Project description
Water security in mountain communities
In India’s Himalayan region, mountain communities are facing a deepening water crisis. Springs, often their only source of water, are drying up or becoming inaccessible due to urbanisation, climate change, and fragmented governance. These high-altitude regions, already environmentally and politically marginalised, see women bearing the brunt of water insecurity. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the MOUNTAINWATERS project is stepping in to reshape how water is understood, accessed, and managed in these vulnerable areas. It explores water rights, the gendered burden of water collection, and climate impacts. Its goal? A people-centred, sustainable framework that supports fair and resilient water systems, bridging formal and informal networks, and ultimately securing water for those too often overlooked.
Objective
Water security is the key to protecting lives and livelihoods from the ravages of climate change. Very shortly, water management needs to undergo transformational, people-centred change with a focus on sustainability. Mountains are marginalized on many fronts — environmentally, politically and financially because of this communities have little or no access to reliable water supply and display low levels of water consumption. Springs are the primary source of water for many mountain communities. Due to urbanization, springs and their quality as well as access to them are changing. The biophysical and jurisdictional boundaries create a mismatch in terms of its management affecting the rights over it. The plethora of water suppliers and the roles they play in water provisioning suggests the need to ascertain the intertwining of the formal and informal. The study investigates the access to water in the face of climate change in the rural-urban continuum in the Himalayan Region in India. Through this study, I intend to create a framework that can be used to study water scenarios and work towards water security for urban mountain settlements. The objectives of this project are:
1. To understand the urban-rural continuum and the right to water
2. To assess women’s participation and roles in achieving water security
3. To appraise current and expected impacts of climate change on water security
This work aims to close the methodological gap in carrying out and analyzing interdisciplinary studies on water. The work will add to the literature on water security under a changing climate. It will provide a unique case of the mountains which are marginalized geographies and most vulnerable to climate change. It will also provide methodological insights and help derive policy recommendations for mountainous regions of the world.
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
E1 4NS London
United Kingdom