1,721,024 research outputs found
‘Two hands, multiple fingerprints’: understanding the development of water markets in China
Full text linkSince several countries have used formal and informal regulatory and institutional mechanisms to deal with water competition, they have become pivotal to our understanding of the role of water markets in water management. In ‘Two Hands, Multiple Fingerprints’: Understanding the Development of Water Markets in China, I examine the emergence, diffusion, and diversity of water markets in China. In this dissertation, through an historical analysis of three case studies across northern and north-western China, I argue that the water supply infrastructure and water markets have developed alongside one another, thus culminating in a “two-hands” (government and market) approach to water governance. Drawing on an original transactions data set for the period from 2000 to 2019, I extend the analysis of the “two hands” approach to water governance by (1) identifying the different configurations of water markets, and (2) looking at how they have developed across space and time. I argue that, in multiple ways, which are based on critical junctures in Chinese politics, the central government influences patterns of water-rights trading. In addition, Chinese–Australian development projects have exerted an external influence over China’s water rights and market reforms.
This dissertation contributes to theories of institutional choice in two domains – the relation of institutions to different types of infrastructures, and the role of hybrids and the potential for configurations to discern different pathways. Its findings show patterns of institutional development in Chinese markets that move beyond a dichotomous relationship between state and market. This dissertation also extends the policy transfer and diffusion literature by analyzing the rise, fall, and revival of tradable water rights policy through the lens of individual actors and bilateral development cooperation. It highlights the political role of individual actors along three functional dimensions – (1) the part played by the former minister of water resources, Wang Shucheng (1998–2007), in transforming market ideas into policy; (2) the role of senior Chinese officials engaged in best-practice learning from Australia (2005–2007) in helping to draw up a national framework for water entitlements and allocations in China; and (3) the activities of scientists in designing an online trading platform in the Shiyang Basin based on lessons learned from Victoria, Australia. Finally, the dissertation highlights the importance of the structure of the international system as a driving force behind the bilateral development cooperation. The Water Entitlements and Trading Project (WET) and the Australia China Environment Development Partnership (ACEDP) occurred when Australia pursued a policy of accommodation with China at a time when the international consensus was to integrate China into global institutions
Funding flows for freshwater: the role of philanthropy in market-based freshwater conservation
Full text linkAs freshwater development progresses around the world, institutions must shift from the paradigm of exploiting water resources towards managing water scarcity in a way that maintains adequate environmental flows to support the riverâs functioning, biodiversity, and many ecosystem services. Amidst the rise of market environmentalism, market-based solutions have gained popularity as a promising approach to reallocate water from existing uses to in-stream environmental purposes. Successful water transactions require a number of enabling conditions; this dissertation explores these conditions, the ways in which they are created, and the role of different actors in facilitating institutional change. The results indicate that philanthropic funders play a major role by enabling collective action, encouraging collaboration and efficiency in creating the necessary preconditions for successful transactions. This is connected to literature on philanthrocapitalism and the role that foundations play in shaping conservation discourse.</p
Below the Plains: Navigating Groundwater Depletion in Kansas through Collective Action
No full textIn the context of increasing groundwater depletion and the critical need for sustainable water management, my research examines Kansas's transition toward enhanced groundwater conservation through the lens of the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) framework. This study focuses on the roles of state actors, policy entrepreneurs, local experiments like real-world labs, and the influence of landscape factors (external pressures) and cultural values in driving sustainability transitions. Kansas, facing significant groundwater depletion, provides a compelling case to explore how conservation initiatives, such as LEMAs (Local Enhanced Management Areas), emerged and gained acceptance in a traditionally depletion-oriented agricultural regime.
Guided by the research objectives to understand how policy diffusion occurred, how actors changed roles, and the state's involvement in shaping transitions, I employed a qualitative approach. My research uses document analysis, interviews, and case studies of Kansas's Groundwater Management Districts (GMDs) and LEMA policies to investigate the factors driving the adoption of conservation measures. The case of the Sheridan 6 LEMA serves as a pivotal example of a "real-world lab" that influenced the broader adoption of conservation practices across Kansas and the subsequent passage of state legislation mandating groundwater management plans for all GMDs.
