Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony of the 23rd ICID Congress and 68th IEC Meeting was inaugurated on 9 October 2017 by the Mexican President H.E. Enrique Peña Nieto in the presence of Mexico City Mayor H.E. Miguel Ángel Mancera Espinosa; Mr. Roberto Ramirez de la Parra, Director General, CONAGUA; Mr. Guang Zhe Chen Sr. Director, World Bank; Dr. Olcay Unver, Dy. Director, Land & Water Division, FAO; Mr. Tony Slatyer, Special Adviser, Australia; President Dr. Saeed Nairizi; and Secretary General Avinash C. Tyagi.

Mexican President H.E. Enrique Peña Nieto inaugurated the 23rd ICID Congress and the 68th IEC Meeting on 9 October 2017 in Mexico City, Mexico in the benign presence of President Dr. Saeed Nairizi; Mexico City Mayor H.E. Miguel Ángel Mancera Espinosa; Mr. Roberto Ramirez de la Parra, Director General, CONAGUA; Mr. Guangzhe Chen Sr. Director, World Bank; Dr. Olcay Unver, Dy. Director, Land & Water Division, FAO; Mr. Tony Slatyer, Special Adviser on Water for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade;, ICID; and Secretary General Avinash C. Tyagi, ICID. The dignitaries on the dais showed their solidarity to the people of Mexico, in the wake of the recent earthquake that rocked Central Mexico. Dr. Nairizi presented the Heritage Irrigation Structure (HIS) Citation Plaques - “LA BOQUILLA DAM” and “LA CHINAMPA” to H.E. Enrique Peña Nieto for their inclusion in the ICID Register of Heritage Irrigation Structures 2017. The 23rd ICID Congress was hosted by the Mexican Committee of ICID (MXCID).

Attended by more than 832 delegates from 35 countries, this year the Congress theme was ‘Modernization of Irrigation and Drainage towards a New Green Revolution’. Policy makers and officials from various countries unanimously voiced their support to take the world towards a path of modernization for a new green revolution through collaborative efforts and a partnership for Agriculture Water Management.

The plenary session of the 23rd ICID Congress began with a welcome note by Er. Marco Antonio Parra Cota from Mexican National Water Commission. He highlighted the importance of ICID, as an organization for spread of knowledge, technology and current policies in the field of irrigation and drainage. President Saeed Nairizi, ICID in his opening remarks expressed his pleasure of organizing the Congress in Mexico acting on incubator of Green Revolution that helped the world in traversing the path of global food security. He believed Mexico being a member of ICID will enable the exchange of knowledge amongst all participants of different countries. Secretary General Avinash C. Tyagi spoke about the objectives of the Congress and wished the event all the success.

Mr. Roberto Ramirez de la Parra, Director General of the Mexican National Water Commission and the host for the event, stated that water is the element that links food and the environment, and therefore it is necessary to “develop techniques that allow producing what we need while we preserve our natural resources.” The second objective is to find solution to put an end to hunger - a difficult challenge, he added.

Dr. Olcay Unver, FAO emphasized on the importance of making appropriate and nutritious food available to all and striving towards a sustainable development. Mr. Tony Slatyer, Special Adviser on Water for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spoke about how important it is to help water users and governments to make better decisions in terms of water management.

Mr. Guangzhe Chen Sr. Director, World Bank stated that the World Bank is investing more than six billion dollars around the world in more than 70 projects in 25 countries for irrigation purpose. Mexico City Governor Miguel Angel Mancera spoke about the challenges of drainage in the Mexican capital city and congratulated the work being done by the Mexican National Water Commission (CONAGUA) after the 19 September, 2017 earthquake.

The venue for the 24th ICID Congress and the 71st IEC on Irrigation and Drainage is Sydney, Australia. The event will be held from 22-24 September, 2020.

