Vulnerability assessment of environmental and climate change impacts on freshwater resources in the drought – prone tahsils in jalgaon district (Maharashtra state), India

Climate change and its consequences present one of the most important threats to water resource systems which are vulnerable to such changes due to their limited adaptive capacity. Water resources in semi- arid drought – prone study region is vulnerable to the potential adverse impacts of environmental and climate change. Besides climatic change, current demographic trends, economic development are exerting pressures and have direct impacts on increasing demands for water resources and their vulnerability. In this study, vulnerability assessment was carried out using guidelines prepared by United Nations Environment Programmed (UNEP) and Peking University to evaluate four components of the water resource system: water resources stress, water development pressure, ecological health, and management capacity. The calculated vulnerability index (VI) was high, indicating that the water resources are experiencing levels of stress. Ecosystem deterioration was the dominant parameter and management capacity was the dominant category driving the vulnerability on water resources. The vulnerability assessment help in developing long-term strategic plans for climate change mitigation and implement effective policies for sustainable water resources management. The region itself is considered one of the world’s most water-stressed. In the last three decades, most tahsils in the study region have undergone dramatic demographic and socio-economic transformation, resulting in a substantial increase in water demand. These demands have been driven mainly by the implementation of agricultural policies aimed at achieving national food security and escalating urbanization, leading to immense pressures on the limited water resources in the region.