Tackling Maharashtra's water crisis
The Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Maharashtra along with India Climate Collaborative, WOTR Centre for Resilience Studies (W-CReS) and Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR) have together released a detailed report on ways to secure water using natural ecosystem management to tackle Maharashtra’s water crisis.
The report highlights three critical water systems
riverine systems, smaller working units within larger river basins;
rainfed/groundwater-dependent systems, the areas with predominantly rainfed agriculture, supplemented by seasonal irrigation from wells and borewells and
command/canal irrigation systems that carries water from dams for irrigation.
Recommendations
To address all challenges, healthy natural ecosystems are the first step to ensuring long-term access to water, which underpins the wellness of human society.
Benefit sharing, local governance, and sustainable incomes for people are central to maintaining water interventions in the long-term.
Additionally, build resilience to climate risks.
This led to the selection of an ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) approach, which can address all priorities if implemented effectively.
The focus of EbA is on ecosystem restoration and enhancement of ecosystem services to protect society against negative impacts of climate change.
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