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Celebrating World Water Day 2020

Examples of the GEF IW portfolio managing water and climate change

By IW:LEARN

March 22^nd, 2020

Water and Climate Change

"Water is the medium through which nature and human societies experience most of the impacts of climate change. Sustainable water management is an essential part of the solution to climate change." This is the key message from The United Nations World Water Development Report 2020.

Climate change is now an inescapable reality, and has been recognized as a significant driver (or root cause) of a number of transboundary problems in international waters including changes in biodiversity, loss of ecosystems, eutrophication, invasive species, water quantity, and others. Mainstreaming climate change adaptation is the iterative process of integrating considerations of climate change adaptation into policy-making, budgeting, implementation and monitoring processes at national, sector and sub-national levels. It is a multi-year, multi-stakeholder effort grounded in the contribution of climate change adaptation to human well-being, pro-poor economic growth, and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It entails working with a range of government and non-governmental actors, and other actors in the development field.

After 27 years of GEF investment, significant progress and results have been delivered by the IW focal area. The GEF, together with its implementing and executing partners, has made investments in at least 23 large marine ecosystems, 47 river basins, 15 lakes, and 13 aquifers.

The following examples from the GEF International Waters project portfolio illustrate how regional cooperation can also scale-up action at national and local levels to address climate change.

GEF-UNDP Dniester River Basin Project

To support efforts on adaptation to climate change, the GEF-UNDP Dniester project has been working in the most vulnerable to climate change part of the Dniester basin, Odessa region of Ukraine. It fully depends on the Dniester river in terms of water for drinking, industry and irrigation. The project staff and partners are very happy to share that we have managed to include climate change adaptation into Odessa Region Strategy for Development in 2021-2027 - this is something none of the regions in Ukraine has. Also this region authorities have supported financing of one local and one transboundary climate change adaptation projects from the state budget starting with 2021, which is also unheard of previously in the Dniester basin.

For more information on this project please consult the project page on our website. Alternatively, please contact the Project Manager, Tamara Kutonova (tamara.kutonova@osce.org)

The GEF UNDP Dniester River Basin Project continues to involve leading experts from Moldova and Ukraine for sustainable development of the Dniester River basin. Photo credit: GEF UNDP Dniester River Basin Project

GEF-UNEP-UNDP IWEco Project

The Integrating Water, Land and Ecosystems Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (GEF-IWEco Project) is a five-year multi-focal area regional project financed under the GEF’s Land Degradation, Biodiversity, International Waters and Sustainable forest Management portfolios.

Ten Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are participating in the project which applies existing proven technologies and approaches that are appropriate for SIDS to improve fresh and coastal water resources management, sustainable land management and sustainable forest management while also enhancing the resilience of socio-ecological systems to the impacts of climate change. Successful implementation, the resulting learning and subsequent upscaling of IWEco’s pilot projects would significantly impact land and water management and mitigate climate change effects.

Trinidad & Tobago’s IWEco National Sub-project (IWEco:TT) aims to restore natural vegetation, reduce sedimentation and flood risk and restore ecological function to exhausted or abandoned quarry pits.

Following a national launch in May 2018 which involved volunteers from a variety of organizations, twenty-seven persons from surrounding communities, called “Quarry Rehabilitation Champions”, were trained in various intervention methods by two Nongovernmental organizations, the Trust for Sustainable Livelihoods (SUSTRUST) and IAMovement (IAM), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme - Small Grants Programme, partners in IWEco. Developing community capability to enable replication and sustainable livelihoods are important aspects of the Project.

IWEco is helping Trinidad & Tobago learn how to rehabilitate degraded quarry land, thereby also protecting ground and surface water. This is an important step in the country efforts to build resilience to climate change.

For more information on this project please consult the project page on our website. Alternatively, please contact the Project Manager, Jan Betlem (jan.betlem@un.org).

Explaining how live check dams work to reduce gullying and soil erosion when rain falls (May 2019). Photo credit: GEF UNEP UNDP IWEco Project

GEF-World Bank SADC- GMI Project

Climate change induced severe weather events and changes in rainfall patterns have a visible and devastating impact on water and food security in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

The role of groundwater across the region has never been so pronounced, with what is being called a crisis in parts of the region where at least 11 million people are facing critical food shortages due to the drought which is caused by climate change.