The findings reveal that real-world labs like Sheridan 6 provided empirical evidence demonstrating that conservation could be achieved without economic harm, which built trust among local stakeholders and influenced the shift from depletion to conservation practices. Landscape factors like groundwater depletion and regulatory threats interacted with cultural values like preserving family legacies and local control, pushing incumbent regime actors to adopt conservation measures. Policy entrepreneurs, including state officials and GMD staff, played a central role in framing conservation in ways that aligned with these cultural values, leveraging political opportunities, and building coalitions that supported policy change. The research also challenges traditional views of the state's passive role in transitions, illustrating how state actors actively created and nurtured niche innovations, such as LEMAs.
This research contributes to the MLP literature by addressing gaps related to the role of the state and the uneven impacts of landscape pressures and cultural values on influencing conservation behaviors across the GMDs. By integrating insights from the Kansas case, this study offers broader implications for water management in other regions. It highlights the importance of empowering policy entrepreneurs, leveraging local experiments, and understanding the interaction between landscape pressures and cultural values to drive sustainability transition
Conflicting framings in global conservation governance: consequences for African megafauna
Full text linkWithin the domain of biodiversity conservation, attrition of Africa’s free-ranging populations of indigenous megafauna is a major concern for both governments and civil society. However, within the current global governance framework, there are conflicting approaches toward conserving African megafauna, aligned with broader discourses in environmental philosophy. For example, the governments of some African range states view these animals as harvestable natural resources and support utilization practices such as commercial hunting and the sale of live animals and body parts, whereas those practices are strongly opposed by influential international NGOs and, by association, governments of other countries. This results in contested global wildlife trade policies.
Pursuing a three-paper route, my DPhil thesis examines the nature, causes, and consequences of these conflicting approaches toward conserving African elephants, rhinos, and lions, by drawing on case study material obtained through practical engagements with wildlife trade policy processes. Grounded in a pragmatist approach, my research draws from a broad range of disciplines, strongly informed by institutional analyses and evaluations of the use of evidence. Linking a synthesis of existing institutional theories with a participatory research approach, it employs mixed methods and a multi-stage evaluation design, aimed at providing novel insights into the linkages between social constructs, formal institutions, wildlife trade policy, actor behaviour, and conservation outcomes.
I find that conflicting trade policies are partly determined by contrasting underlying ideological framings of the nature of the problem to be solved, including three somewhat incompatible overarching policy narratives, which I term Global Control, Decentralized Conservation, and Animal Protection. I further find that the international wildlife trade regime established by the CITES treaty shapes actor behaviour in a way that reinforces dominance of the Animal Protection paradigm over that of Decentralized Conservation. Finally, by analysing a long-term data set relating to rhino conservation outcomes I find that decentralization policies appear to outperform centralized policies such as trade restrictions. I conclude with a synthesis of the findings, discuss the implications thereof, and provide some suggestions for governance reform and further research
Too much, too little, too dirty: the evolution of water risks and governance in Guwahati, India
Full text linkSmall and medium-sized cities of the Global South have different characteristics than large cities or the Global North. These intermediate cities have rapid urban growth rates and often lack financial and human resources to tackle water-related risks such as floods, water supply inadequacies, and river pollution. In short, the problems of “too much, too little, and too dirty”. Yet, policies and practices to address water risks are often modelled on the experiences of larger cities. In addition to a smaller pool of human resources and finances, governance challenges are compounded as decision-making powers are held up among the higher state-level actors rather than the local, thus creating a bottleneck of delays. Existing paradigms for managing urban water risk often overlook local governance dynamics, thus creating institutional mismatches and associated political and governance challenges.
Further, research and policy communities also tend to examine the governance of different water risks separately, i.e., only urban floods or water supply, rather than together. However, cities experience and govern multiple water risks. In riverine cities, water risks become complicated due to the proximity to rivers and their floodplains. Moreover, this post-colonial dive is essential as cities’ current-day political and physical infrastructure has grown in the last 50 years. Yet, there are few detailed insights into the specific urban trends arising in this era. Therefore, there is a growing need to explore the co-evolution of water risks and governance processes to understand and improve water and urban development in intermediate riverine cities of the global South.
