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Failure to better manage groundwater will spell disaster
for Asian harvests, researchers say

Groundwater specialists meet in Kyoto; call for a coalition of scientists and policy makers to prevent groundwater over-use in Asia.

Kyoto, March 19, 2003. In parts of Asia, groundwater levels are falling at a rate of one meter per year. If this trend continues, the increased investments needed in energy and equipment to extract it could mean the collapse of many agrarian economies.

This looming crisis and solutions to it are the topic of a special meeting of groundwater and development experts, convened at the Third World Water Forum, in Kyoto by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) today. Researchers are urging policy makers to shift their thinking from a groundwater development to a focus on managing this finite resource.

"If left unmanaged, the overuse of water in Asia's underground aquifers will spell disaster for millions of the region's poor people, who depend on it for their livelihoods," says Dr. Tushaar Shah, principal scientist and groundwater expert at the IWMI. "In India alone there are over 20 million farmers pumping groundwater - a number that grew at a rate of one million per year in the 1990s. Despite millions of dollars invested in creating large dams and canal irrigation systems, small farmers throughout Asia are increasingly dependent on groundwater for irrigating their crops," he says.

US-based groundwater specialist, Marcus Moench, confirms that groundwater boom is set to bust in many parts of Asia "Farmers have been withdrawing more groundwater than is recharged for years now, to the point where levels in many regions are falling at alarming rates, creating serious ecological problems and undermining socio-economic progress."

Through their discussion of problems and potential solutions to the groundwater crisis, the experts in Kyoto pieced together a picture of Asia's current groundwater situation:

  • South Asia and the North China Plain have a booming groundwater economy, worth over US$ 20 billion per year and the mainstay of food production for smallholder farmers.
  • Groundwater overuse has brought widespread salinization and pollution of aquifers, which affect drinking water and crops, and cause the abandonment of wells. In western India, half of the wells once in use are now out of commission - a figure which will only increase as water tables continue to decline.
  • Over 50 percent of irrigation water delivered in Pakistan's Punjab province and over 60 percent of all irrigated areas in India are irrigated by groundwater. The figure is even higher in Bangladesh and Nepal. These observations come from IWMI's research program in Pakistan, according to Dr. Asad Qureshi, IWMI researcher based in Pakistan.

While much is known about these regions, researchers say that the pump irrigation economy of Southeast Asia is a large 'black box' about which little is known. They call on decision makers in emerging groundwater economies such as Vietnam and Laos to learn from the experiences of those in the South Asia and the North China plain, and to proactively manage their growing groundwater irrigation before it becomes uncontrollable. This is where the knowledge of previous research can help Asia's policy makers meet the challenge of creating sustainable strategies to tap groundwater to increase food production.

Much research has been done on groundwater, but there is a lack of communication between Asia's scientific and policy communities as an area where action is needed to solve the problem. "This meeting is an attempt to bridge that gap," says Shah. "Scientists, politicians and institutions need to discuss the best approaches to groundwater governance. They need to explore what works in the Asian context and what does not, and to understand why."

About IWMI

IWMI is one of the 16 Future Harvest Centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Its mission is to improve water and land resources management for food, livelihoods, and nature.

The research program of IWMI centers around five core themes:

  • Integrated Water Resources Management for Agriculture
  • Sustainable Smallholder Water and Land Management Systems
  • Sustainable Groundwater Management
  • Water, Health and Environment
  • Water Resources Institutions and Policy

The institute fields a team of some 50 senior researchers with significant international experience, supported by national research and a corps of some 20 postdoctoral scientists, mostly from developing countries. IWMI is headquarted in Sri Lanka with regional offices in India, South Africa and Thailand.

All IWMI research is done with local partners (universities, government agencies, NGOs, research centers, etc.). The institute's outputs are public goods that are freely available for use by all actors in water management and development. The IWMI Research Reports, data and other publications can be downloaded from the IWMI website or received free of charge from the IWMI publications office. A series of tools for improved water management is also available.

For more information see the website www.iwmi.org