Political Ecology and Contours of Vulnerability to Water Insecurity in Semiarid North-Eastern Ghana

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinko Hanaan Dinko ◽  
Joseph Yaro ◽  
John Kusimi
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Rigid Fixation ◽  
Water Insecurity ◽  
Minimal Impact ◽  
Security Discourse ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Access Rights ◽  
Economic Imbalances

Vulnerability to water insecurity in Ghana has often been characterised as a biophysical phenomenon that can be objectively solved using technical and rational approaches to manage water resources use and allocation – thus, making vulnerability to water security discourse politically neutral. Contesting this orthodoxy, this article shows the multiple mechanisms and structures that undergird vulnerability of households to water insecurity in semiarid Ghana. Vulnerability to water insecurity is often veiled in political and economic imbalances that constrain the choices of people in their daily water realities. We argue that a rigid fixation on the biophysical conceptualisation of water insecurity separates nature from society while simultaneously ignoring the lived insecurities resulting from the contours of power. Policy formulation based on this conceptualisation without addressing the access rights and differentiated vulnerabilities could be misleading while yielding minimal impact.

scholarly journals Payment for Ecosystem Services and the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Securing Resource Flows for the Affluent?

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Carlo Rodríguez-de-Francisco ◽  
Bibiana Duarte-Abadía ◽  
Rutgerd Boelens
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Poverty Alleviation ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Payment For Ecosystem Services ◽  
Hydropower Project ◽  
Security Discourse ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Scalar Politics

Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) is not only a prominent, globally promoted policy to foster nature conservation, but also increasingly propagated as an innovative and self-sustaining governance instrument to support poverty alleviation and to guarantee water, food, and energy securities. In this paper, we evaluate a PES scheme from a multi-scalar and political-ecology perspective in order to reveal different power dynamics across the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus perspective. For this purpose, we analyze the PES scheme implemented in the Hidrosogamoso hydropower project in Colombia. The paper shows that actors’ strongly divergent economic and political power is determinant in defining how and for whom the Nexus-related water, food, and energy securities are materialized. In this case, the PES scheme and its scalar politics, as fostered by the private/public hydropower alliance, are instrumental to guaranteeing water security for the hydropower scheme, which is a crucial building-block of Colombia’s energy security discourse. For this, the water and food securities of the adjacent, less powerful communities are sacrificed. Examining the on-the-ground politics of WEF Nexus is key to understanding their impact on equitable and sustainable governance of water, energy, and food in the everyday lives of millions of resource users. We conclude that politicizing the Nexus can help to trace both the flows of resources and the flows of power.

scholarly journals Water Security and International Law

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Cullet ◽  
Lovleen Bhullar ◽  
Sujith Koonan
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Water Insecurity ◽  
Security Discourse ◽  
Hybrid Framework ◽  
International Water Law ◽  
International Water ◽  
Dominant Paradigm

International law seeks to ensure water security and to prevent or resolve conflicts leading to water insecurity. This relationship is based on a hybrid framework comprising binding and nonbinding instruments. The multi-scalar dimensions of water (in)security are recognized, but further engagement is required. The link between international law and water (in)security is considered primarily through the lens of international water law, which focuses on transboundary (surface) watercourses. Groundwater—the other main source of water and determinant of water (in)security—receives little attention. Further, the traditional state-centric approach, with its emphasis on sovereignty and cooperation, remains the dominant paradigm despite some attempts to redefine it. Several other branches of international law present opportunities for expanding international law's engagement with the water security discourse. Finally, the climate change challenge requires a reconsideration of international law's approach to water (in)security while considering the global dimensions of water. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Law and Social Science, Volume 17 is October 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals Impact of Extreme Drought Climate on Water Security in North Borneo: Case Study of Sabah

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1135
Author(s):  
Carolyn Payus ◽  
Lim Ann Huey ◽  
Farrah Adnan ◽  
Andi Besse Rimba ◽  
Geetha Mohan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Extreme Drought ◽  
Northeast Monsoon ◽  
Water Insecurity ◽  
The North ◽  
North Borneo

