Knowledge Priorities on Climate Change and Water in the Upper Indus Basin: A Horizon Scanning Exercise to Identify the Top 100 Research Questions in Social and Natural Sciences

River systems originating from the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) are dominated by runoff from snow and glacier melt and summer monsoonal rainfall. These water resources are highly stressed as huge populations of people living in this region depend on them, including for agriculture, domestic use, and energy production. Projections suggest that the UIB region will be affected by considerable (yet poorly quantified) changes to the seasonality and composition of runoff in the future, which are likely to have considerable impacts on these supplies. Given how directly and indirectly communities and ecosystems are dependent on these resources and the growing pressure on them due to ever-increasing demands, the impacts of climate change pose considerable adaptation challenges. The strong linkages between hydroclimate, cryosphere, water resources, and human activities within the UIB suggest that a multi- and inter-disciplinary research approach integrating the social and natural/environmental sciences is critical for successful adaptation to ongoing and future hydrological and climate change. Here we use a horizon scanning technique to identify the Top 100 questions related to the most pressing knowledge gaps and research priorities in social and natural sciences on climate change and water in the UIB. These questions are on the margins of current thinking and investigation and are clustered into 14 themes, covering three overarching topics of ‘governance, policy, and sustainable solutions’, ‘socioeconomic processes and livelihoods’, and ‘integrated Earth System processes’. Raising awareness of these cutting-edge knowledge gaps and opportunities will hopefully encourage researchers, funding bodies, practitioners, and policy makers to address them

Infraestructura urbana verde-azul en Boston y Bombay (Mumbai): una comparación geográfica macro-histórica

This study offers a macro-historical geographic comparison of blue-green urban infrastructure in the coastal cities of Boston, USA and Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India. After introducing the aims and methods of comparative historical geography, we focus on the insights that these two cases offer. Their stories begin with ancient coastal fishing settlements, followed by early processes of urbanization and fortification in the 17th century. By the late-18th century Anglo-American merchants in Boston were trading with Parsi merchants in Bombay, at a time when Bostonians had little more to sell than ice in exchange for India’s fine textiles. From the early-19th century onwards, the two maritime cities undertook surprisingly parallel processes of land reclamation and water development. Boston commissioned blue-green infrastructure proposals at the urban scale, from Frederick Law Olmsted’s Back Bay Fens to Charles Eliot’s Metropolitan Park District Plan—innovations that offer more than a century of lessons in environmental performance and resilience. The two cities developed parallel “Esplanade,” “Back Bay,” and “Reclamation” projects. None of these projects anticipated the magnitude of 20th century land, water, and infrastructure change. Both cities have begun to address the increasing risks of urban flooding, sea level rise, and population displacement, but they need bolder metropolitan visions of blue-green urban infrastructure to address emerging climate change and water hazards.Este estudio ofrece una comparación geográfica y macro histórica de la infraestructura urbana azul-verde en las ciudades costeras de Boston (EE. UU.) y Mumbai (antes Bombay, India). Después de presentar los objetivos y métodos de la geografía histórica comparada, nos enfocamos en las ideas que ofrecen estos dos casos. Sus historias comienzan con antiguos asentamientos pesqueros costeros, seguidos de los primeros procesos de urbanización y fortificación en el siglo XVII. A finales del siglo XVIII, los comerciantes angloamericanos de Boston comerciaban con los comerciantes parsi en Bombay, en un momento en que los bostonianos tenían poco más para vender que hielo a cambio de los finos textiles de la India. Desde principios del siglo XIX en adelante, las dos ciudades marítimas emprendieron procesos sorprendentemente paralelos de recuperación de tierras y desarrollo de agua. Boston encargó propuestas de infraestructura azul-verde a escala urbana, desde Back Bay Fens de Frederick Law Olmsted hasta el Plan del Distrito de Parques Metropolitanos de Charles Eliot, innovaciones que ofrecen más de un siglo de lecciones en desempeño ambiental y resiliencia. Las dos ciudades desarrollaron proyectos paralelos “Esplanade”, “Back Bay” y “Reclamation”. Ninguno de estos proyectos anticipó la magnitud del cambio de tierra, agua e infraestructura del siglo XX. Ambas ciudades han comenzado a abordar los crecientes riesgos de inundaciones urbanas, aumento del nivel del mar y desplazamiento de la población, pero necesitan visiones metropolitanas más audaces de infraestructura urbana azul-verde para abordar el cambio climático emergente y los peligros del agua

