shortage)

Kagera River Basin TB agro-ecosystem management project (TZ, UG, BU, RW)

LAND WATER PEOPLE

Need to Address the DRIVERS that are increasing pressures on resources!•Population growth competition on limited resources, reduced farm size, fragmentation, over exploitation (farm, common property)• Tenure insecurity poor land use/ management practices; differential

access rights (herds; land) •Low knowledge base at all levels•Market demand- commodity driven, sectoral •Weak policy and institutional support

Deforestation - tree cutting for charcoal production, Gasharu catchment, Rwanda

Step 1 Community awareness of local benefits of restoring goods & ecosystem

services

Community sensitization meeting

• Deforestation, loss of woody biomass & biodiversity• Soil erosion, nutrient mining and loss of soil quality

low productivity of crop, grazing and forest lands• Pervasive biomass burning (bush fires, burning crop

residues, cooking with firewood poor vegetative cover and loss of soil organic matter

Runoff Trap ponds

Soil & water conservation (labour intensive)- improve productivity

Rainwater retention ditches

Bench terracesNeed to demonstrate increased productivity and

other multiple benefits for local community

Mulch, fertilizer, manure and compost

Diversify crops, livestock, trees in LUS for environment & livelihood benefits

Grevillea spp Passion fruits

Bamboo for protecting buffer zones

Vegetable production

Livestock

Promote & monitor multiple land and water interventions across watershed

• Soil and water conservation• Rotational grazing + controlled burning

of grasslands • Stall fed livestock & fodder production

and Aquaculture• ISFM–fertilizers + organic matter (SOC)• Conservation agriculture (no till) • Small scale irrigation• Seedling nurseries • Afforestation on steep marginal lands

(>C stocks & < GHG emissions)• SFM for timber & fuelwood

Build on local knowledge and innovation

Tanzania - Water Harvesting ditches from road catchment and use of mulch

05/02/23

Build on local knowledge and innovation

Uganda - Progressive terraces & diversion ditches – FFS expert - advice to farmers How to design/maintain/ implement SLM practices - Monitor costs and benefits

Process: 1. Desk top inventory of SLM best practices (GO+project staff)2. Visit with local land users to complete inventory/verify BPs to assess and document 3. WOCAT Technology and Approaches questionnaires4. Database for sharing5. Fact sheet for extension

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Demonstrate improved resilience to climate change

Show how Improved LWM (soil moisture; reduced runoff, safe water flow) will increase resilience to climate change / disasters and enhance production and food security

Contour Trenching Water Capture techniques

Local varieties improvedSeed multiplication systems improved

(sorghum)

Catchment/Landscape Approach for Multiple benefits

Wetlands well managed for Rice Production in Kirehe District, Rwanda

Wheat production on bench terraces in Rulindo district - Rwanda Bench terraces on Kagera landscapes –

Rulindo district, Rwanda

SLM in a maize field in Kigina Catchment , Kirehe district in Rwanda

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Monitor SLM Results against Targets

Monitor progress and outreach process• No. of Farming families (FFS study plots) and

FFS/Community groups• No. of micro-watersheds (and committees) and

No. of hectares under SLM practices• No. of training materials disseminated and No. of

service providers with enhanced skills/ capacities• No. of joint Investment plans (cofunding)

Monitor Impacts•Agricultural productivity- yields• Vegetation biodiversity conservation• Above and below carbon (less GHG emissions)• Soil restoration and water quality• Marketing and Income • Community empowerment and social equity

Scientific evidence for investment

Capacity development for Action Research &Gender balance in decision making at all levels

Well made ridges on a radical terrace planted with Round potato for Umurava FFS group field

FFS group agroforestry tree nursery, Kamonyi district

FFS group dynamics

Ballet box to assess knowledge change

Demonstrate benefits through WOCAT Tools monitoring costs/benefits assess

impacts produce extension material

Questionnaires on SLM technologies and approaches

Entering data in database

Entering data in questionnaire

Documenting information from and with land users

Computer data entry form

Document- produce extension material for scaling up

Participatory Monitoring of impacts to convince policy makers to invest

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Qualitative..Need to quantify analysis for

informed decision making

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Prioritise low cost solutions + co-funding partnerships in the watershed

Ex. Cost- benefit analysis - Shelterbelt

1. In Burundi, REGIDESO + Kagera TAMP project plan to protect HEP installation through community tree planting along Ruvyironza river….

2. Protection of buffer zone around Lakes Rweru & Cohoha on BUR/RWA border and Lake Mweru in Uganda (ecotourism)• Community sensitisation / organisation• Tree planting along lake fringe & roads• Agroforestry species in fields• Protection and reafforestation of natural forest using indigenous sp.

Incentives + Investment: Identify & design PES schemes & public-private partnerships

Example 2: FAO SIDA project Strengthening Capacity for Small-Scale Farmers to Adapt through

Land & Water Management (ETH, KEN, TAN)1. Restoring Soil Health2. Water Management3. Livelihood Diversification4. Building Resilient Communities

Woruba watershed prior to project implementation

• Located in lowlands Showa Robit District, Amhara region

• Dry agro-climatic zone, 1,420 masl • Mean annual rainfall of 900mm • Drought recurrence rate 5 years

• Watershed area 612 ha, of which 506 is arable and 106 ha mostly used for grazing and fuel wood

• Inappropriate cultivation, overgrazing and deforestation, result in soil erosion and soil fertility decline, also water scarcity, lack of pasture and livestock feed, also a fuelwood crisis.

