IWMI SEA at a glance
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 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.
IWMI along with staff seconded from the IRD has its Regional Office for Southeast Asia hosted by the National Institute for Agricultural and Forestry Research (NAFRI) in Vientiane, Laos Peoples Democratic Republic; a project office with the National Institute for Soil and Fertilizer Research (NISF) in Hanoi, Vietnam; and within the WorldFish Centre Regional Office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
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 climate change and other change drivers on food security and the environment; to the development of strategies to limit conflict between fishers and rice growers in the lower Mekong delta. All of the research initiatives in the region 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.