Browsing by Author "Azhoni, Adani"
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Item Open Access Adapting to climate change by water management organisations: enablers and barriers(Elsevier, 2018-02-26) Azhoni, Adani; Jude, Simon; Holman, Ian P.Climate change will be particularly experienced though the medium of water. Water organisations, that are managing societal and ecological needs for water, are therefore likely to experience the impact the most. This study reviews the current literature regarding adaptation to climate change by water management organisations and associated barriers. Literature on adaptive capacity is growing and a general consensus is emerging on the determinants of adaptive capacity, although variations exist regarding how it is to be evaluated, enhanced and applied to policy making due to its dynamic, contextual and latent nature. Since adaptive capacity is hard to measure and successful adaptation difficult to define, some studies focus on the existence of adaptation attributes of organisations. Studies reporting successful adaptation are minimal and barriers of adaptation are being discovered as adaptation research transitions into implementation. But the root causes of these barriers are often overlooked and the interconnectedness of the barriers is poorly addressed. Increasingly, combining top-down and bottom-up approaches to adaptation is being recommended due to the limitations of each. However, knowledge regarding how organisations operating at different scales can enhance adaptive capacity of other organisations operating at another scale is lacking due to the few studies of inter-organisational networks across scales. Social networks among actors are recognised as a key factor to enable adaptation. However, network studies generally focus on individual actors and rarely between public agencies/organisations. Moreover, the current literature is inadequate to understand the relationship between adaptation enabling characteristics, barriers and adaptation manifestation. The review demonstrates that research on understanding the emergence and sustenance of barriers is urgently required. Addressing these knowledge gaps will help to improve the design of adaptation strategies, thereby improving the ability of water management to address the ongoing challenges of climate change.Item Open Access Adapting water management in India to climate change: institutions, networks and barriers.(2017-05) Azhoni, Adani; Holman, Ian P.; Jude, SimonClimate change is experienced most through the medium of water. The ability of water institutions and the factors that enable or hinder them to purposefully adapt to the new and additional challenges brought by climate change require better understanding. Factors that influence their perception of climate change impacts and initiatives being taken for adaptation are shaped by various enabling factors and barriers through the interaction with both governmental and non-governmental institutions across administrative scales. Better understanding of these adaptation enablers and barriers is essential for devising adaptation strategies. This research aims to identify and expound the characteristics that enable or hinder institutions to adapt for water management, and hence, it evaluates the involvement of key governmental and non-governmental institutions in India and the inter-institutional networks between them. It surveyed webpages and online documents of sixty Union Government institutions and interviewed representatives from twenty-six governmental, non-governmental, research and academic institutions operating at the national level and another twenty-six institutions operating within the State of Himachal Pradesh in India to assess the characteristics that enable or hinder adaptation. While the online projection of institutional involvement and interaction among key Union Government institutions on climate change and water indicate a more centralized network pointing to Planning Commission and Ministry of Environment and Forest, the interview responses indicated a more distributed network with both Ministries of Water Resources and Environment and Forest recognized as key institutions thereby indicating a potential variation in perception of who is in-charge. Moreover, online documents show institutions that are involved in water have less mention of climate change compared to Union Government ministries involved in less climate-sensitive sectors indicating that impacts of climate change on water are potentially ignored. While it is evident that research and consulting institutions engaging with both national and state level institutions play a key role in enabling adaptation, various barriers pertaining to data and information accessibility, inadequacy of resources and implementation gaps exist particularly due to inter-institutional network fragmentations. Although barriers identified in this study bear resemblance to barriers identified by other researchers in other contexts, this research shows similar barriers can emerge from different underlying causes and are highly interconnected; thereby indicating the need for addressing adaptation barriers collectively as a wider governance issue. Since many of the adaptation barriers emerge from wider governance challenges and are related to larger developmental issues, the findings have important policy implications. Among the various issues that the government needs to address is improving the inter-institutional networks between water institutions so that information dissemination, sharing of learning experiences and data accessibility is improved and prescriptive legislations are seen to be inadequate in this regard. Restructuring the way officials in government water institutions are recruited and deployed is suggested as a potential solution for improving the inter-institutional networks. The research elucidates that inter-institutional networks and transboundary institutions are two pillars that supports adaptation and also bridges the gap between adaptive capacity and adaptation manifestation that enable water institutions to cross the chasm of adaptation barriers. Thus the thesis presents an important analysis of key characteristics that enable or hinder water management institutions to adapt to climate change which have been so far under acknowledged by other studies through the analysis of the state of climate change adaptation in India. Therefore, this study provides valuable insights for developing countries, particularly, facing similar challenges of adapting water management for climate change.Item Open Access Adapting water management to climate change: Institutional involvement, inter-institutional networks and barriers in India(Elsevier, 2017-04-26) Azhoni, Adani; Holman, Ian P.; Jude, SimonThe capacity of a nation to address the