The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
This paper explores the possibilities for the implementation of the right to water in the Indian context, and is divided into four sections. Section one deals with the meaning of the right to water in Indian law; section two addresses the challenges posed by increased mining, large dams, energy projects, …
One of the most urgent challenges facing the world today is ensuring local water security under rapid climate variability and change. This is of particular importance in a country like India, where over half of the people are involved in farming, and agricultural losses due to climate change are estimated …
In the arid and semi-arid Indian state of Rajasthan, tanks and ponds have been a mainstay of rural communities for centuries. There are over 4600 large minor irrigation tanks, plus numerous johads, bandhs and pals (small water harvesting structures). This paper assesses a strategy proposed for rehabilitating 1200 of the …
Dying Wisdom: Rise, Fall and Potential of India's Traditional Water Harvesting System provides a comprehensive overview of India's millennia-old traditions of water harvesting. This book triggered a nationwide interest in community-based water management.
Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is situated in the Southeast of Bangladesh covering about 10 per cent of the total land. It is the native hoe of 13 tribal communities and these communities have their own traditional knowledge for natural resource managements. This paper provides 8 traditional knowledge namely, folk classification …
Till a few years ago, women of Bisha Bedi village in Rajasthan’s Barmer district hardly slept at night. Throbbing pain in the neck and the back kept them awake till early morning. It was caused by fetching water over long distances. “We used to wake up at four in the …
In 2003, when Hungund taluk in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka was hit by a severe drought, farmers did not have to buy food grain from the market. Nearly 90 per cent of them had built bunds and conserved topsoil using traditional techniques of drought-proofing which have their roots in …
Central Ground Water Board has been in the forefront of activities for augmenting ground water resources through scientifically designed artificial recharge structures for harvesting runoff which otherwise runs off into sea. A number of pilot schemes and demonstrative artificial recharge schemes have been implemented by the CGWB in association with …
High levels of ‘ecological poverty’ – defined as the lack of a healthy natural resource which is essential for human society’s survival and development – are a key cause of the economic poverty of the world’s rural poor. Conversely, healthy lands and ecosystems, when used sustainably, can provide all the …
Palak Nandi | TNN Toleshar Charnan (Jodhpur): This dusty village on the outskirts of Jodhpur, nearly 40 kilometres from the city, had an unusual visitor on Tuesday when Prince Charles arrived here for a glimpse of the village lifestyle and the unique water harvesting methods prevelant in the region. The …
The present study analyses viable methods of rainwater harvesting in drought-prone Bolangir and examines different bio-physical and socio-economic factors that influence the performance and sustainability of the water harvesting structures (WHSs). The study reveals that the traditional WHSs have proved to be extremely useful not only in normal years but …
Tango with nature India has been using lakes, ponds and baolis (step wells) since ancient times ('What monsoon means', July 16-31, 2010). Delhi was once replete with water bodies. In the past 50 years, government agencies started disbanding natural ponds, lakes and baolis, declaring their water untested, and therefore, unfit …
Most climate change models predict that this global phenomenon will have severe impacts on small farmers, particularly in developing countries. Increasing temperatures, droughts, heavy precipitation and other extreme climatic events could reduce yields by up to 50 percent in some regions, especially in drylands. Understanding the agroecological features and coping/adaptation …
The problem of water availability was a pivotal facet of daily life, particularly in urban areas, where it had to be made perennially obtainable in large quantities. Thus, apart from river water, artificial water reservoirs of massive proportions, and also step wells were constructed on a great scale in most …
The traditional method of rain water harvesting is the most effective and simple way to conserve the water. It facilitates utilization of rain water for domestic as well as agricultural purposes. For a rain water harvesting system, all we need is rain and a place to collect it. Typically, rain …
In India, small water reservoirs in the desert area are a part of a complex inter-linking natural resource management system. Traditional methods of water harvesting were employed by the local communities led by TBS to rejuvenate a local river, recharge the ground water and re-green a village. In Alwar district, …
Seminar on water harvesting in Jodhpur JAIPUR: Two Supreme Court judges emphasised the significance of revival of traditional sources of water as a step for water conservation and equilibrium in natural resources at a seminar on water harvesting and conservation in Jodhpur on Sunday. Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice G. …
