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Bruce Lankford
School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

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Viewpoint
Published: 09 April 2021 in Water International
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We propose the concept of ‘agri-vector water’ (AVW) to refer to water allocated to towns to maintain urban-based agricultural services that support rainfed farming in surrounding areas. AVW captures the idea that highly scarce ‘blue water’ can be productively used in this way to support rainfed ‘green water’ rather than be applied as consumptive irrigation, especially when the latter exacerbates water shortages during drought and dry seasons in arid and semi-arid regions. To illustrate, we present two case studies from Ethiopia.

ACS Style

Bruce A. Lankford; Catherine F. Grasham. Agri-vector water: boosting rainfed agriculture with urban water allocation to support urban–rural linkages. Water International 2021, 1 -19.

AMA Style

Bruce A. Lankford, Catherine F. Grasham. Agri-vector water: boosting rainfed agriculture with urban water allocation to support urban–rural linkages. Water International. 2021; ():1-19.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bruce A. Lankford; Catherine F. Grasham. 2021. "Agri-vector water: boosting rainfed agriculture with urban water allocation to support urban–rural linkages." Water International , no. : 1-19.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2021 in Ecology and Society
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ACS Style

Amy L. Fallon; Bruce A. Lankford; Derek Weston. Navigating wicked water governance in the “solutionscape” of science, policy, practice, and participation. Ecology and Society 2021, 26, 1 .

AMA Style

Amy L. Fallon, Bruce A. Lankford, Derek Weston. Navigating wicked water governance in the “solutionscape” of science, policy, practice, and participation. Ecology and Society. 2021; 26 (2):1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Amy L. Fallon; Bruce A. Lankford; Derek Weston. 2021. "Navigating wicked water governance in the “solutionscape” of science, policy, practice, and participation." Ecology and Society 26, no. 2: 1.

Journal article
Published: 20 October 2020 in Global Environmental Change
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An effective placement of irrigation efficiency in water management will contribute towards meeting the pre-eminent global water challenges of our time such as addressing water scarcity, boosting crop water productivity and reconciling competing water needs between sectors. However, although irrigation efficiency may appear to be a simple measure of performance and imply dramatic positive benefits, it is not straightforward to understand, measure or apply. For example, hydrological understanding that irrigation losses recycle back to surface and groundwater in river basins attempts to account for scale, but this generalisation cannot be readily translated from one location to another or be considered neutral for farmers sharing local irrigation networks. Because irrigation efficiency (IE) motives, measures, effects and technologies play out at different scales for different people, organisations and purposes, and losses differ from place to place and over time, IE is a contested term, highly changeable and subjective. This makes generalisations for science, management and policy difficult. Accordingly, we propose new definitions for IE and irrigation hydrology and introduce a framework, termed an ‘irrigation efficiency matrix’, comprising five spatial scales and ten dimensions to understand and critique the promises, pitfalls and paradoxes of IE and to unlock its utility for addressing contemporary water challenges.

ACS Style

Bruce Lankford; Alvar Closas; James Dalton; Elena López Gunn; Tim Hess; Jerry W Knox; Saskia van der Kooij; Jonathan Lautze; David Molden; Stuart Orr; Jamie Pittock; Brian Richter; Philip J Riddell; Christopher A Scott; Jean-Philippe Venot; Jeroen Vos; Margreet Zwarteveen. A scale-based framework to understand the promises, pitfalls and paradoxes of irrigation efficiency to meet major water challenges. Global Environmental Change 2020, 65, 102182 .

AMA Style

Bruce Lankford, Alvar Closas, James Dalton, Elena López Gunn, Tim Hess, Jerry W Knox, Saskia van der Kooij, Jonathan Lautze, David Molden, Stuart Orr, Jamie Pittock, Brian Richter, Philip J Riddell, Christopher A Scott, Jean-Philippe Venot, Jeroen Vos, Margreet Zwarteveen. A scale-based framework to understand the promises, pitfalls and paradoxes of irrigation efficiency to meet major water challenges. Global Environmental Change. 2020; 65 ():102182.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bruce Lankford; Alvar Closas; James Dalton; Elena López Gunn; Tim Hess; Jerry W Knox; Saskia van der Kooij; Jonathan Lautze; David Molden; Stuart Orr; Jamie Pittock; Brian Richter; Philip J Riddell; Christopher A Scott; Jean-Philippe Venot; Jeroen Vos; Margreet Zwarteveen. 2020. "A scale-based framework to understand the promises, pitfalls and paradoxes of irrigation efficiency to meet major water challenges." Global Environmental Change 65, no. : 102182.

