Walking the Razor’s Edge: Politics of Ecological Governance in Kerala

Food and water security: Analysis of integrated modeling platforms

Latin America faces a severe health crisis, where over 150 million people lack reliable access to water due to climate change. We conducted a mixed-methods study to understand perspectives and experiences surrounding water security and its relationship to climate change among predominantly Indigenous mothers in Maras, a rural Andean district in the Urubamba Province of Peru. A verbal survey was administered to 100 pregnant women and/or caregivers of children under 11 years of age. Surveys included questions on demographics, water sources and storage practices, water and food insecurity, and perceptions of climate change. Among survey participants, a subgroup of 22 mothers took part in focus group interviews to understand their personal experiences and concerns regarding water insecurity and climate change. Most survey respondents (92%) experienced water insecurity. Qualitative findings revealed multiple facets of water insecurity including quantity, quality, and predictability of water. Water insecurity had negative impacts on household sanitation, hygiene, and agricultural production, and thus income generation and food security. Household- and community-level strategies to deal with water insecurity include: (i) revitalization of ancient practices to maintain natural water sources, (ii) water recycling, and (iii) reforestation. Findings in this study highlight the extent of water insecurity and the resulting challenges faced by Indigenous community members within Peru. By understanding the multifaceted experiences of these communities facing the crisis of water insecurity, we can explore solutions and advocate for proactive measures to help Indigenous populations address the growing threat of climate change.

Water security is a crucial issue for Pakistan due to its heavy dependence on agriculture and limited water resources. The country has been facing multiple challenges in managing its water resources, including population growth, climate change, and water pollution. Among these challenges, floods pose a significant threat to Pakistan's water security, as they not only cause significant damage to infrastructure but also have long-term impacts on water availability and quality. This paper examines the impacts of floods on Pakistan's water security and highlights the key factors that contribute to the country's vulnerability to flooding. The paper reviews the existing literature on Pakistan's water resources and flood management strategies and identifies gaps in knowledge and policy. It also analyzes the socioeconomic impacts of floods on the local communities and the wider economy, emphasizing the role of water security in achieving sustainable development.The findings of this study suggest that Pakistan needs to adopt a holistic approach to water management that takes into account the complex interplay of factors that affect water security. This approach should involve the development of sustainable water use practices, the promotion of water conservation, and the implementation of effective flood management strategies. The study concludes that addressing Pakistan's water security challenges requires a coordinated effort by the government, civil society, and private sector, and calls for the development of a national water policy that prioritizes water security and sustainability.

Co-development of East African regional water scenarios for 2050

Editorial Wetlands for human well-being

Climate change impacts on water security in global drylands

The UN World Water Development Report 2016, <i>Water and Jobs</i>: A Critical Review

Academic research on mining and climate change and associated impacts on water resources particularly for the developing world has been limitedly explored. Climate change is expected to make water insecurity in rural areas more severe as weather patterns become unfavourable. The extent to which the mining sector is able to reduce its impact on water resources and adapt to climate change will have implications for host communities. This paper explores the relationship between climate change, mining development and water security and how this places rural communities in a position of risk from mining development and climate change for water security. This paper focuses on the Fuleni and Somkhele rural communities located within the uMkhanyakude District Municipality in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, a climate change-induced water scarce area. Despite drought, mining operations continue. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from key social actors in the Fuleni community (i.e. residents opposing mining development) and with Somkhele residents (already burdening with mining operations). Additionally for Somkhele, a questionnaire was used to ascertain 424 household views on the impacts of climate variability and mining impacts on livelihoods and water. Results indicated an interplay between climate change, mining impacts and water (and food) security. Development must be implemented in an integrated and holistic manner that contributes to sustainable development and does not impact on water resources. Technological innovations related to water and energy and inter-sectoral collaborations must be prioritised between mining, the government, and civil society, to achieve water security.

