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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Ruth Meinzen-Dick

Ruth Meinzen-Dick is a Senior Research Fellow in the Natural Resources and Resilience Unit. She has extensive transdisciplinary research experience in using qualitative and quantitative research methods. Her work focuses on two broad (and sometimes interrelated) areas: how institutions affect how people manage natural resources, and the role of gender in development processes. 

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IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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experts

Natural Resources and Resilience

Thomas Falk

Research Fellow

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Bio

Dr. Thomas Falk is a Research Fellow in the Natural Resources and Resilience Unit. An institutional economist by specialization, he has done extensive research on natural resource governance in the Global South. He has worked in the fields of economics of natural resource management, multi-level governance in social-ecological systems (SES), science–policy interaction, and trans-disciplinarity. His recent work focuses on conceptualizing and supporting behavioral change in system transformation processes. In this context, he studies the use of experiential learning games, conceptualizing and assessing their impact on institutional and behavioral change.

Google Scholar Citations

CV

Publications

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Journal Article

Reconciling conservation and development requires enhanced integration and broader aims: A cross- continental assessment of landscape approaches

2024
Estrada Carmona, Natalia; Carmenta, Rachel; Reed, James; Betemariam, Ermias; Declerck, Fabrice; Falk, Thomas; Hart, Abigail K; Jones, Sarah K; Kleinschroth, Fritz; McCartney, Matthew
…more Meinzen-Dick, Ruth; Milder, Jeff; Quintero, Marcela; Remans, Roseline; Valbuena, Diego; Willement, Louise; Zanzanaini, Camilla; Zhang, Wei
Details

Reconciling conservation and development requires enhanced integration and broader aims: A cross- continental assessment of landscape approaches

Expectations for agricultural landscapes in subtropical and tropical regions are high, aiming for conservation and development amid climate change, unfair trade, poverty, and environmental degradation. Landscape ap- proaches (LAs) are gaining momentum as means to reconcile expectations, although they face multiple chal- lenges, including unclear distinctions among LAs and stakeholder involvement. We studied 380 LAs from three continents via questionnaires with landscape managers (2012–2015 and 2021) and identified three LA types through cluster analysis: an ‘‘integrated’’ type with longer-term, multisectoral goals involving various stakeholders early in the design and two shorter-term types focused on sectoral priorities of preservation or production. Better-performing LAs are associated with longevity, inclusivity, and diversified investments across goals, notably those enabling social justice. International stakeholder analysis shows broad support for LAs but identifies gaps between support and LAs’ needs. The growing interest in LAs is promising. Yet, underpinning effective and lasting LAs that reconcile multiple expectations requires better support.

Year published

2024

Authors

Estrada Carmona, Natalia; Carmenta, Rachel; Reed, James; Betemariam, Ermias; Declerck, Fabrice; Falk, Thomas; Hart, Abigail K; Jones, Sarah K; Kleinschroth, Fritz; McCartney, Matthew; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth; Milder, Jeff; Quintero, Marcela; Remans, Roseline; Valbuena, Diego; Willement, Louise; Zanzanaini, Camilla; Zhang, Wei

Citation

Estrada Carmona, N.; Carmenta, R.; Reed, J.; Betemariam, E.; Declerck, F.; Falk, T.; Hart, A.K.; Jones, S.K.; Kleinschroth, F.; McCartney, M.; Meinzen-Dick, R.; Milder, J.; Quintero, M.; Remans, R.; Valbuena, D.; Willement, L.; Zanzanaini, C.; Zhang, W. (2024) Reconciling conservation and development requires enhanced integration and broader aims: A cross-continental assessment of landscape approaches. One Earth, Online first paper(2024-09-20). 014. ISSN: 2590-3330

Keywords

Diversification; Agriculture; Resilience; Landscape Approaches; Socio-ecological Systems; Sustainable Development Goals; Agricultural Landscapes; Multifunctional Landscapes; Agroecological Landscapes; Conservation; Biocultural Landscapes; Climate Change; Tropical Forests; Governance

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2024.08.014 Source record

Project

NEXUS Gains

Record type

Journal Article

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Journal Article

Combining approaches for systemic behaviour change in groundwater governance

2024Sanil, Richu; Falk, Thomas; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Priyadarshini, Pratiti
Details

Combining approaches for systemic behaviour change in groundwater governance

Over-extraction of groundwater is a prominent challenge in India, with profound implication for food security, livelihoods, and economic development. As groundwater is an ‘invisible’ and mobile common pool resource, sustainable governance of groundwater is complex, multifaceted, requiring coordination among various stakeholders at different scales. It remains an open question as to what can be done to strengthen the governance of groundwater, particularly on the scale necessary to address widespread depletion of resources. The growing competition over groundwater resources calls for systemic changes towards sustainable water management. These require understanding the behaviours of actors in the system network, as well as the institutions that shape the direction in which the system moves. In this paper, we offer a behavioural perspective to system transformation and apply it to the example of an Indian NGO working on sustainable natural resource governance. The organisation, Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), has been co-designing and using various institutional tools for groundwater governance with the collaboration of other NGOs and government partners, academic and research organisations towards strengthening governance of water. At the local level, these include groundwater monitoring and crop water budgeting, combined with experiential learning tools such as games for demand management, and supply side interventions to support water harvesting and recharge. These tools are combined with efforts to strengthen multi-actor platforms, building coalitions and capacity of government, civil society and private sector actors to support groundwater governance at scale. By combining local and systemic approaches, the aim is to influence water governance on a larger scale and contribute to the sustainable management of water resources in India. Our reflections illustrate how conceptual thinking can inform multi-methods approaches which consider that sustainably improving groundwater management at large scale requires inter-linked behavioural changes of diverse actors. Our approach constitutes critical reflection and conceptualization, based on situated knowledge which contributes to designing better adapted and more powerful intervention strategies through informed argument.

