The Commons in a Glocal World

24The human right to water in India

In search of an alternative commons-based approach in the context of climate change

Birsha Ohdedar

Introduction

Water is central to climate change. The impacts of climate change primarily centre upon too much water (e.g. floods, sea level rise), too little (e.g. droughts), or a shift in its composition (e.g. ocean acidification). The centrality of water to climate change and its importance to life mean that there are significant concerns about how climate change will impact the human right to water (“HRW”) (Singh, 2016; UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2010). However, the underlying relationship between water and climate is also mediated by political, social and economic processes (Taylor, 2015; Boelens ...