Special Issue on Drinking Water Safety, Security, and Sustainability

This essay defines the concept of water security and explores the implications of the eternal pursuit of it. I will describe how water security is perceived by wealthy and by poorer nations, the tensions that arise from these differing views, and how these tensions are being resolved in a world in which the geography of economics and power is changing rapidly. I outline a few iconic cases of how societies have built institutions and infrastructure to deal with both floods and droughts. The essay assesses the effects of changes in climate and land use systems, and the differing reactions to the new perception of “nonstationarity”: the idea that these systems are less predictable than they have historically been. The essay concludes with some reflections on the challenges of educating young people seized with passion for the issues of their generation but who may have difficulty taking a long view of water security. Many have been taught about the environmental ravages wrought by water infrastructure, but few understand how these same infrastructure and institutions underpin the water security that the United States has achieved. 1 Similarly, we teach the next generation too little about the remarkable contributions of “thinking practitioners”: experts who are also involved in policy-making and planning–whose work underpins the food, water, and energy security of their societies.

Introduction. The aim of the article: The purpose and objectives of the study are an inventory of current problems of constitutional and legal regulation of public authority and outline priorities for the transformation of constitutional and legal regulation of government in Ukraine. Results. The results of the presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine have shown that society is in dire need of a new paradigm of government. Now is the time for a comprehensive, in particular, constitutional and legal awareness and coverage of the functioning of government in the country through the categories of governance and good governance, which are a manifestation of the European vector of public administration, the organization of public authority. Further development of the democratic system of government requires the development of constitutional and legal regulation and the definition of innovative mechanisms for the exercise of public power. The result of these investigations may be the development and discussion in the process of national discussion in various formats of its implementation – Conceptual principles of formation and constitutional, legal, political renewal of government in Ukraine. The study of these perspectives is associated with a new paradigm of governance in Ukraine - the paradigm of good governance. This paradigm allows to use the postulates of the anthropocentric philosophy of the priority of human rights and freedoms and to combine and realize the interests of public authorities: legislative, executive, local self-government; civil society institutions; business associations, the environment and thus harmonize social development processes. At the same time, good governance is understood as a generally accepted system of values regarding public domination and management, the process of systematic interaction of active participants (stakeholders) of public authorities and public administration. The priority in the prospects of transformation of the constitutional and legal regulation of governance is a systematic update, modernization of the Constitution of Ukraine. Among the following prospects for the transformation of constitutional and legal regulation: updating the constitutional and sectoral legislation on the institutions of public power, public administration and governance in Ukraine. The issues of subregional, district level of government, local self-government, public administration, executive power come to the forefront of the transformation of the territorial organization of power, territorial government in Ukraine. The process of transformation of territorial governance should be provided by appropriate financial and economic, organizational, personnel, legal mechanisms that accompany the decentralization of public power at the territorial level of its organization. A significant milestone in the improvement and reform of municipal public power should be the new version of the Constitution of Ukraine on decentralization of power. Conclusions. Outlining the priorities for the transformation of the constitutional and legal regulation of governance in Ukraine is associated with a new paradigm of governance in Ukraine – the paradigm of good governance. Renewal of the Constitution, the process of constitutional and legal modernization are associated with the formation of an integrated system of public power, public administration, governance in Ukraine. In particular, this applies to the territorial organization of public authorities. Here it is expedient to talk about the preparation and discussion of draft laws on local executive bodies, on the basics of financial decentralization, on local self-government (new version), on the principles of local governance.

Agricultural development in Ecuador: A compromise between water and food security?

