CGIAR Consortium 2012 Reflections and 2013 Outlook: Accountability for Performance through Partnerships

This document represents my first “Annual Reflections and Outlook” document as CEO of the CGIAR Consortium. Depending on reactions received this may be the first in a series. While its intended audience is comprised of CGIAR System partners, staff, and donors, it is also going to be posted on our website, as I believe that there is nothing in here that shouldn’t be shared with anyone interested in our progress.  It is a personal note with some reflections on 2012 and a perspective on the priorities and program of work ahead in 2013

The Case for a CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Agriculture

Proposal for a CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Agriculture presented by IWMI Director General Frank Rijsberman at the stakeholders' meeting of the 2001 CGIAR Annual General Meeting

2013 CGIAR Commitment to the G8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture

The CGIAR Consortium is committed to making its research outputs as widely available as possible to ensure maximum potential for impact on development challenges. This includes, but goes beyond, data collected and analyzed as part of our work. We consider our research data Global Public Goods, and should be made as freely and widely available and accessible as possible. We are committed to having a clear Open Access/Open Data policy in place in 2013, and to begin implementation in 2014. Our ultimate goal is to have all CGIAR research outputs fully compliant with these policies by 2015

Reclaiming Garbage: Interaction Design for Participation

Since the introduction of organized sanitation practices in the West, local governments and waste management business in the private sector have essentially adhered to an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach to residential garbage, by which, for a modest fee, individuals are relieved from responsibility for their own waste and from awareness of its impact on the planet. Together with the systematic deferral of the environmental costs of current activities, this out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach has fostered individual behaviors that exert a great deal of pressure on the environment. Current environmental challenges and rising environmental concern now dictate a greater awareness of the impacts of individual choices. This paper proposes that interaction design can play a significant role in breaking through the garbage “taboo,” helping to open up existing sources of data about waste in such a way as to stimulate individual participation in sustainable practices, such as waste diversion and source reduction programs. To demonstrate the relevance of interaction design to the challenge I use the example of the California Waste Stream Profiles, a database of information about municipal solid waste in California. The exercise delivers a basic set of interaction design principles to support individual sustainability that can be applied more broadly to sustainability at an individual level

A review of water scarcity and drought indexes in water resources planning and management

Water represents an essential element for the life of all who inhabit our planet. But the random nature of this resource, which is manifested by the alternation of wet periods and dry periods, makes it even more precious. Whatever the approach (water planning, water management, drought, economy), in order to maximise the profit produced by the allocation of water it is necessary an understanding of the relationships between physical variables as precipitation, temperatures, streamflows, reservoir volumes, piezometric levels, water demands and infrastructures management. This paper attends to provide a review of fundamental water scarcity and drought indexes that enables to assess the status of a water exploitation system. With the aim of a better water management and governance under water scarcity conditions., this paper also presents a classification of indexes to help decision makers and stakeholders to select the most appropriate indexes, taking as the starting point the objectives of the analysis and the river basin features.Pedro Monzonis, M.; Solera Solera, A.; Ferrer Polo, FJ.; Estrela Monreal, T.; Paredes Arquiola, J. (2015). A review of water scarcity and drought indexes in water resources planning and management. Journal of Hydrology. (527):482-493. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.05.003S48249352