Undesirable changes in surface water and groundwater resources and land quality for biophysical and institutional reasons will further endanger the livelihoods of people in Central Asia. The farmers' understanding of these problems and the adaptation and solution strategies they opt for are the critical variables in devising relevant policies. Our findings captured significant disparities between farmer-perceived water shortages and officially documented water availability, as well as soil salinity discrepancies.

Egypt’s quota of Nile River water has been constant since the 1950s, despite the continual agricultural land expansion. To facilitate land reclamation, Egypt has reallocated Nile water from downstream users, mostly smallholders in the ‘old lands’ of the Delta. As water demands have grown, more attention has gone to the reuse of waste/drainage water as a reliable source for irrigated agriculture in the “old lands”.

Soil and water conservation have been traditionally part of farming practices for thousands of years. Despite massive efforts to implement modern soil and water conservation practices (SWCPs) in the Ethiopian Highlands, soil erosion increased after the 1970s when social and political events led to a remarkable change in land use. This review aims to critically analyze the impact of conservation practices on soil loss and crop yield and highlight research and modeling gaps.

Agricultural intensification is necessary to meet growing global food demand, but it has potential environmental costs. Some activities associated with intensification, including increased use of fertilizer and other chemical inputs, are documented to have direct negative impacts on air and water quality, soil fertility, and other parts of the ecosystem. The effect of intensification on the amount of land under cultivation is more complex because it depends on accompanying policies, factor markets, and the spatial

This synthesis brief captures insights and lessons from the implementation of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) over the past decade. By assessing the program’s performance, thematic scope and its management, governance and structure, as well as the ways in which the program has monitored and communicated its research outputs, this brief aims to consolidate WLE’s experiences and inform the transition to One CGIAR and the
development of future research-for-development initiatives.

This study aimed at identifying the factors that determine
the decision to adopt and the intensity of adoption of
soil organic carbon (SOC)-enhancing practices using two
watershed sites in Ethiopia: Yiser (Amhara region) and
Azugashube (Southern region). The study used survey
data collected from 379 sample households drawn from
four Kebele/village administrations at each watershed
site. Multivariate and ordinary least squares regressions
were used to identify the factors that determine the

Grasping the indirect and non-linear linkages between climate and conflict merits uncovering how inequalities entrenched in existing social structures may inform and mediate this intricate relationship. Despite growing understanding around the need to focus on the entire climate security inequality nexus, existing literature has so far been tipping towards either unpacking inequality and conflict or inequality and climate linkages. Furthermore, research for development work is yet to unpack in detail context-specific nuances of this complex nexus.

Watershed based integrated land management is a recent approach to curb land degradation in Ethiopia and introduced in 2012 in Geda watershed, central highlands of Ethiopia. However, the impacts of the interventions on indicators of some ecosystem services were not assessed. The objectives of this study were to explore the effects of the interventions on soil properties, soil moisture content and water discharge, plant species richness, biomass production and carbon stock by comparing treated site with integrated land management measures and the adjacent untreated site.

Agricultural innovation scaling approaches tend to be empirical but do not sufficiently take into account the complex realities of ‘softer elements’ such as people, supply chains, markets, financing mechanisms, policies and regulations, professional knowledge, power relations, incentives and history. As a consequence, scaling initiatives often do not produce the desired impacts and, in some instances, may even produce undesirable impacts.

Land and water management practices have been widely implemented in rural Mali since the1980s to improve agricultural productivity and erosion control. Under conditions of recurring droughts, these practices are expected to increase farmers’ ability to cope with shocks. One of the most common practices applied in the central and southern parts of Mali is contour bunding (CB). In this study the impact of the CB technology is evaluated with a focus on biophysical and socio-economic benefits.