Forum topic

20.05.2013

How mountain communities will like to pay for managed supply of waters?

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In one of the mountain focussed Sustainable Development Summit in India a call for engaging business sector in the sustainable management of mountain ecosystems has been discussed. Changing climatic conditions in the mountains can open new avenues for businesses to boost local economies and improve livelihood. But, unregulated, it can lead private sector reaping 'profit' from poor communities too.

Let us admit it. We are not particularly managing our water rather well in the mountains. Local leadership is not functioning enough efficiently to provide relief. Water scarcity in the mountains is present and real.

It may be only a matter of time before private sector moves in and invest in water management (in extraction, purification and distribution) and people have to pay for water.

How, as a member of mountain community, either rural or urban, will you feel buying your daily supply of water? In home or in the fields? Do you feel a priced management can work for the benefit of the mountain environment and local life both?