Introduction: Fresh Water and Its Features

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Laurence Boisson de Chazournes
Keyword(s):  
Fresh Water ◽  
Finite Resource ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Water Issues

This introductory chapter offers a preview of the challenges and opportunities attached to water. It presents the features of water as a finite resource and the challenges that accompany its management and protection. The tensions that pertain to and opportunities associated with the different uses of water are highlighted. Moreover, the relevance of a disciplinary inquiry when examining water issues is explained. The chapter also gives an overview of the key developments since the first edition of this book was published. Overall, the chapter introduces the various themes in the book and frames the issues at the heart of this study.

scholarly journals The global water crises: a cross-national analysis of metabolic rift theory

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Hargrove
Keyword(s):  
Water Stress ◽  
Fresh Water ◽  
International Aid ◽  
Water Access ◽  
Metabolic Rift ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Freshwater Resource ◽  
National Analysis ◽  
Water Issues ◽  
Global Water

Unchecked consumption, extraction, and growth have resulted in severe damage to ecological systems. Fresh water issues constitute one of the great challenges for political ecologists. On the one hand, there is a human health and development crisis and over 700 million people still lack access to clean, safe drinking water. On the other hand, there is a growing environmental water crisis regarding water scarcity, water stress, and freshwater resource depletion. This analysis utilizes metabolic rift theory to demonstrate the disruptive consequences that human development and agriculture have on the water cycle. I use two-way fixed effects longitudinal regression for 176 nations from 1970-2015 to test how agriculture, capital, international aid, governance, and civil society are associated with two important water indicators: access to water and water stress. I find that agriculture is associated with higher levels of water stress and higher levels of water access. Higher GDP per capita and international aid increase water access but have no significant relationship with water stress. Additionally, international non-governmental organizations and environmental treaty ratifications are associated with decreased water stress, but also decreased water access. Therefore, I find that the disruptive processes of capital and development have differential impacts on these two interrelated water outcomes. This political ecological analysis suggests that simple solutions that address water access or water stress alone, without considering the interrelated aspects of global water issues, may inadvertently influence other facets of the world's growing water concerns. Furthermore, agriculture and development create an ever-growing metabolic rift in the processes that allow fresh water to replenish itself, leading to future global issues of water access and stress.

10. International Watercourses: Environmental Protection and Sustainable Use

2021 ◽  
pp. 571-616
Author(s):  
Alan Boyle ◽  
Catherine Redgwell
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Fresh Water ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Finite Resource ◽  
International Water Law ◽  
International Water ◽  
The Law

This chapter turns to issues related to fresh water. Fresh water is a finite resource and the more we pollute it, the more issues we have with its use. A sustainable supply of fresh water is vital to life. Historically, international water law was not particularly concerned with environmental problems. This chapter talks of ‘international watercourse’ which is a convenient designation for rivers, lakes, or groundwater sources shared by two mor more states. The law of international watercourses has for most of its history been concerned with the allocation and use of a natural resource of international significance, not with its conservation or environmental protection. While it can be asserted with some confidence that states are no longer free to pollute or otherwise destroy the ecology of a shared watercourse to the detriment of their neighbours or of the marine environment, definitive conclusions concerning the law in this area are more difficult to draw.

Industry and water security: overarching conclusions

2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 101-103
Author(s):  
Björn Stigson
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Fresh Water ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Public Private Partnerships ◽  
New Public ◽  
Internal Operations ◽  
Framework Conditions ◽  
Water Issues

Fresh water is key to sustainable development. World Business Council for Sustainable Development members are addressing fresh water use 'within the corporate fenceline'. However, to address water issues 'outside the corporate fenceline' will require creative new public-private partnerships. Government's role is to provide sound framework conditions that will encourage businesses to invest time, staff and resources to address vital fresh water issues. Industry is committed to best practice within its internal operations and is ready to enter into partnerships to address broader fresh water issues.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Michael J. Kelly ◽  
Erika Moreno ◽  
Richard C. Witmer
Keyword(s):  
Political Leadership ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Bilateral Relationship ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Diplomatic Relationship ◽  
Entire Picture ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Over Time

