Water Security in Peri-urban South Asia

Description

Are our urban spaces growing thirsty by the day? What implications do unplanned urban expansion and climate change have on judicious accessibility to water resources among the multitudes who have made urban fringes their home in South Asia? A significant gap exists in current studies of adaptation and vulnerability to the vagaries of climate change that tend to focus on purely agrarian or urban contexts. Addressing this lack, this volume documents and analyses the experiences of this urban periphery in three developing nations—India, Nepal, and Bangladesh—in terms of water security and access, adaptation to climate change, and urban expansion. Cutting across disciplinary boundaries, and using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods from natural and social sciences, the essays explore the drivers of vulnerability in four peri-urban sites—Hyderabad and Gurgaon in India, Khulna in Bangladesh, and Kathmandu in Nepal—and examine the cost-effectiveness of technological and institutional alternatives to build adaptive capacity. The essays explore how different groups of people, men and women, face differential vulnerabilities to water insecurity induced by urbanization and climate change and how they adapt through technological or institutional innovation.

Table of contents

List of Tables List of Figures Preface Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction: Urbanization, Climate Change, and Peri-urban Water Security in South Asia—A Framework for Analysis Vishal Narain 1. Urban Burden on Peri-urban Areas: Shared Use of a River in a Coastal City Vulnerable to Climate Change M. Shah Alam Khan, M. Shahjahan Mondal, Rezaur Rahman, Hamidul Huq, Dilip Kumar Datta, Uthpal Kumar, and Mohammad Rashed Jalal 2. Urbanization, Climate Change, and Water Security in Peri-urban Gurgaon, India Vishal Narain, Pranay Ranjan, Sreoshi Singh, and Aman Dewan 3. Expanding City, Shrinking Water Resources, and the Vulnerability of Communities Living on the Edge in Hyderabad, India Sreoshi Singh and Anjal Prakash 4. Growing Urbanization, Changing Climate, and Adaptation in Peri-urban Kathmandu: Emerging Shapes of Water and Livelihood Security Rajesh Sada, Ashutosh Shukla, Anushiya Shrestha, and Lieke Anna Melsen 5. Gendered and Caste Spaces in Household Water Use: A Case of Aliabad Village in Peri-urban Hyderabad, India Anjal Prakash and Sreoshi Singh 6. Changing Environment, Changing Waters: An Analysis of Drinking Water Access of Vulnerable Groups in Peri-urban Sultanpur Afke van der Woude 7. Local Perception of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses of Peri-urban Residents in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal Rajesh Sada, Anushiya Shrestha, and Ashutosh Shukla 8. Mapping Gains and Losses from the Mayur Ecosystem Purnamita Dasgupta, Prosun K. Ghosh, Rezaur Rahman, and M. Shah Alam Khan Conclusion: Towards Peri-urban Water Security—Implications for Adaptive Capacity, Public Policy, and Future Research and Action Anjal Prakash Glossary Notes on Editors and Contributors Index