Environment and Natural Resource Management

This program area supports work that is field-based: action and policy research that offers viable alternatives to or improves current environmental management practices and institutions. These provide practical approaches to enhancing food and water security, human health, the quality of natural resources, democratic participation, governance, and equity. Programs in this area operate in rural, peri-urban, and urban seetings, taking into account the regional context and specificities.

Algeria

IDRC has re-established contact with Algerian researchers in post-conflict time. IDRC’s Vice-President and the Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, in collaboration with the Canadian Embassy, paid a visit to Algeria in October 2002 where they found that conditions were such that it would be important to resume work there.During this visit, several research entry points for IDRC were identified. In the field of Environment and Natural Resource Management (ENRM), the importance of tackling the water issue in Algeria was evident.

A number of important research institutions (INA, INRAA, INRF, CREAD, Agence de Conservation de la Nature, the University of Constantine) as well as people from the Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development were visited in a follow-up mission by the Environment and Natural Resource Management Program Officer. Activities in Algeria have begun with a workshop, held in March 2005 in Tipaza. This workshop aimed at developing the capacities of a selected number of ENRM researchers in Inter-Disciplinary and Participatory Research and Gender/Social Analysis to enable them to develop research proposals that could be funded later by IDRC, with a focus on water and Ecohealth Approaches to Human Health.

As a follow-up this workshop, IDRC will provide small research grants (during 2005-2006) to the 8 teams that attended the workshop--to conduct research and cativities that would further their capacity in Inter-Disciplinary and Participatory Research and Gender/Social Analysis proposals. Following this, a competitive grants program would be established whereby two or three of the project proposals would be selected for full-fledged funding (FY 06-07). For more information, kindly contact Lamia El-Fattal, (lelfattal@idrc.org.eg).

Egypt

Because traditionally agricultural water delivery and management have been centralized and inefficient in Egypt, IDRC is supporting a project with the University of Minia in Upper Egypt to employ participatory research methodologies with a large number of stakeholders (farmers, village leaders, NGOs, water engineers, policy-makers, and researchers), to derive feasible recommendations for new policies and institutional arrangements. If adopted, these policies and institutional arrangements should enable farming communities to access and use water more efficiently, equitably and sustainably. Various forms of community based water management will be contrasted. The perceptions and understanding of the social value of water in Egypt will be assessed to determine the conditions for implementing change in the governance and management of water access and community utilization. Much capacity building and public awareness is involved in this project, especially with regard to community participatory methodologies, and improving irrigation, water conservation measures and governance practice. For more information, kindly contact Lamia El-Fattal, (lelfattal@idrc.org.eg).

Support to Egypt in 4^th World Water Forum in Mexico in March 2006: IDRC is planning to support The Wadi Environmental Science Centre (WESC) and the International Education and Resource Network (iEARN), two Egyptian NGOs, to work with children to enhance their knowledge on water issues in Egypt and will take the water education and awareness message to the World Water Forum in Mexico in March 2006. Students will present the programme as an example of how to build children’s confidence – through education and awareness – and address water challenges facing communities and families, both locally and internationally. It is expected that the Egyptian Ministry of Water and Irrigation will participate with the children in a water education discussion during the “Local Projects of the World” Forum. For more information, kindly contact Lamia El-Fattal, (lelfattal@idrc.org.eg).

The main thrust of this project is to spur participation and cooperation to initiate research and actions to improve household incomes and to mitigate environmental threats to human health. Agro-ecology has been selected as a strategic concept because of its focus on environmental sustainability, enhancing productive assets, and increasing incomes from agriculture. Agro-ecology is complemented in the project with an ecosystem approach to human health as a response to health problems resulting from the transformations to the environment wrought by agriculture and human management of natural resources. The broad vision of the project is therefore healthy people with better incomes in a healthy environment. In its three-year schedule, project activities will focus on the three settler communities of Kalabsha, Khor Galal, and Garf Hussein in the newly reclaimed desert lands of West Lake Nasser. For more information, kindly contact Lamia El-Fattal, (lelfattal@idrc.org.eg).

Development of health Interventions for El-Fayoum: A Holistic Agro-ecosystem Approach with the University of Alexandria - Phase II

Because of its peculiar topography and its extensive irrigation system, El Fayoum province’s ecosystem is vulnerable to environmentally induced water-associated health and land productivity problems. These are enhanced by poor land and water management practices and environmental pollution. The project examines the research hypothesis that the development of judicious Natural Resources Management practices for the province’s ecosystem, that are based on good understanding of the ecosystem structures and dynamics, enhance human health and that of the ecosystem. For more information, kindly contact Andres Sanchez (asanchez@idrc.ca)

