Free Flow

315 / 336

[ ] 315
Water and Livelihoods Initiative:
scientific cooperation and collaboration
across North Africa and the Middle East
C. King, Water and Livelihoods Initiative; S. Christiansen, Director, Office of Water Resources and Environment, United States
Agency for International Development; T. Oweis, Director, Integrated Water and Land Management Program; and B. Dessalegn,
Communication and Project Management specialist, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
Across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), water
scarcity presents societies and individuals with choices
to either compete or collaborate with one another.
Cumulative water demands for domestic, industrial and agri-
cultural needs have always exceeded the volume of resource
available in this region. Water has long been cycled and recy-
cled along the canals and drainage systems of the Nile and the
Euphrates. An ever-increasing complexity of innovations for
water distribution and purification has evolved to make every
drop count time and again. Without technical knowledge of
these water management solutions, collaboration and mutual
trust, individuals are vulnerable to persistent disturbances
affecting their climate, hydrological, social, economic and agro-
ecological systems.
Public scientific and technical cooperation has transformed lives and
landscapes across the MENA region, from the Maarib Dam in Yemen
to Lake Nasser in Egypt and the Man-Made River in
Libya. More recently, a technological explosion of private
wells, plastic tunnels, social media and cellular phones
has changed many of the rules of rural water manage-
ment in agricultural societies. New demands for export
production introduce new choices, benefits and risks
to rural households. Pooling of intellectual resources
and research funds across public and private sectors is
urgently needed to address the deepening problems of
insufficient food and water supplies and continue the
regional tradition of scientific innovation. But despite
the ongoing technological and communications revo-
lutions, scientific assessments tend to be short-lived,
project-based and under-funded. Intellectual property is
jealously guarded from critics and colleagues alike, and
scaling the walls of institutional and disciplinary silos is
not for the faint-hearted. MENA’s young scientists need
I nternational Cooperation on W ater Sciences and Research
CGIAR
centres
US Universities
andUSDA/ARS
Regional Universities
National Universities
CBOs and individual farmers
The WLI collaborative model for research partnership
Source: WLI 2013 MENA Platform document A farmer in Lebanon: WLI research is often carried out with farmers on their own land
Image: T. Oweis