This book highlights various challenges and opportunities for water management and cooperation in South Asia. In light of increasing urbanization and development in the region and related pressure on water resources, the contributions investigate water conflictual and cooperative attitudes and gestures between countries and regions; analyse management trade-offs between nature, agriculture and urban uses; and examine water sustainable management and related policies. By studying major river basins in the region, such as Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Narmada, Godavari and Krishna, the chapters highlight socio-economic, infrastructural, environmental and institutional aspects of water scarcity in South Asia and present best practices for improved sustainable water management and security in the region.

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.

This book provides an ecosystem perspective in addressing water resource management issues in the South Asian region. Comprising new theories, research and case studies, it would help those interested in managing water resources in a sustainable manner as defined under the concept of integrated water resources management.

This book presents a systematic study of transboundary, regional and local water conflicts and resistance across several river basins in South Asia. Addressing hydro-socio-economic aspects in competing water sharing and transfer agreements, as well as conflicting regimes of legal plurality, property rights and policy implementation, it discusses themes such as rights over land and natural resources; resettlement of dam-displaced people; urban–rural conflicts over water allocation; peri-urbanisation, land use conflicts and water security; tradeoffs and constraints in restoration of ecological flows in rivers; resilience against water conflicts in a river basin; and irrigation projects and sustainability of water resources. Bringing together experts, professionals, lawyers, government and the civil society, the volume analyses water conflicts at local, regional and transboundary scales; reviews current debates with case studies; and outlines emerging challenges in water policy, law, governance and institutions in South Asia. It also offers alternative tools and frameworks of water sharing mechanisms, conflict resolution, dialogue, and models of cooperation and collaboration for key stakeholders towards possible solutions for effective, equitable and strategic water management. This book will be useful to scholars and researchers of development studies, environment studies, water studies, public policy, political science, international relations, conflict resolution, political economy, economics, sociology and social anthropology, environmental law, governance and South Asian studies. It will also benefit practitioners, water policy thinktanks and associations, policymakers, diplomats and NGOs.

Across the South Asian region, water determines livelihoods and in some cases even survival. However, water also creates exclusions. Access to water, and its social organisation, are intimately tied up with power relations. This book provides an overview of gender, equity and water issues relevant to South Asia. The essays empirically illustrate and theoretically argue how gender intersects with other axes of social difference such as class, caste, ethnicity, age and religion to shape water access, use and management practices. Divided into six thematic sections, each of which starts with an introduction of relevant concepts, debates and theories, the book looks at laws and rights; policies; technologies and intervention strategies. In all, the book clearly shows how understanding and changing the use, distribution and management of water is conditional upon understanding and accommodating gender relations. Published by Zubaan.

In 1947, British India-the part of South Asia that is today's India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh-emerged from the colonial era with the world's largest centrally managed canal irrigation infrastructure. However, as vividly illustrated by Tushaar Shah, the orderly irrigation economy that saved millions of rural poor from droughts and famines is now a vast atomistic system of widely dispersed tube-wells that are drawing groundwater without permits or hindrances. Taming the Anarchy is about the development of this chaos and the prospects to bring it under control. It is about both the massive benefit that the irrigation economy has created and the ill-fare it threatens through depleted aquifers and pollution. Tushaar Shah brings exceptional insight into a socio-ecological phenomenon that has befuddled scientists and policymakers alike. In systematic fashion, he investigates the forces behind the transformation of South Asian irrigation and considers its social, economic, and ecological impacts. He considers what is unique to South Asia and what is in common with other developing regions. He argues that, without effective governance, the resulting groundwater stress threatens the sustenance of the agrarian system and therefore the well being of the nearly one and a half billion people who live in South Asia. Yet, finding solutions is a formidable challenge. The way forward in the short run, Shah suggests, lies in indirect, adaptive strategies that change the conduct of water users. From antiquity until the 1960‘s, agricultural water management in South Asia was predominantly the affair of village communities and/or the state. Today, the region depends on irrigation from some 25 million individually owned groundwater wells. Tushaar Shah provides a fascinating economic, political, and cultural history of the development and use of technology that is also a history of a society in transition. His book provides powerful ideas and lessons for researchers, historians, and policy

This book analyzes water policies in South Asia from the perspective of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). It seeks to address the problems of water scarcity, conflict and pollution resulting from the gross mismanagement and over-exploitation of this finite resource. Highlighting the need for IWRM in mitigating abuse and ensuring sustainable use, it discusses issues relating to groundwater management; inter-state water conflicts; peri-urban water use; local traditional water management practices; coordination between water users and uses; and water integration at the grassroots level. With case studies from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal, the innovative, painstaking and transnational researches presented in the volume deal with questions of equity, gender, sustainability, and democratic governance in water policy interventions. It will interest researchers and students of development studies, environmental studies, natural resource management, water governance, and public administration, as also water sector professionals, policymakers, civil society activists and governmental and nongovernmental organizations.

Drawing on interviews with hundreds of policymakers and key stakeholders in five countries in South Asia, this report assesses current thinking toward domestic water management and transboundary water issues and suggests strategies that could help to reframe water as a shared resource rather than a potential source of conflict.

This cluster of books presents innovative and nuanced knowledge on water resources, based on detailed case studies from South Asia—India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In providing comprehensive analyses of the existing economic, demographic and ideological contexts in which water policies are framed and implemented, the volumes argue for alternative, informed and integrated approaches towards efficient management and equitable distribution of water. These also explore the globalization of water governance in the region, particularly in relation to new paradigms of neoliberalism, civil society participation, integrated water resource management (IWRM), public–private partnerships, privatization, and gender mainstreaming. These volumes will be indispensable for scholars and students of development studies, environmental studies, natural resource management, governance and public administration, particularly those working on water resources in South Asia. They will also be useful for policymakers and governmental and non-governmental organizations.

International organisations such as the World Bank began to intervene in the transboundary water governance of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river basin in the mid-2000s, and the South Asia Water Initiative (SAWI) is its most ambitious project in this regard. Yet neither SAWI nor other international initiatives, such as those of the Australian and UK governments, have been able to significantly improve transboundary water interaction between India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. This book identifies factors that contribute to water conflicts and that detract from water cooperation in this region. It sheds light on how international organisations affect these transboundary water interactions. The book discusses how donor-led initiatives can better engage with transboundary hydropolitics to increase cooperation and decrease conflict over shared freshwater resources. It is shown that there are several challenges: addressing transboundary water issues is not a top priority for the riparian states; there is concern about India’s hydro-hegemony and China's influence; and international actors in general do not have substantial support of the local elites. However, the book suggests some ways forward for improving transboundary water interaction. These include: addressing the political context and historical grievances; building trust and reducing power asymmetry between riparian states; creating political will for cooperation; de-securitising water; taking a problemshed view; strengthening water sharing institutions; and moving beyond narratives of water scarcity and supply-side solutions.