Jordan

IDRC is supporting the Royal Scientific Society (RSS) on a project entitled: Integrated Wastewater Management Policies and Technologies for Marginal Communities in Jordan.” Wastewater management is a continuing problem in many countries in the world. The problem is relatively more acute in Jordan, however, because of the need to conserve and reuse scarce water resources. People in small-rural communities in Jordan (about 22% of the country’s population) lack public sewerage services. Inhabitants in such clusters rely mainly on inadequately managed on-site wastewater disposal systems that fail to protect scarce water resources, public health and the environment. Moreover, there is no clear organizational set-up to plan, implement and manage appropriate sanitation methods for small communities in the country. This research project aims at investigating, in close consultation and with active participation of the community, the feasibility of adopting innovative, non-conventional wastewater management policies for marginal-small communities in the country. This will be approached through a coherent framework of activities including integration of various components of social, technical, economical, environmental, institutional and public participation requirements. For more information, kindly contact Lamia El-Fattal, (lelfattal@idrc.org.eg).

This project is the continuation of a successful first phase where a greywater treatment and reuse system was tested in a peri-urban community in Jordan. In the project, 57% of wastewater from households with greywater treatment systems installed was diverted at an average cost-benefit ratio of 1:5, mainly from increased agricultural production. In this second phase, the research team has undertaken an independent evaluation of existing approaches to greywater treatment; constructed additional greywater treatment systems to serve a peri-urban community of 300 beneficiaries; and plans to improve the systems' effectiveness in terms of water quantity and quality; and monitor the social, environmental and economic impact of greywater reuse. For more information, kindly contact Mark Redwood (mredwood@idrc.ca).

Lebanon

IDRC is supporting a project with the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit (ESDU) and the Initiative for Biodiversity Studies in Arid Regions(IBSAR) at the American University of Beirut. The project is entitled Wild Edible Plants: Promoting Dietary Diversity in Poor Communities of Lebanon: It seeks to improve the health status of the rural and urban poor by promoting the preservation and sustainable use of wild plants at the national and regional levels using culturally appropriate and sustainable practices to reverse unhealthy reliance on refined grains, especially among the urban and rural poor and investigating policy options to improve dietary diversity with governments and non-governmental organizations based on the incorporation of wild edible plants in the diets. For more information, kindly contact Lamia El-Fattal, (lelfattal@idrc.org.eg).

Also in Lebanon, IDRC is supporting a project entitled: Towards an Ecosystem Approach to the Sustainable Management of the Litani Watershed with the Litani River Authority, the National Council for Scientific Research, Development Studies Association (DSA) and Canadian Partners from CadhamHayes Associates. Through research and targeted activities, the project seeks to contribute to the development of an open and participatory management framework that will enhance the social, economic and environmental benefits derived from the Litani River. For more information, kindly contact Lamia El-Fattal, (lelfattal@idrc.org.eg).

Greywater Treatment and Reuse in West Bekka (Lebanon)
As in most areas of the Middle East, rapid population growth, increased water demand and inadequate wastewater treatment have led to a water crisis in Lebanon. This water crisis is, in turn, affecting food security. At present, most wastewater in the study area is released untreated into the environment or captured in septic tanks. Not only are septic tanks costly to empty ($50-$100 per year), they frequently leak causing soil and groundwater contamination. Recycling greywater for use in urban agriculture could have a significant positive effect on water access, economic and social conditions, and the environment. This project has tested a system for greywater treatment and use in home gardens in a cluster of towns in West Bekka. The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee and the Inter-Islamic Network on Water Resources Development, both of which are involved in IDRC supported wastewater reuse projects in the region, have supported MECTAT in the development of their research work. The aim is to develop a regional wastewater reuse network where best practices and lessons learned can be brought to bear on public policy. For more information, kindly contact Mark Redwood (mredwood@idrc.ca).

Poor management of water supplies and improper discharge of wastewater are main environmental and health concerns for the town of Bebnine in northern Lebanon. The community in general, and its health professionals in particular, believe that the fecal contamination of its different sources of water (springs, artesian wells, cisterns, irrigation water) is directly responsible for the high occurrence of enteric diseases in the town, some of which are perceived as endemic.

The proposed research project is a joint American University of Beyrouth-Bebnine Municipality activity, which applies the principles of participatory action research to understand the linkages between people and all sources of water in Bebnine, assess the impact of sub-optimal drinking and irrigation water quality on the health of its community while accounting for non-water sources of exposure, and implement community-based short and medium-term intervention programs to monitor water quality, respond to crises, and develop sustainable social and structural solutions.

