In time for World Water Day on 22 March 2007 TVE Asia Pacific has released the broadcast and public version of a global TV series on freshwater issues.
Called Living Labs, the new series looks at worldwide efforts by researchers and farmers to grow more food with less water - one of the biggest challenges in agriculture and freshwater management.
This resonates with 'Coping with Water Scarcity', the theme for World Water Day 2007.
An AIT project on Increasing Water Use Efficiency by Using Mulch under SRI in NE Thailand sponsored by Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research - Challenge Program on Water and Food (CGIAR-CPWF) under small project grant has been included and broadcasted under the living labs on YouTube. The project conducted by Prof. Vilas M. Salokhe with technical backstopping by Dr. P. Kumar has the theme telling the viewers that it takes large volumes of water to grow rice, but old habits have to change in a world running short of water. Rice farmers in Thailand are adopting a new method, System of Rice Intensification (SRI), to achieve more crops with less seeds and water -- but without damaging the environment. It involves using mulch, inter-cropping and transplanting rice earlier than usual.
The five minute video can be seen at:
For on-demand viewing:
mms://www.mmserv.ait.ac.th/Ondemandvdo/Projects/SG-504.asf (23MB)
For download:
http://www.mmserv.ait.ac.th/OnDemandVDO/Projects/SG-504-avi.zip (195MB)
http://www.mmserv.ait.ac.th/OnDemandVDO/Projects/SG-504-vob.zip (MB)
The Living Labs series is also dedicated to the United Nations International Decade on Water for Life, 2005 – 2015.
This is just what the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF), a global research initiative, has set out to do. TVE Asia Pacific produced this TV series in close partnership with CGIAR-CPWF, whose work is featured through various case studies.
Living Labs was filmed in late 2006 in nine countries in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America. As CPWF researchers started synthesizing their findings after three years of field work, TVEAP camera crews traveled to eight of benchmark river basins -– the ‘living laboratories’ of this action research –- to find out what has been accomplished, and what remains to be done.
The Living Labs series was premiered at the International Forum on Water and Food, held in Vientiane, Laos, on 12 - 17 November 2006. Hosted by the Mekong River Commission (MRC), it brought together 300 top researchers and policy makers from all over the world.