Abstract
While most research on climate change and water security focuses on purely agrarian or urban contexts, periurban contexts need special attention in terms of research and capacity-building. This is because they suffer from the effects of both rural and urban stressors, that are aggravated by the effects of climate change. Further, they are rapidly growing in geographical spread and importance and sustain an urban metabolism in the context of growing cities of the global south. Providing platforms for dialogue between the state and water users, and building human capital to promote occupational diversification can build the coping capacity of periurban communities and reduce their vulnerability to water insecurity caused by the combined effects of urbanization and climate change. This paper examines the impacts of urbanization and climate change on the water security of periurban populations in Gurgaon, North-West India and their adaptive responses. Efforts to enhance their adaptive capacity by promoting platforms for stakeholder dialogue with the state agencies and supporting occupational diversification are described. The methodology, leaning on an interpretive and social constructivist paradigm, comprises ethnographic tools, semi-structured interviews and key informant interviews (KIIs). Research for this paper was carried out between the periods 2009 to 2015 and shows that the population of periurban Gurgaon lost private and common property land and water resources to support the expansion of the city. There is growing pressure on the water table from the expanding city. The effects of these trends have been aggravated by a change in the seasonal distribution of rainfall and the duration of seasons, rising temperatures and disappearance of the monsoon season. Periurban communities have responded by switching to sprinkler irrigation sets, changes in cropping choices and increased reliance on wastewater. The paper concludes by developing a typology of urbanization and climate change induced periurban water insecurity and by making a case for increased research and policy attention to periurban areas that suffer the combined effects of urbanization and climate change on their water sources.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adger NW (2006) Vulnerability. Glob Environ Chang: Hum Policy Dimens 16(3):268–281
Cook C, Bakker K (2012) Water security: debating an emerging paradigm. Glob Environ Chang 22:94–102
Eakin H (2005) Institutional change, climate risk and rural vulnerability: cases from Central Mexico. World Dev 33(11):1923–1938
Gomes SL, Hermans LM (2018) Institutional function and urbanization in Bangladesh: how peri-urban communities respond to changing environments. Land Use Policy 79:932–941
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Jalan J, Ravallion M (1999) Are the poor less insured? Evidence on vulnerability to income risk in rural China. J Dev Econ 58(1):61–81
Kirby P (2006) Vulnerability and violence: the impact of globalization. Pluto Press, London
Leichenko R, O’Brien K (2002) The dynamics of rural vulnerability to global change: the case of Southern Africa. Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Chang 7(1):1–18
Mackenzie K, Harpham T (2006) Social capital and mental health. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London
McGee TG (1991) The emergence of Desakota regions in Asia: expanding a hypothesis. The extended metropolis: settlement transition in Asia
Mercer J (2010) Disaster risk reduction or climate change adaptation: are we reinventing the wheel? J Int Dev 2:247–264
Narain V (2014) Whose land? Whose water? Water rights, equity and justice in periurban Gurgaon India. Local Environ: Int J Justice Sustain 19(9):974–989
Narain V, Nischal S (2007) The peri-urban interface in Shahpur Khurd and Karnera India. Environ Urban 19(1):261–273
Narain V, Singh AK (2017) Flowing against the current: the socio-technical mediation of water (in) security in periurban Gurgaon, India. Geoforum 81:66–75
Narain V, Ranjan P, Vij S, Dewan A (2017) Taking the road less taken: reorienting the state for periurban water security. Action Res 18:528–545. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476750317736370
Narain V, Ranjan P, Singh S, Dewan A (2016) Urbanization, climate change and water security in periurban Gurgaon India. In: Narain V, Prakash A (eds) Water security in periurban South Asia: adapting to climate change and urbanization. Oxford University Press, New Delhi
Narain V, Vij S, Dewan A (2019) Bonds, battles and social capital: power and the mediation of water insecurity in peri-urban Gurgaon India. Water 11(8):1607
Narain V, Singh AK (2019) Gurgaon. In: The wiley blackwell encyclopedia of urban and regional studies, pp 1–4
Narain (2009) Growing city, shrinking hinterland. Land Acquisition, transition and conflict in periurban Gurgaon. India. Environ Urban 21(2):501–512
O’Brien K, Quinlan T, Ziervogel G (2009) Vulnerability intervnetions in the context of multiple stressors: lessons from the Southern Africa vulnerability initiative. Environ Sci Policy 12(1):23–32
Putnam R (2000) Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital. In: Culture and politics, pp 223–234
Saldana- Zorilla SO (2008) Stakeholders’ views in reducing rural vulnerability to natural disasters in Southern Mexico: hazard, exposure, coping and adaptive capacity. Glob Environ Chang: Hum Policy Dimens 18(4):583–597
Shrestha A (2019) Urbanizing flows: growing water insecurity in peri-urban Kathmandu Valley, Nepal (Doctoral dissertation). Wageningen University, Wageningen
Singh AK, Narain V (2020) Lost in transition: perspectives, processes and transformations in Periurbanizing India. Cities 97:102494
Vij S, Narain V (2016) Land, water and power: the demise of common property resources in periurban Gurgaon, India. Land Use Policy 50:59–66
von Benda Beckmann (1989) Scape-goat and magic charm: law in development theory and practice. J Legal Pluralism Unoff Law 21(8):129–148
Acknowledgements
This paper is based on research carried out under two projects. The first is the project 'Water security in periurban South Asia: adapting to climate change and urbanization, supported by IDRC, International Development Research Center, Canada. The second is a project on periurban water security funded by NWO, the Dutch Scientific Organization under the CoCOON-CCMCC programme. Thanks are expressed to IDRC, Canada and the NWO. Thanks are also expressed to SaciWATERs, South Asian Consortium for Inter-Disciplinary Water Resources Studies for organizational support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Narain, V. (2021). Water Security and Climate Change: A Periurban Perspective. In: Babel, M., Haarstrick, A., Ribbe, L., Shinde, V.R., Dichtl, N. (eds) Water Security in Asia. Springer Water. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54612-4_31
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54612-4_31
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-54611-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-54612-4
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)