In this thesis, I examine the co-evolution of water risks and their governance within Guwahati, India. Guwahati, situated on the Brahmaputra River, is emblematic of the trends confronting similarly situated riverine cities in the Global South due to its intermediate size (compared to other Indian cities), resource-strapped governance, and interconnected riverine-urban water risk dynamics. The historical focus I use multiple complementary methods to examine three urban-riverine risks - urban flooding, water supply inadequacies, and river pollution. Through an integrated assessment of these three risks, I understand the difference (and similarities) in modes of governance based on a systems perspective that links social, urban and water systems. The main research objective is to understand how and why centralized models of urban governance develop and persist despite the diversity of actors involved in addressing water risks within resource-strapped intermediate riverine cities. Specifically, I expand the concept of the participation paradox by exploring how decision-making remains vested in national and state-level agencies despite decades of efforts to broaden inclusion and local participation.
This thesis contributes to the intersection of three interconnected bodies of literature— multi-level governance, networked governance, and environmental discourses and narratives. These three parts come together through a systems perspective that draws careful attention to resources, risks, actors, institutions, and external influences in cities like Guwahati, which often lack the resources and capacities available in larger cities. These differences increase the reliance of intermediate cities on decisions taken at national and international centres of power and finance.
The first part of this research (Chapter 4) examines how patterns of multi-level institutional change by focusing on the interplay between water risk characteristics and governance responses (formal and informal). The second part (Chapter 5) contributes to network governance theory by drawing attention to centralization, decentralization patterns, and neglected actors in local governance. Specifically, Chapter 5 research quantitatively draws out the patterns and interaction issues among various actors. Finally, the third part (Chapter 6) analyses how local media coverage framing of water risks influences and promotes specific priorities and visions for urban development.
Altogether, the research demonstrates that the distribution of authority in water governance (centralization vs decentralization) is not static but an ongoing product of struggles between “making do” via local governments, civil society, and informal actors, on the one hand, and centralized and bureaucratic systems, on the other. These insights are empirically supported by mapping the changes in governance networks. The mapping shows that despite an increasing diversity of actors over time, high-level actors, such as the chief minister, district commissioner, and water-related ministers, maintain their position as focal actors in the water risks’ decision-making and governance. Finally, within these resource-strapped governance structures, I find that media, through dominant narratives, frequency, and repetition, assigns priority to specific risks (water supply) and limit the visibility of solution choices (centralized infrastructure). These framings are increasingly reflected in the decisions made and the funds allocated for investment in infrastructure and policy reforms. However, civil society organizations play a growing role in building accountability and bringing attention to lesser prioritized risks (river pollution) and vulnerabilities (informal settlements).
Theoretically, the research advances the insights and application of multi-level governance theory by experimenting with an approach that includes both formal and informal processes that influence governance within data-scarce regions. Further, this research showcases that despite ongoing urban reforms promoting decentralization, governance in intermediate riverine cities is increasingly reinforcing centralized structures. The findings and methods used in this research are relevant to intermediate cities of the Global South and can also be applied to other cities across the global South and North alike. The qualitative approaches here can be used to study multiple risks in tandem, plus quantitative findings are applicable to assess how the broadening of stakeholders impacts decision-making processes.
Enabling inclusive governance of water risk mitigation in intermediate riverine cities requires a different strategy than that followed in large cities due to differences in the mode of governance experienced. Further, for cities at large in the global South, there is a need to review resource allocation strategies to allow the devolution of decision-making to local actors to accommodate the multiple nuances experienced within cities.
A way forward for urban risk mitigation includes proactive, inclusive, and flexible governance processes with insights into vulnerabilities, access to resources, and the capacity of local actors to make needs-based decisions
Scarcity and scale: designing water markets for people and the environment
Full text linkWater scarcity is a pressing global challenge with far-reaching implications for economies and the environment. While the concept of water scarcity appears straightforward - a situation where demand surpasses available supply - the complexities associated with water supplies, and water demands and their dynamic socio-hydrological dimensions, underscore why solutions designed to address water scarcity have been elusive. Water scarcity is often characterized as a complex issue rooted in water governance. This complexity arises because the juncture where water demands surpass available supply, such as a city’s reservoir level or a river’s discharge, is intricately linked to a network of political, social, economic, and administrative systems that collectively shape the utilization and management of water - what scholars refer to as water governance.
