Sustainable Solutions for Urban Water Security : Innovative Studies

This book presents solutions to address water security in rapidly urbanizing cities, and explores the new paradigms of water security in changing contexts. Highlighting the latest developments in water research, changes in water policy, and current discourses on water security, the book also provides information and tools for local stakeholders, water managers, and policymakers to build the capacity for sustainable water governance. The book discusses a wide range of sustainable solutions and their implementation to ensure that the balance between water supply and demand remains sustainable in the long term, with a focus on local solutions to build capacity and developing policy awareness for a wide range of stakeholders. As the concept of urban water security in changing contexts is open to multiple interpretations, the authors set out various approaches.

Providing an overview of the changing perspectives of urban water security in different contexts, the book is based on findings of the Asia-Pacific Network water security project at the United Nations University, Tokyo, as well as the authors' current research-based at Pokhara University, Nepal, Hosei University, Tokyo, Institute for the Global Environmental Strategies, Japan and the Australian National University, Australia. The book also includes the views of international authorities (such as water experts) on the subject. The solutions are complemented by analysis of case studies of various localized sustainable solutions at different scales.

The book is a valuable resource for water professionals and policymakers around the globe, academics, teachers working in water-related areas, NGOs, think thanks, water research institutes, donor organizations, and international and local water utility services.

Binaya Kumar Mishra is currently engaged as a full-time professor at the School of Engineering, Pokhara University, Nepal. Prior to this, he worked as a research fellow at the United Nations University, Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Tokyo. He is involved in research and teaching activities for Bachelor (Civil Engineering) and Master (Hydropower Engineering; Public Health and Disaster Engineering) programs. His research and teaching interests include water resources management; climate and ecosystem change adaptation; hydrologic and environmental modeling; and applications of GIS and remote sensing. Prior to joining Pokhara University, he briefly worked as an associate professor at the Central Campus of Engineering, Mid-Western University, Nepal. Earlier, during October 2009 - March 2018, Dr. Mishra worked as a researcher and faculty member at different academic institutions in Japan. Dr. Mishra also worked as an Irrigation Engineer at the Ministry of Irrigation; a Senior Lecturer at Kathmandu Engineering College, Tribhuvan University; and a Consultant Engineer at Everest Engineering Consultancy, Kathmandu, Nepal during 1999–2006. His research works have been published in several books, journals, reports, and proceedings.

Shamik Chakraborty is a Lecturer at the Department of Sustainability Studies, Hosei University, Japan. Prior to this, he has worked as a JSPS-UNU postdoctoral research fellow at United Nations University, Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Tokyo, and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (presently, Institute for Future Initiatives) at the University of Tokyo. As a human geographer, he is interested in studying human-environment interactions in coastal and river basin environments from a social-ecological systems point of view. He has worked with the concepts of social-ecological systems, indigenous and local knowledge in diverse ecosystems in Japan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. He is currently involved with applying ecosystem services concept as an anthropocentric tool to understand the contact points of human society with diverse sets of benefits from the inland, river basin and coastal environments for biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, and sustainable development. He has published his works in a number of international academic journals and edited volumes.

 Pankaj Kumar is currently working in the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Japan as a senior policy researcher in the field of water resources and climate change adaptation. Prior to this, he worked as a research fellow at the United Nations University, Institute for Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Tokyo for four years. Recently his research work focused on “hydrological simulation and scenario modeling for clean urban water environment in South-East Asian developing cities” a transdisciplinary work aimed to enhance community resilience to global change and provide policy-relevant solutions. He holds a doctoral degree in Geo-Environmental Science from the University of Tsukuba, Japan. In parallel, he had work experience as Chapter Scientist for Working Group-II of Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of IPCC. Currently, he is also working as a scoping expert for Nexus assessment for IPBES. He has several peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters of international repute to his credit.   

Chitresh Saraswat is an interdisciplinary researcher and doctoral scholar in the Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University, Australia. Trained as an environmental geographer and computer scientist, he focuses on accelerating transitions toward water sustainability in the Global South. His research interests span across water governance, innovation and sustainability transitions. He has over ten years of research and industry experience, both nationally and internationally. He has developed this through roles with United Nations agencies, energy and water utility and corporate (IT) sector firms. He received a Master of Science degree in sustainability from the United Nations University, Institute for Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Tokyo, and Joint Diploma (sustainability science) from Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, the University of Tokyo and UNU-IAS, Tokyo, Japan. He has published several peer-reviewed outputs in journals with international repute and books in the research areas of sustainability, water management, security and governance and cyber-physical systems.