Water Security in India Threat Mapping: Impact of Climate Change

"Water Security in India Threat Mapping: Impact of Climate Change" Peace and Security Review, Vol 8, Number 17 (2018)

Water has been a much discussed topic in India in recent years. Starting from the government’s decision on inter-river linking, construction of dams to localised state conflicts over sharing, water touches a chord across religion both ethnically and politically. Hence if water becomes skewed owing to continuous lack of rainfall and simultaneous exploitation for human consumption, it could soon attain a national narrative that would have a bearing on the national economy, agricultural output, religious tourism (given that river is the religious lifeline of the country) subaltern conflicts and much more. The report illustrates five contributing factors/parameters/ issues to water insecurity such as: ground water depletion, glacial retreat, rainfall, temperature fluctuation, national water governance and civil society initiatives such as various water conservation practices. The issues were then studied in each ecological zone to understand the broader link between the causes of water scarcity and climatic variability.