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 Over recent years IWMI has expanded its research mandate from a relatively narrow focus on irrigation system management to the broader context of land and water management in the context of river basins. The merger of the former International Board for Soil Research and Management (IBSRAM) research program, in 2001, strengthened IWMI's core competencies and has enabled IWMI-SEA to address research issues ranging from biophysical research into land and water management issues and interactions with cropping systems; through to the institutional and governance issues of implementing integrated water resources management in Southeast Asia. In this respect IWMI-SEA is somewhat unique in that it has significant scientific capacity in land and water resources research through our Insitut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) partners that have a focus on the lower Mekong basin. This capacity presents the opportunity to address issues of land and water resource management in a holistic manner that transcends the uplands to the lowlands of region. lowlands of region.
IWMI along with staff seconded from the IRD have National offices hosted by the National Institute for Agricultural and Forestry Research (NAFRI) in Vientiane, Laos Peoples Democratic Republic; the National Institute for Soil and Fertilizer Research (NISF) in Hanoi, Vietnam; and within the WorldFish Centre Regional Office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with a project office within the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology (MOWRAM) of the Royal Cambodian Government. As of the 1 st January 2006, the Regional Office for IWMI-SEA was moved from Bangkok , Thailand , to our sister Institute WorldFish Centre Headquarters in Penang Malaysia . In the short period of IWMI's presence in Southeast Asia, it has establish collaborative activities in research, education, training and capacity building, and information exchange in the sustainable management of land and water resources through collaboration with Government Departments, Universities, NGO's, farmer organizations and networks. The major areas of collaboration with our partners have been in the broad areas of policy and governance, land degradation and water management. The activities within IWMI-SEA are diverse ranging from understanding the processes of soil erosion and its management at the individual/community level through to the development of models to identify sediment discharge from micro/meso catchments; research into heavy metal contamination of rice and the rehabilitation of degraded soils of Northeast Thailand have their focus on food security and human health and increasing productivity and farm incomes; to the development of strategies to limit conflict between fishers and rice growers in the lower Mekong delta. All of these research activities have a central focus on sustainable land and water management for the wellbeing and benefits of people and the environment. IWMI-SEA has played an impartial role in facilitating and organizing regional the Ministerial Roundtable Dialogues on Integrated Water Resource Management and international meetings on the management of land and water resources in the region. We have a strong commitment to capacity building and training in countries where we are operating. In this respect IWMI-SEA supports post graduates in their studies through financial support and in-house training/supervision. The training of government staff in aspects of land and water management is provided through seminars, short courses and in-house training. |