In Zimbabwe, for example, the country is close to running out of its staple crop of maize where production in the vital commodity is down by 53 percent year on year. In Zambia, an estimated 2.3 million people are in danger of starvation as climate change and drought take hold. “2019 drought was unprecedented, causing food shortages on a scale we have never seen before”, said Dr Michael Charles, Head of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Southern Africa Cluster.

Around 41.2 million people in 13 countries are affected by water and food insecurity, this is according to the SADC 2019 Synthesis Report on the state of Food and Nutrition Security and Vulnerability in Southern Africa, which was released in Namibia in July 2019. “We are seeing people going two to three days without food, entire herds of livestock wiped out by drought and small-scale farmers with no means to earn money to tide them over a lean season.” Continued Dr Michael Charles. Countries with most significant increase in food insecurity from last year are Zambia and Zimbabwe, with 2.3 million and 3.6 million people respectively in need of food aid.

Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia have this year declared drought emergencies. In Eswatini, 24 percent of its rural population is suffering from food shortages. The situation is set to worsen due to late or no rain in the region and crop production is down by 30 percent for the year 2019/2020.

Groundwater can be a buffer during the dry season when there is no rain and mitigate the impacts of climate change since it is not susceptible to evaporation. During times of severe water scarcity groundwater has always became more than a helpful resource – it can be a difference between life and death.

In the wake of climate change and its impact in the SADC region, SADC- Groundwater Management Institute (SADC-GMI) in collaboration with other implementing partners are pulling their weight to ensure that vulnerable communities have safe and clean drinking water. The initiatives undertaken by SADC-GMI are aligned with its core mandate of “promoting sustainable groundwater management and provide solutions to groundwater challenges across the SADC region”.

Groundwater Mapping and Development in Chongwe District, Republic of Zambia

In collaboration with the governments in the SADC region, SADC-GMI has implemented a number of initiatives to ensure that vulnerable communities have drinking water. One of those projects is the water supply project in Chongwe, Zambia. Chongwe is an urban settlement located some 50 km east of the Zambian capital city of Lusaka, with more 100 000 people who rely on groundwater for their water needs. This settlement was experiencing serious water shortages caused by a number of factors such as increased demand due to population growth, the effects of climate change, rainfall variability, as well as over-abstraction of surface water. The project implemented by SADC-GMI involved the characterisation of a local aquifer in the Chongwe region to determine its sustainable yield and drilling of three boreholes to augment the existing water supply in the community.

Water Supply – Exploring deep Aquifer Project in Chimbiya Malawi

The impacts of climate change have worsened water security especially to the poor rural communities due to the scarcity of surface water resources and the recession of shallow groundwater resources across the SADC region. This scenario influenced SADC-GMI, in partnership with the Malawian Government and Water Mission Malawi to implement a project at Chimbiya Trading Centre to explore deep aquifers by drilling a borehole, equipping it with motorised electric pump, then reticulating the water to ten communal-style distribution points around the community which resulted in clean and safe drinking water for the community. The project that was commissioned to the community on the 13th of February 2020 is supplying water to 15000 inhabitants in Chimbiya Trading Centre. Prior to the project water scarcity in Chimbiya was a huge challenge, affecting the people’s livelihoods. The water scarcity exposed community members to water bone diseases and other social ills. Women and girls often woke up as early as 3am and walked long distances to fetch water for domestic use. The installation of the new water supply scheme has effectively freed time for the women and girls to engage more in economic and social improvement activities.

These projects are part of the 12 Sub-grant pilot projects SADC-GMI is currently implementing in 10 SADC Member States under the Sustainable Groundwater Management in SADC Member States project, funded by the GEF and the Cooperation in International Waters in Africa (CIWA) through the World Bank.

For more information on this project please consult the project page on our website. Alternatively, please contact the Project Manager, James Sauramba (jamess@sadc-gmi.org).

Borehole water for the community of Chimbiya, Malawi. Photo credit: GEF-World Bank SADC-GMI Project

GEF-UNDP Puyango-Tumbes,Catamayo-Chira, and Zarumilla River Basins Project

The Integrated Water Resources Management Project is being developed in the border area between Ecuador and Peru, in the Puyango-Tumbes, Catamayo-Chira, and Zarumilla basins (IWRM Project).

