This article explores changing water (in)securities in a context of urbanization and climate change in the peri-urban spaces of four South-Asian cities: Khulna (Bangladesh), Gurugram and Hyderabad (India), and Kathmandu (Nepal). As awareness of water challenges like intensifying use, deteriorating quality and climate change is growing, water security gets more scientific and policy attention. However, in peri-urban areas, the dynamic zones between the urban and the rural, it remains under-researched, despite the specific characteristics of these spaces: intensifying flows of goods, resources, people, and technologies; diversifying uses of, and growing pressures on land and water; and complex and often contradictory governance and jurisdictional institutions. This article analyses local experiences of water (in-)security, conflict and cooperation in relation to existing policies. It uses insights from the analysis of the case studies as a point of departure for a critical reflection on whether a 'community resilience' discourse contributes to better understanding these cases of water insecurity and conflict, and to better policy solutions. The authors argue that a community resilience focus risks neglecting important insights about how peri-urban water insecurity problems are experienced by peri-urban populations and produced or reproduced in specific socioeconomic , political and policy contexts. Unless supported by in-depth hydro-social research, such a focus may depoliticize basically political questions of water (re) allocation, prioritization, and access for marginalized groups. Therefore, the authors plead for more critical awareness among researchers and policy-makers of the consequences of using a 'community resilience' discourse for making sense of peri-urban water (in-)security. Key policy insights. There is an urgent need for more (critical) policy and scientific attention to periurban water insecurity, conflict, and climate change.. Although a changing climate will likely play a role, more attention is needed to how water insecurities and vulnerabilities in South Asia are socially produced.. Researchers and policy-makers should avoid using depoliticized (community) resilience approaches for basically socio-political problems.

ABSTRACT. Urbanization and the changing climate are increasingly influencing people's access to land and water. Changes in use of, and rights and access to, land and water are most acutely experienced in peri-urban areas. We analyze these changes in peri-urban Kathmandu, Nepal. Increasing pressures on land and growing water needs of an expanding population in Kathmandu Valley are creating new patterns of water use, water-related conflicts, and (in)securities. We use two case studies that are characteristic of these changes, with a focus on the microlevel redefinitions of, and struggles about, rights, access, and notions of legitimate water use, and what these mean for water security and water conflict in a socially and institutionally complex and dynamic environment. Our findings show that these water-related changes cause contestations and conflicts between peri-urban water users. Amid increasing competition for water, people are using new sources and technologies, searching for negotiated solutions based on local norms and rights, and co-opting other water users through cooperation to create access opportunities and avoid conflicts. Our cases show self-restraint in practices of claiming or accessing water, while avoidance of conflicts also derives from an awareness of unequal power relations between user groups, past experiences of violence used against protesters, and lack of active intervention to regulate increasing exploitation of peri-urban land and water resources.

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the local knowledge on climate change, its impacts and the responses they are making at the household or community level to deal with the changes on the basis of their experiences and perceptions. Design/methodology/approach – The study was based on household survey conducted with one male and one female respondent in 202 households. Alongside, series of focused group discussions were conducted with local people to capture the perception on about climate change, its impacts and adaptation strategies applied to enhance their resilience capacity to changing climate. Rainfall and temperature data were collected from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) for seven and four different stations, respectively, within Kathmandu Valley and analyzed to understand the climatic trend. Findings – The perception of most of the local people on changes in temperature was almost in line with the recorded long-term climatic trend both showing an increasing trend, whereas the perception of decreasing both monsoon and non-monsoon rainfall did not match with the recorded data as the rainfall data analysis did not reflect any clear long-term pattern. People have been facing several impacts such as decrease in water sources, decrease in agricultural crop production, increase in new crop pest and weeds in agricultural crops. Local people are responding to these impacts as per their own skills and traditional knowledge. Originality/value – This is totally original research article and the impacts and adaptations measures documented in this article may represent the case of peri-urban areas of least developed countries like Nepal.