hydrological impacts of climate change depends on the institutions through which water is governed. Inter-institutional networks that enable institutions to adapt and the factors that hinder smooth coordination are poorly understood. Using water governance in India as an example of a complex top-down bureaucratic system that requires effective networks between all key institutions, this research unravels the barriers to adaptation by combining quantitative internet data mining and qualitative analysis of interviews with representatives from twenty-six key institutions operating at the national level. Institutions' online presence shows a disconnect in the institutional discourse between climate change and water with institutions such as the Ministries of Water Resources, Earth Sciences and Agriculture, indicating a lesser involvement compared to institutions such as the Ministries of Finance, External Affairs, Planning Commission. The online documents also indicate a more centralised inter-institutional network, emanating from or pointing to a few key institutions including the Planning Commission and Ministry of Environment and Forests. However, the interviews suggest more complex relational dynamics between institutions and also demonstrate a gap between the aspirational ideals of the National Water Mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change and the realities of climate change adaptation. This arises from institutional barriers, including lengthy bureaucratic processes and systemic failures, that hinder effective inter-institutional networks to facilitate adaptation. The study provides new understanding of the involvement and barriers of complex multi-layered institutions in climate change adaptation.Item Open Access Climate change adaptation attributes across scales and inter-institutional networks: insights from national and state level water management institutions in India(Springer, 2024-08) Azhoni, Adani; Holman, Ian; Jude, SimonEffective climate change adaptation requires cohesive inter-institutional networks across different scales, facilitating the sharing of data, information, knowledge, and practices. However, the impact of adaptation attributes across scales is poorly understood due to limited focus on these networks. Based on interviews with 26 institutions operating at the national level (ION) in India and 26 institutions operating within a state (Himachal Pradesh) (IOS), this study analysed adaptation attributes and the inter-institutional networks across the two scales to understand its implications at different scales. IONs have a greater capacity (compared to IOS) to frame guidelines, standards and regulations for practitioners along with better accessibility to resources and information. When coupled with bridging institutions, this can enhance adaptive capacities at other scales. Conversely, learnings from low regret adaptive measures being implemented by IOS are opportunities for informing national policy strategies. While national adaptation strategies and goals can inspire adaptation at lower scales, the currently fragmented inter-institutional network in India reduces the passage and accessibility of data and information, creating a bottleneck for the smooth devolution of adaptation attributes. Recruitment and deployment practices for water officials further entrench silo attitudes, impeding essential data accessibility. Adaptation needs comprehensive networks across vertical, horizontal, and diagonal institutional connections to improve climate risk perception and strategy implementation. Policy measures should consider socio-institutional factors beyond legislative prescriptions.Item Open Access Contextual and interdependent causes of climate change adaptation barriers: Insights from water management institutions in Himachal Pradesh, India(Elsevier, 2016-10-31) Azhoni, Adani; Holman, Ian P.; Jude, Simon R.Research on adaptation barriers is increasing as the need for climate change adaptation becomes evident. However, empirical studies regarding the emergence, causes and sustenance of adaptation barriers remain limited. This research identifies key contextual causes of adaptation barriers in water institutions in the mountainous Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with representatives from twenty-six key governmental, non-governmental, academic and research institutions in the State with responsibilities spanning domestic water supply, irrigation and hydropower generation, environmental monitoring and research. It identified low knowledge capacity and resources, policy implementation gaps, normative attitudes, and unavailability and inaccessibility of data and information compounded with weak interinstitutional networks as key adaptation barriers. Although these barriers are similar to those reported elsewhere, they have important locally-contextual root causes. For instance, inadequate resources result from fragmented resources allocation due to competing developmental priorities and the desire of the political leadership to please diverse electors, rather than climate scepticism. The identified individual barriers are found to be highly inter-dependent and closely intertwined which enables the identification of leverage points for interventions to maximise barrier removal. For instance, breaking down key barriers hindering accessibility to data and information, which are shaped by systemic bureaucracies and cultural attitudes, will involve attitudinal change through sensitisation to the importance of accurate and accessible data and information and the building trust between different actors, in addition to institutional structural changes through legislation and inter-institutional agreements. Approaching barriers as a system of contextually interconnected cultural, systemic, geographical and political underlying factors enriches the understanding of adaptation enablers, thereby contributing to achieving a better adapted society.Item Open Access Identifying evolving priorities in national river governance from Parliamentary Questions(IWA Publishing, 2022-09-01) Azhoni, Adani; Holman, Ian P.; Grabowski, Robert C.Rivers and their surrounding land provide resources and services that result in trade-offs requiring legislative and institutional interventions, for which the perspectives of law-policymakers and their societal values and political expediencies play a major role in decision-making. This study critically evaluates the evolving land–river governance in large democratically elected governments with complex developmental priorities and how law-policymakers’ recognition of emerging issues of river management influences common pool environmental resources governance. We selected an emerging economy – India – and analysed Parliamentary Questions (PQs) between 1999 and 2020 using a mixed method