Economical, Political, and Social Issues in Water Resources


Book Description

Economical, Political, and Social Issues in Water Resources provides a fully comprehensive and interdisciplinary overview of all three factors in their relation to water resources. Economic issues consist of Water accounting, Water economy, Water pricing, Water market, Water bank and bourse. Political issues consist of Water power and hydrogemistry, Water diplomacy and hydropolitics, Water rights and water laws, Water governance and policy, Shared water resources management, Water management systems, and social issues consist of Water and culture, civilization and history, Water quality, hygiene, and health, Water and society. This book familiarizes researchers with all aspects of the field, which can lead to optimized and multidimensional water resources management. Some of abovementioned issues are new, so the other aim of this book is to identify them in order to researchers can easily find them and use them in their studies. - Includes diverse case studies from around the world - Presents contributions from global and diverse contributors with interdisciplinary backgrounds, including water engineers, scientists, planners the economic, political and social issues surrounding water - Contains in-depth definitions and concepts of each topic




The Oxford Handbook of Water Politics and Policy


Book Description

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note that the online publication date for this handbook is the date that the first article in the title was published online. For more information, please read the site FAQs.




Political Ecology and the Role of Water


Book Description

How can we explain the over-exploitation and degradation of natural resources in the countries of the South? Population growth, poverty and problems associated with common property resource management have been common themes in this debate, yet insufficient attention has been paid to how traditional political relations and local perceptions affect natural resource capture and resource allocation. This is especially evident with respect to groups and communities at the political and geographical peripheries of state influence and control for whom self-identity is constructed around notions of autonomy and food self-sufficiency. This informative book addresses this omission by discussing water resource allocation and management. It focuses in particular on the socio-economic and political contexts which influence approaches to and determine practices of water management. Taking the example of the tribal communities of the Sa’dah basin in the northern Yemen, it analyzes the politics of environmental change, with particular reference to groundwater resource degradation, within the conceptual framework of political ecology .




The Political Economy of Water Pricing Reforms


Book Description

Lately our world has witnessed massive changes and reforms in various sectors in many countries, developing and developed alike. Institutional and pricing reforms in the water sector are also part of that recent trend. They are led by the recognition of a need to respond to increased scarcity and deteriorated quality. Is the water sector different than other sectors, as some claim? Should reforms in the water sector be designed and implemented differently than reforms of a similar type, in other sectors? The Political Economy of Water Pricing Reforms answers these questions by providing various analytical frameworks that allow comparison across various conditions, and by actually comparing reform processes under various conditions in different countries. This book demonstrates the common threads that characterize pricing reforms in the water sector by analyzing various aspects of the reforms in the irrigation and urban subsectors of 10 countries. Cases from Morocco, Senegal, Honduras, Belgium, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Pakistan, Yemen, and the United States illustrate the difficulties of designing and implementing "optimal" pricing reforms and explain how reform outcomes fall short of the original objective. "This book should be on the must reading list for anyone interested in water pricing and how to reform water rights systems to achieve increased economic efficiency as well as a legitimate and equitable system of property rights." Elinor Ostrom, Co-Director, Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis and Co-Director, Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change, Indiana University




Transboundary Water Politics in the Developing World


Book Description

This book examines the political economy that governs the management of international transboundary river basins in the developing world. These shared rivers are the setting for irrigation, hydropower and flood management projects as well as water transfer schemes. Often, these projects attempt to engineer the river basin with deep political, socio-economic and environmental implications. The politics of transboundary river basin management sheds light on the challenges concerning sustainable development, water allocation and utilization between sovereign states. Advancing conceptual thinking beyond simplistic analyses of river basins in conflict or cooperation, the author proposes a new analytical framework. The Transboundary Waters Interaction NexuS (TWINS) examines the coexistence of conflict and cooperation in riparian interaction. This framework highlights the importance of power relations between basin states that determine negotiation processes and institutions of water resources management. The analysis illustrates the way river basin management is framed by powerful elite decision-makers, combined with geopolitical factors and geographical imaginations. In addition, the book explains how national development strategies and water resources demands have a significant role in shaping the intensities of conflict and cooperation at the international level. The book draws on detailed case studies from the Ganges River basin in South Asia, the Orange–Senqu River basin in Southern Africa and the Mekong River basin in Southeast Asia, providing key insights on equity and power asymmetry applicable to other basins in the developing world.




