Climate Change Governance and Adaptation ― Case Studies from South Asia

Climate change in this book is seen not only as an environmental problem but as a societal challenge too and as such discusses the governance issues from an interdisciplinary approach and across different scales: local, state, and national. Drawing governance lessons from case studies across South Asia, the book addresses the impact of urbanization and migration, the role of financing mechanisms and the economics of adaptation, and emphasizes that a top down approach in governing climate change adaptation and mitigation may not provide desired outcomes. The authors use governance as a lens to understand the challenges and opportunities regarding climate adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Anamika Barua is an Associate Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Guwahati, India. She has a PhD in ecological economics from the University of Leeds, UK. Her work focuses on understanding how political, social and economic factors shapes environmental decisions and change, particularly related to water. For the last ten years she has been involved in academic and consultancy project related to water issues in South Asia. Her research interests include – economics of climate change, ecological footprints, virtual water flow through trade and water governance including transboundary water governance. She has published her recent research in journals such as Regional Environmental Change, Water Resources Research, International Journal for Water Resources Development and Water Policy.

Vishal Narain is a Professor at Public Policy and Governance department, Management Development Institute, India. He holds a PhD from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. His teaching and research interests are in the inter-disciplinary analyses of public policy processes and institutions, water governance, vulnerability and adaptation to environmental change and periurban issues. His research has been published in several international peer-reviewed journals like Water Policy, Water International, Environment and Urbanization, Local Environment: the International Journal of Justice and Sustainability and Mountain research and Development. He has recently co-edited ‘Globalization of Water Governance in South Asia (Routledge)’. He was lead author for a chapter on human vulnerability to environmental change for GEO- (Global Environment outlook)- 4, the flagship publication of UNEP, the United Nations Environment Programme.

Sumit Vij is a PhD Researcher at Public Administration and Policy Group in Wageningen University. His research interests are climate governance, power and politics, policy paradigms, transboundary water governance and politics and peri-urban development. Sumit holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Development Practices from TERI University, and studied Development Management at TDA. He completed Bachelors in Chemistry from University of Delhi. His experience also includes his service record at the National Dairy Development Board, Ministry of Agriculture, India. He has recently published articles in journals such as Environment Science and Policy, Climate Policy, International Journal for Water Resources Development, Land Use Policy, and Geoforum.