Water Security in Times of Climate Change and Intractability: Reconciling Conflict by Transforming Security Concerns into Equity Concerns

Neil Powell; Rasmus Klocker Larsen; Annemarieke de Bruin; Stina Powell; Carmen Elrick-Barr

doi:10.3390/w9120934

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Water Security in Times of Climate Change and Intractability: Reconciling Conflict by Transforming Security Concerns into Equity Concerns

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Water Security in Times of Climate Change and Intractability: Reconciling Conflict by Transforming Security Concerns into Equity Concerns

Neil Powell, Rasmus Klocker Larsen, Annemarieke de Bruin, Stina Powell and Carmen Elrick-Barr

Water, Vol.9(12), 934

2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/w9120934

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Abstract

water equity

water conflict

securitization

climate change

governance

wicked problems

This paper considers how to achieve equitable water governance and the flow-on effects it has in terms of supporting sustainable development, drawing on case studies from the international climate change adaptation and governance project (CADWAGO). Water governance, like many other global issues, is becoming increasingly intractable (wicked) with climate change and is, by the international community, being linked to instances of threats to human security, the war in the Sudanese Darfur and more recently the acts of terrorism perpetuated by ISIS. In this paper, we ask the question: how can situations characterized by water controversy (exacerbated by the uncertainties posed by climate change) be reconciled? The main argument is based on a critique of the way the water security discourse appropriates expert (normal) claims about human-biophysical relationships. When water challenges become increasingly securitized by the climate change discourse it becomes permissible to enact processes that legitimately transgress normative positions through post-normal actions. In contrast, the water equity discourse offers an alternative reading of wicked and post-normal water governance situations. We contend that by infusing norm critical considerations into the process of securitization, new sub-national constellations of agents will be empowered to enact changes; thereby bypassing vicious cycles of power brokering that characterize contemporary processes intended to address controversies.

Details

Title: Water Security in Times of Climate Change and Intractability: Reconciling Conflict by Transforming Security Concerns into Equity Concerns
Authors: Neil Powell (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Rasmus Klocker Larsen (Author) - Stockholm Environment Institute, Sweden
Annemarieke de Bruin (Author) - University of York, United Kingdom
Stina Powell (Author) - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
Carmen Elrick-Barr (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Publication details: Water, Vol.9(12), 934; 13
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2017
DOI: 10.3390/w9120934
ISSN: 2073-4441; 2073-4441
Copyright note: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).
Organisation Unit: School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Law and Society; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99451402102621
Output Type: Journal article