Year published

2024

Authors

Sanil, Richu; Falk, Thomas; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Priyadarshini, Pratiti

Citation

Sanil, Richu; Falk, Thomas; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; and Priyadarshini, Pratiti. 2024. Combining approaches for systemic behaviour change in groundwater governance. International Journal of the Commons 18(1): 411–424. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijc.1317

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Behaviour; Food Security; Governance; Groundwater; Livelihoods

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.5334/ijc.1317 Source record

Project

NEXUS Gains

Record type

Journal Article

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Working Paper

Intervening in complex agrifood systems: Assessing outcomes of a multistakeholder approach in central Mozambique

2023Falk, Thomas; Kee-Tui, Sabine Homann; Hauser, Michael; Sixpence, Claudio; Quembo, Carlos João
Details

Intervening in complex agrifood systems: Assessing outcomes of a multistakeholder approach in central Mozambique

Inclusive co-design of system innovations incorporates diverse perspectives and bodies of knowledge that can generate solutions that fit well in a local context and over time influence the socio-technical regime. In operationalizing system transformation-oriented co-design processes, research and development actors have experimented in recent decades with the role of multistakeholder approaches. A specific application of such approaches in the agrifood system context are Agricultural Innovation Platforms (AIPs). Despite the growing application of AIPs and similar approaches, documentation of AIP achievements and assessment of their outcomes beyond the lifetime of the program are rare. We present an approach for integrating the logic of outcome harvesting into the process of AIP facilitation. We also document the outcomes from an AIP approach implemented in a mixed crop-livestock farming system in central Mozambique, using a mixed-methods approach. Our results indicate likely changes in behavior and behavioral drivers associated with the AIP approach. We also share experiences on methodological challenges in assessing outcomes of AIP processes. We hope that our results increase development actors’ confidence in applying AIPs at a larger scale.

Year published

2023

Authors

Falk, Thomas; Kee-Tui, Sabine Homann; Hauser, Michael; Sixpence, Claudio; Quembo, Carlos João

Citation

Falk, Thomas; Kee-Tui, Sabine Homann; Hauser, Michael; Sixpence, Claudio; and Quembo, Carlos João. 2023. Intervening in complex agrifood systems: Assessing outcomes of a multistakeholder approach in central Mozambique. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2233. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.137087

Country/Region

Mozambique

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Southern Africa; Eastern Africa; Capacity Development; Agriculture; Mixed Farming; Integrated Crop-livestock Systems; Social Networks; Innovation Platforms

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.137087 Source record

Project

Low-Emission Food Systems

Record type

Working Paper

Blogs

Playing the right game: A decision tree for choosing approaches to strengthen water governance
IFPRI Blog
 | 
March 13, 2024

Playing the right game: A decision tree for choosing approaches to strengthen water governance

By Thomas Falk, Vishwambhar Duche, Richu Sanil, Pratiti Priyadarshini, Hagar ElDidi, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, and Bryan Bruns

Fostering cooperative natural resource management.

Changing the game: Experiential learning for triggering large scale change towards sustainable water management in India
IFPRI Blog
 | 
November 10, 2023

Changing the game: Experiential learning for triggering large scale change towards sustainable water management in India

By Thomas Falk, Richu Sanil, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, and Pratiti Priyadarshini

Fostering cooperative local governance.

A behavioral perspective on improving water governance in India
IFPRI Blog
 | 
December 29, 2021

A behavioral perspective on improving water governance in India

By Thomas Falk, Dennis Schüpf, Wei Zhang, and Ilkhom Soliev

Insights into achieving sustainable irrigation.

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Events

Scaling Up Experiential Learning Tools for Sustainable Water Governance in India
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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October 17 to 18, 2023

Scaling Up Experiential Learning Tools for Sustainable Water Governance in India

As a common pool resource, water is easily depleted if no effective coordination exists among users to ensure provision and regulate withdrawals. The Scaling up experiential learning tools for sustainable water governance in India project aims to enhance sustainable water management at scale by improving the capacities of rural communities to manage water more sustainably. […]

From Research to Impact: Towards just and Resilient Agri-food Systems
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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October 9 to 12, 2023

From Research to Impact: Towards just and Resilient Agri-food Systems

Conference: October 09, 2023 – 9:00 AM to October 12, 2023 – 6:00 PM IST. IFPRI is participating in the 2023 annual CGIAR gender research conference will take place in New Delhi, India.

Tropentag 2023
IFPRI at External Event

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September 20 to 22, 2023

Tropentag 2023

Event: September 20, 2023 – 8:30 AM to September 22, 2023 – 6:10 PM CEST. IFPRI is participating and will be featured in this years’ annual interdisciplinary conference on research in tropical and subtropical agriculture, natural resource management and rural development (TROPENTAG).

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