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The Indus, Mekong, and Ganges River deltas, which have created one of the world’s largest delta and submarine fan system, currently contribute a major fraction of freshwater to East and South Asia. All these deltas are those regions in the world that face major challenges in their water sector due to population growth, urbanization, industrialization, sea-level rise, and salinity intrusion into inland and water bodies, all aggravated by climate change. Among them, salinity intrusion is currently one of the key issues that directly and indirectly cause water insecurity in East and South Asia, which ultimately hamper livelihood, agricultural production, and social interference. Hence, this chapter gives a comprehensive description on the nature and extent of the salinity problem, its adverse effects on livelihood and water sector, and then the focus goes to current and future sustainable water resource management within the delta to finally move on to conclusion and suggestions.

Water insecurity is a big threat and a defining global challenge that causes social dilemma in the society. Analyzing all the previous chapters in this volume, this final chapter will discuss water use and its consequence of social dilemma, the key lessons and observations that trigger water insecurity, major challenges and success factors toward water insecurity, and how water insecurity can be minimized through the involvement of community people, and improvement of social stability in the form of common understanding. This chapter also emphasizes the linkage between local and national levels by the development of Integrated Water Resource Management both in quantity and quality aspects.

Water quality and quantity will become the principal limiting factor for sustainable development in many countries across the world. “Everything living is created from water” is an ancient quotation, which closely describes the importance of water. Water insecurity is a social dilemma in the recent decades because of several factors. Moreover, the widespread presence of arsenic in groundwater, salinity in both surface and groundwater, and the insidious disaster of drought make the water insecure and the population faces water risk in their daily life. Safe drinking water as well as health problems is an issue of concern in many countries on all continents, particularly in Southeast and South Asia. Therefore, this chapter provides water insecurity issues in a broader viewpoint especially focusing on salinity, arsenic, and drought disaster that together enhance vulnerability of water sector.

Mountains provide more than 40% of global goods and services. The ecosystem services arising from the Hindu Kush-Himalayas (HKH) in the form of water, biodiversity and niche products, hydroelectricity, timber, mineral resources, and recreation are enormous. The HKH region is enriched by a diversity of cultures, ethnic groups, and traditional knowledge systems. Thus, it is a paradox that, in spite of rich natural resources and cultures, poverty is rampant. Additionally, the HKH is a hotspot for climate change impacts, but the region has been identified as a data deficient during the 2007 assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Since then, some progress has been made to fill the data gap, specifically relating to biodiversity, cryosphere, and climate change. This chapter introduces the HKH region and elaborates the need for modeling in the context of dealing with climate change.