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Ganges

Groundwater governance in India – A case study by World Bank

This case study by the World Bank aims to understand and address the paradox at the heart of the groundwater governance challenge in India in order to elevate the need for investing in and promoting proactive reforms toward its management. It examines the impediments to better governance of groundwater, and explores opportunities for using groundwater to help developing countries adapt to climate change. It attempts to understand the practical issues that arise in establishing robust national governance frameworks for groundwater and in implementing these frameworks at the aquifer level.

The case study focused on the national, state and local levels. At the national and state levels, it analyzed the policy, legal, and institutional arrangements to identify the demand and supply management and incentive structures that have been established for groundwater management. At the local level, it assessed the operations, successes, and constraints facing local institutions in the governance of a number of aquifers within peninsula India, on the coast and on the plain of the Ganges river valley.

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Groundwater governance in India – A case study by World Bank (2011)2.3 MB

Location

Lucknow, UP, India
Latitude: 26.846511, Longitude: 80.946683

Application of GIS in urban development plan of Kalyani Urban Centre in West Bengal – A report in Geospatial World

This report in Geospatial World deals with the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in preparation of a urban development plan of Kalyani urban centre in West Bengal. The complexity of municipal governance is more pronounced in states like West Bengal, which has one of the highest population densities. Kalyani is a planned industrial town but with large unplanned settlements in form of slums. Situated on the bank of river Ganges on its natural levee, it is part of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority and is surrounded by villages. 

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Location

Kalyani, WB, India
Latitude: 22.980000, Longitude: 88.440000

Sunderbans - A climate adaptation report by World Wildlife Fund India

SunderbansThis climate adaptation report by World Wildlife Fund India captures its experience on climate change in the Sundarbans. Beginning in 2005, WWF-India has conducted dozens of personal interviews to record how climate change impacts people's lives here and now. These perceptions demanded that scientific studies be carried out to ascertain the veracity of the claims.

The report draws heavily from the studies undertaken by the School of Oceanographic Studies, Jadavpur University at the micro-level as well as across the Indian Sundarbans. These studies made it possible to design initiatives that enhance risk preparedness as well as adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities that ensure physical and livelihood security, and reduce sensitivity in case of exposure to high intensity weather events. Not all of these were successful, for example, attempts to raise mangrove plantation. The successful ones are briefly described in the last chapter of the report.

The eco-region that forms the Sundarbans is both unique, and uniquely fragile. Unique because it is one of the most extensive mangrove forests in the world, existing in a vast deltaic region where freshwater and seawater mix. Also unique, because the human population that exists on the fringes of the coastal forest, in land that has been slowly adapted to cultivation over the last two centuries, confront challenges from both land, air, and sea that few other local populations have to contend with. And further unique, because the flora of the Sundarbans, the mangrove, presents a natural buffer, a bulwark against coastal erosion and seawater ingress into one of the most densely populated regions of the world. Ironically, the Sundarbans' fragility stems from its uniqueness.

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Location

Kolkata, WB, India
Latitude: 22.572646, Longitude: 88.363895

An assessment of crop water productivity in the Indus and Ganges river basins: Current status and scope for improvement – A research report by IWMI

IWMI ReportThis paper by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) presents a new approach for analysis of water productivity (WP) of rice and wheat in the Indus and the Ganges river basins, South Asia, based on the integration of readily available remote sensing, national crop productivity and land use statistics and weather data. Understanding crop water productivity over large river basins has significant implications for sustainable basin development planning.  

Three major steps are involved in producing crop water productivity maps: (1) crop dominance map, (2) yield estimates, and (3) water consumption (evapotranspiration (ET)) estimates. The crop dominance map is synthesized from the relevant, and publically available, land use/land cover (LULC) maps with ground truth data. National statistics on crop area and yields are collected, and the yields are interpolated to grid level (500 meters (m) x 500 m) using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) maps.

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The effects of agricultural water and landholdings to rural livelihoods in Indo-Gangetic basin – Research analysis by IWMI and ICAR with an emphasis on Bihar

IWMI PaperThe current research analysis by International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in cooperation with ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region is focused on the identification of agricultural water use and land scaling effects to rural livelihoods in the Indo-Gangetic basin (IGB) with an emphasis on Bihar. In particular, water use and landholding factors are widely acknowledged as major determinants of agricultural development and hence rural wealth in IGB basin and Bihar. High attention is mainly given to irrigation policy while land is often apprehended through soil productivity aspects.

However, little importance is given to land scaling and water consumption effects in respect to agricultural development and rural livelihoods. Further, the valuation of agricultural water is another issue that has not been sufficiently elaborated. Another major aspect which is still poorly investigated pertains to farmers' perceptions towards the significance of institutional and environmental related parameters of agricultural water. Last but not least, little attention has been given to crucial socio-demographic indicators which could act as potential drivers to farmers' perceptions towards environmental related parameters of agricultural water.

