ABSTRACT
Falling or stagnant agricultural growth, increasing dependence on groundwater, climate variability, swift industrialization, and unplanned and unregulated urbanization in South Asia have spawned a variety of challenges for water resources governance, management and use: groundwater overdraft; insufficient, ill-managed and poor-quality freshwater supply vis-à-vis escalating demand; and water pollution. Water policies in each of the South Asian countries thus call for a more holistic understanding for the efficient management, equitable distribution and sustainable use of this scarce resource.
Analyzing the economic, demographic and ideological context in which water policies are framed and implemented, this book argues for an integrated framework in formulating and implementing water policies in South Asia. It also highlights some common missing links in the national policies: problems of techno-centric and blueprint approach to water management, growing influence of international donor agencies and inadequate concern for issues such as equity, sustainability, gender sensitivity, accountability, regional diversity in property rights regimes and water management practices, and regional conflicts over water access. The innovative and nuanced knowledge on water resources produced from detailed case studies in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be useful for professionals, academics, policymakers and activists as well as those in development studies, environmental studies, natural resource management and public administration.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |16 pages
Introduction
part I|79 pages
Conceptual Framework for Water Resources Policy
chapter 1|19 pages
Interface between Water, Poverty and Gender Empowerment
chapter 3|30 pages
“Water Policies are Never Implemented, but Negotiated”
part II|91 pages
Informing Water Resources Policies
chapter 5|18 pages
Integrated Water Resources Management: From Policy to Practice through a Comprehensive National Water Management Plan
chapter 7|18 pages
Scale, Diverse Economies, and Ethnographies of the State
chapter 8|18 pages
Credit Conditionality and Strategic Sabotage
part III|55 pages
Water and Climate Change
chapter 9|22 pages
Hydro-Hazardscapes of South Asia
chapter 10|31 pages
Climate Change and Groundwater
part IV|68 pages
International Experiences of Water Reform