Journal article
Published: 03 September 2020 in Sustainability
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Initiated by a research project examining agricultural and water resilience in South Africa and tested in workshops on a range of topics, we reflect on our application of a half-to-one day “games designing” format for constructing dynamic metaphors for complex systems and related concepts (e.g., the resilience or sustainability of a catchment/agricultural marketing system). While this short format gives rich and detailed games that potentially could be played in an extended version of the workshop, we did not go ahead with this step. Instead, we devoted the limited time available to supporting participants in designing, comparing and discussing their games and to exploring the concepts and meanings of a given complex system, even if the latter was initially deemed by participants to be abstract and “academic”. Our abridged term for short-format games designing is “rapid games designing” (RGD). Key benefits to participating individuals, the whole group and workshop organizers include (a) the highly productive and creative use of limited time; (b) an inclusive group exercise that draws everyone into the process; (c) rich discussion of pluralist viewpoints through the comparison of the remarkable variety of games generated, including their differences in purpose, players and rules; and (d) observations on how the games construct a dynamic metaphor for the system and its properties, leading to deeper insights and knowledge building regarding system concepts and components. Here, we use two case studies in South Africa to explore what value RGD provides and how it does so, and then we briefly compare it to other similar methods. We also provide practical guidance for facilitating RGD workshops. In conclusion, we argue this format offers an option for the ongoing evolution of games about complex human, natural and socio-ecological systems and that it generates considerable creativity, learning, discussion and insights amongst all participants.

ACS Style

Bruce Lankford; Joanne Craven. Rapid Games Designing; Constructing a Dynamic Metaphor to Explore Complex Systems and Abstract Concepts. Sustainability 2020, 12, 7200 .

AMA Style

Bruce Lankford, Joanne Craven. Rapid Games Designing; Constructing a Dynamic Metaphor to Explore Complex Systems and Abstract Concepts. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (17):7200.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bruce Lankford; Joanne Craven. 2020. "Rapid Games Designing; Constructing a Dynamic Metaphor to Explore Complex Systems and Abstract Concepts." Sustainability 12, no. 17: 7200.

Articles
Published: 01 March 2013 in Water International
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The “factors relevant to equitable and reasonable utilization” of a watercourse expressed in Article 6 of the UN Watercourses Convention were incorporated into an Excel model using an analytical hierarchy process to examine how the article guides water allocation between countries within transboundary basins. This model was employed in training from 2008 to 2011 with scientists from transboundary basins including the Limpopo and Zambezi Rivers. Contrasting these results with those from a model designed to explore water sharing from a sectoral-growth perspective indicates that Article 6, in its current formulation, cannot guide adjustments to current water shares between countries.

ACS Style

Bruce Lankford. Does Article 6 (Factors Relevant to Equitable and Reasonable Utilization) in the UN Watercourses Convention misdirect riparian countries? Water International 2013, 38, 130 -145.

AMA Style

Bruce Lankford. Does Article 6 (Factors Relevant to Equitable and Reasonable Utilization) in the UN Watercourses Convention misdirect riparian countries? Water International. 2013; 38 (2):130-145.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bruce Lankford. 2013. "Does Article 6 (Factors Relevant to Equitable and Reasonable Utilization) in the UN Watercourses Convention misdirect riparian countries?" Water International 38, no. 2: 130-145.

Articles
Published: 26 September 2011 in Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
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The Pongola River Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (PRESPA) project quantified the economic benefits accuring to different livelihood sectors from the water resources of the Pongola floodplain, South Africa. The floodplain carries a diverse economy and ecology which is supported by flood events that once occured naturally but are now regulated by an upstream dam. PRESPA modelled the eco-hydrology which underpins various ecosystem services to determine how this might be managed to alleviate poverty. A model was used to quantify the economic value of the available water, especially the value accruing to the poor. This model linked to three development scenarios to explore trade-offs and outcomes of (1) a status quo, ‘unstructured’ economy; (2) a structured diverse economy; and (3) a structured ‘single sector’ agricultural economy. This model gives decision makers a measure of where water is best used in terms of poverty alleviation and enables them to examine future economic and ecosystem trajectories. In summary, poor households on the floodplain currently have a diversity of income and food sources, making them less vulnerable to economic and climatic shocks, while there is a trend towards intensive agriculture which may deliver higher returns but with greater costs and increased vulnerability.

ACS Style

Bruce Lankford; Catherine Pringle; Chris Dickens; Fonda Lewis; Myles Mander; Vasudha Chhotray; Marisa Goulden; Zibonele Nxele; Leo Quayle. Hydrological modelling of water allocation, ecosystem services and poverty alleviation in the Pongola floodplain, South Africa. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 2011, 54, 1237 -1260.