Live recording of the opening ceremony is available @ ICID official YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyWYtdt9D4Q&feature=youtu.be

[ Opening Ceremony Video ] [ Photographs ] [ Newsletters: 9, 10 and 11 October ] [ Mexico City Statement ]

A record number of members and stakeholders participated in this important event to show their solidarity to the people of Mexico.

23rd International Congress on Irrigation and Drainage - Abstract Volume

The publication includes extended Abstracts received for Question 60 and 61,and General Reports, etc. Full length papers will be made available on USB to the participants during the event. .

The 'Abstract Volume' can be viewed or downloaded from <http://www.icid.org/23rdcong_absvol_2017.pdf>

The 23rd ICID Congress: Towards A New Green Revolution 2.0

The 23rd International Congress on Irrigation and Drainage was held from 8-14 October 2017 in Mexico City, Mexico. The main theme of the Congress was “Modernizing Irrigation and Drainage for a new Green Revolution”. An ‘Abstract Volume’ and a USB containing full papers was published for the Congress and made available to the delegates. The general rapporteurs for the thematic questions of the Congress, Dr. Gao Zhanyi for question 60 and Mr. Ding Kunlun for question 61, presented the gist based on 151 papers and posters submitted from more than 25 countries.

As a result of intense deliberations, the following recommendations that emerged for Question 60 and Question 61 that can be summarized as follows:

Q. 60: Water productivity: revisiting the concepts in light of water, energy and food nexus

1. To improve irrigation services through modernization, there is need to revisit water productivity by identifying challenges and opportunities. Various water saving measures should be passed through the water-energy-food prism for identifying challenges in associated domains and help find opportunities.
   
2. Investing in improving irrigation technologies and techniques help saving agricultural water and can improve equitability of distribution amongst the common stakeholders but the technology transfer is important through capacity building
3. Many techniques are available, especially the ICT based ones and also the measurement techniques for assessing the actual releases and regulating them. Water losses at the field level have been minimized using a suite of techniques.
4. Volumetric extraction systems for aquifers allow monitoring of allocated and recharge volumes from aquifers.
5. Water reuse/ recycle needs assessment of site specific conditions in the contexts and should avoid stakeholder conflicts for water transfers and adoption of structural and operational reforms
6. Water, energy and food nexus has multi-dimensional features and is compounded by climate and social changes as has been revealed by studies in a number of countries across the globe.
7. Water footprint indicators seem to be useful in assessing water management in irrigated areas. Various water management techniques adopted, strongly influence the water footprints for specific crops at the field level.
8. Considerable advances are being made in the satellite image processing areas as well as simulation modeling, which need be leveraged for better impact assessment of measures adopted or proposed for sectoral water management.
9. Water security has environmental and social aspects. While managing an extreme situation, both have to be considered in conjunction with each other. Analysis of water laws and legal frameworks to achieve sustainable water management leading to water security is necessary.
10. Challenges of water security emerging from international basins need be addressed through cooperation mechanisms based on principles of international water law.
11. User’s role in water management is important at the basin level and need to be coordinated with better information dissemination.
12. To achieve water security through reuse/ recycle of water, policies have to take associated health issues into account.
    

Q. 61: State of knowledge of irrigation techniques and practicalities within given socio-economic settings

1. The definition of precision agriculture evokes different understanding amongst the community covering a wide range of options and technologies for application management at the field level and also the necessary decision support in a spatial and temporal manner for directing water in a required manner.
2. Advances in technologies like ICT and cloud based computing models for real time decision support coupled with accurate determination of the status in the field using drones enable the application to large areas with multiple holdings as against large farms only in the past.
3. ET based irrigation scheduling has the potential to improve on-farm efficiency.
4. The importance of organizing small farm holder community and ensuring institutional support is required for making the benefits of modernization reach them effectively.
5. Role of operating decisions play an important part in improving irrigation efficiencies and it is required that operations may be kept simple to avoid irrigator errors.
6. A number of software tools are available for simulating for irrigation system evaluation, design and operational analysis. Further progress in this area is required for using better infiltration models while maintaining computational speeds.
7. New technologies have to be adaptable in order to reap benefits after their implementation. Scaling up effects should be properly understood before large scale implementation and adoption by the user communities.
8. Adaptability of the technologies should be seen in various contexts of climatic conditions, environmental and socio-economic conditions and then their validity should be determined.
9. Land tenure and size of landowners are important factors for adaptation of new irrigation technologies particularly in developing countries. However, new approaches like land pooling and cooperative farming can provide windows of opportunities to implement the techniques and thereby improve efficiencies.
   

