What is the mission and vision of your organisation?
The Centre for Environment and Development Studies, Jaipur (CEDSJ) is a centre for research training and action to help poor and marginalized section of the society. The Centre is a multi-disciplinary research organization with the objective to inform development policy makers and practitioner at all levels, ultimately contributing to sustainable economic growth and the alleviation of poverty. Our priority areas of research are, environment development with sustainable use of natural resources, poverty, food security and water security, particularly affecting the population living in the semi arid and arid area.
Why did you decided to become a GWP Partner?
Research in the area of water resources is one of the prime objectives. We are also interested in the national and global issues. GWP provides a good platform to interact with national and international pear group working on the subject.
What have you found to be the benefits of being a GWP Partner?
A platform to share our views on water resource management with national and international community, and to get highlighted the problems of desert or arid and semi-arid areas and seek intellectual and other support for the region. Being a GWP partner helps in building a global perspective on the subject.
What is one challenge facing the management of water resource in your region?
There is acute shortage of surface and ground water in the state, as 87% of the groundwater blocks are being overexploited and they account for 90% of drinking water sources in the State. Of our total surface water 50% is from the adjoining states, meaning there is serious dependency on outside sources leading to uncertainty and risk. Rainfall variability is also very high as well as the frequency and intensity of drought. Under these conditions one option is to adopt IWRM model to develop or augment the resources.