AMA Style

Bruce Lankford, Catherine Pringle, Chris Dickens, Fonda Lewis, Myles Mander, Vasudha Chhotray, Marisa Goulden, Zibonele Nxele, Leo Quayle. Hydrological modelling of water allocation, ecosystem services and poverty alleviation in the Pongola floodplain, South Africa. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. 2011; 54 (9):1237-1260.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bruce Lankford; Catherine Pringle; Chris Dickens; Fonda Lewis; Myles Mander; Vasudha Chhotray; Marisa Goulden; Zibonele Nxele; Leo Quayle. 2011. "Hydrological modelling of water allocation, ecosystem services and poverty alleviation in the Pongola floodplain, South Africa." Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 54, no. 9: 1237-1260.

Journal article
Published: 31 May 2007 in Global Environmental Change
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The model of a variable climate driving natural resource behaviour, use and management of rangelands in Sub-Saharan Africa has been well explored within the non-equilibrium ecology discourse. This paper argues that concepts found in rangelands non-equilibrium thinking have considerable utility if applied to irrigation and river basin management in African savannah landscapes when irrigation has grown in area and coalesced into a larger behavioural unit. The paper suggests that a theory of transition is common to successful rangelands and water management under non-equilibrium conditions. A framework of sustainable water resources utilisation underpinned by non-equilibrium thinking is presented, and some conceptual concerns regarding normative management solutions to water scarcity in Africa are illuminated. Alternative solutions are underpinned by managing water within, and facilitating transitions between, three water supply states: critical water; medial water and bulk water. The discussion is informed by a case study from southwest Tanzania.

ACS Style

Bruce Lankford; Thomas Beale. Equilibrium and non-equilibrium theories of sustainable water resources management: Dynamic river basin and irrigation behaviour in Tanzania. Global Environmental Change 2007, 17, 168 -180.

AMA Style

Bruce Lankford, Thomas Beale. Equilibrium and non-equilibrium theories of sustainable water resources management: Dynamic river basin and irrigation behaviour in Tanzania. Global Environmental Change. 2007; 17 (2):168-180.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bruce Lankford; Thomas Beale. 2007. "Equilibrium and non-equilibrium theories of sustainable water resources management: Dynamic river basin and irrigation behaviour in Tanzania." Global Environmental Change 17, no. 2: 168-180.

Research article
Published: 23 May 2007 in Simulation & Gaming
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The RIVER BASIN GAME is a dialogue tool for decision makers and water users tested in Tanzania and Nigeria. It comprises a physical representation of a river catchment. A central channel flows between an upper watershed and a downstream wetland and has on it several intakes into irrigation systems. Glass marbles, representing water, roll down the channel. Participants place sticks to catch the marbles and scoop them into the irrigation systems. The players become highly animated and learn that being at the tail end leads to water shortages. The game promotes mutual understanding of a catchment, factors controlling access to water, conflict dynamics and allows participants to react to scenarios. By drawing from their own and outsiders' knowledge, players explore solutions to redistributing water. We examine the RIVER BASIN GAME as a metaphor, proposing that it has a mix of simplicity and realism that encourages players to understand issues of real-world complexity and scale. We suggest that the game's success is related to its quality of metaphor, influenced by organizational factors and by six game and gaming experiential axes each with two polarities: seriousness and play, accuracy and generality, internality and externality, connection and disconnection, individualism and collectivism, rule following and rule breaking.

ACS Style

Bruce Lankford; Drennan Watson. Metaphor in natural resource gaming: Insights from the RIVER BASIN GAME. Simulation & Gaming 2007, 38, 421 -442.

AMA Style

Bruce Lankford, Drennan Watson. Metaphor in natural resource gaming: Insights from the RIVER BASIN GAME. Simulation & Gaming. 2007; 38 (3):421-442.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bruce Lankford; Drennan Watson. 2007. "Metaphor in natural resource gaming: Insights from the RIVER BASIN GAME." Simulation & Gaming 38, no. 3: 421-442.

Journal article
Published: 01 October 2006 in Irrigation and Drainage
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ACS Style

Bruce Lankford. Localising irrigation efficiency. Irrigation and Drainage 2006, 55, 345 -362.

AMA Style

Bruce Lankford. Localising irrigation efficiency. Irrigation and Drainage. 2006; 55 (4):345-362.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bruce Lankford. 2006. "Localising irrigation efficiency." Irrigation and Drainage 55, no. 4: 345-362.