First Meeting of High-Level Advisory Group (HLAG) on ‘Partnerships for Agriculture Water Management (AWM)

First Meeting of High-Level Advisory Group (HLAG) on ‘Partnerships for Agriculture Water Management (AWM)’ was held on 10 October 2017 in Mexico City. The welcome note by Mr. Roberto Ramirez de la Parra, President MXCID and Dr. Saeed Nairizi, President, ICID set the tone for the meeting. A backgrounder on the High Level Advisory Group (HLAG) was given by Er. Avinash C Tyagi, Secretary General, ICID.

ICID put measures in place to engage all its member countries in policy-making for a sustainable water management in agriculture in a changing environment. The HLAG consisted of Ministers/ Senior officers from Irrigation and Drainage departments to deliberate and provide guidance on the process.

ICID established a dedicated Task Force to Guide the Partnership Process (TF-GPP) in March 2017 to support HLAG mandate of developing the partnership further and in taking forward the following key initiatives:

• Recognition of agricultural water management as a significant component of SDG 6 & 2.
• Development of suitable advocacy practices and tools for its political prioritization and allocating higher investments in AWM and irrigation and drainage.
• Development of specific AWM indicators at regional, national and local levels for sustainable development of AWM, irrigation and drainage considering changing climate and increased pressure on allocation of agricultural water.
• Knowledge integration through distributed yet virtually integrated hub at partnership level to develop national/ local capacity through training and education and sharing of best AWM practices, techniques, manuals, knowledge and practical know-how.
  

Participation of Young Professionals

With the objective of intensifying the Young Professionals’ involvement in ICID’s activities in the domain of irrigation, drainage and flood management, IYPeF in 2017 organized five e-discussions. Ten Young Professionals (YPs) from different countries were selected and sponsored to join the 23rd Congress and 68th IEC meeting in Mexico City.

As part of their capacity development, two training workshops were organized for the young professionals to enrich their knowledge and decision making process.

Training Workshop on "Value Engineering: An effective and efficient methodology for Enhancing irrigation, drainage and flood management Projects”

Helmed by Dr. Kamran Emami (Iran), Chairman of Task Force on Value Engineering (TF-VE), the half-day training workshop held on 13 October 2017 at room TOLTECA II, introduced the young professionals to the history, concept and applications of Value Engineering (VE) in irrigation, drainage and flood projects and how it can be used to increase benefits, reduce cost and ensure sustainable irrigated agriculture. Value Engineering (VE) is an internationally practiced methodology to achieve the required Product, Process, Services and System at the minimum possible cost by analyzing their functions and Life cycle costs. Dr. Emami explained the concept of value engineering and used multi-media presentations to enhance the understanding of the participants to have maximum interaction in the form of Q&A and group discussion. At the end of the workshop the selected resources on VE applications in form of books, handbooks, papers, films and brochures were distributed to the participants.

Training Workshop on “Irrigation Water Management to Adapt to Climate Change”

To acclimatize the young professionals towards management of irrigation water and adaptive measures to cope with climate change and share his experience on the ClimaAdapt Project, Dr. Kaluvai Yella Reddy held a half-day training workshop on 13 October 2017. Dr. Reddy initiated the workshop at room TOLTECA II with a presentation on Importance of Irrigation Water Management & ClimaAdapt Project Experiences. Video films were screened on ‘Use of Sensors and Water Management at Farm Level’ followed by presentations from Dr. Sylvester Mpandeli on 'Coping and Adaptive Responses of Smallholder Farmers to Climate Change in South Africa'; and Dr. Patricia Mejias-Moreno (FAO) on 'Climate Change & Water'. In the second session, Dr. Kamran Emami, Iran gave a presentation on Adoptive Water Resources Management. Dr. Evan Derdall, Canada; Dr. Madhav Belsare, Nepal and Dr. Marco Arcieri, Italy shared their experiences followed by responses from the trainees. The workshop imparted knowledge to the young professionals related to irrigation and drainage sector on the importance of irrigation water management in the context of climate change and suitable measures of adaptability.