Aquanomics


Book Description

Water is becoming increasingly scarce. If recent usage trends continue, shortages are inevitable. Aquanomics discusses some of the instruments and policies that may be implemented to postpone, or even avoid, the onset of water crises. These policies include establishing secure and transferable private water rights and extending these rights to uses that traditionally have not been allowed, including altering in-stream flows and ecosystem functions. The editors argue that such policies will help maximize water quantity and quality as water becomes scarcer and more valuable. Aquanomics contains many examples of how this is being accomplished, particularly in the formation of water markets and market-like exchanges of water rights.Many observers see calamity ahead unless water supplies are harnessed and effectively conserved, and unless water quality can be improved. It is also clear that declining water quality is a serious problem in much of the world, as increasing human activities induce high levels of water degradation. Those who voice these concerns, argue the contributors to this volume, fail to consider the forces for improvement inherent in market political-economic systems that can address water issues. The contributors see water quality in economically advanced countries as improving, and they believe this establishes the validity of market-based approaches.




Water Resources of Jordan


Book Description

This book gives a detailed account of the scarce water resources of Jordan, with a focus on their quantities, quality, and use for different sectors. It details the political, social, and economic dimensions of the scarce water resources along with their implications on Jordan's cooperation with its neighbors. The book includes implemented projects of dams, canals, water supply networks, waste water treatment, and more. It gives an overview of which projects have been successful and which have failed to achieve their purposes and why. Shared water with other countries and their developmental implications to the water sector are discussed and future water supply projects, such as the Red Sea-Dead Sea conduit project, are elaborated on. The book also touches upon the waves of refugees and their impact on the water sector and water strategies in Jordan.




Water, Civilisation and Power in Sudan


Book Description

Water, Civilisation and Power in Sudan offers an alternative account of how water policy, violence, and economic modernisation are linked.




Water and Development in China


Book Description

There is widespread recognition OCo among policy-makers, business communities, and scholars OCo of the importance of improving environmental policy and management in China. Environmental concerns in China have triggered the publication of a number of books on the subject. However, very few books offer an in-depth case study of the environmental challenges in Shanghai. This book aims to explore the extent to which Shanghai has managed to cope with water supply as well as water quality control challenges in terms of its sociopolitical and economic development since 1990, with a special reference to the impact of social actors on water policy. The book focuses on the contributions from each actor in water policy OCo the most influential actor being the Shanghai government, private companies, environmental NGOs, Shanghai citizens, and international development agencies. The Shanghai water sector, in the recent few years, has been diversified through interactions between the Shanghai government and the newly emergent social actors. Consequently, water policy in Shanghai is influenced by multilateral interactions between these actors with their diverse interests and goals. The book will demonstrate the ways in which these actors in the Shanghai water sector have co-evolved through interactions to formulate a new mode of water policy reflecting the diverse interests of the social actors. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Introduction (361 KB). Contents: Political Economy and Water in Shanghai; Theoretical Framework; Institutional Reform in Shanghai Water Policy; Development of Civil Movements; Private Sector Participation; Impacts of International Development Agencies. Readership: Regional specialists, planners, policy analysts and consultants interested in the contemporary development in China and Shanghai in particular."




Governance of Water


Book Description

This book makes an effort to initiate the discourse of governance of water in the Indian context from a variety of angles, such as neo-classical and institutional economics, deliberative democracy, public administration, collective action and political economy perspectives. Reform in water governance not only includes a re-orientation of policy priorities and approaches, but also the restructuring of the institutional framework away from the state and village dichotomy. New ‘intermediate’ institutions are required to allow a negotiated approach to water resource governance, multi-stakeholder participation, and integrated water resource management at various levels: the village, state, and nation as a whole.