Cultural Values in Water Management and Governance: Where Do We Stand?

Abstract

Research in water governance and management is a complex subject that involves the appraisal of social, economic, and environmental–biophysical aspects. Cultural and social values are regarded as key drivers in decision-making processes in both domains. Identifying relevant cultural values however is difficult given the interdisciplinary nature of theoretical frameworks and the implementation and operational needs of water governance/management research. In this work, we conduct a systematic literature review and thematic analysis of existing theories of culture (ToC) to identify common cultural values, theoretical frameworks, disciplinary trajectories and implementation trends relevant to water management and governance. Results indicate that the dominant ToC corresponds to Cultural Theory with its four defined categories (Egalitarian–Hierarchist–Individualist–Fatalist). In addition, results show emergent cultural values linked to “local” place-based knowledge perspectives indicating a more pluriversal understanding of cultural values. Cultural values associated with water management revolve around anthropocentrism, whereas values associated with water governance revolve around concepts of provenance/places. Implementation of ToC/cultural values is limited in practical applications, and we provide an example on how to improve on that. We suggest a succinct theory of culture such as Schwartz’s cultural values be considered to be an alternative to capture a greater heterogeneity across the breadth of water governance/management-related and basin-specific contexts.