Infraestructura urbana verde-azul en Boston y Bombay (Mumbai): una comparación geográfica macro-histórica

This study offers a macro-historical geographic comparison of blue-green urban infrastructure in the coastal cities of Boston, USA and Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India.  After introducing the aims and methods of comparative historical geography, we focus on the insights that these two cases offer. Their stories begin with ancient coastal fishing settlements, followed by early processes of urbanization and fortification in the 17th century.  By the late-18th century Anglo-American merchants in Boston were trading with Parsi merchants in Bombay, at a time when Bostonians had little more to sell than ice in exchange for India’s fine textiles. From the early-19th century onwards, the two maritime cities undertook surprisingly parallel processes of land reclamation and water development.  Boston commissioned blue-green infrastructure proposals at the urban scale, from Frederick Law Olmsted’s Back Bay Fens to Charles Eliot’s Metropolitan Park District Plan—innovations that offer more than a century of lessons in environmental performance and resilience.  The two cities developed parallel “Esplanade,” “Back Bay,” and “Reclamation” projects.  None of these projects anticipated the magnitude of 20th century land, water, and infrastructure change.  Both cities have begun to address the increasing risks of urban flooding, sea level rise, and population displacement, but they need bolder metropolitan visions of blue-green urban infrastructure to address emerging climate change and water hazards.Este estudio ofrece una comparación geográfica y macro histórica de la infraestructura urbana azul-verde en las ciudades costeras de Boston (EE. UU.) y Mumbai (antes Bombay, India). Después de presentar los objetivos y métodos de la geografía histórica comparada, nos enfocamos en las ideas que ofrecen estos dos casos. Sus historias comienzan con antiguos asentamientos pesqueros costeros, seguidos de los primeros procesos de urbanización y fortificación en el siglo XVII. A finales del siglo XVIII, los comerciantes angloamericanos de Boston comerciaban con los comerciantes parsi en Bombay, en un momento en que los bostonianos tenían poco más para vender que hielo a cambio de los finos textiles de la India. Desde principios del siglo XIX en adelante, las dos ciudades marítimas emprendieron procesos sorprendentemente paralelos de recuperación de tierras y desarrollo de agua. Boston encargó propuestas de infraestructura azul-verde a escala urbana, desde Back Bay Fens de Frederick Law Olmsted hasta el Plan del Distrito de Parques Metropolitanos de Charles Eliot, innovaciones que ofrecen más de un siglo de lecciones en desempeño ambiental y resiliencia. Las dos ciudades desarrollaron proyectos paralelos “Esplanade”, “Back Bay” y “Reclamation”. Ninguno de estos proyectos anticipó la magnitud del cambio de tierra, agua e infraestructura del siglo XX. Ambas ciudades han comenzado a abordar los crecientes riesgos de inundaciones urbanas, aumento del nivel del mar y desplazamiento de la población, pero necesitan visiones metropolitanas más audaces de infraestructura urbana azul-verde para abordar el cambio climático emergente y los peligros del agua

District Drinking Water Planning for Sustainability in Maharashtra: Between Local and Global Scales

Sustainable rural drinking water is a widespread aim in India, and globally, from the household to district, state, and national scales. Sustainability issues in the rural drinking water sector range from increasing water demand to declining groundwater levels, premature deterioration of village schemes and services, inadequate revenues for operations and maintenance, weak capacity of water operators, frequently changing state and national policies, and destabilizing effects of climate change. This paper focuses on the special role of district-scale drinking water planning, which operates at the intersection between bottom-up water demand and top-down water programs. After surveying the challenges associated with bottom-up and top-down planning approaches, we present recent efforts to strengthen district and block drinking water planning in the state of Maharashtra. A combination of district interviews, institutional history, village surveys, GIS visualization, and planning workshops were used to advance district planning goals and methods. Results assess bottom-up processes of water demand; top-down water programs and finance; and intermediate-level planning at the district and block scales. Discussion focuses on potential improvements in district planning methods in Maharashtra