Solutions to address water scarcity historically focused on augmenting water sup- plies, for example building more reservoirs or desalination plants. However, these approaches are exceedingly costly, carry negative environmental externalities, and struggle to alleviate water scarcity. On the demand side of the equation, economists have lobbied for incentives for decades to decrease water demand, including the use of water markets. Yet, despite decades of global experimentation, the outcomes have yielded mixed results. Recently, there has been increasing momentum to utilize incentives to drive sustainable water use. This shift is motivated by the recognition that the magnitude of the water scarcity challenge, both in the present and the near future, is substantial, and few traditional conservation tools offer the potential for scalability as effectively as incentives.
In this context, the aims and objectives of this thesis are motivated by the recognition that water scarcity is a function of the supply and demand of water and that a future marked by shifting water demands and variable water supply presents a significant challenge to both economies and the environment. Additionally, this thesis is driven by the observation that, to date, experiments with using incentives
for sustainable water use have struggled to meet their potential in terms of public and private benefits, and to respond at scale. The primary goal of this doctoral research is to identify viable pathways for market-based incentives to effectively address different types of water scarcity by reducing water demand and achieving a sustainable water balance that ensures sufficient water availability, at appropriate times, for both people and the environment.
This thesis contends that previous experiments with market-based incentives typically adopted a one-size-fits-all approach, utilizing a single type of incentive to address specific water scarcity challenges. However, in reality, water scarcity encompasses a variety of distinct types, each requiring a tailored toolkit for effective mitigation. Consequently, while there were sporadic successes, the alignment be- tween the incentives and the specific type of scarcity often fell short. This mis- alignment led to a diminished perception of water markets as a scalable solution for addressing scarcity.
To support this argument, this thesis centers on identifying the drivers of water scarcity, evaluating the performance of water markets, and assessing the trade- offs associated with environmental water transactions. I embrace an interdisciplinary perspective and integrate a multi-scaled approach to address a hierarchy of questions focusing on the potential, performance, and pathways through which incentives can contribute to sustainable water use.
The thesis sets out with a global assessment of the various types of water scarcity, their geographical distribution, and the suitability of incentive-based approaches. This analysis links the characteristics of the drivers of water scarcity to the strengths of potential solutions and paints a more nuanced understanding of the various types of water scarcity on a global scale.
Next, I zoom in on Texas, a state in the Southwestern United States known for water scarcity challenges, and the institutional conditions to promote water markets. Drawing on an original transaction data set of over 2,300 transactions between 1987-2020, I assess the performance, as well as drivers of water market transactions across multiple basins by quantifying their private and public benefits. Results provide further depth to the canvas by demonstrating that different basins have used water markets to achieve different objectives, including providing water for the environment.
Finally, I zoom into one basin in Texas, the San Saba, which is notorious for com- petition between upstream and downstream users, each pointing fingers at the other for a dewatered river - a phenomenon with significant consequences for freshwater ecosystems. By triangulating data from groundwater wells, surface water rights, and transactions data, I assess the trade-offs associated with various environmental water transactions. This process involves evaluating the costs and benefits for both producers and the environment within a hydrologically inter- connected system where groundwater and surface water are treated differently from a governance standpoint. These results add intricate layers and hues to the canvas. They reveal that the effectiveness of environmental water transactions is akin to a finely crafted painting, where success relies on precise spatial and temporal coordination within the context of unique hydrogeological settings and the diverse needs of water users.
