Nature-Based Solutions as Tradition in India: Lessons for Water Sustainability in the Peri-Urban

The discourse around ‘nature-based solutions’ (NBSs) is quite recent, but this paper contends that, as knowledge and practice, the notion of NBS is not novel. Indigenous and rural communities are known to work closely with nature to fulfil their water needs, eke out sustainable livelihoods, and cope with climate variability and the impacts of natural disasters. India is a country where NBS has been a tradition for millennia. Water has been sustainably managed here and related societal challenges successfully met through the use of nature, natural systems, or natural processes within rural as well as urban settings. However, despite the merits, in recent times, many of the old NBSs have come to be neglected and degraded, being increasingly replaced by gray infrastructure. These changes are deepening the water crisis in the country, with the rapidly transforming peri-urban locations being an important area of concern. This paper outlines some of the major NBS forms traditionally established and used in different parts of India. Thereafter, using an integrated analytical framework for assessing sustainability of NBS (developed under project NATWIP), the value of the NBS legacy in India will be analyzed. Finally, the paper proposes important lessons as a way forward for enhancing water sustainability in peri-urban India that is based on the adoption and rejuvenation of the disappearing NBS science in the country.