For countries in Southeast Asia that mainly rely on surface water as their water resource, changes in weather patterns and hydrological systems due to climate change will cause severely decreased water resource availability. Warm weather triggers more water use and exacerbates the extraction of water resources, which will change the operation patterns of water usage and increase demand, resulting in water scarcity. The occurrence of prolonged drought upsets the balance between water supply and demand, significantly increasing the vulnerability of regions to damaging impacts. The objectives of this study are to identify trends and determine the impacts of extreme drought events on water levels for the major important water dams in the northern part of Borneo, and to assess the risk of water insecurity for the dams. In this context, remote sensing images are used to determine the degree of risk of water insecurity in the regions. Statistical methods are used in the analysis of daily water levels and rainfall data. The findings show that water levels in dams on the North and Northeast Coasts of Borneo are greatly affected by the extreme drought climate caused by the Northeast Monsoon, with mild to the high risk recorded in terms of water insecurity, with only two of the water dams being water-secure. This study shows how climate change has affected water availability throughout the regions.

The Political Ecology of the Decentralized Water Management in Zimbabwe

2022 ◽  
pp. 225-238
Author(s):  
Winmore Kusena
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
The Political ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Water Protection ◽  
The Commons

The chapter assesses the notion of local scale and decentralization that emanates from the IWRM principles. Evaluation of the benefits of decentralization was done through the political ecology lens that critically examines fairness and power struggles across spaces. Sanyati catchment was used to draw empirical evidence in light of the theoretical expectations of decentralization towards catchment water security. Qualitative approach was used to collect data. Interviews were the main sources of data collection. The findings showed that decentralization has failed to produce the desired results compared to what is assumed in the dominant narrative that highly esteems the decentralization management approach. The chapter showed that what brings results are not local scales and suggests that probably fair and transparent resource distribution and allocation at any scale may bring about water protection that does not trigger the tragedy of the commons.

The Influence of Narratives on Negotiations and Resolution of the Upper Jordan River Conflict

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Zeitoun ◽  
Michael Talhami ◽  
Karim Eid-Sabbagh
Keyword(s):  
Water Security ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Jordan River ◽  
Missed Opportunities ◽  
Environmental Narratives ◽  
Security Discourse ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Colonial Archives ◽  
The Cost

Abstract This article tests the assertion that narratives constructed around international environmental issues serve to promote or reduce opportunities for their resolution. It does this by interpreting the influence of Lebanese and Israeli environmental narratives on resolution of and indirect negotiations over the Upper Jordan River conflict. Colonial archives, key informant interviews and academic and policy literature serve to identify and critically investigate the narratives. An official Lebanese narrative of adherence to international law is found to contradict the more popular nationalist narrative of Israeli ‘theft’ of the flows. An Israeli water security discourse is found to be built on earlier narratives that have long held water (and the Upper Jordan flows in particular) as both a physically scarce and strategic commodity necessary for continued existence of the Israeli state. Basic discourse, security studies and negotiation theory is developed to gauge the influence of the narratives during the 2002 informal negotiations over the Wazzani pumping station dispute. The more influential Israeli discourse is found to establish the starting point (no discussion on re-allocation of the flows) and process of the informal negotiations. The narratives are found to open or shut windows for resolution of the conflict, by politicizing or securitizing ideas about the flows, respectively. The conflict management approach favored by US and EU mediators is seen to align with the more dominant discourse, at the cost of enduring asymmetry and tensions, and missed opportunities for both resolution of the conflict and promotion of fair water-sharing norms.

scholarly journals Water Rights in a Time of Fragility: An Exploration of Contestation and Discourse around Cape Town’s “Day Zero” Water Crisis

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 3247
Author(s):  
Jackie Dugard
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Water Rights ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Water Insecurity ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
The World ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
Water Scarce ◽  
The Right

South Africa is an interesting case study on the right to water. It is an upper-middle income country with a history and current reality of extreme racialised inequality, including the water services sphere. It is water scarce, and during 2018, Cape Town was expected to be the first major metropolitan city in the world to run out of water. South Africa has one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, which incorporated socio-economic rights including the right to water as explicitly justiciable long before the international right to water was recognised. However, despite clear water-security and water-equity fault lines on the one hand and conducive legal frameworks on the other hand, there has been relatively little water rights contestation in post-apartheid South Africa. It is this paradox and, in particular, how it played out in the clear case of water insecurity in Cape Town’s “Day Zero” crisis that are the subjects of examination in this article. Aiming to make an original contribution to the scholarship on the “Day Zero” crisis by exploring it from the perspective of interlocutors and those affected by it, this article also hopes to contribute towards a better understanding of the nature and application of water rights more broadly.

