Abstract
This paper argues that the crisis in humanity’s relationship with water reflected in rapidly escalating demand and dangerously depleting freshwater and groundwater reserves, can be understood as the outcome of the anthropocentric assumptions underlying our current development models. These assumptions have given rise to both the challenge of severe water scarcity as well as to the kind of policies used to address it. Drawing on principles from an environmental justice framework, it calls for a drastic restructuring of the water sector on more equitable, sustainable and democratic lines. Some of the guiding principles for water governance that are suggested include ensuring that interventions in nature or river systems are along the contours of nature, focusing on managing the demand for water as against the present emphasis on supply augmentation, recognition of structural and historical inequities which determine access to water, adoption of an approach to water management that is adaptive to rapidly changing circumstances and promotion of the participation of all stakeholders in governance and knowledge production.
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
Notes
- 1.
The Dublin Statement on Water and Sustainable Development, more popularly known as the Dublin Principles, was adopted in the International Conference on Water and the Environment (ICWE) held in Dublin, Ireland, on 26–31 January 1992. About five hundred participants, including government-designated experts, from a hundred odd countries and representatives of eighty international, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations attended the Conference. The Statement includes four guiding principles for the management of water and the fourth one states, “Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognised as an economic good”. The Statement and the Conference Report provide recommendations for action at local, national and international levels, based on four guiding principles. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, urged all governments and world leaders to study carefully the specific activities and means of implementation recommended in the Conference Report and to translate those recommendations into urgent action programmes for water and sustainable development. The Dublin principles are available at https://www.gdrc.org/uem/water/dublin-statement.html retrieved October 26, 2021.
- 2.
This quote in a slightly modified version is available in Shah and Vijayshankar (undated).
- 3.
The above brief review of rights of nature is based on Bajpai (2020).
- 4.
‘You’ here refers to the upper castes.
- 5.
‘We’ stands for the Dalit people.
- 6.
‘Chaturvarnya’ refers to the overarching division of society into a hierarchy of four varnas: the brahmin on the top, followed by kshatriya, vaishya and shudra varnas and also functions as an ideological justification of the caste system and its hierarchy. The erstwhile untouchables (the Dalits) are outside the varna system.
- 7.
See Committee on Restructuring the CWC and CGWB. (2016). A 21st Century Institutional Architecture for’s Water Reforms. Retrieved 2021, September 24 from, http://cgwb.gov.in/INTRA-CGWB/Circulars/Report_on_Restructuring_CWC_CGWB.pdf
Report submitted by Committee headed by Mihir Shah.
References
Allan, J. A. (2006). “IWRM: The new sanctioned discourse?”, in Peter P Mollinga, Ajaya Dixit and Kusum Athukonala (Ed), Integrated water resources management: global theory, emerging practice and local needs, Sage India.
Bajpai, S. (2020, April 28). Dialogue on rights of rivers (report and annexures). Vikalp Sangam. Retrieved September 9, 2022, from https://vikalpsangam.org/article/dialogue-on-rights-of-rivers-report-and-annexures/
Briscoe, J., & Malik, R. P. S. (2006). India’s water economy: Bracing for a turbulent future. Oxford University Press. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7238
Espíndola, I., Bosco, E., & Fetz, M. (2018). Anthropocene and water. Revista de Estudos e Pesquisas Avançadas do Terceiro Setor, 1(1), 101–109. https://doi.org/10.31501/repats.v1i1.9932
Govt to Utilise Water from Rivers Flowing to Pakistan: Gadkari. (2018, March 24). The Economic Times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/govt-to-utilise-water-from-rivers-flowing-to-pakistan-gadkari/articleshow/63445782.cms
Gujja, B., & Shaik, H. (2019). Reducing water for agriculture for improving productivity: Adapting and up-scaling innovative approaches. In K. J. Joy & S. Janakarajan (Eds.), India’s water futures: Emergent ideas and pathways (pp. 191–219). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Indias-Water-Futures-Emergent-Ideas-and-Pathways/Joy-Janakarajan/p/book/9780367732769
Iyer, R. R. (2012). River linking project: A disquieting judgment. Economic and Political Weekly, 47(14), 33–40. https://www.epw.in/journal/2012/14/perspectives/river-linking-project-disquieting-judgment.html
Joy, K. J. (2021). Deepening the conversation around water conflicts. In L. Cortesi & K. J. Joy (Eds.), Split waters: The idea of water conflicts (pp. 234–246). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003030171
Joy, K. J., & Srinivasan, V. (2020). Climate change and rural water security. IIC Quarterly, 46(3/4), 166–183.