Improving adaptive capacities, Woruba watershed, Awash Basin, Ethiopia

Rainwater harvesting ponds lined with geo-membrane

Community based land and water management 1. Practices to retain surface runoff: stone

check dams on hillside, cut-off drains, micro trenches, deep trenches and micro basins

2. Rainwater harvesting (sub-humid uni-modal, semi-arid and arid areas): ponds close to homesteads and on farm land)

3. Roof-top rainwater harvesting for houses, communal buildings with iron roofs and drip irrigation equipment for high value crops

4. Rotational and zero grazing practices: improved livestock feeding (fodder on farm, perennials around homesteads, rotations in grazing lands)

5. Biological conservation: planting of 1,650,000 indigenous and exotic drought tolerant tree varieties

Improving adaptive capacities, Woruba watershed, Awash Basin, Ethiopia

Three examples of new income generating activities in Showa Robit

Local governance & livelihood diversification •Community bylaw to regulate 123 ha of the community’s communal land (land use, livestock, use of NR). •Energy saving stoves, to sustain the green environment and to reduce deforestation•Diversification of smallholders’ income sources : Seeds for horticultural crops, short season legume species, poultry raising and beekeeping, chickens

Improving adaptive capacities, Woruba watershed, Awash Basin, Ethiopia

Upstream-downstream conflict resolution in Tanzania

Downstream investment in irrigation scheme secure income & food supply but over time reduced water supply & eroded sediments and water wasted (poor scheduling)Upstream settlers (80s): lack of infrastructure, no investment, poor smallholders, blamed for water loss and damage downstream

CONFLICT Farm level- heavy investment

in timeLegal recourse- evict, fine farmers. Conflict remains,

risks undermine development

Upstream-downstream dialogue, negotiation, consensus solutions,

collaboration and solidarity

Planning among 2 groups of actors for land & water management across watershed, clean water supply, enhance production, watre use efficiency, reduce risk, market surplus income, security

Results 380 households reduced water scarcity through range of rainwater

harvesting practices Trenches and tied-ridging considerably decreased runoff, soil erosion and

flash floods 113 ponds lined with geo-membrane + treadle pumps) enabled

smallholders to diversify sources of income by decreasing time and labour to fetch water; enhanced water use for supplementary short season crop

Hillside closure increased biodiversity return of wild animals & native plant species restore soils, livelihood opportunities, climate resilience

Improving adaptive capacities, Woruba watershed, Awash Basin, Ethiopia

Community-Based Participatory Integrated Watershed Management

Strengthen the capacity of smallholder farmers through sustainable integrated watershed management and FFS approaches

Focus on rainwater harvesting technologies and soil management /productivity to reduce impacts of increasing weather variability and climate change and reduce female labour

Enhance income and livelihoods and reduce risk through agricultural productivity, livelihood diversification and ecosystem resilience

Participatory, gender sensitive approaches to reach all members of the local community.

Women & young girls fetch water from Sewer River, 4 km from homesteads ; women digging trenches on farms, Ethiopia

Lessons: 1. Strengthen Capacity of Small-Scale Farmers to Adapt through Land & Water Management

• Community members need considerable skills in planning and implementation (on farm and watershed scales)

• Continuous support for local communities, district offices and service providers, policy/ decision makers (planning, implementation, monitoring &assessment)

• Experience sharing among farmers & technical/

extension staff is effective in increasing adaptive capacity of smallholders

• Ensure that technologies /approaches advocated are appropriate and continuously adapted to change (participatory learning and action research)

Lessons: 2. Capacity development - continuous support for adaptive management to change

• Combine 4 pillars of action: soil and water management on farm and across watershed, enhance on farm productivity, diversify livelihoods and strengthen community organization for climate resilience.

• Long term: Ensure that all concerned actors in a watershed have a common strategy and action plan for land & water use and that actions do not adversely affect resources/ecosystems for future generations

• Multiple stakeholder and intersectoral process: Facilitate and enable stakeholders to cooperative and coordinate interventions through participatory, integrated watershed management plan

• Document & demonstrate multiple benefits: Support local actors to monitor and document process, results and impacts lessons learned, case studies, data for convincing Governments to invest in scaling up SLM/ watershed management (local, national, global benefits)

Lessons: 3. Participatory, integrated, multi-stakeholder strategy

River basin

Watershed

Catchment

Farm

Farmers Community Technical National or River Basin Herders Local authorities Sectors Authority

Lessons: 4. Scaling up requires collaboration among multiple actors/levels & scales (bottom up & topdown)

better data and information on LW resources better governance, planning, management by various users for improved productivity and water use efficiency

Community & Catchment planning • Local diagnosis Community action plan • Fund + train service providers

District land use planning and support• Integrate SLM in district plan & budget • Partnership (investment, credit, PES…)• SLM Knowledge: Training materials + media • Regulations: bye laws & conflict resolution • Multi-sector approaches

Lesson 5: Appropriate Institutional arrangements at all levels

Strengthening Governance• Participatory negotiated territorial approaches• Harmonize & Implement national strategies • Long term vision, rolling plan based on results based monitoring

Integrated watershed / landscape management strategy & investment will generate multiple benefits (Agriculture + Food security, combating land degradation (NAP), sustainable use of biodiversity (NBSAP) , climate change (NAPA, NAMA) and poverty alleviation

Lessons: 6. Raise awareness of policy makers make a convincing case for investment

Degradation scenario• Runoff, erosion, flash floods• Soil erosion & nutrient decline • Disrupt flow regime & water quality• Reduce soil, ground & surface water

supply• Eutrophication effects on aquatic life;• Siltation- reduced capacity of dams; loss

of wetland regulatory& buffer functionsLoss of natural capital, Poverty, Food

insecurity, risk, migration to cities

Alternative winwin scenario-Restore ecological services

• Soil health & nutrient cycling, • Hydrological regime...• Carbon sequestration (soil, biomass • Biodiversity- pollination, pest &

disease control; • Productivity, + Income • Climate change A & M• Socio-cultural (wellbeing, food

security, tourism)