Introduction
Water, being the most vital resource, has been under growing demand for ages. As
an important natural resource, water is naturally influenced by the environment,
weather, geology, and topography. These factors can cause difficulties in evaluating
future water resources under a changing climate. Nineteenth-century industrialization has extensively utilized natural resources for construction activities, raising the
level of CO 2 in the atmosphere, and thus global warming has triggered climate
change. The manifest drafted by the experts of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC)
1 reports that increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission
can cause sea level rise, increasing the frequency of storms, heavy rainfall events,
seasonal shifts, heat waves, floods, and droughts.
The major consumption of water in India is by the agriculture sector, using 83%
of the total freshwater annually. Climate change significantly impacts agricultural
production, and water will be a major constraint for food production in the future
(Aggarwal 2008). Assessment of impacts of climate change on the agriculture sector
has been a thrust area in research around the world. Developing countries such as
India are more vulnerable, and the ramification of climate change on rain-fed
agriculture areas has been affecting rural populations owing to their great dependency on agriculture for livelihood. Agriculture primarily depends on monsoon and
changing precipitation patterns; intensity combined with duration will probably
influence the balance in water supply and demand, thus affecting the hydrological
cycle and leading to frequent droughts and floods (Gleick et al. 2010). India is the
second largest country by population count, with 17% of the world’s population but
with substantially as little as 4% of world freshwater resources. This available water
under increasing demand by various sectors is at high risk of pollution, and its
quality is being diminished day by day due to anthropogenic activities. The facts and
figures reported by Dhawan (2017) show India is a water-stressed country.
Climate change adaption and mitigation actions require an integrated approach to
create a win–win situation among policymakers and stakeholders. Such an integrated
approach by Shrestha and Dhakal (2019) for Nepal that proposed an integrated
approach at the national level carry an important message. Pasimeni et al. (2019)
justify the contribution of urban factors for adaption and mitigation strategies toward
changing climate; well recognized by the policymakers, this has led to several policy
initiatives. In the context of Indian agriculture, these policy incentives have a vital
role in the adoption of climate change strategies, especially in the rain-fed agriculture
sectors (Venkateswarlu and Singh 2015). One of the most important impacts of
climate change on society will be changes in water availability, particularly at the
regional level (Buytaert et al. 2009). Governments in the developing nations have
1 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the
United Nations that is dedicated to providing the world with objective, scientific information
relevant to understanding the scientific basis of the risk of human-induced climate change, its
natural, political, and economic impacts and risks, and possible response options.
18
N. S. Patil and R. S. Laddimath
Water, being the most vital resource, has been under growing demand for ages. As
an important natural resource, water is naturally influenced by the environment,
weather, geology, and topography. These factors can cause difficulties in evaluating
future water resources under a changing climate. Nineteenth-century industrialization has extensively utilized natural resources for construction activities, raising the
level of CO 2 in the atmosphere, and thus global warming has triggered climate
change. The manifest drafted by the experts of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC)
1 reports that increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission
can cause sea level rise, increasing the frequency of storms, heavy rainfall events,
seasonal shifts, heat waves, floods, and droughts.
The major consumption of water in India is by the agriculture sector, using 83%
of the total freshwater annually. Climate change significantly impacts agricultural
production, and water will be a major constraint for food production in the future
(Aggarwal 2008). Assessment of impacts of climate change on the agriculture sector
has been a thrust area in research around the world. Developing countries such as
India are more vulnerable, and the ramification of climate change on rain-fed
agriculture areas has been affecting rural populations owing to their great dependency on agriculture for livelihood. Agriculture primarily depends on monsoon and
changing precipitation patterns; intensity combined with duration will probably
influence the balance in water supply and demand, thus affecting the hydrological
cycle and leading to frequent droughts and floods (Gleick et al. 2010). India is the
second largest country by population count, with 17% of the world’s population but
with substantially as little as 4% of world freshwater resources. This available water
under increasing demand by various sectors is at high risk of pollution, and its
quality is being diminished day by day due to anthropogenic activities. The facts and
figures reported by Dhawan (2017) show India is a water-stressed country.
Climate change adaption and mitigation actions require an integrated approach to
create a win–win situation among policymakers and stakeholders. Such an integrated
approach by Shrestha and Dhakal (2019) for Nepal that proposed an integrated
approach at the national level carry an important message. Pasimeni et al. (2019)
justify the contribution of urban factors for adaption and mitigation strategies toward
changing climate; well recognized by the policymakers, this has led to several policy
initiatives. In the context of Indian agriculture, these policy incentives have a vital
role in the adoption of climate change strategies, especially in the rain-fed agriculture
sectors (Venkateswarlu and Singh 2015). One of the most important impacts of
climate change on society will be changes in water availability, particularly at the
regional level (Buytaert et al. 2009). Governments in the developing nations have
1 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the
United Nations that is dedicated to providing the world with objective, scientific information
relevant to understanding the scientific basis of the risk of human-induced climate change, its
natural, political, and economic impacts and risks, and possible response options.
18
N. S. Patil and R. S. Laddimath