approach. Conflicting priorities over economic development, pollution management, socio-cultural values and inter-state–centre issues shape the evolving priorities of land–river governance. A declining focus on large-scale dams coupled with increasing attention on inter-basin water transfers, river conservation and pollution abatement, demonstrates an evolution away from the earlier narrow view of rivers for irrigation and hydropower. Our analysis demonstrates how the priorities of law-policymakers and political expedience play a critical role in river governance and thereby provide important insights into common pool environmental resources governance for sustainable development while also identifying important knowledge gaps and suggesting scopes for interdisciplinary studies.Item Open Access The land-river interface: a conceptual framework of environmental process interactions to support sustainable development(Springer, 2022-05-13) Grabowski, Robert C.; Vercruysse, Kim; Holman, Ian P.; Azhoni, Adani; Bala, Brij; Shankar, Vijay; Beale, John; Mukate, Shrikant; Poddar, Arunava; Peng, Jian; Meersmans, JeroenRivers and their surrounding lands are focal points of human development in the landscape. However, activities associated with development can greatly affect river processes, causing significant and often unintended environmental and human impacts. Despite the profound and varied environmental impacts that development-related alterations cause through hydrological, geomorphic, and ecological processes, they are not widely acknowledged outside of river management and affect resource availability and hazard exposure to people. In this paper, we propose a novel, interdisciplinary conceptual framework of river–land process interactions to support sustainable management and development. We introduce the term ‘land–river interface’ (LRI) to describe areas of the landscape in which river processes affect land, vegetation, and/or fauna, including humans, directly or indirectly. The multiple links between LRI processes and factors at the river basin, valley, and river channel (i.e. reach) scale are synthesized and a conceptual zonation of the LRI based on the process is proposed to serve as a framework to understand the impacts of human activity. Three examples of development-related activities (urbanization, dams and aggregate mining) illustrate how alteration to the form and functioning of river basins, valleys, and channels cause a range of impacts to be propagated throughout the landscape, often spatially or temporally distant from the activity. The diversity and severity of these impacts on the environment and people underscore the need to incorporate river processes, as represented in the LRI concept, into broader environmental management to better anticipate and mitigate negative impacts and maximize positive outcomes to deliver the benefits of sustainable development across society.Item Open Access Network analysis of water-related ecosystem services in search of solutions for sustainable catchment management: A case study in Sutlej-Beas River systems, India(Elsevier, 2023-08-31) Yu, Shuying; Peng, Jian; Xia, Pei; Wang, Qi; Grabowski, Robert C.; Azhoni, Adani; Bala, Brij; Shankar, Vijay; Meersmans, JeroenHydrological processes and ecosystem interactions are instrumental in sustaining local populations by providing various water-related ecosystem services (ES). Numerous studies gave priority to the theories and methods of building networks that emphasized different stakeholders. However, little study has examined the complex relationships among water-related ES themselves and how relevant human activities affect ES networks. To narrow this gap, in this study we quantified four critical water-related ES (flood mitigation, hydropower production, soil retention, and water conservation), set up six ES network types based on the synergy relationship, and further explored the effect of human activities on these networks. The results showed that among six ES network categories, networks with four fully linked ES occupied a large percentage of 23.20% while the network with one central ES linking two others accounted for the lowest percentage (9.28%). Compared with other ES, soil retention tended to be less centralized within the networks. In addition, land use intensity was found to greatly influence the ES networks compared with other indicators, especially for less complex networks. Our results highlighted the importance of network analysis in searching solutions for sustainable catchment management.Item Open Access Place-based interpretation of the sustainable development goals for the land-river interface(Springer, 2022-06-27) Vercruysse, Kim; Grabowski, Robert C.; Holman, Ian P.; Azhoni, Adani; Bala, Brij; Meersmans, Jeroen; Peng, Jian; Shankar, Vijay; Mukate, Shrikant; Poddar, Arunava; Wang, Xiaoyu; Zhang, ZimoThe land–river interface (LRI) is important for sustainable development. The environmental processes that define the LRI support the natural capital and ecosystem services that are linked directly to multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, existing approaches to scale up or down SDG targets and link them to natural capital are insufficient for the two-way human–environment interactions that exist in the LRI. Therefore, this study proposes a place-based approach to interpret the SDG framework to support sustainable land/water management, by (i) identifying key priorities for sustainable development through a normative content analysis of the SDG targets, and (ii) illustrating these priorities and associated challenges within the LRI, based on a literature review and case-studies on human–environment interactions. The content analysis identifies three overarching sustainable development priorities: (i) ensuring improved access to resources and services provided by the LRI, (ii) strengthening the resilience of the LRI to deal with social and natural shocks, and (iii) increasing resource efficiency. The review of the current state of LRIs across the world confirms that these are indeed priority areas for sustainable development. Yet, the challenges of attaining the sustainable development priorities in the LRI are also illustrated with three examples of development-related processes. Urbanisation, dam construction, and aggregate mining occur within specific zones of the LRI (land, land–river, river, respectively), but their impacts can compromise sustainable development across the entire LRI and beyond. The existence of these unintended impacts highlights the need to consider the geomorphic, hydrological, and ecological processes within the LRI and how they interact with human activity. Identifying the place-based priorities and challenges for sustainable development will help achieve the SDGs without compromising the functions and services of the LRI.