The study objectives are multifold but integrated and responsive to emerging needs. The project will examine the linkages between exposure to biologically contaminated water and the occurrence of enteric diseases. The hypothesis is that this association varies by age, gender, neighborhood, and socioeconomic status, reflecting control over purchase of and access to different sources of water, and exposure of individuals to contaminated water. This association is examined accounting for exposure to contaminants through non-water paths. The project will analyze the gender, socioeconomic, and cultural factors that determine the current practices of wastewater discharge and consumption of water, and who of Bebnine's population is really at risk and why. In parallel, the project will identify and implement short-term and medium-term community-based intervention programs to control wastewater discharge and reduce exposure to contaminated water. It will also deal with the new network that is expected to provide the town with a new source of drinking water from outside Bebnine. One approach would be to increase the number of people who will have the financial capacity to access it. Intervention programs will build on local knowledge and capacity, and vary from disseminating current successful practices in the town to developing new approaches that can be adopted by the community. Those programs could include both structural/ technical and non-structural solutions. The latter involve national and local policies, or changes in practices. For more information, kindly contact Jean-Michel Labatut, (jmlabatut@idrc.ca).

Morocco

Small dams have been promoted in several parts of Africa as an alternative to large-scale irrigation. However, while small dams proved successful in some countries, they do not necessarily result in sustainable development and their negative impacts - such as increased transmission of water borne diseases - may be substantial. This project is part of a multi-country project looking at the conditions under which small dams impact positively on the life and well being of human populations.

More specifically, this grant supports a detailed study of the impact of a small dam in Souss Massa, Morocco, on the overall well being of the community. Researchers examine the health and socio-economic effects, as well as potential technical shortcomings of the dam. The project will result in recommendations for improved management of the dam, plus a methodology for community assessment of small dams and their impact, to be applied in a second phase elsewhere in Morocco. For more information, kindly contact Renaud De Plaen (rdeplaen@idrc.ca)

Syria

This project is being implemented in both Syria and Jordan with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), the National Center for Agricultural Research and Transfer of Technology (NCARTT), Jordan and the General Commission for Scientific and Agricultural Research (GCSAR), Syria. The goal is to contribute to improving the welfare of small resource-poor farmers by increasing and stabilizing barley and animal production in the rainfed areas of Syria and Jordan. A comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of participatory breeding programs in Syria and Jordan will be conducted as a basis for their scaling up. This should assist in developing a better understanding of the constraints to Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) related to variety release, certified seed production and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). For more information kindly contact Lamia El Fattal (lelfattal@idrc.org.eg).

Regional Projects

Interest in urban agriculture as a development tool has grown rapidly since the mid-1990s across the globe. One are where UA has received limited attention has been in the Middle-East North Africa (MENA) region. IDRC’s project partners in the region have been pressing for theoretical and methodological training on the subject. In particular, there is a desire to translate research knowledge on urban agriculture into actions amongst local governments, NGO and CBO. Moreover, while interest in UA in the region has grown, the availability of resources on the topic remains very limited highlighting a gap that is in need of being filled. This project will enable the American University of Beirut to design, deliver and evaluate a 3-week course on urban agriculture as well as publish accompanying training materials. The training targets city-teams, made up of a mix of researchers and city advisors, and will concentrate on concepts and methodologies that strengthen the role of urban agriculture in urban planning. An important aim of the project is to develop the theme of UA in the context of MENA. One way this will be done will be the development of Arabic language materials to be dedicated resources for future use.

IDRC and the United Nations University have co-published a book in English entitled "Water Management in Islam." Various publishing houses have been awarded the rights to publish and sell the book in different languages. For example, Karthala Books has published a French version, which will help disseminate the book in Francophone North Africa, while Technical Publications has published the book in Arabic, which will help the book reach audiences in the Middle East. Publishers are currently working on Urdu and Malay versions. This grant is covering the cost of translating, editing, mailing and purchasing books for distribution by IDRC's People Land and Water (PLAW) and Cities Feeding People (CFP) program initiatives. Further dissemination of the book will promote IDRC supported work on water demand management in the Middle East and North Africa, and wastewater reuse in the Middle East. For more information, kindly contact Mark Redwood (mredwood@idrc.ca).

WaDImena

The Regional Water Demand Initiative WaDImena, is a multi-funded 5-year project (2004-2009) coordinated by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and in partnership with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). WaDImena contributes to effective water governance by enhancing water-use efficiency, equity and sustainability within the MENA region. The project supports the countries of Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen to facilitate the adoption and implementation of water demand management strategies and tools to influence policy processes, and the specific objectives are to: deepen the knowledge of the benefits, challenges, opportunities, and incentives of WDM from a multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary perspective; improve capacities among individuals and institutions from the policy and research communities, and civil society, to propel the WDM agenda; provide an inclusive forum to foster dialogue, promote partnerships and enhance networking, and strengthen and complement national, regional and global initiatives.

A number of components comprise WaDImena including applied research, field-based pilot activities, and a regional exchange facility. Capacity development and knowledge networking are ongoing, iterative and constant. WaDImena is designed to be an interactive and flexible project that interlinks all of its facets together to encourage concrete results.

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