Preparing India for Water Stress and Climate Resilience
GS PAPER 3
The Hindu Editorial
- Recognizing Chronic Risks:
- Shift from reactive responses to chronic risks like water stress and climate change.
- Need for holistic understanding and long-term strategies to address these challenges effectively.
- Interconnectedness of Water:
- Water intersects with various sectors like agriculture, energy, and climate resilience, impacting economic stability and livelihoods.
- Highlighting the crucial role of water in agriculture, clean energy transition, and climate adaptation.
- Water Governance and Policy Integration:
- Policies must recognize the nexus between water, food, and energy systems.
- Lack of policy coherence hampers effective planning and implementation.
- Emphasis on incorporating local evidence and community engagement in policy formulation.
- Efficient Water Management:
- Focus on judicious use of blue and green water through water accounting and efficient reuse.
- Calls for quantifiable targets and baseline data to measure water efficiency improvements.
- Promotion of treated wastewater reuse and reduction of non-revenue water losses.
- Financial Tools for Adaptation:
- Need for increased financial commitments for climate adaptation in the water sector.
- Current focus primarily on mitigation, with inadequate funding for adaptation.
- leveraging financial instruments and markets to bridge the adaptation funding gap.
- Potential for market innovations like India’s Green Credit Programme to mobilize investments in climate-resilient infrastructure.
- Path Towards Resilience:
- Acknowledgment that systemic change will take time but advocating for initial steps towards policy coherence.
- Importance of data-driven approaches, financial innovations, and policy integration in building a water-secure and climate-resilient economy.