Water Resource Management Through Ecological Restoration in Garhwal Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

Water is considered as the most vital natural resource of Garhwal Himalaya and is also an important asset to the state population. The state is richly endowed with hilly terrain having an enormous volume of water from the catchment areas of Garhwal Himalaya that consists of Alaknanda river, Bhagirathi, Yamuna, Tons, and Nayar. Among them, Alaknanda river basin is the biggest one, which occupies around one-third area of whole Garhwal region. This paper presents a methodological approach through ecological restoration for the water resource management, integration of extreme events, climatic vulnerability, land use/land use cover changes, and natural resource for sustainable development planning. Climate change and anthropogenic activities are continuously disturbing the natural system of the Garhwal Himalaya and its impact on sustainable development and water potential. Himalayan geosystem is highly vulnerable and susceptible to various kinds of geo-hydrological vulnerability and its impact on socio-economic capacity. The study areas which are a part of fragile Garhwal ecosystem are isolated with its difficult topography and need immediate consideration for water resource management. Better legislative frameworks are necessary to protect water resources and prevent water pollution. The study has been based on the primary and secondary data. Primary data has been collected from field observation, interview techniques, informal interviews, interaction, and discussion with local people. The main technique of primary data collection was done through questionnaire and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) approaches. This parameter is important in building resilience capacity and ensuring sustainable development pathways and provides water resource management. This research paper has suggested a policy to improve the transfer of scientific knowledge, and to increase mutual understanding, partnership, and cooperation for better policy outputs in Sustainable Development Goal 06 (Clean water and Sanitation), Sustainable Development Goal 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 15 (Life on Land). These approaches will be useful in building collaborative arrangements across political and administrative barriers and boundaries to govern at the scale of sustainability challenge to achieve way toward the SDG 06.