In this introductory chapter of The Cuba-U.S. Bilateral Relationship: New Pathways and Policy Choices, the editors create a framework for readers to digest the material in this book in a meaningful way. The chapter introduces the multilevel game of diplomacy that binds the U.S. and Cuba can be characterized by a variety of signals that each player has issued to its counterpart. The nature of those signals have varied over time, depending on the nature of political leadership, the issue at hand, and the nature of the diplomatic level approached. We explore these issues as important to understanding linkages among the chapters within their respective fields, and across those fields is an important aspect of appreciating the entire picture of America’s current relationship with Cuba Finally, the authors present a plan for the volume, which focuses on three key issue dimensions: political, legal, and economic. Further, the authors identify challenges and opportunities implicit in the diplomatic relationship and its consequences for political, economic, and legal dimensions.

scholarly journals Teaching Management And Sustainable Utilization Of Water Resources At Infant Level In Primary Schools In Zimbabwe: Challenges And Opportunities

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 430-440
Author(s):  
Thondhlana Saiden ◽  
Mangizvo V. Remigios
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Sustainable Utilization ◽  
Teaching Management ◽  
The People ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The City ◽  
Water Issues ◽  
Depth Interviews

Water has become an inadequate resource as a result of population and economic growth, climate change, pollution and other challenges.  This is impacting on social, economic and environmental wellbeing.  Education about water issues at all levels is pertinent to equip people with knowledge, skills and values of its management and sustainable utilization.  Young children have a tendency of wasting water because of lack of knowledge of its management and sustainable utilization.  The study aimed at establishing how knowledge, skills and attitudes of the management and sustainable utilization of water resources were being transmitted to school pupils in the infant grades in primary school.  Furthermore the study wanted to find out the extent to which the curriculum content addressed the management and sustainable utilization of water resources.  The study was conducted in the infants section of primary schools in the City of Gweru.  It was qualitative in nature and it employed document analysis, in-depth interviews and questerviews to gather data.  The sample of seven teachers in the infant section was purposively selected as these were the people with the requisite information. The study established that the infant syllabi has inadequate content for the management and sustainable utilization of water resources.  The education system in Zimbabwe has not put in place mechanisms and strategies to pass on information to the young learners.  Teachers have not been capacitated to deal with this aspect of the curriculum.  The methods used in schools to inculcate the content are suitable for the age levels.  The study concluded that the content and teaching of management and sustainable utilization were not adequate.  The materials to complement the teaching were relevant.  The study recommends the assessment methods need to be practical so as to establish the attitudes and skills acquired and that adequate content has to be injected into the curriculum. 

Part I Introduction, 1 Human Use of Fresh Water and the Era of Water Scarcity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
McCaffrey Stephen C
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Fresh Water ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Natural Conditions ◽  
Freshwater Resources ◽  
Human Use ◽  
Valuable Role

This introductory chapter discusses the importance of water to humans, its growing scarcity relative to human populations, and, consequently, the increasing potential for water-related conflicts between States. Humans are straining the limits of a resource essential to their survival. Moreover, humans are capable of altering natural conditions to the point that their neighbors are deprived of fresh water they need and have historically relied upon. While international law plays an important role in resolving conflicts between states, it can play an even more valuable role in preventing them, in establishing conditions that are conducive to cooperation among states sharing freshwater resources. Indeed, cooperation is itself a logical outgrowth of rules of international law applicable in this field.

Introducing International Refugee Law as a Scholarly Field

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Costello Cathryn ◽  
Foster Michelle ◽  
McAdam Jane
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
International Law ◽  
Refugee Convention ◽  
Refugee Studies ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
The Future ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
International Refugee Law

This introductory chapter provides an overview of international refugee law. Since the adoption of the Refugee Convention, international refugee law has emerged as a dynamic and ever-challenging area of international law, particularly as its relationship to other branches of international law continues to be explored and understood. The chapter reflects on the emergence of international refugee law as a scholarly sub-discipline in the twentieth century, and its role within the wider area of refugee studies. It focuses on the important interface between scholarship and praxis in the sub-discipline’s development, as well as the field’s methodological strengths and weaknesses. Finally, it presents some observations about the future of international refugee law, identifying potential challenges and opportunities.

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