ICID Register of Heritage Irrigation Structures (HIS)

The 68th IEC meeting approved inclusion of 13 new heritage irrigation structures, which includes: Australia (2); China (3); Japan (4); Korea (2); and Mexico (2). President Dr. Nairizi presented the citation plaque of Mexican strructures to Mexican President H.E. Enrique Peña Nieto during the opening ceremony of the 23rd ICID Congress & 68th IEC Meeting held in Mexico City, October 2017.

President Dr. Narizi presented the Heritage Irrigation Structure Citation Plaques of the “LA BOQUILLA Dam” and “LA CHINAMPA” to H.E. Enrique Peña Nieto as they are approved for inclusion in the ICID Register of Heritage Irrigation Structures, 2017.

[Online Register ] [ Scheme & Nomination Form ]

A Road Map to ICID Vision 2030

ICID Office Bearers/ Consultative Group (CG) members released a publication titled ‘A Road Map to ICID Vision 2030: A Water Secure World Free of Poverty and Hunger’ during the Plenary Session of the 68th IEC Meeting on 10 October 2017 in Mexico City.

To highlight ICID’s mission, vision and goals to contribute and improve use of water in agricultural activities in rural areas around the globe, a publication titled ‘A Road Map to ICID Vision 2030: A Water Secure World Free of Poverty and Hunger’ was unveiled during the 68th Plenary Session of the International Executive Council (IEC) in Mexico City.

ICID President Saeed Nairizi said the ICID Vision 2030 Roadmap is one of the best documents available around the globe on how we can deal with water management in agriculture to eradicate poverty and hunger. Accompanied by Secretary General Avinash C. Tyagi, Vice-President Ding Kunlun and PCSO Vice-President Dr. Bong Hoon Lee, President Nairizi informed that the document would be circulated far and wide to build consciousness in every stakeholder engaged in the AWM on the possible way forward within their field of operation. The Action Plan 2017-21, which forms part of the Roadmap will be monitored through the existing mechanism under PCTA, so as to include the Americas in the Mediterranean region and Africa in the research network supported by the current member countries’ financial capabilities with the intention to garner more donors, while the agricultural network keeps on growing with a technical support program.

The vision document includes insightful inputs from various stakeholders of AWM under the leadership of Dr. Sylvain Perret, VPH Dr. Willem Vlotman, VPH Dr. Gerhard Backeberg, VP Dr. Ian Makin, VP Prof. Charlotte de Fraiture, VP Er. Waseem Nazir and Secretary General Avinash C. Tyagi, ICID, under the chairmanship of VPH Dr. Hüseyin GŰNDOĞDU.

RIO+20 provided the desired push in the political process by articulating ‘The Future We Want’ that lead to the globally acceptable SDGs adopted by the UNs General Assembly in September 2015. For providing support to National Committees (NCs) and irrigation professionals in fulfilling these expectations, ICID started a systematic review of its objectives, goals and activities and established a Consultative Group (CG) in 2014. [ More... ]

The Group undertook intensive discussions and sought inputs through questionnaires from NCs and Working Group experts formulated the strategy and deliberated in the meetings of various work bodies. The outcomes of these efforts are covered into a Road Map to Vision 2030. [ Download ]

10th N.D. Gulhati Memorial Lecture

The N.D. Gulhati Memorial lecture for International Cooperation in Irrigation and Drainage, established in the name of Late President Hon. N.D. Gulhati was delivered by Dr. Felipe Ignacio Arreguín Cortés, Director General, Mexican Institute of Water Technology / Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua (IMTA) on “Reforms in the Administration of Irrigation Systems: Mexican Experiences’’.

