Abstract
Increased use of water for hydropower and agriculture, due to population growth accounts for future water shortages that will affect a quarter of South Asia’s population by 2050. Water crises affect all member-nations of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. SAARC nations water needs exacerbate the water crisis on the one hand and lack of mechanisms for good governance and cooperation required for addressing issues related to food and water security within the region. This paper attempts to draw attention to the big picture regarding water resources management and the impacts of water scarcity on South Asian nations. The paper begins with a review of the water crises in each of the SAARC nations and follows on with consideration of perceptions towards transboundary river infrastructures and the political stances each nation takes about solutions for the continuing water crisis. Undoubtedly, the only mechanism that these nations can adapt to address the geopolitical challenges of a thirsty world, for which SAARC association provides the platform is a deliberate constructive solution centred dialogue. A range of recommendations for SAARC nations are reviewed with a view to assist the water thirst in these nations.
Highlights
Water is life on Earth, yet over 844 million people seem to lack access (Guppy and Anderson, 2017)
There appears to be some optimism about the free market systems such that occur through privatisation and corporatisation and the potential of all new technologies that have potential to force adjustments in the business as usual (BAU) attitudes and practices of people and societies in general
With a large bane of low income families that reside in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region countries, a question that comes up is, will these adjustments in turn call for changes in values and lifestyles in the South Asian context? And what form and shape those changes will look like is a significant question that SAARC nations need to deliberate upon
Summary
Water is life on Earth, yet over 844 million people seem to lack access (Guppy and Anderson, 2017). Children fetch water and miss out on schools and 200 million hours are lost each day in this age. In the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, it is said that it takes over 30 minutes to walk and fetch a bucket of water with over 3.36 million children involved in such water collection (UNICEF 2016). A man married three women to keep a constant supply of water in a parched region in Maharashtra, India.. While the world may term this a criminal offence, it drives home a pathetic message that women and girls are the only ones at the front end of fetching water, which in turn becomes a big chore to keep each of their families alive. Studies reveal that in the mountainous regions of Uttarakhand, India, the women and girls walk for miles along the undulated landscape to fetch water (Singh 2014; Singh, 2015)
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