AgFRD TG & Urban and Water TG event
This seminar will comprise a presentation of a recent Bank Discussion Paper “ Retrospective on Lending for Irrigation : 70 years of Bank Experience” authored by Herve Plusquellec, who volunteered to prepare this document on Bank lending to this critical subsector, with suggestions and recommendations on possible solutions to key attendant issues.
This publication is divided into two parts: the first part analyzes trends in the Bank’s lending and ratings of completed projects. It also summarizes several key policies that shaped the irrigation and drainage subsector. A second part is devoted to analyzing the performance of large- and medium-scale irrigation projects. Information on the volume of Bank lending and the ratings of completed projects presented in this document are extracted from Bank data. Statistics on the Bank’s performance in project preparation and implementation reflect the findings of the former Operations Evaluation Department, now the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG).
The presentation based on the publication would be of interest to Bank Agriculture, Environment and Water GP retirees, staff involved in the formulation of country assistance strategies at all levels, as well as to staff, agencies and research and training institutions working on the formulation and implementation of irrigation projects. It is hoped that it will stimulate debate on how to best support the irrigation subsector, moving forward and especially in light of the increasing climate change impacts, water scarcity, and food security challenges seen across the globe.
Presenter: Mr. Herve Plusquellec, former senior water resources and irrigation specialist.
Mr. Herve Plusquellec graduated in hydraulics engineering from the University of Grenoble, France in 1960. He has over 60 years of experience in the field of water resources and irrigation, of which nearly 50 years as Bank staff and then as consultant . He has worked on development projects from three different perspectives: a government-agency in Morocco, an engineering consulting firm in Italy and an international lending agency, the World Bank. He has worked on a wide range of water-related projects throughout the world, in about 40 countries in Asia, Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa and Latin America. Since retirement from the World Bank in 1997, he has working as consultant for the World Bank, FAO, Consulting firms and bi-lateral donor agencies such as the Swiss Development Corporation from Switzerland and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, from the USA. During his first years of his long carer with the Office National des Irrigations in Morocco, he got practical experience in design, construction and operation of efficient on-demand large-scale irrigation schemes under automated operation.
Mr. Plusquellec has published on a variety of subjects others than the techniques of water control and canal lining from contribution of irrigation to food security, water rights in traditional irrigation systems and land consolidation in irrigated area. He has advocated improving the performance of existing irrigation systems given that irrigated lands have reached their limits in terms of land and water resources and the over-exploitation of groundwater resources in many countries. Mr. Plusquellec has an exceptional capacity of transferring successful innovations from country to country thanks to his worldwide knowledge of large number of projects that he visited in over 40 countries. For example, he succeeded in the adoption of the North Africa water control technology by the Office du Niger, Mali in the mid- 1980’s, and in the proper use of geosynthetics for major canal lining components in Syrai, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and China.
He is honored to have been nominated by the World Bank for the ICID Prize in 2013 and 2014
Discussant: Kevin Cleaver, AgFRD TG
Moderators: Preeti Ahuja, AgFRD TG and Alex Bakalian, U&W TG
Registrations:
In-person (MC8-300)
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On September 5th, you will be able to join the Webex session directly by using the link provided below, among other available options.
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Meeting number: 2317 026 8436
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1-650-479-3207 Call-in number (US/Canada)
Access code: 2317 026 8436
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