Gert Jan Veldwisch

1 Introduction With only 4% cultivated land under irrigation, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is the region with the lowest rate of cultivated land worldwide. In northern Africa, this figure is 28%; in Asia, it is 37%; and in Latin America, it is 14% (You et al. 2011). Over 19,000 reservoir-based irrigation schemes (RBISs) have been identified across SSA, with additional uses for livestock, domestic water supply, fishing and groundwater recharge (Sekyi-Annan et al. 2018).

1. Introduction Development of large-scale, mega hydraulic dam infrastructure in India has been heavily contested for more than four decades, including mobilisation of powerful domestic and transnational socio-environmental movements against dams [1,2]. A few brought intense global attention to dam development in India, such as the “Save The Narmada Movement” against the Narmada Valley Project, which culminated into a world-famous anti-dam movement [3].

1. Introduction In the field of climate change adaptation, the future matters [1,2]. Mills-Novoa et al. [3] showed that, through participatory practices, certain futures that are deemed desirable by ruling parties are linked to required actions in the current era by those who are to follow. These attitudes, behaviours, and actions are internalised and normalised as the best way to adapt to climate change.