WISA Series

"Towards an interdisciplinary South Asian water resources knowledge system"

Water in South Asia(WISA) Reader Series

The Water in South Asia Reader is a SaciWATERs initiative through the CB project which expects to produce a series of readers with basic reading material on water resources issues in South Asia largely written by South Asians. On each topic a workshop will be held, with commissioned papers. The papers will be the base material for the book/reader to be brought out. In each volume there will be a number of review papers (regional or thematic) and a number of in-depth (case) studies. At present there are 12 topics underway as part of the initiative.

Published

Volume I - Integrated Water Resources Management: Global Theory, Emerging Practice and Local Needs

Editors - Dr. Peter P. Mollinga, Dr. Ajaya Dixit and Ms. Kusum Athukorala.

This book comprises twelve chapters and deals with integrated water resources management (IWRM) theories and practices in South Asian countries. These chapters are written by authors who are experts in the field. This book is well written, timely, and would make a major contribution to our knowledge and understanding of the IWRM in general and its emerging practices in South Asian countries. IWRM is the process of promoting the coordinated development and management of water, land, and related resources, in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems (WHO). The global foundation of IWRM was laid at the 1992 Dublin conference and the UNCAD Earth Day Summit at Rio de Janeiro.

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Volume II - Droughts and Integrated Water Resource Management in South Asia

Editors - Prof. Vishwa Ballabh and Dr. Jasveen Jairath.

Droughts and Integrated Water Resource Management in South Asia, highlights that while available water supplies can be quantified, it is not so with droughts. Droughts are variously experienced, politically inspired, socially constituted and arise essentially from the monopoly of available water. Countering technocratic and naturalistic treatments of droughts by mainstream professionals, the contributors argue that the focus of redressal has to be on the political struggle for equitable sharing rather than the creation of large reservoirs that may again be monopolized by vested interests to generate continuous 'droughts'.

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Upcoming Readers

  • Volume III - Floods in South Asia
  •     Editors - Dr. Peter Mollinga and Prof. Jayanta Bandyopadhyay.

  • Volume IV - Gender and Water in South Asia
  •     Editors - Dr. Margreet Zwarteveen, Dr. Suman Gautam and Dr. Sara Ahmed

  • Volume V - Water Conflict in South Asia
  •     Editors - Dr. S Janakarajan and Dr. N C Narayanan.

  • Volume VI - Civil Society and Governance
  •     Editors - Prof. R Parasuraman and Dr. N C Narayanan.

  • Volume VII - Water and Ecosystem
  •     Editors - Prof. Nimal Gunawardena, Prof. Brij Gopal and Prof. Hemasiri B Kotagama.

  • Volume VIII - Water and Health
  •     Editors - Dr. Anjal Prakash and Dr. V.S.Saravanan

  • Volume IX - Water Rights Asia
  •     Editors - Dr. Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Dr.Chanda Gurung Goodrich