Water for livelihoods
From WaterWiki
Water security and ecosystem services
The link between water and livelihoods is often associated with water for agricultural production; this however is but one component of a very complex system of livelihoods that are dependent upon the availability of water for community development. The provision of water for livelihoods is a contentious one as most of the water is usually allocated to agricultural production, upwards of 70% and more in many countries. It is contentious because much of the water that is used for this purpose is mismanaged through inefficient irrigation schemes and water intensive crops such as sugar beets in Turkey. In chapter four of the recently launched Human Development Report 2006 entitled "Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis", climate change was cited as a key issue that would increase the vulnerability of the poor to water and food shortages. Inefficiency in agricultural production is bound to not only increase water insecurity but livelihoods and food insecurity as well.
To further complicate the problem, growing urban areas often compete with agricultural production for water, as do fragile ecosystems that are drained, such as wetlands. Moreover, other types of livelihoods may compete with one another for limited available water resources such as in the over-fishing of pearl mullets in Turkey or the unsustainable salt-extraction process, also in Turkey.
Similarly, supplying sufficient quantity and quality of water for community livelihoods is a unique challenge that requires unique approaches. The main challenge faced by communities involves balancing their needs for a sustainable livelihood with the needs of the ecosystem. Communities are key to the achievement of many environmental and development challenges since many problems require local level solutions. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, namely the biodiversity and desertification and wetlands synthesis reports, identified communities as key stakeholders and drivers of positive change towards the preservation of fragile ecosystems. But despite their importance, communities are not consistently included into the planning and decision-making process and as a result many of the policies implemented have little relevance or applicability to their situations.
Sustainable solutions for better livelihoods
As many of these exhibits demonstrate, the needs of both communities and ecosystems are not mutually exclusive but rather intrinsically tied to one another. Communities are able to sustain their economic livelihoods in the long term because of unique and innovative solutions that protect their environment. For example, in Albania communities were able to use solar power to heat their homes and for cooking, reducing their reliance on electricity produced from hydroelectric plants which are functioning beyond capacity. As a result of the project, awareness has been raised in Albania regarding the benefits of solar power and a domestic market for the production of solar heaters has developed.
Awareness raising and innovative means to protecting vulnerable ecosystems while generating income is the cornerstone to successful projects - and many of these means are employed collectively by the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP). In a GEF SGP project in Romania, farmers who were disposing of animal waste in water ways began to compost the animal waste and use it as fertilizer, supplanting a need for chemical fertilizers. This change would enable the farmers to continue growing their crops for their livelihoods but also protect the Tur River reserve from continued pollution.
What these projects have in common are efficient, holistic and innovative means to address a water and human development challenge. The key to success, however, lies in active participation and community involvement to engender a sense of ownership. They also ensure that the challenges of water for food security and livelihoods, particularly among marginalized groups such as small scale farmers and women, are managed in an equitable way.