This area is particularly susceptible to the effects of climate change since it is exposed to long periods of drought between the months of July and November and heavy rains and flooding between the months of February and May. Moreover, this area has historically been seriously affected by the “El Niño” phenomenon, characterized by heavy rains on the Pacific coasts of Ecuador and Peru, which causes rivers to overflow, flooding and consequently great economic losses and thousands of people are affected in this region.

Integrated water resources management is essential to mitigate these effects. In this sense, the IWRM Project works to strengthen institutional, political, legal and scientific-technical capacities in order to improve the binational actions on water management undertaken by Ecuador and Peru.

Institutional Strengthening and Training

The project has carried out several actions to strengthen the management of the water resource shared by both countries, which will allow the population to have a better access to this resource, a more balanced distribution and a healthier environment.

It has strengthened binational institutions for the joint management of transboundary basins, which facilitates cooperation and coordinated actions by both countries. At the same time, the capacities of national and local actors, in the management of transboundary water resources, have been strengthened, allowing them to have the appropriate tools to manage water basins locally and in a transboundary level.

Studies of the area

Several studies have been carried out to determine the current status of the Puyango- Tumbes, Catamayo-Chira, and Zarumilla transboundary basins. The Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) examines and identifies the problems of each basin, prioritizing them, analyzing their environmental impacts and socioeconomic consequences, as well as their direct and indirect causes. The Strategic Action Plan (SAP) which sets out the lines of action and strategies for solving the problems identified above, and promoting Integrated Water Resource Management. In addition, a hydrogeological study of the Zarumilla Aquifer, where it is estimated that about 50% of the water for different uses of the population comes from, is being developed. This study will provide updated information about the quality and quantity of water in it.

Pilot Projects

Another important action of the Project has been the development of infrastructure pilot projects and a communication campaign for water conservation, whose objectives are to control contamination from multiple sectors; and increase access to water in this area. The communication campaign developed in Peru, was essential to raise awareness and motivate a change in the attitudes and practices of the population, avoiding water contamination and promoting its efficient use.

The infrastructure pilot projects have allowed the population of the border area, to have better access to drinking water and sanitation, while protecting the environment and avoiding contamination of the upper and lower basins. Therefore, about 3,000 people in the area have benefited directly, while more than one million people in the transboundary basins of Ecuador and Peru will benefit indirectly.

In this way, the IWRM Project, since its beginning in 2016, has promoted and strengthened the integrated management of transboundary water resources in Ecuador and Peru. Water is a resource that knows no political boundaries, its scarcity and the effects of climate change make cooperation between countries and regions increasingly urgent to protect this resource and achieve sustainable development of the population.

For more information on this project please consult the project page on our website. Alternatively, please contact the Project Manager, Sebastian Izquierdo (sebastian.izquierdo@senagua.gob.ec).

Communication Campaign in Peru. Photo Credit: GEF UNDP Puyango-Tumbes, Catamayo-Chira and Zarumilla Transboundary Aquifers and River Basins Project.

GEF-UNDP Pacific Ridge to Reef Project

The Pacific Community’s GEF-funded Pacific International Waters Ridge to Reef Project (R2R) successfully trials the spatial prioritization procedure based on the R2R conceptual framework, refining a decision-support tool for regional policy makers to prioritize actions to govern and manage their resources.

As part of the Project’s Science to Policy approach and process, the results of the initial trial in Vanuatu were presented to the Project’s Regional Science and Technical Committee in February this year. This demonstrated the application of a fine-scale, spatially-explicit decision support framework to support planning for upscaling future R2R investments at the national and local scale.

Pacific R2R Regional Programme Coordinator Peter Cusack said: “The GEF Pacific Ridge to Reef Programme Initiative is working with project countries in the Pacific region to test and mainstream innovative solutions to integrated and climate resilient approaches to land, water, forest, biodiversity and coastal resource management.”

Pacific IW R2R Science and National Project Lead Samasoni Sauni explained: “The connectivity of land to sea ecosystems primarily through water and the impact of climate change on ecosystem goods and services are central to the R2R management approach.”

