Abstract
Rivers are the cultural, social and economic backbone of South Asia, and therefore, the focus of public, political and scientific debate. Himalayan glaciers are the source of numerous large Asian river systems, which support rich ecosystems and irrigate millions of hectares of fields, thereby supporting about a billion people who live in their catchments. Impacts of climate change in river systems are likely to have considerable social, economic, ecological and political implications. This paper reviews literature for three major glacier-fed river systems of South Asia—Brahmaputra, Ganga and Indus—to understand governance mechanisms for climate adaptation in the region. A systematic review methodology is applied to examine adaptation responses in the riparian countries of these Himalayan river basins in three different levels—policy objectives, institutions and practice. Using the “fit for purpose” governance framework, we try to examine how far or near is the region for operationalizing principles of adaptive governance.
Highlights
Glacier and snow-pack-dependent river basins situated in the Himalayan region come under the climate change ‘‘hotspot’’ category according to the IntergovernmentalElectronic supplementary material The online version of this article contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.Panel on Climate Change (Cruz et al 2007)
Majority of the published studies on adaptation in the major Himalayan river basins are focused on the Ganges river basin and identify flooding as the principal hazard
An analysis of the papers shortlisted for this study identify flooding as the principal hazard in these river basins (52 %), which is likely to get exacerbated in the light of climate change
Summary
Glacier and snow-pack-dependent river basins situated in the Himalayan region come under the climate change ‘‘hotspot’’ category according to the IntergovernmentalElectronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10113-014-0711-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.Panel on Climate Change (Cruz et al 2007). Glacier and snow-pack-dependent river basins situated in the Himalayan region come under the climate change ‘‘hotspot’’ category according to the Intergovernmental. Reduced water flows in the major Himalayan river systems are expected to result in adverse impacts on agricultural production, hydro-energy generation and physical infrastructure (Vass et al 2009; Xu et al 2009; Mirza 2011; Immerzeel et al 2012; Rupper et al 2012), which will have significant welfare implications for the entire South Asia region. Climate change is associated with the risk of flooding, and in the South Asian countries of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, the frequency and magnitude of disastrous floods is observed to have already increased (Atta-ur and Khan 2011; Gaurav et al 2011; Mirza 2011; Moors et al 2011; Tariq and van de Giesen 2012). The distinction between strictly climate-induced events and anthropogenic influences that aggravate the severity of natural hazards is still unclear, there is enough evidence to suggest the increased vulnerability of the region
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