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Working Paper A Review of Management Strategies for Salt-prone Land and Water Resources in Iran(2007) Qureshi, Asad Sarwar; Qadir, Manzoor; Heydari, Nader; Turral, Hugh; Javadi, Arzhang"Approximately half of the irrigated area of Iran falls under different types of salt-affected soils and average yield losses may be as high as 50 percent. Slightly and moderately salt-affected soils are mostly found on the piedmonts at the foot of the Elburz (Alborz) Mountains in the northern part of the country. The soils having severe to extreme salinity are predominantly located in the Central Plateau, the Khuzestan and Southern Coastal Plains and the Caspian Coastal Plain. The process of salinization of the surface water resources is mainly due to natural conditions, and to a lesser extent, to the discharge of drainage water into the river systems. Estimates show that about 6.7 km3 of brackish water flow annually through 12 major rivers. There is no straightforward solution to the complex problems of salt-induced soil and water resources degradation in Iran. The approaches addressing the management of these resources need to be multidimensional and must take into account biophysical and environmental conditions of the target areas as well as livelihood aspects of the associated communities."Working Paper Farmer-Based Financing of Operations in the Niger Valley Irrigation Schemes(2000) Abernethy, Charles L.; Sally, Hilmy; Lonsway, Kurt; Maman, Chegou"Presents the results of case-studies of the functioning of four pump-based irrigation systems in the Niger River Valley. Prospects for sustainability are analyzed, especially in the light of the government's policy of promoting irrigator organizations to take over responsibilities for operation and maintenance."Working Paper Improving Irrigated Agriculture: Institutional Reform and the Small Farmer(1982) Bromley, Daniel W."Irrigation is a technological and institutional innovation which permits cultivation of lands otherwise ill-suited to agriculture. The institutional environment in which irrigation takes place is critical to the successful operation of any system. This institutional environment has received little analytical attention by those concerned with irrigation. "A model of farmer interdependence is developed and is related to the concept of farmers as cautious optimizers. This allows a focus on institutional uncertainty as a major impediment to creating irrigation systems which meet both efficiency and equity goals. "Suggestions for improving existing irrigation systems-and for designing new ones-are derived from the framework."Working Paper World Water Demand and Supply, 1990 to 2025: Scenarios and Issues(1998) Seckler, David; Amarasinghe, Upali A.; Molden, David; de Silva, Radhika; Barker, Randolph"Presents two alternative scenarios of water demand and supply for 118 countries over the 1990 to 2025 period and develops indicators of water scarcity for each country and for the world as a whole. This study is the first step in IWMI's long-term research goal: to determine the extent and depth of water scarcity, its consequences for individual countries and what can be done about it."Working Paper Organizational Aspects of Improved Irrigation Management: An Experiment in Dewahuwa Tank, Sri Lanka(1990) Ekanayake, R.; Groenfeldt, David"This report is one of several IIMI publications addressing the issue of irrigation management to promote diversified crops during the dry season. As Sri Lanka approaches self-sufficiency in rice production, a target already achieved by some other countries in the region, there is little logic in growing rice using land and water resources which could support higher- value non-rice crops, using less water. Thus, one of the incentives in improving irrigation management is to find ways of stretching water further during the dry season in water-deficit systems, when rice is relatively more expensive to grow than during the wet season, and when other crops which can be grown only during the dry season (when there is less danger of water-logging) offer the farmer and the country a comparative advantage."Working Paper Evaluating Watershed Management Projects(2001) Kerr, John; Chung, Kimberley"Watershed projects play an increasingly important role in managing soil and water resources throughout the world. Research is needed to ensure that new projects draw upon lessons from their predecessors? experiences. However, the technical and social complexities of watershed projects make evaluation difficult. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods, which traditionally have been used separately, both have strengths and weaknesses. Combining them can make evaluation more effective, particularly when constraints to study design exist. This paper presents mixed-methods approaches for evaluating watershed projects. A recent evaluation in India provides illustrations."Working Paper Land Acquisitions: How will they Impact Transboundary Waters?(2012) Jägerskog, Anders; Cascão, Ana; Hårsmar, Mats; Kim, Kyungmee"This report will provide overview and analysis of transboundary water management; trends in land management and land acquisitions; global food and land dynamics; and the local, national and regional level implications of land acquisitions. It also includes case illustrations from the Nile and Niger River basins. Though the issues discussed occur in multiple regions, this report focuses on sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), which is the region attracting the largest quantity of land investments. The report does not claim to provide a comprehensive answer to the issues raised here but instead seeks to identify key areas in need of improved and more extensive research."Working Paper Modernization Using the Structured System Design of the Bhadra Reservoir Project, India: An Intervention Analysis(1999) Sakthivadivel, R.; Thiruvengadachari, S.; Amarasinghe, Upali A."Evaluates the performance of the Bhadra Reservoir Project-before, during, and after the introduction of modernization with structured system design. Analysis focuses on water management, agricultural productivity, and farmer participation and perception. Identifies the absence of a continuing support mechanism and lack of farmer participation as the major causes for the project's decline."Working Paper Urban Water and Sanitation Services: An IWRM Approach(2006) Rees, Judith A."The rapid pace and scale of urbanization represents a considerable challenge for water resources management, the delivery of essential water and sanitation services and environmental protection. To help meet these challenges there is a need to adopt an integrated water resources management (IWRM) approach which explicitly recognises the complex sets of interdependency relationships which exist within and between human and environmental systems. This need arises because of the negative externalities created by the uncoordinated use of water and land resources and by the uncoordinated provision of interdependent basic services; the opportunity costs of employing scarce water, land and capital for low value purposes; and the cost savings which can occur by widening the range of provision or management options. An IWRM approach when applied in an urban context cannot simply consider matters within the built up area itself. It must recognise intersectoral competition for resources (physical, social and financial), the role of the urban sector in meeting national developmental priorities, and negative impacts of urban provision practices on other parts of the economy. IWRM does not imply the creation a vast bureaucracy attempting to coordinate everything, rather it involves the creation of an institutional framework within which water relevant roles and functions are performed at an appropriate spatial scale and which helps ensure that decision makers have incentives to take the social costs of their actions into account. There is evidence to suggest that in some countries decentralised urban water services have the advantages of allowing more demand responsive provision, greater accountability, and technical flexibility without significant losses of economies of scale and scope. However, such decentralized systems have to operate within a strong strategic and regulatory framework. Moreover, institutions to promote coordination and cooperation between sectoral actors and across jurisdictional boundaries will need to be put in place. In developing the strategic framework within which different sectoral and spatial actors operate it is important to consider the policy tools available at different levels of government and governance. Furthermore an instrument (or policy mix) will need to be developed, not only to meet different policy goals, but also to ensure that local or sectoral actors do not operate in narrowly self interested ways. There are relatively few urban management tools which are automatically compatible with the efficiency, equity and environmental sustainability objectives of IWRM. Implementation practice is crucial."Working Paper Irrigation Impacts on Income Inequality and Poverty Eleviation: Policy Issues and Options for Improved Management of Irrigation Systems(2002) Bhattarai, Madhusudan; Sakthivadivel, R.; Hussain, Intizar"This study explores the conceptual and policy issues relating to the impact that irrigation has on crop production, farm income, inequities in income distribution and poverty alleviation. It also focuses, specifically, on poverty issues associated with head-tail water distribution inequity in an irrigation system."