Second stakeholder workshop of the fairSTREAM project

This exercise has been informed by modelling efforts of IIASA's BEC and WAT teams (under the lead of Elisa Stefaniak and Jens de Bruijn respectively), which aim to integrate stakeholder decisions into an agent-based model (GEB), fully integrated with hydrological model (CWatM) and an eco-evolutionary vegetation model (plantFATE). The model showed that without intervention, climate change will lead to dropping groundwater tables and the degradation of forests. As such, increased adaptation efforts are required in the future, placing additional pressure on farmer incomes.

The workshop further highlighted various key nexus issues raised by stakeholders across the Upper Bhima Basin. For example, farmers in the upper stretches of the Basin rely on non-timber forest products, including medicinal plants to sustain local livelihoods. Additionally, these driest parts of the Basin solely rely on rainfed agriculture and therefore cannot plant water-intensive crops, exemplifying a key trade-off between food and water. These issues alongside other were also highlighted in a Situational Analysis, recently published both in English and the local language, Mahrati. During a field visit following the workshop, we consulted farmers representatives on food water and biodiversity measures that they would value for the future.