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A radical new approach to tackling the growing threat of water scarcity Water is essential to life, yet humankind's relationship with water is complex. For millennia, we have perceived it as abundant and easily accessible. But water shortages are fast becoming a persistent reality for all nations, rich and poor. With demand outstripping supply, a global water crisis is imminent. In this trenchant critique of current water policies and practices, Edward Barbier argues that our water crisis is as much a failure of water management as it is a result of scarcity. Outdated governance structures and institutions, combined with continual underpricing, have perpetuated the overuse and undervaluation of water and disincentivized much-needed technological innovation. As a result "water grabbing" is on the rise, and cooperation to resolve these disputes is increasingly fraught. Barbier draws on evidence from countries across the globe to show the scale of the problem, and outlines the policy and management solutions needed to avert this crisis.
Contributed articles.
Water is essential for human life and at the centre of political, economic, and socio-cultural development. This Routledge Handbook of Water and Development offers a systematic, wide-ranging, and state-of-the-art guide to the diverse links between water and development across the globe. It is organized into four parts: Part I explores the most significant theories and approaches to the relationship between water and development. Part II consists of carefully selected in-depth case studies, revealing how water utilization and management are deeply intertwined with historical development paths and economic and socio-cultural structures. Part III analyses the role of governance in the managemen...
Many decisions on water allocation in river basins are made on economic grounds. Environmental and social benefits of water should also be considered in river basin management, and attempts should be made to value them similarly. This is not a straightforward task and very few studies have directly addressed this issue to date. In this paper, the Menik Ganga (River) in southern Sri Lanka is used as a case study to attempt and evaluate the costs and benefits of environmental water allocations, referred to as ‘environmental flows™ (EF). In this study, a broad definition of EF is used: the components of EF evaluated include the requirements of the religious festival, the requirements of...
Financing Water Security and Green Growth offers a comprehensive overview of the innovative financial instruments and approaches available to implement water security and green growth initiatives at various scales and in different contexts. Robert C. Brears explores the use of a variety of public, private, and blended finance models to create climate-resilient water supplies, reduce water-energy-food nexus pressures, encourage water conservation and efficiency, and increase water reliability. He examines how these methods can decrease the costs and pollution associated with wastewater disposal, utilize natural processes to improve water quality, manage water quantity by restoring the hydrologic function of the landscape, and improve overall water governance. The book also provides in-depth case studies of the innovative application of financing tools to achieve water security and green growth in various locations of differing climates, lifestyles, and income levels, and identifies best practices.
Water scarcity due to climate change, population growth, and economic development is a critical issue in many semi-arid and arid regions around the world. Water scarcity is especially critical in regions where water is shared by several riparian states and used for competing purposes (irrigation, domestic, industry, environment, and hydropower). There is evidence that water scarcity may give rise to conflicts among the riparian states that share water basins. At the same time, there is evidence that proper arrangements among riparian states create a basis for cooperation, which is a necessary condition for economic development, food production, environmental sustainability, and poverty reduc...
Dirty, Sacred Rivers explores South Asia's increasingly urgent water crisis, taking readers on a journey through North India, Nepal and Bangladesh, from the Himalaya to the Bay of Bengal. The book shows how rivers, traditionally revered by the people of the Indian subcontinent, have in recent decades deteriorated dramatically due to economic progress and gross mismanagement. Dams and ill-advised embankments strangle the Ganges and its sacred tributaries. Rivers have become sewage channels for a burgeoning population. To tell the story of this enormous river basin, environmental journalist Cheryl Colopy treks to high mountain glaciers with hydrologists; bumps around the rough embankments of I...
Water is an essential resource for mankind and our ecosystems. Free Flow is a fully illustrated book with over 100 authors work on water management and cooperation at international, regional, national, municipal and local levels. Their commentaries draw upon experiences around the world, reflecting how people are changing their interaction with water to improve sustainable development. The publication reflects progresses and challenges in these fields, highlighting good practices in a wide variety of societies and disciplines. The book strives to project experiences into future actions and encourages further institutional commitments to better understanding of and more effective management of water cooperation in order to achieve sustainable development.
Earth at Risk in the 21st Century offers critical interdisciplinary reflections on peace, security, gender relations, migration and the environment, all of which are threatened by climate change, with women and children affected most. Deep-rooted gender discrimination is also a result of the destructive exploitation of natural resources and the pollution of soils, water, biota and air. In the Anthropocene, the management of human society and global resources has become unsustainable and has created multiple conflicts by increasing survival threats primarily for poor people in the Global South. Alternative approaches to peace and security, focusing from bottom-up on an engendered peace with s...