R2R Model developer and R2R project consultant Dr. Jade Delevaux says, “The land-sea framework can help identify where to prioritize terrestrial conservation initiatives that maximize downstream benefits, and test proposed terrestrial and marine protection and restoration policy actions, and model their effects on marine resources.”

Key outcomes of the trial included: the identification of priority conservation areas on land that will have the greatest impact on marine conservation in Vanuatu; testing of policy actions prior to implementation; and the development of a decision support tool to identify synergies and trade-offs in habitat conservation across terrestrial and marine ecosystems at an archipelagic scale.

“Our study found that deforestation resulting from urbanization and commercial agriculture expansion increases sedimentation while forest restoration mitigates sedimentation,” she explained.

Results supported previous studies in showing a negative effect of sediments on coral abundance and fish biomass. Consequently, an increase in urbanization (and associated deforestation) caused declines in coral cover and reef fisheries. Conversely, “The models projected increases in both corals and fishes under the proposed forest restoration zones, implying that more trees result in more corals and fishes,” she emphasized.

In addition, findings showed that marine protection can support fishery outcomes. Conversely, an increase in urbanization (and associated deforestation) caused declines in coral cover and reef fisheries. Consequently, a combination of forest restoration and marine protection from fishing resulted in the best outcomes for coral reefs and associated fisheries.

The R2R conceptual framework was adapted to Vanuatu and implemented at the national scale and in an IW R2R project demonstration site, Tagabe watershed on Efate Island.

Vanuatu IW R2R Project Manager Ericksen Packett said: “The R2R management approach advocates whole-of-island, evidence and science-based approaches informing policy reforms, planning and decision making.”

“Vanuatu is the first country to trial this innovative procedure, which moves us one step closer to a decision-support tool that could be used to strengthen the governance and sustainable management of our resources,” he emphasized.

The procedure was planned to be trialled again in Solomon Islands in April, however, this is postponed due to travel restrictions as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The connectivity of ecosystems land to sea primarily through water and the impact of climate change on ecosystem goods and services are fundamental considerations in setting out this theory of change from science to policy.

Programme overview

The GEF-UNDP Pacific R2R Programme is a global test case aimed at achieving the sustainable development of Pacific Small Island Developing States (Pacific SIDS) within a truly integrated environmental and natural resource management framework. The goal of the programme is “to maintain and enhance Pacific Island countries’ ecosystem goods and services (provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural) through integrated approaches to land, water, forest, biodiversity and coastal resource management that contribute to poverty reduction, sustainable livelihoods and climate resilience.”

The Programme supports and addresses the national priorities and development needs of 14 Pacific SIDS while delivering global environmental benefits by focusing on a more crosscutting approach to water, land and coastal management.

The Programme is also a USD 90m GEF multi-focal area, multi-GEF agency and multi-country initiative that guides the coordinated investment of GEF grant funding across its focal areas of biodiversity conservation, land degradation, climate change adaptation and mitigation, sustainable land, sustainable forest management, and international waters in Pacific SIDS.

The Programme also guides the mainstreaming of gender and cultural issues, and the effective engagement of young people, in environmental and natural resource management. It is also supported in areas of science-based planning, human capital development, policy and strategic planning, results-based management, and knowledge sharing through a regional GEF International Waters project, which is executed regionally by the Pacific Community.

The Programme is coordinated by a Regional Programme Coordination Unit (RPCU), which also executes the regional International Waters R2R Project, hosted by the Pacific Community’s (SPC) Geoscience, Energy and Maritime Division based in the Fiji Islands. The RPCU is tasked with the provision of technical, operational, reporting and monitoring support as requested by the participating Pacific SIDS.

For more information on this project please consult the project page on our website. Alternatively, please contact the Project Manager, Peter Cusack (peterc@spc.int).

Marine transect in progress. Photo credit: GEF UNDP Pacific R2R Project

GEF-WWF Mesoamerican Ridge to Reef Project

The Regional Strategy for Mangrove Management, Conservation, Restoration and Monitoring in the Mesoamerican Reef –MAR- 2020-2025

Is a participative strategy prepared by relevant stakeholders from MAR countries, supported by partners including MAR Fund, German Cooperation, the Smithsonian Institution and MAR2R project.

This strategy includes several tactics and actions which promote implementation of ecosystem based measures for climate change adaptation, at the same time, enhancing carbon stocks.

