Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Box 5.3
Main findings of the CPWF Basin Focal Projects
(Fisher and Cook, 2012)
•
Water is less scarce than the capacity to use it.
•
Only a small proportion of rainfall goes through agriculture, even
in dry basins.
•
Water scarcity at the farm level has many dimensions not always
linked to average rainfall.
•
There is large and inexplicable variability in water productivity,
especially in rainfed systems.
•
Water productivity is useful as an indicator but is less useful as a goal.
•
Relationships between water scarcity and poverty are subtle and
complex with many intervening variables.
•
Water-related entry points for research are influenced by develop-
ment trajectories.
•
Institutional factors often determine whether available water is or is
not used well.
Basin Focal Projects
The Basin Focal Projects (BFPs) were about problem definition. BFPs
analyzed, quantified and characterized problems of water availability and
scarcity, water productivity, water and poverty, and water and institutions in
ten river basins. BFP findings resulted in fundamental changes in understanding
within and outside the CPWF regarding the nature of water-related global
challenges (Box 5.3).
In the Mekong Basin
The CPWF carried out 19 projects in the Mekong Basin, many aiming to
understand better interrelated problems of water, food and hydropower. Project
PN50 in the Mekong pinpointed governance problems affecting dam and
reservoir design. Because institutions did not talk to each other, when hydro-
power authorities designed new infrastructure, they often ignored problems
that were well known from previous experience (Molle et al., 2009; Lebel et
al., 2010).
Project Mekong 3 in Laos identified the possibility of man-made floods
along a cascade of reservoirs in a catchment. When the reservoirs are full and
there is heavy late-season rainfall, dam operators must communicate to
coordinate the release of overcapacity. If they do not, the resulting floods can
damage infrastructure and crops and can kill people and livestock (Ward et al.,
2012).
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