International Social Work 2015, Vol. 58(3) 375–384 © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0020872814556826 isw.sagepub.com isw Climate change, water and gender: Impact and adaptation in North-Eastern Hills of India Nandita Singh KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden Om Prakash Singh WaterZoom, Sweden Abstract Water resources in India are projected to face severe climate-induced stress. In the North- Eastern Hill region, where lifestyles are closely connected to nature, this holds great implications for human development. While scientific knowledge regarding climate change and water is growing at global and regional scales, an equally diverse body of knowledge on the human dimensions of the same at local levels is weak. This article attempts to bridge this knowledge gap by presenting micro-level evidence on the gendered impact of increasing water stress and the innovative gendered local adaptive strategies in this region. It urges for the need to re-think on adaptation planning, basing it on local templates for greater sustainability. Keywords Adaptation, climate change, gender, India, water Introduction Water is a basic natural resource necessary for the well-being and development of humankind. However, it is also the most important resource threatened to be severely affected by climate change. According to an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Technical Paper on climate change and water, ‘Observational records and climate projections provide abundant evi- dence that freshwater resources are vulnerable and have the potential to be strongly impacted by climate change, with wide-ranging consequences for human societies and ecosystems’ (Bates et al., 2008: xv). Corresponding author: Nandita Singh, Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science & Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Brinellvägen 28, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden. Email: nandita@kth.se 556826ISW 0 0 10.1177/0020872814556826International Social WorkSingh and Singh research-article 2014 Article at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on September 13, 2016 isw.sagepub.com Downloaded from