Dr. Felipe Ignacio Arreguín Cortés, Director General, Mexican Institute of Water Technology delivered the 10th N.D. Gulhati Memorial lecture for International Cooperation in Irrigation and Drainage on the theme “Reforms in the Administration of Irrigation Systems: Mexican Experiences.’’ The memorial lecture, established in the memory of Late President Hon. N.D. Gulhati, is held during every Irrigation and Drainage ICID Congress.

The lecture aimed to (i) sensitize on the process and impact of the transfer of the infrastructure, management, and operation of Irrigation Districts in Mexico from the State to farmers; (ii) present an overview of the present and future conditions of the hydro-agricultural sector in the country, giving rise to a social organization that constitutes an example nationwide; (iii) explain the linkage between different government agencies and user associations for the sustainable development of the hydro-agricultural sector, with the ultimate aim of increasing agricultural production per unit area and the volume of water used in the important sector.

The focus of the lecture was on the process and impact of the transfer of the infrastructure, management, and operation of Irrigation Districts in Mexico from the State to farmers. It begins with an overview of the present and future conditions of the hydro-agricultural sector in the country, and goes on to discuss the social background and the legal framework under which the transfer process was planned and carried out, highlighting the participation and the organizational framework adopted by the users, which not only remains in force, but has been consolidated, giving rise to a social organization that constitutes an example nationwide. It also underscores the linkage that has been established between different government agencies and user associations for the sustainable development of the hydro-agricultural sector, which has given rise to a series of programs aimed at the modernization and conservation of hydraulic infrastructure and to the efficient use and management of water at the on-farm level, all of this with the ultimate aim of increasing agricultural production per unit area and the volume of water used in this important sector. In addition, a series of major challenges, problems, and opportunities that need to be addressed in order to meet the current and growing food demand prevailing in the country are discussed, as is the importance of the role of technological research and development institutions within this frame of reference. In closing, a reflection is given on the importance of the legal framework on water and its impact on the agricultural sector, highlighting the need to have a General Water Law that is applicable both to the three tiers of government that exist in Mexico and to society at large; an action currently in progress.

In closing, Dr. Felipe Cortés highlighted the importance of the legal framework on water and its impact on the agricultural sector, and the need to have a General Water Law which is applicable to the three tiers of government existing in Mexico and the society at large.

Full report can be accessed from <http://www.icid.org/nd_gulhati_2017.pdf>.

Exhibition

An international exhibition was also organized as part of the congress, which was represented by local institutions, companies, international organizations, etc.

Symposium on ‘Global Review of Institutional Reforms in Irrigation Sector for Sustainable Agriculture Water Management, including Water Users’ Association’

The Working Group on Institutional and Organizational Aspects (WG-IOA) organized an international symposium on the theme ‘Global Review of Institutional Reform in Irrigation Sector for Sustainable Agriculture Water Management, including WUA’ on 8 October 2017 during the 23rd ICID Congress at Mexico.

Fourteen National Committees/ Committee submitted their country papers and case studies for discussion during the Symposium.

Major Decisions taken at the 68^th IEC meeting, 2017

The Council elected Eng. Felix B. Reinders (South Africa) as the President and Er. Naoki Hayashida (Japan), Dr. Brian T. Wahlin (USA) and Dr. K. Yella Reddy (India) as Vice Presidents for the period 2017-20.

President	Vice Presidents
Eng. Felix Britz Reinders (South Africa)	Er. Naoki Hayashida (Japan)	Dr. Brian T. Wahlin (USA)	Dr. K. Yella Reddy (India)

ORGANISATIONAL AND TECHNICAL MATTERS

1. Approved re-admission of the Afghanistan National Committee. Membership of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Vietnam approved provisionally subject to their paying annual subscription before 31 December 2017.
   
