title: Climate change impact assessments on the water resources of India under extensive human interventions.
abstract: Climate change is a major concern in the twenty-first century and its assessments are associated with multiple uncertainties, exacerbated and confounded in the regions where human interventions are prevalent. The present study explores the challenges for climate change impact assessment on the water resources of India, one of the world's largest human-modified systems. The extensive human interventions in the Energy-Land-Water-Climate (ELWC) nexus significantly impact the water resources of the country. The direct human interventions in the landscape may surpass/amplify/mask the impacts of climate change and in the process also affect climate change itself. Uncertainties in climate and resource assessments add to the challenge. Formulating coherent resource and climate change policies in India would therefore require an integrated approach that would assess the multiple interlinkages in the ELWC nexus and distinguish the impacts of global climate change from that of regional human interventions. Concerted research efforts are also needed to incorporate the prominent linkages in the ELWC nexus in climate/earth system modelling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai P.O., Mumbai, Maharashtra State, 400076, India.
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Madhusoodhanan
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai P.O., Mumbai, Maharashtra State, 400076, India.
authors.forename: K G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Sreeja
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai P.O., Mumbai, Maharashtra State, 400076, India. eldho@civil.iitb.ac.in.
authors.forename: T I
authors.initials: TI
authors.lastname: Eldho
mesh_terms: D057231:Climate Change; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D006802:Human Activities; D007194:India; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D018570:Risk Assessment; D062066:Water Resources / Q000600:supply & distribution*
keywords: Climate change; ELWC nexus; Human interventions; Impact assessment; Uncertainties; Water resources