Journal article
Published: 01 July 2004 in Agricultural Water Management
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The paper examines the method of using project irrigation requirements (PIR) in the design and rehabilitation of small-scale smallholder irrigation systems within multi-sector and dynamic river basins. This procedure, which employs equations that determine irrigation and crop water requirements, is found embedded in irrigation thinking and planning methodologies throughout the irrigation world. The paper argues that if the PIR equations are used formally and conventionally without sufficiently accounting for changing demands for water in semi-arid river basins, they can lead to irrigation designs that over-prioritise water for individual irrigation systems and as such be labelled ‘irrigation-centred’. Although other adjustments and attempts at re-allocating water might be undertaken, basin managers are often unable to recognise, accommodate or transcend the irrigation focus that this approach generates thus curtailing the efficacy of re-allocation efforts. This argument is made on the basis of observations in the Usangu Plains of Tanzania of farmer-originated irrigation and donor attempts at rehabilitation and modernisation. Features of a modified planning and design methodology are suggested, which considers irrigation alongside other water sectors, and focuses on the river basin rather than on the individual system; an alternative which, it is proposed, is more flexible and ‘water-resource-centred’. The implications of this dualism in approaches (irrigation-centred or resource-centred) for basin management, livelihoods, conflict mediation and formal irrigation rehabilitation projects are explored.

ACS Style

Bruce A Lankford. Resource-centred thinking in river basins; should we revoke the crop water requirement approach to irrigation planning? Agricultural Water Management 2004, 68, 33 -46.

AMA Style

Bruce A Lankford. Resource-centred thinking in river basins; should we revoke the crop water requirement approach to irrigation planning? Agricultural Water Management. 2004; 68 (1):33-46.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bruce A Lankford. 2004. "Resource-centred thinking in river basins; should we revoke the crop water requirement approach to irrigation planning?" Agricultural Water Management 68, no. 1: 33-46.

Journal article
Published: 01 April 2004 in Hydrology Research
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Observations in Tanzania indicate that the improvement of traditional smallholder irrigation does not necessarily result in improved water performance, greater equity and reduced conflict. The usual outcomes of such projects is a gain in water for the system being upgraded, especially if located upstream, accompanied by less ability to share water at the river basin scale. This paper concludes that these projects do not commonly understand, match and respond to the complexities of well-developed and evolving smallholder irrigation found in multi-user river basins. Without re-appraisal, the risk is that donors will be unsuccessful with smallholder irrigation and turn away from this sector, as they did with large-scale irrigation.

ACS Style

Bruce Lankford. Irrigation improvement projects in Tanzania; scale impacts and policy implications. Hydrology Research 2004, 6, 89 -102.

AMA Style

Bruce Lankford. Irrigation improvement projects in Tanzania; scale impacts and policy implications. Hydrology Research. 2004; 6 (2):89-102.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bruce Lankford. 2004. "Irrigation improvement projects in Tanzania; scale impacts and policy implications." Hydrology Research 6, no. 2: 89-102.

Journal article
Published: 31 December 2003 in Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C
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This paper examines irrigation development and policy in Tanzania utilising a livelihoods and river basin perspective. On the basis of observations, the author argues that river basins theoretically exhibit a sigmoid curve of irrigation development in three stages; proto-irrigation, irrigation-momentum and river basin management. This model arises from two governing factors. Firstly, irrigation is a complex livelihood activity that, although has benefits, also has costs, risks and alternatives that integrate across many systems; farmers implicitly understand this and enter into or keep out of irrigation accordingly. In the proto-irrigation stage, irrigators are less common, and irrigation is felt to be a relatively unattractive livelihood. In the irrigation-momentum stage, irrigators are drawn very much to irrigation in providing livelihood needs. Hence, given both of these circumstances, governments should be cautious about policies that call for the need to ‘provide irrigation’ (when farmers may not wish to irrigate) or to further increase it (when farmers already have the means and will to do so). Second, irrigation consumes water, generating externalities. Thus if irrigation momentum proceeds to the point when water consumption directly impacts on other sectors and livelihoods, (e.g. pastoralists, downstream irrigation, the environment) decision-makers should focus not necessarily on irrigation expansion, but on water management, allocation and conflict mediation. This three-stage theoretical model reminds us to take a balanced ‘livelihoods river-basin’ approach that addresses real problems in each given stage of river basin development and to develop policy accordingly. The paper contains a discussion on livelihood factors that affect entry into irrigation. It ends with a series of recommendations on policy; covering for example new large-scale systems; problems solving; and the use of an irrigation-river basin livelihoods approach. The recommendations here might be useful for governments and other implementing and donor agencies in Sub-Sahara Africa (where irrigation has greater potential than it currently enjoys) that are considering irrigation as policy instrument for improving rural livelihoods.

ACS Style

Bruce Lankford. Irrigation-based livelihood trends in river basins: theory and policy implications for irrigation development. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C 2003, 28, 817 -825.

AMA Style

Bruce Lankford. Irrigation-based livelihood trends in river basins: theory and policy implications for irrigation development. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C. 2003; 28 (20-27):817-825.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bruce Lankford. 2003. "Irrigation-based livelihood trends in river basins: theory and policy implications for irrigation development." Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C 28, no. 20-27: 817-825.