Rapidly Growing Asian Economies and the Himalayan Waters

<strong>Centre for Studies in Science Policy School of Social Sciences, JNU</strong> a Talk on <strong>Rapidly Growing Asian Economies and the Himalayan Waters</strong> By <strong>Prof. Jayanta Bandyopadhyay</strong> Visiting Professor, Centre for Studies in Science Policy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Date: <strong>Thursday, 29th October 2015</strong> <strong>Abstract:</strong> In the period since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, the importance of the world's mountains as provider of most of the water used by the human societies and economies has come to take the centre-stage of global environmental discourse. The talk goes into the details of the role of the Himalaya as 'Water Tower of Asia' on which life and livelihood of about 3 billion people depend. It further examines the future water scenario of two Asian economies, of China and India, and policy interventions these countries are considering or have made. The potential impacts of global warming and climate change is very important in the making of such future scenarios as the Himalayan region is expected to be impacted very strongly by global climate change and alter the hydrological features of the rivers originating in the Himalaya.