Urbanization, climate change and water security: a study of vulnerability and adaptation in Sultanpur and Jhanjhrola Khera in peri-urban Gurgaon, India

This paper describes how urbanization and climate change shape water insecurity in two villages, Sultanpur and Jhanjhrola Khera in periurban Gurgaon in the North-West Indian state of Haryana. Using ethnographic and participatory approaches, it documents the people's lived experience of a changing climate and water insecurity. While urbanization and climate variability alter the availability of water, the effects of this are aggravated by a complex interaction of caste, class, gender and locational factors. The most vulnerable are those whose identities are constructed at the intersection of these factors. The paper then describes the wide range of social, economic and institutional factors that shape the periurban residents' adaptive strategies.