Abstract
This article reviews and contrasts two approaches that water security researchers employ to advance understanding of the complexity of water-society policy challenges. A prevailing reductionist approach seeks to represent uncertainty through calculable risk, links national GDP tightly to hydro-climatological causes, and underplays diversity and politics in society. When adopted uncritically, this approach limits policy-makers to interventions that may reproduce inequalities, and that are too rigid to deal with future changes in society and climate. A second, more integrative, approach is found to address a range of uncertainties, explicitly recognise diversity in society and the environment, incorporate water resources that are less-easily controlled, and consider adaptive approaches to move beyond conventional supply-side prescriptions. The resultant policy recommendations are diverse, inclusive, and more likely to reach the marginalised in society, though they often encounter policy-uptake obstacles. The article concludes by defining a route towards more effective water security research and policy, which stresses analysis that matches the state of knowledge possessed, an expanded research agenda, and explicitly addresses inequities.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 143–154 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Global Environmental Change |
Volume | 39 |
Early online date | 2 Jun 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2016 |
Keywords
- water security
- environmental complexity
- uncertainty
- water conflicts
- eco-sociological challenges
Profiles
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Mark Zeitoun
- School of International Development - Professor of Water Security and Policy
- Water Security Research Centre - Member
- Climate Change - Member
- Global Environmental Justice - Member
Person: Research Group Member, Research Centre Member, Academic, Teaching & Research