The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has worked on water for food issues for over four decades, and therefore the decision to join the Water ChangeMaker Awards as a Knowledge Partner was a happy one, says Claudia Ringler, Deputy Division Director of IFPRI's Environment and Production Technology Division. According to her, all water decisions affect climate resilience in one way or another.
The Cholistan Desert area is one of the largest deserts in Pakistan and is home to a semi-nomadic population and their livestock. The primary source of income for Cholistan is cattle breeding. The climate of the desert area, with scanty and unpredictable rainfall as well as long periods of drought, makes water a limited resource. To address the issue of water shortages and to secure access of water to livestock, the people of Cholistan have created water ponds, called “tobas”. However, due to their vulnerability to extreme weather conditions and infiltration, the ponds storage capacities are low. There are around 1500 water points (tobas) in the entire desert out of only 500 were in running condition. Most tobas are not constructed in proper places because their present localities have not been identified on scientific basis to receive maximum rainwater.