News & Events

How to accelerate and scale inclusive water access in Ethiopia
- Learn more: To learn more about IWMI’s efforts to facilitate farmer-led irrigation, attend a series of interactive webinars on June 11th and July 9th hosted by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the World Bank, the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute, and the Global Water ...more

Challenge winner moves forward with IoT to develop world first database
- By David Wiberg, Hydro-Informatics Leader (HIL) Photo: Futurepump A network of solar irrigation pumps equipped with sensors that connect to the Internet will potentially provide a world first database of groundwater usage in sub-Saharan Africa. Because of high rainfall variability African farmers are becoming more reliant on groundwater, the only reliable source of water for irrigation. IWMI have developed an online water ...more

Simulating trade-offs in the water-energy-food nexus
- The case of the Omo-Turkana and Zambezi basins Patience Mukuyu Omo-Turkana basin. Photo: Fritz Kleinschroth / IWMI When it comes to resource management, the nexus between water, energy and food (WEF) is well recognized, where competing demands on resources such as water have to be managed. Nonetheless, creating models and simulations to predict how one factor, such as hydropower generation, will affect ...more

Reuters: More deals, less conflict? Cross-border water planning key, report warns
- New report suggests national leaders make water security a priority now, link water policy to other national policies, from agriculture to trade, and put in place water-sharing institutions early. Working toward better shared water management is particularly crucial as climate change brings more drought, floods and other water extremes, said Alan Nicol, who is based in Ethiopia for the International Water ...more

Thomson Reuters: It’s time to look underground for climate resilience in sub-Saharan Africa
- While we all know groundwater is a key water resource for farmers, small communities and larger cities alike in sub-Saharan Africa, it is largely missing from existing analysis of climate change impacts on water. Yet, Cape Town, which was greatly supported by groundwater development in its struggle to push back Day Zero when the city was projected to run out ...more

When small is beautiful – but not spectacular
- Taking stock of a widespread water intervention in Africa Woman fetching water from a small reservoir close to a pumping point. Photo: Hamish John Appleby / IWMI As African countries respond to worsening natural disasters, there is a risk that quick fixes may come at the expense of long-lasting solutions. Such appears to be the case with small reservoirs across Africa, ...more

Assigning value to nature's bounty
- For more inclusive water management in Kenya’s Tana River Basin Tana River watershed, Kenya. Photo: Georgina Smith / CIAT From severe water scarcity in Cape Town, South Africa, to devastating floods in the Indian state of Kerala, 2018 saw plenty of evidence that the world urgently needs better ways to cope with growing water challenges. Throughout the year, the International Water ...more

EurekAlert.org: Interdisciplinary approach the only way to address devastating effects of soil erosion
- Soil erosion can have a devastating impact on traditional farming landscapes in developing countries. But its effects can only be fully addressed through significant advances in interdisciplinary scientific and societal approaches, according to new research. A major international study led by the University of Plymouth has shown that traditional pastoralist communities - such as the Maasai in East Africa - are ...more

Water security for all
- IWMI joins a major UK-funded effort to find solutions Ethiopian farmer Ali Ibrahim works on an onion farm, bringing irrigation water from the nearby Mojo River. Photo: Maheder Haileselassie / IWMI The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) will partner in a new project led by Newcastle University, UK, and aimed at tackling barriers to water security. Eighty percent of the world’s ...more

TheConversation: Food security in Africa depends on rethinking outdated water law
- A new study has found that outdated, colonial-era water permit systems across Africa are unintentionally criminalising millions of small farmers who can’t obtain permits. This undermines efforts to boost farming production and meet economic growth goals. The study examined water permit systems in five African countries: Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The permit system was introduced by colonial powers in the ...more

East Africa