Resilience Thinking for Common Pool Resource Management - Avoiding Drought Induced Disaster Threats in Indian Rajasthan

Abstract

"Drought related problems are a major stress source on the livelihood of communities in several areas of the world. Due to inefficient water resources management people leave their traditional habitat in search for security in larger agglomerations. This creates a big stress on the carrying capacity of urban centers and leaves deserted rural areas incapacitated. Setting Sustainable Development Goals as targets to reach, using Resilience Thinking to provide for resilience, adaptability and transformability, and planning for Integrated Water Resources Management can be a solution to reduce this outmigration.

Rajasthan is a state in India where communities have been surviving with very little available water for ages. Contemporaneous implementations in parts of Rajasthan fulfill the framework set for this study. After identifying a promising SES in terms of drought resilience a field investigation was conducted for adequate assessment and model of resilient SES was reverse engineered from the findings. Reading thru this document one can explore the uniqueness of Rajasthan water governance from pasts long gone and to the current date. In the end of the study strategic adaptive planning recommendations can be found for creating a similar SES."