Joy, K. J., Das, P. J., Chakraborty, C., Mahanta, C., Paranjape, S., & Vispute, S. (2018). Understanding water conflicts in Northeast India. In K. J. Joy, P. J. Das, C. Chakraborty, C. Mahanta, S. Paranjape & S. Vispute (Eds.), Water conflicts in Northeast India (pp. 1–26). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315168432
Joy, K. J., Kulkarni, S., Roth, D., & Zwarteveen, M. (2014). Repoliticising water governance: Exploring water re-allocations in terms of justice. The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, 19(9), 954–973. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2013.870542
Milly, P. C., Betancourt, J., Falkenmark, M., Hirsch, R. M., Kundzewicz, Z. W., Lettenmaier, D. P., & Stouffer, R. J. (2008). ‘Stationarity is dead: Whither water management?’ Science, 319 (5863), 573–74.
Molle, F., Mollinga, P., & Wester, P. (2009). Hydraulic bureaucracies and the hydraulic mission: Flows of water, flows of power. Water Alternatives, 2(3), 328–349. https://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/alldoc/articles/vol2/v2issue3/65-a2-3-3/file
NITI Aayog. (2018). Composite water management index: A tool for water management. https://www.niti.gov.in/writereaddata/files/document_publication/2018-05-18-Water-Index-Report_vS8-compressed.pdf
Prayas. (2010). Sinchanache pani udyogana va shaharana valavinyachya Maharashtra rajyatil dhoranancha va amalbajavanicha abhyas [Marathi]. Resources and Livelihoods Group, Prayas.
Restructuring the CWC and CGWB. (2016). A 21st century institutional architecture for India’s water reforms. Retrieved September 24, 2021, from http://cgwb.gov.in/INTRA-CGWB/Circulars/Report_on_Restructuring_CWC_CGWB.pdf
Shah, M., & Vijayshankar, P. S. (2021, January 19–22). Transforming water and agriculture in India [Conference presentation]. National Dialogue on “Indian Agriculture Towards 2030: Pathways for Enhancing Farmers’ Income, Nutritional Security and Sustainable Food Systems”. Retrieved September 24, 2021, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354066384_INDIAN_AGRICULTURE_TOWARDS_2030_Pathways_for_Enhancing_Farmers%27_Income_Nutritional_Security_and_Sustainable_Food_Systems_Thematic_Session_WATER_IN_AGRICULTURE_Discussion_Paper_Transforming_Water_and_A
Shah, M., Vijayshankar, P. S., & Harris, F. (2021a). Water and agricultural transformation in India: A symbiotic relationship—I. Economic and Political Weekly, 56(29), 43–55. https://www.epw.in/journal/2021/29/special-articles/water-and-agricultural-transformation-india.html
Shah, M., Vijayshankar, P. S., & Harris, F. (2021b). Water and agricultural transformation in India: A symbiotic relationship—II. Economic and Political Weekly, 56(30), 46–51. https://www.epw.in/journal/2021/30/special-articles/water-and-agricultural-transformation-india.html
Srinivasan, V., & Joy, K. J. (2019). Transitioning to sustainable development goals for water. Economic and Political Weekly, 54(11), 17. https://www.epw.in/journal/2019/11/commentary/transitioning-sustainable-development-goals-water.html
Working Group I. (2021). Climate change 2021: The physical science basis. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Full_Report.pdf
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Joy, K.J. (2023). Principles for Water Governance in a Post-COVID World: Water Sector Needs to Be Embedded in Environmental Justice. In: Fazli, A., Kundu, A. (eds) Reimagining Prosperity. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7177-8_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7177-8_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-19-7176-1
Online ISBN: 978-981-19-7177-8
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)