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Location

Darbhanga, BR, India
Latitude: 26.170000, Longitude: 85.900000

Proceedings of the second international symposium on the management of large rivers for fisheries by FAO and Mekong River Commission

The second international symposium on the management of large rivers for fisheries was held by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and Mekong River Commission on 11 - 14 February 2003 in Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia. It had three primary objectives: (a) To provide a forum to review and synthesise the latest information on large rivers; (b) To raise the political, public and scientific awareness of the importance of river systems, the living aquatic resources they support and the people that depend on them; and (c) To contribute to better management, conservation and restoration of the living aquatic resources of large rivers.

The symposium was organised in six sessions:

Session 1: Status of rivers
Session 2: Value of river fisheries
Session 3: Fisheries ecology and conservation
Session 4: Management of river fisheries
Session 5: Statistics and information
Session 6: Synthesis

Over 220 river scientists and managers from around the world attended the symposium. Contributed papers represented 96 rivers from 61 river basins from all continents and climatic zones. It came up with the following recommendations for action -

  • Improve the valuation of living river resources in order to contribute to equitable and sustainable management of fishery resources and properly place the fishery in the context of the other uses of rivers.
  • Direct greater effort to better understanding the social and economic aspects of fisheries to support policy and management priorities; livelihood approaches will be a valuable tool.
  • Communicate and engage with environment and water resources managers within the context of multi-use of water in order to accurately assess impacts and to sustain the benefits of river fisheries in an equitable manner.
  • Develop processes that facilitate the users and beneficiaries of the fishery resource to assume greater control of its management.
  • Establish appropriate mechanisms at national and basin level to enable negotiation for the needs of communities dependent upon the living aquatic resources. In particular further regulations need to be elaborated to protect general ecosystem function and provide for environmental flows.
  • Use instruments such as the freshwater eco-regions approach, the Ramsar Convention and the guidelines for water allocation suggested by the World Commission on Dams, to enhance planning for conservation and sustainable use of river habitats.
  • Incorporate ecological flow requirements of river-floodplain systems into development plans and impact assessments that affect river flows, taking into account the seasonality of the system and the environmental cues needed by the fish for migration and reproduction.
  • Rehabilitate degraded ecosystems wherever possible. Prioritize schemes that ensure connectivity and protection of critical habitats.

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Proceedings of the second international symposium on the management of large rivers for fisheries by FAO and Mekong River Commission - Volume I (2003)9.57 MB
Proceedings of the second international symposium on the management of large rivers for fisheries by FAO and Mekong River Commission - Volume II (2003)8.08 MB

Location

Farakka, WB, India
Latitude: 24.797155, Longitude: 87.914495

Water management across space and time in India – A working paper by the University of Bonn

This working paper by the University of Bonn attempts to give a spatial and temporal overview of water management in India. It traces how people and the successive regimes made choices across space and time from a wide range of water control and distribution technologies. The paper divides the water management in India into four periods –Read More

  • the traditional system of water management before colonial times;
  • response from the colonial rulers to manage the complex socio-ecological system;
  • large scale surface water development after independence; and
  • finally, the small-scale community and market-led revolution.

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Water management across space and time in India – A working paper by the University of Bonn (2010)254.57 KB

Location

Grand Anicut, TN, India
Latitude: 10.830000, Longitude: 78.810000

The burden of cholera in the slums of Kolkata - A community based study by NICED

This paper by National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) is based on a prospective, community based study in an impoverished urban site in Kolkata in order to measure the burden of cholera, describe its epidemiology, and search for potential risk factors that could be addressed by public health strategies. The study population was enumerated at the beginning and end of the study period. Surveillance through five field outposts and two referral hospitals for acute, watery, non-bloody diarrhoea was conducted from May 2003 to April 2004.Read More

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Cholera in Kolkata slums - A study by NICED (2005)209.85 KB

Location

Kolkata, WB, India
Latitude: 22.572646, Longitude: 88.363895

Seeds of Hope – Agriculture and Food Security - A Lokayan and Planning Commission study

This set of case studies is a part of a book prepared by Lokayan in collaboration with the Planning Commission titled “Seeds of Hope", covering themes of agriculture, biodiversity, education, forestry, governance, health, movements and water. The case studies related to agriculture and food security are summarised below:Read More

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Seeds of Hope - Agriculture and food security by Lokayan and Planning Commission (2004)202.21 KB

Location

Medak, AP, India
Latitude: 18.050193, Longitude: 78.264700

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6.22-2011.07.01-06