In conclusion, these three layers collectively underscore the central insights of this thesis. They illuminate the challenges water markets face in delivering scalable benefits to both the environment and society. These challenges arise from the multifaceted values of water, which challenge its compatibility within a traditional market framework. This thesis posits that a one-size-fits-all approach is inadequate to address water scarcity effectively; instead, it advocates for the alignment of the type of scarcity with the design of the incentive and the intended objectives, be they private or public. This tailored approach is essential to harness the potential of water markets as a tool to drive sustainable water management. Water markets should not be seen as a standalone solution but rather as an integral piece in the mosaic of solutions. By matching the right incentive to the right scarcity type, water markets can complement other strategies, contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or goals of a local irrigation district. It is not a matter of ’either-or,’ but rather a matter of ’how to incorporate water markets’ within the broader framework of solutions. Incorporating water markets into a broader framework of solutions can help mitigate key challenges in water governance, facilitating the transition from water scarcity to water security
Where will the water come from? Verifying the urban water crisis through drought issue framing
Full text linkThree prominent narratives exist within urban drought literature: that there is a global impending urban water crisis; that water will be reallocated from rural to urban uses; and that water scarcity is a socially constructed, rather than natural, problem. Many of these claims arise from studies which do not use primary data from cities at scale. In response, this study uses qualitative content analysis to investigate urban drought issue framing within 123 city planning documents in 30 cities globally. Results indicate that cities are acutely aware of climate impacts on the extent and frequency of drought in their bounds, yet that global models are insufficient for local needs. Cities also have more holistic conceptions of drought and water scarcity than presented within global models. Additionally, rural-urban water transfers are not planned in this cohort of cities, and urban areas support agriculture during drought in ways that blur the idea of urban-rural competition. Finally, the connection between problem definition and solution is found to be nonlinear within urban drought planning, but that several inputs—including formal drought definitions—have little bearing on resultant drought mitigation strategies. Overall, this study reveals the wide gap between research and practice in regard to drought management, and implores researchers and organisations alike to engage with primary data from cities
Governing common pool resources in fragile political systems: modelling behaviour, institutions, and social-ecological dynamics
Full text linkThis thesis analyses drivers of decision-making in the irrigation water sector in the context of fragile political states and aquifer depletion. The thesis offers insights for theory, evidence, and policy by advancing collective action theory as well Social-Ecological Systems (SES) Thinking and Modelling in the postAuthoritarian and path-dependent context of Tunisia. The three papers of the thesis unpack complex Social-Ecological dynamics in an interdisciplinary mixedmethods approach. The papers investigate decision-making in the water sector across nested governance scales from national-level state-building to selfgoverning collective action groups and individual behavioural dynamics. By integrating qualitative social historical, and quantitative physical modelling techniques in a longitudinal approach, the thesis traces co-evolving socialecological feedbacks between and within institutions, water users, and commonpool groundwater resources. The thesis provides nuance to the capacity of institutions to self-govern in the face of chronic water scarcity and inadequate regulatory mechanisms of monitoring and enforcement.
Acknowledging system complexity, this thesis seeks to engage methods that can uncover the emergence of causal relationships and their outcomes within the SES. Drawing on key analytical lenses of historical institutionalism and social psychology, the three papers employ methods of process-tracing, Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), and Agent-Based Modelling (ABM). These methods are purposely chosen to address context-sensitive, non-linear recursive interactions within the Social-Ecological System (SES). The thesis explores the role of the state in water resources management and user perceptions in a fragile political context marked by frequent social unrest. This thesis’ contribution comes from understanding how fragility affects the evolution of collective action by drawing attention to specific variables (state-building, hope) that have largely been ignored, and by specifically working across levels of action/decision-making often treated separately. The thesis traces the evolution of institutions governing water policy-making and resulting practices of water allocation and use - linked to an authoritarian past of repression and control. It identifies empirical causal pathways of local decision-making that mediate contemporary relationships between institutional trust, social trust, hope, and outcomes of collective action (cooperation and conflict) in water user groups. Ultimately, the thesis animates these social-ecological dynamics in a “digital-twin” evolutionary game driven by institutional rules, water availability, and social preferences.