scholarly journals Bonds, Battles and Social Capital: Power and the Mediation of Water Insecurity in Peri-Urban Gurgaon, India

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1607 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vishal Narain ◽  
Sumit Vij ◽  
Aman Dewan
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Water Insecurity ◽  
Resource Access ◽  
Underlying Factor ◽  
Access To Water ◽  
Urban Contexts ◽  
Differential Access

This article describes the role of social capital and power as a significant underlying factor influencing water security in peri-urban Gurgaon. The article shows how differential access to social capital shapes differential access to water. In peri-urban contexts, communities that lack access to water mobilise their social capital to enhance their water security. We use the concepts of power and social capital to explain how the actors interact in peri-urban Gurgaon, paying attention to which social groups are powerful and how the powerless use social capital to adapt to changing resource access and usage. We conclude by drawing theoretical- and policy-relevant insights from the field.

Handwashing and water security in the context of a pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Hannah ◽  
Iseult Lynch ◽  
Feng Mao ◽  
Joshua D. Miller ◽  
Sera L. Young ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hand Hygiene ◽  
Behavioural Change ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Water Insecurity ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Sanitation And Hygiene ◽  
Household Water ◽  
Sustainable Development Goal 6

<p>The COVID-19 pandemic is a wake-up call for water security issues. It makes us acutely aware how crucial access, and ability, for adequate hand hygiene are for reducing transmission risks of communicable diseases. An estimated 40% of households globally lack access to basic handwashing facilities. A recent cross-cultural study of household water insecurity experiences (HWISE) found that nearly one in four of 6,637 randomly sampled households across 23 sites in 20 low- and middle-income countries. Similar water, sanitation and hygiene problems impact on poorer families in high-income nations too.</p><p>We explore the challenge of hand hygiene in a changing water world and reflect on the importance of making rapid progress towards “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” (UN Sustainable Development Goal 6). We contest that urgent action on water security is essential to better prepare societies for the future, including global health crises. Drawing on the latest evidence, we provide recommendations on how to increase handwashing, and improve human health and wellbeing more broadly, by reducing water insecurity. Across our world, policymakers must focus on: investment in water infrastructure, water independent alternatives, and behavioural change and knowledge promotion. Moreover, we must prioritise holistic, evidence-based solutions that address 3 facets of water (in)security: availability, quality & accessibility.</p>

Regional Economic Imbalances

2015 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jitender Bhandari ◽  
Manmohan Rahul ◽  
Shalini Rahul Tiwari
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Regional Economic ◽  
Fdi Inflows ◽  
Business Condition ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Economic Imbalances ◽  
Fdi Policies ◽  
Geographical Locations

The importance of inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in economic development of India is widely known, analyzed and well accepted in the post-liberalization era. But such inflows have created regional disparities within India owing to their concentration in select geographical locations (states) only. This should be brought into socio-economic discourses and policy formulation and as such, this chapter is an attempt to understand the linkage between FDI and regional economic growth of India. The chapter is divided into three parts.Part-1presents phases of evolution of FDI policies that made an impact on the business condition in India post independence,Part-2presents economic condition of various states and also discusses the FDI inflows to these states since 1991.In Part-3, some policy measures has been suggested to remove this anomaly in our development process so as to make economic development with FDI more stable and inclusive.

Water Security and Racial Discrimination

2020 ◽  
pp. 83-102
Author(s):  
Rhett B. Larson
Keyword(s):  
Water Security ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Water Insecurity ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Water Policies ◽  
Ethnic Inequalities ◽  
Water Provision ◽  
Laws And Policies

Water policies around the world are developed or applied in ways that perpetuate racial or ethnic inequalities and discrimination. From the health crisis in Flint, Michigan, in the United States, to inadequate water provision to Romani communities in Europe, to disparate impacts of water pricing in South Africa, marginalized communities consistently face greater threats of water insecurity. For indigenous peoples, the challenge of water insecurity is often all the more poignant because of the unique cultural relationship these communities often have with their traditional waters. This chapter discusses how water laws and policies can deepen and perpetuate racial and ethnic inequalities, how existing laws can be asserted to promote the water rights and water security of racial and ethnic minorities, and the unique legal tools available to indigenous communities to pursue reforms and advances to achieve water security.

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