Gender

The CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS) has developed its Gender Research in Development Strategy centered on a transformative approach. Translating this strategy into actual research and development practice poses a considerable challenge, as not much (documented) experience exists in the agricultural sector to draw on, and significant innovation is required. A process of transformative change requires reflecting on multiple facets and dimensions simultaneously.

The objective of the current report produced for the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS) is to provide basic information on key constraints driving poverty and vulnerability in aquatic agricultural systems in the Tonle Sap region in Cambodia. Six objectives and corresponding research themes are included in the program: sustainable increases in productivity; equitable access to markets; resilience and adaptive capacity; empowering policies and institutions; reduced gender disparity; and expanded benefits for the resource-poor.

This annual report highlights some of our key achievements over the past year as we progress towards our impact targets. In Asia and Africa, our genetic improvement program took a major step forward with the use of genomic selection tools to introduce characteristics such as disease resistance and feed efficiency into our improved tilapia strains. These are vital for ensuring the productivity and sustainability of fish farms, particularly in Africa, where aquaculture investment is critical to meet current and future food demands.

Various studies have illustrated how gender differences could affect ecosystembased adaptation based on gender-based preferences and perceptions, social and economic roles and institutional arrangements. However, these gender aspects in climate change adaptation are seldom reflected through empirical case studies.

Firewood harvesting is a major threat to mangrove ecosystems in Solomon Islands. Improved cooking stoves could reduce firewood use and thereby ease pressure on mangroves. We conducted a field-based experiment in Langalanga Lagoon to evaluate this theory of change. Our results suggest that the so-called ‘kiko stove’, an improved cooking stove that is widely promoted in Solomon Islands, is not more efficient than cooking on an open fire in terms of cooking time and wood consumption.

Improving the productivity of fisheries and aquaculture is vital to reducing hunger and poverty for millions of people in the developing world. Today, fish provides more than one billion poor people with most of their daily animal-source protein and, globally, more than 250 million people depend directly on fisheries and aquaculture for their livelihoods; millions more are employed in fisheries and aquaculture value chains.

Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the five-year Aquaculture for Income and Nutrition (AIN) project improved income and nutrition for thousands of Bangladeshis.

The Myanmar Fisheries and Aquaculture Research Symposium was held in Yangon on 16-17 November 2017. The event provided a unique opportunity for national and international researchers to take stock of present sectoral knowledge and jointly identify the most promising pathways for impactful fisheries and aquaculture research in Myanmar. The event was cooperatively organized by WorldFish and the Department of Fisheries (DoF) under the umbrella of the Fisheries Research Development Network (FRDN).

This study described the implications and issues of coastal hazards on the internal dynamics of decision making within the household. Flooding and typhoon were recognized as the common hazardsin the communities. Adaptation strategies within households of male and female decision makers were also identified during the survey. Community plans to adapt to specific coastal hazards were also laid down in village-level discussions. We identified six coastal barangays from the three local government unitsin Zamboanga del Norte that were most prone to hazards.

The authors studied how the failure to take into account gendered roles in the management of a communal pasture in the highlands of Ethiopia can affect the resilience of this social-ecological system. This paper integrates resilience analysis and gender analysis, to increase our understanding of processes that may undermine the ability of a social-ecological system to cope with, to adapt to, and to shape change.