Water resource management & supply in Central India: report of Grassroots Field Exposure session February 2019

The India-UK Water Centre (IUKWC) promotes cooperation and collaboration between the complementary priorities of NERC-MoES water security research. This report presents an overview of the joint India-UK scientific Grassroots Field Exposure Initiative held in Bhopal from 25th-27th February, 2019. The event was convened by the IndiaUK Water Centre co-coordinators Dr A.K. Sahai (Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, India) and Dr Harry Dixon (Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, UK). The initiative was organised by IUKWC Secretariat in collaboration Dr Pankaj Kumar (Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal, India), Dr Alexandre Gagnon (Liverpool John Moores University, UK) and Dr Sumit Sinha (University of Leeds, UK). The event aimed to gain a closer perspective of the management of water at ground level, its associated issues and the use – and need for - scientific outputs by end users in central India. To tackle the multi-faceted and intertwined nature of the various water related issues in the region the focus of the event was sub-divided into three major sectors for easy and efficient analysis of regional water balance: Agriculture & water resource; Domestic energy & water resource; Energy and industrial water resource. The event was multi-sectoral with focus on water supply and resource management for Agriculture, domestic and energy sectors. This was the field based interactive approach to discuss and understand the grass-root level status quo by scientists from both India & UK. Scientist interacted with the end users and tried to understand their techniques and traditional knowledge and discussed about various socio-economic aspects of the local water user scenario. Indian Institutions including the National Institute of Hydrology- Roorkee, Jamia Millia Islamia University- Delhi, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, Amity UniversityJaipur, TERI School of Advanced Studies- New Delhi, Symbiosis International (Deemed University)- Pune, Indian Institute of Soil Sciences- Bhopal, Central Institute of Agriculture EngineeringBhopal and Banaras Hindu University- Varanasi participated in the event. UK participants included experts from the Loughborough University, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, University of the West of England, Liverpool John Moores University, Cranfield University, University of Plymouth, University of Dundee and University of Leeds

The hydrology of sand rivers in Zimbabwe and the use of remote sensing to assess their level of saturation

Sand rivers are ephemeral watercourses containing sand that are occasionally flooded with rainwater runoff during the rainy season. Although the riverbed appears dry for most of the year, there is perennial groundwater flow within the sand. This water flowing beneath the surface is a valuable resource for local communities; nonetheless our understanding of such river systems is limited. Hence, this paper aims to improve our understanding of the hydrology of sand rivers and to examine the potential use of remote sensing to detect the presence of water in the sand. The relationship between rainfall events and changes in the water level of two sand rivers in the Matabeleland South Province of Zimbabwe was investigated. A lagged relationship was observed for the Manzamnyama River but for the Shashani River the relationship was seen only when considering cumulative rainfall events. The comparison of the modelled flow as simulated by a water balance model with observations revealed the important influence of the effective sediment depth on the recharge and recession of the alluvial channels in addition to the length of the channel. The possibility of detecting water in the alluvial sands was investigated using remote sensing. During the wet season, optical images showed that the presence of water on the riverbed was associated with a smooth signal, as it tends to reflect the incident radiation. A chronological analysis of radar images for different months of the year demonstrates that it is possible to detect the presence of water in the sand rivers. These results are a first step towards the development of a methodology that would aim to use remote sensing to help reducing survey costs by guiding exploratory activities to areas showing signs of water abstraction potential

Freshwater Availability for Agriculture in Sundarbans. Variability due to changes in the summer monsoon under current and climate change conditions

The India–UK Water Centre (IUKWC) funded a Pump Priming Project (PPP) titled: “The influence of the monsoon on freshwater availability for agriculture in the Sundarbans region of West Bengal, India, under current and climate change conditions” between June and September 2019. This Knowledge Exchange brief was developed from the outputs of the activities conducted during this study: i) investigating the variability of the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) and the ensuing freshwater availability for agriculture in the Sundarbans region through the collection and analysis of climatic data and outputs from Global Climate Models (GCMs); and ii) understanding how changes in water resource availability are affecting livelihoods and discussing issues related to adaptation to those changes through meetings with farmers, NGOs and local government officials engaged in water resource management. The research results were communicated through a workshop with agricultural, water and climate scientists, NGOs and government stakeholders working in the Sundarbans region, where the team gained feedback, and shared knowledge and ideas for future research. This Brief was prepared by Professor Lalu Das, Principal Investigator (PI) and India Project Lead, and Professor Gautam Saha, both from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV) in India, and Dr Alexandre Gagnon, UK Project Lead, and Dr Indrani Roy from Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) in the UK

Water resource management and climate change adaptation in Central India

The India-UK Water Centre (IUKWC) promotes cooperation and collaboration between the complementary priorities of NERC-MoES water security research. This State of Science Brief was produced as an output from an India-UK Water Centre Grassroots Field Exposure Session and User Engagement Initiative held in Bhopal, India from 25th February to 2nd March 2019

An integrated approach for assessing the vulnerability of World Heritage Sites to climate change impacts