In recent years, emerging scholarship has advanced embodied approaches to urban water in/security, inequality and infrastructure. This new literature is broadly informed by political ecology studies of water, which critique depoliticized approaches to water scarcity, insecurity and inequality and give attention to the socially differentiated experiences of the urban waterscape. Recent interventions to bring feminist and embodied approaches to water's urban political ecology analyze the site and scale of the body as critical for understanding everyday urban water access and inequality. Drawing from these frameworks, I summarize three contributions of an embodied urban political ecology approach for addressing water in/security. These include analytical approaches that give attention to (1) the scale of the body within multi‐scalar approaches to water, (2) intersectionality and gender/class/race/ethno‐religious relations in shaping patterns of water inequality and insecurity, and (3) everyday practices and politics, in relation to both governance and citizens, which reveal under‐theorized dimensions of water insecurity and inequality. Embodied approaches to urban water insecurity are poised to expand and deepen work on the everyday politics and lived experiences of insufficient, insecure, and unequal water that profoundly shape urban life for city‐dwellers.This article is categorized under:Engineering Water &gt; Planning WaterHuman Water &gt; Water GovernanceHuman Water &gt; Rights to Water

National wellbeing is dependent on the productivity of its lands. Productivity is central to the interestof natural ecosystems and the systems of farming. Water is essential for sustaining life, for ensuring foodsecurity as well as for effectively driving all development projects. Security of water is ensured by securenatural ecosystems centered on biological diversity. The terms productivity and biological diversity aresynonymous therefore it is essential for all processes and projects of development to internalize the securityof biological diversity/natural ecosystems. The principle at present however is almost non-existent in alldevelopment programmes because had it been so the forest and environmental clearances would not beconsidered loud and clear as hurdles to development. Western Ghats are one of the ecological hotspots of theworld. The northern Western Ghats have diverse forests, protected areas, ecologically sensitive areasdeclared under law, ecologically sensitive tehsils and villages and sacred groves managed and maintained bylocal communities. There are significant catchments and watersheds, origins of important rivers, manysprings and lateritic plateaus with unique species assemblages that are characteristic only of the northernWestern Ghats. These units together constitute the foci of conservation of natural ecosystems. The tract hasseveral dams and the largest hydroelectric facility. It supports diverse economies including the most rapidlygrowing tourism industry with many visitor destinations and famous hill stations dotted across thesemountains. In order to ensure ecological security of these fragile mountain ecosystems it is necessary toaddress land use at the largest spatial scale recognized as the landscape. Landscape allows using thedisparities within its constituents—the mosaic of interacting land uses by creating opportunities forreducing their inter se contradictions. The paper discusses such opportunities and strategies at variousspatial scales.National wellbeing is dependent on the productivity of its lands. Productivity is central to the interestof natural ecosystems and the systems of farming. Water is essential for sustaining life, for ensuring foodsecurity as well as for effectively driving all development projects. Security of water is ensured by securenatural ecosystems centered on biological diversity. The terms productivity and biological diversity aresynonymous therefore it is essential for all processes and projects of development to internalize the securityof biological diversity/natural ecosystems. The principle at present however is almost non-existent in alldevelopment programmes because had it been so the forest and environmental clearances would not beconsidered loud and clear as hurdles to development. Western Ghats are one of the ecological hotspots of theworld. The northern Western Ghats have diverse forests, protected areas, ecologically sensitive areasdeclared under law, ecologically sensitive tehsils and villages and sacred groves managed and maintained bylocal communities. There are significant catchments and watersheds, origins of important rivers, manysprings and lateritic plateaus with unique species assemblages that are characteristic only of the northernWestern Ghats. These units together constitute the foci of conservation of natural ecosystems. The tract hasseveral dams and the largest hydroelectric facility. It supports diverse economies including the most rapidlygrowing tourism industry with many visitor destinations and famous hill stations dotted across thesemountains. In order to ensure ecological security of these fragile mountain ecosystems it is necessary toaddress land use at the largest spatial scale recognized as the landscape. Landscape allows using thedisparities within its constituents—the mosaic of interacting land uses by creating opportunities forreducing their inter se contradictions. The paper discusses such opportunities and strategies at variousspatial scales.

Assessing the extent and causes of forest degradation in India: Where do we stand?