For decades now, pursuing and achieving water security has become one of the top most agendas of global development. The increasing population and subsequent development demand an increasing amount of freshwater for consumption. Historically, irrigated agriculture has been the biggest freshwater consumer, but its share is reducing due to its limited availability as well as competition from other sectors. However, in the current scenario of increasing water scarcity, agriculture and subsequently food security will bear the brunt of this reduced supply. Thus, improving irrigation water management and propagating modernization of irrigation systems is of utmost importance in current times.

Modernization of irrigation systems entails holistic improvement of resource mobilization, delivery to the farm gates, water saving techniques, management practices, policies, institutional and financing mechanisms that ultimately result in agricultural, social, environmental and economic benefits. The topic of modernization and revitalization of irrigation systems is relevant to the vision and mission of ICID and of interest for its members. Thus, the flagship event of ICID, World Irrigation Forum 4, (WIF4) aims to highlight the importance of modernization of irrigation systems and discuss, in detail, different aspects of it, outlined in the sub-themes (ST). Given the above, papers are invited and discussed under the following Sub-themes:

• Sub-Theme 1:    Policy and strategy for modernization of irrigation systems
• Sub-Theme 2:    Technology for modernization of irrigation systems
• Sub-Theme 3:    Financing for modernization of irrigation systems
• Sub-Theme 4:    Performance assessment of Irrigation systems

Sub-Theme 1: Policy and Strategy for Modernization of Irrigation Systems

• Development planning for modernization including the overall vision, development lay-out, roadmap of implementation, safeguard measures, etc.
• Supporting policies for modernization adopted by all levels of government on matters such as investment, construction material, facilities and equipment, operation and maintenance, management system and mechanisms
• Laws and regulations supporting and safeguarding modernization and preparing conducive social and economic environment for ensuring longevity of the measures
• WEFE (Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems) nexus approaches for managing trade-offs and enhancing synergies

Sub-Theme 2: Technology for Modernization of Irrigation Systems

• Engineering technologies for modernization: water consumption monitoring technologies, coordinated multi-water-source allocation technologies, handling of ageing infrastructure for water resources storage and conveyance, responsive canal network/pipeline water delivery and distribution technologies, scheduling and control technologies of water use, on-farm irrigation technologies, etc.
• Management technologies for modernization: Smart-water management technologies including information sensing and transmission technologies, data governance and integration, establishment of a knowledge base, decision support system, drone applications in improving precision irrigation management and scheduling, etc.
• Technical standards system for modernization: the dimensions modernization, the expected results of modernization, comparative studies of technical standards of different countries, etc.
• Innovative approaches for irrigation performance appraisal including landscape-based approaches

Sub-Theme 3: Financing for Modernization of Irrigation Systems

• Investment by all levels of government
• Investment by the private sector and the banking sector
• Investment by the beneficiaries, such as farmers, WUAs, etc.
• Investments and revenue models for sustained asset management of irrigation systems for its operation and maintenance
• Investments for Asset Management of Irrigation Systems for improved services delivery

Sub-Theme 4: Performance Assessment of Irrigation Systems

• Assessment of physical infrastructures such as storage and diversion work, canal networks, pumping stations, water gates, etc.
• Assessment of management and water service delivery
• Assessment of socio-economic, eco-environment and natural resources benefits for improved productivity

A brief ‘Concept Note’ of the above sub-themes is available at https://wif.icidevents.org/about.aspx

Schedule for submission of abstracts/ full papers

• Submission of extended abstracts (max. 300 words)  
• Notification of Acceptance  
• Submission of full paper (10 pages of A4 size) 
•  Notification to the author regarding oral/poster presentation 

Online paper submission

• Online ‘Extended Abstract’ submission is now open. New Users are expected to create their own accounts. The procedure for creating a new account is available at https://wif.icidevents.org/Register_Modify.aspx and for more help visit the guidelines for use of the Portal.
• Please note that only the ‘Extended Abstracts’ of the papers are required in the first stage of submission to enable peer review by an International Review Committee. PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT THE FULL PAPERS AT THIS STAGE as they would not be reviewed now.
• Upon receiving an acceptance letter from ICID Central Office, authors are required to provide/upload an electronic version of the full-length papers in the given template in Microsoft Word format by strictly following the guidelines available at https://wif.icidevents.org/InfoDocs/Guidelines_for_Using_the_Web_Portal.pdf

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