The codified and written law applicable to the whole kingdom of Nepal Nani :Term that refers to a younger sister Pani nacalne choi chito halnu parne : Untouchable castes Pani nachalne : Those with whom higher castes were not to share water (to drink or use water offered or touched by them Pani nachalne choi chito halnu naparne : Impure but touchable castes Raikar : It denoted the crown-land or state land until 1950. Since then raikar land denotes an individual's private land. Rajkulos : Royal canals Ropani : Unit of land measurement (1 hectare=19.65 ropani) Samasya : Problems xi Sarkis : Cobblers caste groups Sim : Groundwater spring Tagadhari : Castes wearing of sacred thread Tole : A small settlement within a hamlet Varna :The basic stratification of the caste system, which divides society into four layers: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Sudras.xii Chapter 1 The water has goneFarmers, both men and women, were busy, trying to drain water out of their paddy fields, water logged after an overnight rain. The paddy was not yet ready for harvesting and farmers were worried because the water could damage their crop and reduce the yield. During an interview, it became clear that in the past these fields had been irrigated from a stream-fed canal irrigation system. Over the years, these fields turned into rain-fed fields, making cultivation more difficult for the farmers:Farmer 1 (man): "until the monsoon begins, there is very little water in the stream" [that feeds this canal].Farmer 2 (woman): "nowadays no one needs an irrigation canal; people only need roads. All these fields are going to be covered by houses".Farmer 3 (man): "these new houses and roads often encroach on the canal. It has already been encroached on at many sections".Farmer 2 (woman): "I thought you had also come to see the land to buy it".

Processes of urbanisation create peri-urban spaces that are socially and institutionally fluid. In this article, we analyse how contestations and competition over declining water resources in peri-urban Kathmandu Valley in Nepal reshape water use, access and rights as well as user communities themselves, by creating and reproducing new and existing exclusions and solidarities. Traditional caste-based discriminatory practices, prohibiting Dalits from physically accessing water from sources used by higher castes, are said to be no longer practiced in Nepal. However, our findings show that, exclusion persists for Dalits even though the characteristics of exclusion have changed. In situations of competing water claims in the research location, Dalit households, unlike higher-caste groups, are unable to exercise prior-use water rights. Their water insecurity is compounded by their relative inability to mobilise political, social and economic resources to claim and access new water services and institutions. By juxtaposing the hydro-social and social exclusion analytical frameworks, we demonstrate how exclusions as well as interpretations and experiences of water (in)security are reified in post-Maoist, supposedly inclusive Nepal.

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: This paper describes the implications of growing urbanization in combination with climatic variability on water security and adaptation strategies of people in the peri-urban landscape of Kathmandu valley. Through a series of focus group discussions and key informant interviews, we found that entire households at Lubhu, Nepal depend on public stand posts with water supplied for few hours a day. Hydro-meteorological data analysis for the area showed an increasing trend of temperature, but a clear pattern in precipitation was not found. However, people perceived the changes in both precipitation and temperature and impacts on their livelihoods. People have envisioned development of a filtration system to treat water from another source. However currently, they have been fetching water from dug wells and spring sources in neighbouring VDCs during the days without water supply in stand posts. Farmers have been adapting to water scarcity by switching to less water demanding crops, by leaving land fallow, and by taking on off-farm activities. The concern for sustainable water management is growing among the community, however. Strong dedication and unity among the communities is essential to ensure the water security in the village.

The rapid and haphazard urbanization in Kathmandu valley and expansion of built-up area to the peripheral rural landscapes has resulted to formation of peri- urban areas which are now transforming into urban form. This paper examines how the increasing urban water demand has put unprecedented pressure on groundwater sources in the peri-urban areas of Kathmandu valley. Based on the semi-structured interviews with local people, focus group discussions and key informants interviews, the study found that water security at Jhaukhel is closely associated with groundwater and the dependency of local people on it has increased over the years. The implications of the groundwater extraction coupled with sand mining in the area have been manifested in the form of declining groundwater table and drying of traditional water sources. Despite the growing awareness among the local people on the consequences of depleting groundwater table, in absence of strict regulatory mechanism, the exploitation of groundwater has been adding threat to the local eco-hydrology of the area and subjecting the local community to water insecurity. Nepal Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 14, No. 1 (2013) 121-128 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/njst.v14i1.8932