ABSTRACT

Anthropogenic climate change is creating numerous challenges for rapidly urbanising countries. Foremost among these challenges is securing potable water for the urban population, while at times, mitigating flood risks. This article presents research on urban water issues in the rapidly growing city of Dhulikhel in Nepal within a global purview of climate change processes and impacts on urban water. The vulnerabilities to climate change are extremely high in Himalayan cities. New theoretical approaches are required to accurately define problems, causation and potential solutions. Our research has experimented with and developed the concept of Critical Urban Water Zones (CUWZs), which integrates vertical and horizontal elements of the physical environment with social, political and cultural considerations over time. CUWZ enables the identification of critical water management issues in local areas and provides a foundation for future urban water management policy and practices that are climate adaptive and equitable.

摘要

人为的气候变化给快速城市化的国家带来了众多挑战。这些挑战中最重要的是确保城市人口的饮用水安全，同时有时还可以减轻洪水的风险。本文介绍了在全球气候变化过程及其对城市水的影响的全球范围内，尼泊尔迅速发展的城市杜利克尔城市水问题的研究。在喜马拉雅城市，气候变化的脆弱性极高。需要新的理论方法来准确定义问题，因果关系和潜在解决方案。我们的研究已经试验并开发了关键城市水区（CUWZ）的概念，该概念将自然环境的垂直和水平元素与社会，政治和文化因素结合在一起。