The Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India is a network of individuals and organisations who are interested in engaging with water conflicts in India. Working since 2004, the forum has worked in two phases: one, to understand water conflicts through documentation and two, resolving and preventing water conflicts. Now in its third phase, the Forum works on the backstopping of water conflicts, working around the Mahanadi basin as a key thematic issue. The fora has 250 members, and its work is anchored by SOPPECOM. The initiative began to fill the lacunae in smaller water conflicts around the country, and the need for work to understand contestations and contradictions, lack of knowledge based decisions and political pressures surrounding water and lack of consultation of stakeholders in decision making. Over the last 15 or so years, the forum has created documentation and case studies by civil society, activists, academia seeking people’s opinions and peer reviewing the efforts. These case studies forefronted alternatives, mobilisations, livelihoods around water. The effort engaged with media around the country, and using the learnings, moved towards prevention and resolution of conflicts, covering geographical areas in Odisha and the North East region and mapping water conflicts. This also led to action research to train people in conflict resolution in sensitive areas.

Why are they the right choice for others:

• Working on a key area of climate concern through collaboration, documentation and narrative building through research and coordination of a network of different stakeholders
• Producing a rich array of material ranging from research studies to training and conflict resolution to understand the lesser known landscape of water resources in the country, using diverse capacities for research
• Looking ahead to bring people together to advocate and build capacity around issues of intervention, resolution and management