Charles for traditional solutions for water scarcity

Jodhpur, Mar 31: Cities in India will have to manage their water resources if rural India is to survive and the solution lies in both traditional wisdom and modern technology.

This was the broad consensus that emerged at a two-day conference here on ''Towards a Sustainable Water Future: Strategies to Address Competing Claims'', attended, among others, by Prince Charles of Britain and leading environmentalist Sunita Narain.

The conference, which concluded yesterday, also came out with a series of recommendations for countries like India, grappling with scarce water resources: Use water prudently, save and conserve every drop and recycle waste water from cities and industry, along with a comprehensive water policy that addresses these issues while ensuring linkages with related sectors like energy, forestry and agriculture.

The conference was co-organised by the Jai Bhagirathi Foundation and the UNDP in partnership with the Italian Government, UNICEF and Swedish Development Assistance.

Prince Charles, who inaugurated the conference, warned that increasing and unsustainable demands on water would make the water table fall rapidly, and ''if we care about the future of our children and grandchildren, we need to work in harmony with nature and give back what we take.'' The Prince of Wales, who was on a two-day visit to the city, pointed out that traditional solutions had been revived and tested in Rajasthan by pioneers like Bunker Roy, known worldwide for the Tilonia barefoot training centre, and Ramon Magsaysay awardee Rajinder Singh, better known as India's Water Man.

''The challenge now lies in scaling up these efforts'', was his contention.

Ms Narain, Director, Centre for Science and Environment, said conflict over water was inevitable with increasing scarcity and rising population. ''However, cities must take responsibility to recycle waste water and also adopt traditional wisdom to harvest, recharge and use it prudently if conflicts are to be prevented.''

In rural areas, Ms Narain emphasised the need to strengthen the role of Gram Sabhas and Gram Panchayats in managing water and other natural resources. The conference also deliberated on both hard and soft options to resolve competing issues related to sharing of water between rural and urban areas, managing competing inter-sectoral water demands, contentious issues triggered by policy and issues related to different uses of water.

Drawing on the experiences of water experts, development practitioners and academics from India, Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the workshop recommendations included the review and formation of water policies at the State level that are rights-based, focus on equity for the poor and marginalised with laws and mechanisms to implement these.

The need to build coordination mechanisms to forge linkages with related sectors and programmes like energy, agriculture and the Central Government's flagship programmes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP), aimed at creating assets for water management, are key to an effective water policy.

''Water is not an infinite resource and the overreaching issues of demand management and prioritisation are of the utmost importance in managing water and pre-empting conflicts,'' said Dr Maxine Olson, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in her keynote address.

She also emphasised the importance of participation, transparency and non-discrimination as the guiding principles in developing approaches and mechanisms to prevent, minimise and resolve competing claims.

Besides over 100 water experts and development practitioners, the conference was also attended by representatives from development organisations like the UNDP and UNICEF, the Italian government, the ADB, the European Commission and the United Kingdom's Development Agency (DFID).

UNI

UNI