Introduction Water is a critical input in agricultural growth and pivotal in agrarian livelihoods. However, most sub-Saharan African countries are faced with economic water scarcity, lacking the human, financial, or institutional capital to adequately develop and use their water resources. Underinvestment in water infrastructure, including provision for maintenance of existing facilities, is often compounded by poor governance and ineffective institutions, especially in poorer countries. A study by the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture (CA) (2007) points out that improving land and water productivity is a critical contributing factor to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with regard to poverty, hunger, and environmental sustainability. The potential contribution of integrated land and water resources management to reduce poverty and food insecurity holds particularly true for semi-arid Africa, where more than 80 percent of rural livelihoods depend on land and water resources. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has called for a 6 percent annual growth in agricultural output if the continent is to achieve food security by 2015. Furthermore, the World Bank and other development organizations recognize broad-based agricultural development as the engine of economic growth (FAO 2006a; IFAD 2007; World Bank 2008). Fortunately, renewed and vigorous responses to water scarcity, including investments to develop water infrastructure, intensifying agricultural production and improving its productivity, together with the associated institutional reforms, are increasingly driving Africa’s water agenda. Innovative methods for managing land and water are therefore crucial in the face of growing economic and physical scarcity of water, compounded by rising costs of new developments, climate variability and climate change, increased prices of food and energy, and the imperatives to respect critical social considerations and ecological functions to sustain such developments. This chapter first presents the land, water, and livelihoods challenges facing sub-Saharan Africa; it then develops the trends and challenges associated with seeking sustainable solutions to integrated watershed management, illustrated by selected examples of

collaborative, interdisciplinary research carried out to support decision making regarding integrated land and water resources management. Finally, some policy implications are proposed to accompany implementation of some of the lessons learned.