New initiative to develop groundwater solutions

A new water initiative was launched at Stockholm World Water Week in late August 2016: the Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice (GRIPP).

GRIPP consists of over 15 international partners who strive to achieve groundwater sustainability through four key pillars:

Firstly, it creates strong networks between interdisciplinary research and development-geared institutions, as well as long-term partnerships with governments and local stakeholders.

Secondly, it promotes testing and applying concrete solutions based on a combination of supply- and demand-side management, top-down and bottom-up approaches, and capacity development.

Thirdly, GRIPP encourages sharing experiences and out-scaling viable solutions.

Finally, it fills knowledge gaps through applied integrated research, and dissemination through easily accessible knowledge products and channels.

Around the world, wells pump about 1,000 cubic kilometres of water each year to supply irrigated agriculture, livestock, and other human needs. This is more than one third of all the water withdrawn for human use. The realities of depletion are threatening livelihoods and food production as more and more water is used and specific policies fail to equally engage users and the state.

GRIPP’s development goals

By 2030…

• Create a knowledge hub on groundwater and food security to influence international negotiations on curbing over-exploitation of groundwater.

• 20 million people currently at risk of scarcity adopt sustainable groundwater strategies.

• Improve groundwater access for 4 million rural households and increase irrigated land by 600,000 hectares in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Help sustain groundwater-dependent ecosystems and their services to people.

• Leverage over USD 1 billion of investments in sub-Saharan Africa for sustainable groundwater irrigation

• Influence policy to bring about large-scale adoption of managed underground water-storage solutions

• Reduce by up to 10 per cent the carbon footprint of Indian agriculture by promoting solar pumps for irrigation.

• Share knowledge on groundwater management with over 200 key national and basin-scale water managers

More information:  Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice (GRIPP) at IWMI-

GRIPP-Website

(IWMI/ile)