Participation of indigenous peoples and afro-Hondurans was relevant in this process of preparation, whom shared traditional knowledge for climate change solutions.

Based on this strategy, MAR2R will implement community-based mangrove restoration activities as opportunity to improve livelihoods

Planning integrated watershed management in priority watersheds of Mesoamerican Reef Ecoregion

The MAR2R Project supports stakeholders in the watersheds of the rivers: Hondo (Mexico), Belize (Belize), Motagua (Guatemala) and Chamelecon (Honduras) planning integrated watershed management with the purpose of incorporating climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. These measures will strengthen the resilience capacity of livelihoods, such as agriculture and agroforestry, as well as the availability of water for human consumption, of the populations that inhabit these territories.

The Project is taking into account national and territorial priorities to strengthen the capacities of communities and groups of agriculture, agro-industrial, and industrial producers, achieving participation and their commitment to the protection of water resources as a strategy for climate change adaptation.

For more information on this project please consult the project page on our website. Alternatively, please contact the Project Manager, Mario Escobedo (mescobedo@sica.int).

Local communities in the Motagua river watershed identifying opportunities for IWRM. Photo credit: GEF WWF MAR2R Project

GEF-UNDP Kura II Project

Kakheti, 13 November 2019 GEF-UNDP Kura II project “Advancing Integrated Water Resource Management across the Kura river basin through implementation of the transboundary agreed actions and national plans”, Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia and Georgian Amelioration Ltd hosted the Grand Opening of the Water Saving Technologies for increased crop yields in a changing climate

Specifically, drip irrigation systems were installed and showcase water saving irrigation technologies to reduce factual water losses in different sectors in village of Ruisi, Kareli Municipality, Shida Kartli Region; village of Enisely, Kvareli Municipality, Kakheti Region; and village of Bediani, Tsalka Municipality, Kvemo Kartli Region in Georgia.

In order to demonstrate efficiency of the system, crop patterns, crop production and water use efficiency will be studied before and after installing the system and the results will be compared.

To ensure wider distribution of the knowledge and the experience drawn from the demonstration project, training workshops will be organized for representatives of the farmer associations on managing irrigation and drainage systems through testing green technologies for increased water efficiency and increased agricultural productivity.

Expected results of the demonstration project include promotion of green, water saving irrigation technologies, decreased water consumption and increased agricultural productivity in the pilot areas, as well as increase of knowledge and awareness on rational water use and water saving green technologies.

For more information on this project please consult the project page on our website. Alternatively, please contact the Project Manager, Mary Matthews (mary.matthews@undp.org).

Opening ceremony of the drip irrigation demo project in Kakheti, Georgia. Photo credit: GEF UNDP Kura II Project

The GEF IW:LEARN Project has developed programmatic guidance for the GEF IW portfolio of projects to address climatic variability and change which can be accessed on our website via this link.

GEF-UNDP Orange-Senqu River Strategic Action Programme Implementation Project

The United Nations Development Programme and the Orange Senqu River Basin Commission’s Support to the Orange-Senqu River Strategic Action Programme Implementation Project funded by the Global Environmental Facility aims to strengthen joint management of the natural resources in the transboundary river basin to improve livelihoods through environmentally sound and socially inclusive economic development. When successfully implemented between May 2019 and April 2024, the project would have contributed to building resilience to shocks and crises, including those caused by climate change.

Through implementing the source to sea concept to address the changing hydrological regime, the project will address aspects such as how states can mitigate water insecurity by developing additional water resources.

In Botswana the project will build low-cost, environmentally sound desalination demonstration plants in the Kgalagadi South District, to harness saline groundwater for agricultural and potable purposes.

In Namibia the project will establish a project to quantify and determine the impacts of Prosopis on surface water and groundwater resources, biodiversity and general infrastructures, in order to inform policy and practice.

Prosopis is an invasive alien species that is causing severe environmental degradation to the arid and semi-arid areas in the region, hence threatening the livelihood and food security of pastoral and agro-pastoral communities.

Several baseline activities are currently being undertaken which will lead to the implementation of the demonstration activities in the second quarter of 2020.

For more information on this project please consult the project page on our website. Alternatively, please contact the Project Manager, Simbotwe Mwiya (simbotwe.mwiya@undp.org).