Title: Keoladeo National Park: highlighting surface water tensions

Authors: Alicia M. Frank

Addresses: Department of Economics, Davidson College, P.O. Box 6107, Davidson, 28035, North Carolina, USA

Abstract: Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan, India is a world-class bird sanctuary and world heritage site experiencing serious ecological stress due to drought and upstream dam construction. In response to this reoccurring scarcity of water, Indian authorities have announced a new 17 km pipeline to divert water to the wetland. Both the dam-induced water shortage and proposed pipeline solution raise the question of how surface waters are allocated. Based on interviews conducted during May 2010, I compare the socially efficient outcome to the one agreed upon by lawmakers, highlighting the unique regional tensions and socioeconomic context of allocating water in a water-scarce developing nation.

Keywords: Keoladeo National Park; KNP; India; wetlands; water resources; water sharing disputes; world heritage sites; dam construction; droughts; monsoon failure; bird sanctuaries; regional tensions; socioeconomics; water shortages; developing countries; water allocation.

DOI: 10.1504/IER.2011.041820

Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, 2011 Vol.12 No.3, pp.231 - 243

Published online: 23 Sep 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article