Water in the Environment/Socio-Economic Development Discourse: Sustainability, Changing Management Paradigms and Policy Responses in a Global System

Abstract

AbstractThis paper provides narrative and analytical frameworks for understanding the changing approaches to the valuation, allocation and the management of water resources in the North and the South. The study emphasizes the allocative politics of this important element of environmental capital and its combination with other capitals over the last 50 years. In examining these allocative politics, the role of the concept of sustainability is demonstrated. Discursive hydro-politics are shown to mediate the contested claims on the freshwater resources required by society, the economy and the environment. An historical narrative illustrates five water management paradigms and how they conform to modernity theory. Cultural theory is shown to be particularly relevant for those wanting to support the recently evolved fifth paradigm approach to the allocation and management of water. The theory is supported by reference to the water-short Middle East and North Africa and the dialogue on large dams. The article concludes that a hydro-centric approach is inadequate; water management challenges are associated with complex and sometimes wonderfully invisible processes integral to a political economy.