One of the most difficult problem facing those responsible for managing World Heritage Sites (WHS) is climate change, as it poses continuous new challenges to the conservation of cultural heritage. Moreover, as our climate continues to change our cultural heritage will potentially be exposed to diverse pressures and potentially to risks not previously experienced. Thus, management practices will need to be tailored in order to include climate change impacts. For climate change impacts to be incorporated into preservation frameworks and management practices from government policy level down to the practice in the field, data, information and assessment methods need to be available at a scale relevant to decision-makers. This paper presents an integrated vulnerability assessment methodology and applies it to three UNESCO cultural WHS in Europe. Through this process, semi-structured interviews were conducted with academics and experts in the management and conservation of cultural heritage, as well as with the managers and coordinators of WHS. The incorporation of bottom-up knowledge in the assessment process allowed for an understanding of the sensitivity and adaptive capacity of the sites, two components of vulnerability that are not given sufficient attention and ignored, respectively, in typical top-down climate change impact assessments. In particular, the interviews elucidated the determinants that enable or constrain the capacity to adapt, i.e., resources, including technical, economic and human; information and awareness; management capacity; learning capacity; leadership; communication and collaboration; and governance; with the lack of resources most commonly mentioned as the determinant impeding adaptation. ‘Information and awareness’ and ‘management capacity’ are determinants that were not previously identified in the field of cultural heritage. The former stresses the need to disseminate the results of scientific research for their incorporation in the management of heritage sites. Vulnerability assessments such as those performed in this paper can be used to target interventions to protect and strengthen the resilience of cultural heritage to climate change impacts

Mitigating Climate Change in the Cultural Built Heritage Sector

Climate change mitigation targets have put pressure to reduce the carbon footprint of cultural heritage buildings. Commonly adopted measures to decrease the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of historical buildings are targeted at improving their energy efficiency through insulating the building envelope, and upgrading their heating, cooling and lighting systems. However, there are complex issues that arise when mitigating climate change in the cultural built heritage sector. For instance, preserving the authenticity of heritage buildings, maintaining their traditional passive behaviours, and choosing adaptive solutions compatible with the characteristics of heritage materials to avoid an acceleration of decay processes. It is thus important to understand what the enablers, or the barriers, are to reduce the carbon footprint of cultural heritage buildings to meet climate change mitigation targets. This paper investigates how climate change mitigation is considered in the management and preservation of the built heritage through semi-structured interviews with cultural heritage experts from the UK, Italy and Norway. Best-practice approaches for the refurbishment of historical buildings with the aim of decreasing their energy consumption are presented, as perceived by the interviewees, as well as the identification of the enablers and barriers in mitigating climate change in the cultural built heritage sector. The findings emphasise that adapting the cultural built heritage to reduce GHGs emissions is challenging, but possible if strong and concerted action involving research and government can be taken to overcome the barriers identified in this paper

Multi-hazards coastal vulnerability assessment of Goa, India, using geospatial techniques

The state of Goa in West India has a 105km long coastline with beaches and cultural heritage sites of significant importance to tourism. The increasing incidence of tropical cyclones in the Arabian Sea in recent decades and the devastating impacts of the December 2004 tsunami in India stressed the importance of assessing the vulnerability of coastal areas to flooding and inundation, notably in view of climate change induced sea-level rising (SLR). This study aims to develop a Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) for the state of Goa and to use this index to examine the vulnerability of the different administrative units of the state, known as talukas. This is accomplished by using seven physical and geologic risk variables characterising the vulnerability of the coast, including historical shoreline change, rate of relative sea-level change, coastal regional elevation, coastal slope, mean tidal range, significant wave height, and geomorphology using conventional and remotely sensed data, in addition to two socio-economic parameters: population and tourist density data. Using a composite CVI based on those relative risk variables, each of the seven coastal talukas was categorised according to its vulnerability. The resulting vulnerability map depicts the talukas that are the most and least vulnerable to erosion, flooding and inundation of coastal lands, and that the inclusion of socio-economic parameters influences the overall assessment of vulnerability. This study provides information aimed at increasing awareness amongst decision-makers to deal with disaster mitigation and coastal zone management, and is a first step towards prioritising areas for climate change adaptation in view of the projected SLR and increased storminess

Vulnerability and adaptation to extreme coastal flooding: An example from the south ford area, scottish outer hebrides

Vulnerability to climate change is a function of both exposure and sensitivity to the impacts of climate change and coping capacity, whether physical or human, to deal with those impacts. The coast is a dynamic environment where physical change is constant. Severe flooding and damage to land, property and coastal infrastructure in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland during January 2005 was caused by a highly destructive storm coupled with tidal surge and the cumulative impact of relative rising sea level. The impacts of the storm highlighted the vulnerability of coastal communities living on low-lying soft coasts and the need for an adaptive response in taking measures to protect them from the harmful effects of future storms. The purpose of this paper is to report on the changing approaches to coastal protection practices in the Outer Hebrides that have resulted from climate change adaptation research. The focus of the paper is on an area of intertidal sands between the islands of Benbecula and South Uist and the consequences of replacing an open span bridge with a rockfill causeway and the sea breaching a barrier island with the result of extensive coastal flooding experienced during the storm. CoastAdapt was a transnational project which aimed to develop adaptation strategies and tools to help people and authorities adopt measures in response to climate and environmental change. Using a participatory approach, a stepwise methodological approach to building local adaptive capacity was developed. In making recommendations for action in reducing the risk from flooding key measures arranged in terms of efficacy and affordability are listed in a hazard management matrix. These measures range from replacing a significant section of causeway with a bridge to inexpensive options such as dune management and improved flood warning. The process is transferable to a variety of coastal localities and situations and especially so given the need to balance the safeguarding of local coastal communities with agreement on cost effective and appropriate measures which address the growing impacts of climate change

Climate change impacts on freshwater availability for agriculture in Sundarbans, India: report of pump priming project

The India-UK Water Centre (IUKWC) promotes cooperation and collaboration between the complementary priorities of NERC-MoES water security research. This report presents an overview of the activities undertaken as part of a Pump Priming Project in Sundarbans from June through September 2019. The project activities were led by Professor Lalu Das in India and Dr Alexandre Gagnon in the UK, and included analyses of climatic data from observations, re-analyses and global climate models, interactive sessions with farmers and other water resource stakeholders, and a workshop with scientists, NGOs and government stakeholders working in the region. The report outlines a summary of the activities and its main conclusions, and is intended for the India-UK Water Centre members and stakeholders