   
2. Approved the membership changes of various work bodies of PCTA and PCSO.
   
   
3. Approved the comprehensive Technical Support Program (TSP). National Committees to contribute towards the Fund created for undertaking activities of the Technical Support Program (TSP) and to depute volunteers from time to time to undertake the activities of TSP.
   
   
4. Approved of the new/existing workbodies with revised mandate: (i) WG HIST (ii) WG SDTA (iii) Closure of CPR&P with immediate effect.
   
   
5. For achieving objectives of Road Map to Vision 2030, encourage WG to monitor the progress of ‘Activities identified under Various Strategies for Action Plan 2017-21’
   
   
6. Approved recommendations of the Sub-committee on Constitution and By-laws for the amendments to the existing Constitution and Bye-laws that have been in force since 2014.

AWARDS

1. The Best Performing National Committee Award (BPNCA) based on the work undertaken during the last three years was given to Iranian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (IRNCID). A crystal trophy was presented to IRNCID.
   
   
2. The Best Paper Award for 2017 selected out of the papers published in the ICID Journal during the year 2016 was presented to Sabine J.Seidel, Stefan Werisch, Klemens Barfus, Michael Wagner, Niels Schütze and Hermann Laber from Germany for their paper titled “Field Evaluation of Irrigation Scheduling Strategies using a Mechanistic Crop Growth Model”.
   
   
3. The WatSave Awards 2017 were given under 4 categories:
   
   • Technology Award for “Developing ‘Water Savings Calculator’ for estimating water savings” to Mr. Chris Norman & Mr. Carl Walters (Australia).
     
     
   • Innovative Water Management Award for “Promoting water saving interventions in large irrigation systems” to Prof. Wang Aiguo (China).
     
     
   • Farmer Award for “Effective Water Management through Farmer’s Cooperative Interventions” to Dr. Sharad Deshmukh (India).
     
     
   • Young Professional Award for “Designing Micro-Lysimeter for accurate measurement of crop water requirements” to Mr. Mahdi Sarai Tabrizi (Iran).
     
4. 13 irrigation structures were included in the ICID Register of Heritage Irrigation Structures (HIS) 2017.
   
   Australia
   1. Goulburn Weir
   2. Bleasdale Vineyards Flood Gate
   
   China
   1. Ancient Yellow River Irrigation System
   2. Hanzhong Ancient Weir Irrigation System
   3. Huang Ju Irrigation System
   
   Japan
   1. Doen Irrigation System
   2. Nasu Irrigation System
   3. Matsubara-Muro Irrigation System
   4. Odai Irrigation Canal
   
   Mexico
   1. Chinampa (Prehispanic subirrigated farm)
   2. La Boquilla Dam
   
   Korea
   1. Dangjin Hapdeojke
   2. Manseokgeo Dam (IIwang Reservoir)

FINANCIAL MATTERS

1. VPH Laurie Tollefson selected chair of PFC for another three years; Dr. Marco Arcieri (ITAL-ICID) admitted as new member
   
   
2. Individuals and companies (listed below), accorded Direct Membership:
   
   (i) Mr. L.B. Roy (India) – Life Membership (Individual)
   (ii) Dr. Deepak Khare (India) – Life Membership (individual), Provisionally
   (iii) Mr. Klaus Rottcher (Germany) - Individual
   (iv) Dayu Water Saving Group Co. Ltd. (China) – Company
   (v) Electrosteel Castings Ltd. (India) – Company
   
   
3. The Audited Accounts of ICID for the financial year 2016-17; Revised Budget for the financial year 2017-18 and the Budget for the financial year 2018-19 were approved.
   
   
4. The revised membership subscription formula was approved along with other recommendations of Task Force to Review the Membership Structure and Annual Membership Subscription Formulae (TF-AM).
   
   
5. Set up a Special Task Force to explore the feasibility of establishing business (es) related to ICID mission to mobilize additional resources to implement Roadmap to ICID Vision 2030.

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