ifwfabs5

=2-Pager Abstract Template for NBDC Contributions to South Africa Forum=

1. Authors
Authors names: Tilahun Amede, Deborah Bossio, Bharat Sharma and the NBDC team **(*t.amede@cgiar.org)** Project Number: N5 E-mail address of lead author: t.amede@cgiar.org, NBDC, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2. Forum session
//Which session this 2-pager is contributing to (delete whatever does NOT apply)//

3. Emerging TWG: RMS



3. Title
Rainwater management systems to enhance food security, resilience and adaptation to climate change

4. Key message/highlights
Rainwater management (RWM) is an integrated strategy that enables communities, local governments and practitioners to systematically map, capture, store and efficiently use runoff and surface water emerging from landscapes in a sustainable way for both productive and consumptive purposes. It aims to decrease unproductive water losses (runoff, evaporation, conveyance losses, deep percolation) from the system, improve ecosystem services as well as increase water productivity of agricultural systems thereby improve returns per unit of investment. This also calls for developing local and national policies to finance and facilitate the implementation of RWMs.

=**//5. Short abstract//** //(150 words) including://=

The unholy alliance between climate variability, land degradation, water scarcity and poverty aggravated by weak institutional capacity and market failures is threatening the livelihoods of millions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Under the pressures of population growth, climate change and development aspirations, water is increasingly considered as a key factor in socio-economic development. This will require a broadening of the global water debate from its current focus on managing blue water resources in rivers, lakes and aquifers, towards more integrated management of water resources in the soils, landscapes and basins considering rainwater as an integral concept encompassing both blue and green water resources. Unlike the conventional wisdom, rainwater management focuses both on the institutions and policies and the technologies; it advocates for both water storage and water productivity at various scales; in the soils, farms, landscapes, reservoirs and other facilities. It is an effective strategy to manage the consequences of climate change (e.g. floods and drought) by combining water management with land and vegetation management strategies. It is also about managing soils and landscapes to capture and store water in the rhizosphere through minimizing evaporation, maximizing soil infiltration and enhancing soil water holding capacity. This is particularly critical for drought prone regions of SSA, where variable rainfall and end-of-season drought commonly reduces crop yield, risk of crop failure and causes feed shortage. This paper will display rainwater management systems, using case studies from the Blue Nile Basin, combining technologies with institutional arrangements and policy framework that would help achieving improved water management, adoption and dissemination of interventions, enable local changes and facilitate linkage among system components. The facilitation and capacity building role of research institutions, including Nile BDC, would help to hybridize improved technologies with endogenous interventions and address more complex NRM challenges at basin scales to deal with multiple dimensions and scales.
 * 1) It displays a broader concept of water management, moving from blue water to an integrated water resources management across scales;
 * 2) It emphasizes the role of institutional arrangements and policy framework in managing rainwater for various uses and users;
 * 3) It considers water management beyond water productivity concepts, and encompasses the need for improving water storage, distribution, management and productivity across scales;
 * 4) It recognizes the role of local institutions in managing land, water and ecosystems

=**6. Your preliminary highlights for the Forum capitalizing sessions**=


 * **// Your message at local, regional and/or global level: //**// Consider your water management investment beyond irrigation and give equal emphasis to rainwater management. There is a need for introducing rainwater management policy at national scales. //


 * **// If relevant your message for Africa : //**// The SSA region being drought-prone and hugely relying on rain-fed agriculture, RWMs is the way forward. Combined use of improved seeds, fertilizers and rainwater management in the soils and landscapes will minimize the negative effects of climate change. //


 * **// Your key target audience (researchers, practitioners, decision-makers) //**// : // // Broader actors, including researchers, practitioners, policy makers and donors //