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Molden, D (2020). 'Scarcity of Water or Scarcity of Management?' In International Journal of Water Resources Development 36: 258-268 DOI: 10.1080/07900627.2019.1676204. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2019.1676204
This article investigates the relation between water scarcity and water management. There are many different perceptions of water scarcity, which can include the conditions of arid environments, a general lack of access to water, insufficient water at a basin scale, or difficulty in meeting competing needs. All these issues will intensify with greater consumption and climate change. Asit Biswas reminds us that the root cause of scarcity is the way water is managed. Following this wisdom, I examine different contexts of scarcity I have encountered in my work and reflect on the management challenges which drive and transform water scarcity.
Joshi, S; Shrestha, L; Bisht, N; Wu, N; Ismail, M; Dorji, T; Dangol, G; Long, R (2020). 'Ethnic and Cultural Diversity Amongst Yak Herding Communities in the Asian Highlands.' In Sustainability 12: 957.
Yak herding has great economic and cultural significance in the Asian highlands. However, traditional pastoralism is undergoing changes, isolating and fragmenting herders and their pastures. This paper aims to provide a brief overview on the geographical distribution of yak in the region and share in-depth information on yak-herding ethnic communities, the sociocultural aspect associated with yak herding, and challenges and emerging opportunities for yak herding in the region. We document 31 ethnic groups and their cultures in 10 different Asian countries. We outline the urgent need to minimize the challenges faced by yak-herding mountain communities to conserve the traditional pastoral system and associated cultures of these ethnic communities.
Norton, A; Seddon, N; Agrawal, A; Shakya, C; Kaur, N; Porras, I (2020). 'Harnessing Employment-Based Social Assistance Programmes to Scale up Nature-Based Climate Action.' In Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 375: 20190127
Available evidence suggests paid employment schemes can offer multiple benefits in terms of improvements in local ecosystems and natural capital, carbon sequestration, and local biodiversity conservation. We review evidence from three key case studies in India, Ethiopia, and Mexico. We conclude that to realize the potential of employment-based social assistance for ecosystem benefits, it will be necessary to address two challenges: first, the weak design and maintenance of local public works outputs in many schemes, and second, the concern that social protection schemes may become less effective if they are overburdened with additional objectives. Overcoming these challenges requires an evolution of institutional systems for delivering social assistance to enable a more effective combination of social and environmental objectives.
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