Water Users Associations were first established in 1999, when Chhattisgarh was part of Madhya Pradesh State. They were revived under the Chhattisgarh Irrigation Development Program that kicked off in 2006. The program, financed in part by a $46.1 million loan from ADB, aims to improve small irrigation networks and how they are managed at state and community levels.

The associations had originally failed to get off the ground—or had become inactive—because the members were unskilled in water-system management or due to lack of finances because association water fees went to the state government, rather than feeding back into associations themselves.

Since then, this financial imbalance has been corrected, and the associations have been made more representatives of their communities. They now include more women, like Dhruw, and more members of otherwise largely ignored castes and tribes.

Read more: http://www.adb.org/features/india-communities-manage-water-resources-emp...

For Mahadevappa and Gauramma, life was a struggle farming their two-hectare plot in Karnataka state, India. Here, in the country’s second biggest dryland area, soil is poor and droughts frequent, making crop production difficult and harvests meager. Some parts of Karnataka have suffered drought in six out of the past ten years.

But now a holistic approach to natural resource management is helping farmers like this couple to produce results that they could only have dreamed of. In 2011, despite the region having been gripped by serious drought, three million farmers saw their yields rise by up to 66%, generating extra profits of US$130 million. Subsequent harvests have also shown significant increases in the state, whose farmers rely heavily on rainfed agriculture.

Behind the turnaround is a multi-pronged strategy pioneered by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT, a member of the CGIAR Consortium), which was called in by local authorities after Karnataka suffered stagnant agricultural growth rates for four years running, largely due to depleted soils and water deficiency.

Read more: http://www.cgiar.org/consortium-news/low-cost-solutions-to-boost-soil-fe...

“We used to do a lot of things without thinking about the effects on the environment,” says Naume Toskovski, an apple farmer in the Prespa Lakes region of Macedonia. “We didn’t know that dumping apples would pollute the water. Perhaps it’s a different story with pesticides and fertilizers— the temptation for farmers is always to over-use these chemicals and we know they are harmful for nature— but we didn’t know just how harmful they were. Until recently we didn’t know of any better alternatives.”

Read and watch the video: http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/environmentandenergy/su...

The Latin American and Caribbean region is home to 40% of the biodiversity on earth and unique ecosystems which can support and foster sustained economic growth if properly managed.

To help the region protect and use this natural capital to generate social and economic development, the Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (BES) Program supports countries by:

Integrating the value of biodiversity and ecosystem services into key economic sectors
Protecting priority regional ecosystems
Supporting effective environmental governance and policy
Creating new sustainable development business opportunities

Read more: http://iadb.org/en/topics/environment/biodiversity-platform/the-idbs-bio...

Indonesia’s vast mangrove forests, CIFOR has recently discovered, are a valuable carbon sink. They shelter unique species, protect coastlines from stormy seas – and they are fast disappearing.

Conservationists would see them protected from the logger’s chainsaw.

But it’s possible that selective and sustainable logging of these forests can be done while retaining much of their carbon – and save them from worse fates.

“The threat to mangrove forests is not the cutting of the above ground wood, but conversion to other uses,” says Muljadi Tantra, the Deputy Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of a group of companies that harvest mangrove wood for charcoal and paper pulp in the provinces of Kalimantan and Papua.

Read more: http://blog.cifor.org/14229/could-sustainable-logging-save-indonesias-ma...

The low rate of investments in the water sector has been a major obstacle to accelerate the development and improved management of water resources critically needed to help meet Africa’s growing water demand.

It is estimated that over US $50 billion a year will be required for the next 20 years for the sector to keep up with exponential population growth and the increasing needs of water-dependent industries in sectors such as food and beverages, chemicals, energy, paper, tourism and wood.

Intended as a multi-stakeholder response to this challenge, the African Water Facility (AWF) was initiated by the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) in 2004 and launched in 2006 by the African Development Bank to attract the financial resources necessary to turn the tides.

Read more: http://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/article/the-african-water-facilit...

On International Women's Day this year, the global community is focusing on how to eliminate and prevent all forms of violence against women and girls. In spite of the major role played by women in producing food and feeding their families, little attention has been paid to the connection between gender, violence and food security.

Gender discrimination fuels female malnutrition and disempowerment. Very often, discriminatory practices in rural communities generate biases in intra-household food distribution, whereby women and girls usually have access to limited and less nutritious food.

Read more: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/171299/icode/

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Vietnam on Thursday signed two loan agreements totaling 111.88 million U.S. dollars to help Vietnam enhance low carbon agriculture development, and strengthen the government's capacity to better startup, prepare and implement ADB-financed projects.

Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-03/08/c_132219309.htm

Bahia state, in northeastern Brazil, will receive a $50.8 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to further develop its tourism industry and boost employment.

The project, structured as a multiple works loan under the country’s PRODETUR Program, will invest in a tourism product and marketing strategy, focusing particularly on the state’s nautical and cultural heritage assets, institution-strengthening, improvement of basic services, and socio-environmental management at tourism destinations.

Read more: http://iadb.org/en/news/news-releases/2013-02-28/brazils-bahia-tourism-e...

In the President of Malawi’s state of the nation address to the parliament on the 8th of February the President re-confirmed Malawi’s commitment to integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation into development planning and reinforced the significance of the PEI supported National Environment and Climate Change Communication Strategy (NECCCS) in raising awareness around the issue among Malawians. To illustrate this commitment the president has supported the creation of a new Ministry solely responsible for climate change and environment management and the development of a new climate change policy to commence soon to guide stakeholders in climate change impact, adaptation and mitigation measures.

Read more: http://unpei.org/news-a-meetings/latest-news/278-the-president-of-malawi...