Results indicate limits to top-down policy implementation and bottom-up collective action in the path-dependent SES. Given the systemic erosion of institutional trust, farmers in modern-day Tunisia see social trust-based systems and local coping mechanisms such as illicit groundwater withdrawals as an alternative to formal rules and the coercive power of the state. Results demonstrate how water sector reforms in past authoritarian regimes served as a practical and symbolic vehicle to institutionalise domination, co-optation, and repression of water users. Where aquifers have been degraded and institutional trust eroded, conflict can arise between water users. At the same time, simulations of water user behaviour, hydrogeological dynamics, and agricultural strategies shed light on the erosion of social norms and reveal possible delay mechanisms of system collapse.
Core academic contributions include the application of theories of state legitimisation, repression, and co-optation to the water-agriculture nexus, evidence of collective action dynamics in settings of low hope under varying social dimensions of trust, and the adaptation of evolutionary games and ABMs to complex contexts of fragility
Nipi Mamoweenene: Indigenous Water Governance to Protect the Heart of Ohke (Mother Earth) the Great Lakes, Nayanno-Nibiimaang Gichigamiin, Kanyatare'Kó:Wa
Full text linkThe rivers and tributaries of our planet carry water through Mother Earth, like veins carry blood, and for many Indigenous Peoples, the Great Lakes are the heart of Mother Earth sustaining her life blood - water. However, centuries of water colonialism have led to the disenfranchisement of Indigenous Peoples’ water citizenship, which is connected to the evolution of Indigenous water governance in the Great Lakes. Indigenous water governance includes the intergenerational and adaptive institutions and processes by which Indigenous Peoples and Nations protect the water through decision-making, treaty relations, and resurgent kinship. Indigenous water governance is grounded in the principle of Indigenous survivence – the capacity of an Indigenous Nation or community to survive stressors to water governance through resilience building that allows for sustainability and protection of water for future generations. Understanding the roles of Indigenous Nations as rightsholders in a given social-ecological-system is necessary for understanding the institutions, policies, and processes shaping collaborative water governance in transboundary basins. The failures in equity of participation, decision-making authority, and government-to-government consultation for Indigenous Nations in the shared protection of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence River Basin (GLSLRB) represent governance crises for water security. Adaptive water governance is grounded in Indigenous inclusion as rightsholders and knowledge co-production for shared agenda setting and equitable decision-making in the face of uncertainty. This dissertation empirically investigates the norms, dynamics and mechanisms that underlie the management structure, composition, and politics of Indigenous water governance in the Great Lakes. Chapter 1 introduces the literature and background necessary for positioning the four studies of the dissertation presented in Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5. Chapter 2 presents the history of water colonialism in the region and the transferability of Indigenous water institutions to manage the complex multilevel governance waterscape of the Great Lakes. Chapter 3 examines Indigenous attitudes towards Great Lakes protection in public opinion polls and the cross-national differences among Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents of the Great Lakes basin. Chapter 4 contains a case study of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement Areas of Concern, their impacts on Indigenous Nations, and the water injustices that result when Indigenous worldviews are not valued. Chapter 5 explores the reawakening of sleepy water knowledges through the Water Walks and presents the path forward set by the water walkers for rebuilding water diplomacy through Indigenous water citizenship for Great Lakes governance. Taken together, these studies help us to conceptualize Indigenous water governance within the Great Lakes and provide best practices for Indigenous leaders globally working to protect the water and enacting Indigenous water governance.ThesisCandidate in PhilosophyThe rivers and tributaries of our planet carry water through Mother Earth like veins carry blood, and for many Indigenous Peoples, the Great Lakes are the heart of Mother Earth sustaining her life blood - water. However, centuries of water colonialism have led to the disenfranchisement of Indigenous Peoples’ water citizenship, which is connected to the evolution of Indigenous water governance in the Great Lakes. This doctoral dissertation investigates the history of water colonialism in the region and the transferability of Indigenous water institutions to manage the complex multilevel governance waterscape; Indigenous Peoples perceptions of Great Lakes well-being; water injustices that result when Indigenous worldviews are not valued; and the path forward for rebuilding water diplomacy through Indigenous water citizenship for Great Lakes governance. Great Lakes Indigenous Nations’ reawakening of sleepy water knowledges are lessons for Indigenous Nations around the world fighting to protect the water on how to reclaim their water sovereignty for Indigenous water governance
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