As we mentioned in our fourth post, Stakeholder Assessment is a useful tool for ‘mapping’ overlapping and conflicting demands for the same water. But once basic requirements have been met (i.e., in terms of quantity and quality of water), how should the relevant parties organize their interactions? Does each side push ahead and seek to […]
Where Complexity and Uncertainty Prevail, Joint Fact-Finding May Provide a Way Forward
In our last post, we described the value of a carefully structured Stakeholder Assessment as a tool for identifying relevant stakeholders, as well as their interests, in a conflict. It can also be used to identify facts in contention or missing information– i.e. ‘what the parties know or think they know about the problem?’ In […]
Engaging Stakeholders in Sustainable Groundwater Management in California
Water is used for agricultural purposes, household needs, energy generation, transportation, recreation, and environmental protection. If there were an unlimited supply of high quality water available all the time, there would be no need to prioritize among these competing uses. However, as demand outstrips supply and uncertainty about how much water there will be in […]
Emergence, Self-Organization and the Commons: Analyzing Complex Water Management Problems
Challenging the Public/Private Dichotomy of Water Management Cochabamba, Bolivia is famous for its 2000 “Water Wars”, in which a popular revolt successfully fought to throw out Bechtel Corporation and rejected the World Bank’s privatization scheme for urban water systems in the country. The Bechtel subsidiary had imposed dramatic price increases overnight that led to […]
Coping with Uncertainty and Feedback in the Nile Basin
This article is the second installment of the series Water Diplomacy: Issues of Complexity Science and Negotiation Theory — Water disputes are difficult to resolve because they are complex. These disputes occur in open and changing systems with numerous stakeholders, interactions, and interdependencies that make it difficult to anticipate or manage complex systems. One aspect of complexity has to do with uncertainty in how the networks and systems involved are likely to respond to stresses, such as
Issues of Complexity Science and Negotiation Theory (an annotated and evolving bibliography)
Water access, demand, usage and management become complex due to the crossing of multiple boundaries: political, social and jurisdictional, as well as physical, ecological and biogeochemical. The complexity of many water issues lie in the interconnections and feedbacks among variables, processes, actors and institutions operating in the knowledge and political communities. Consequently, many water management […]
Exploring the Interconnections and Interdependencies at Play in California’s Water Problem
This article is the first installment of the series Water Diplomacy: Issues of Complexity Science and Negotiation Theory — Farmers in California’s Central Valley prominently display signs along the highway reading “Congress created this dustbowl,” while, in Los Angeles, the water conservation mascot “Lawn Dude”, prominently displayed on billboards in and around the city, reminds residents to stick within regulated limits for watering their lawns. Though the drought itself is not record-breaking, a combination of severe groundwater depletion, water shortages along the Colorado River, and rising heat (and thus evaporation) have created a critical water supply problem for the state
Water Diplomacy: Issues of Complexity Science and Negotiation Theory
Water access, demand, usage and management become complex due to the crossing of multiple boundaries: political, social and jurisdictional, as well as physical, ecological and biogeochemical. The complexity of many water issues lie in the interconnections and feedbacks among variables, processes, actors and institutions operating in the knowledge and political communities. Consequently, many water management […]
Our Reflections on WDW 2014
We recently completed our 4th Water Diplomacy Workshop (WDW) with 32 participants from 16 countries. We were fortunate to have a wonderful and diverse group of people eager to listen, learn and share. We originally designed this 5-day experience to provide a practical approach to synthesizing the theory and practice of water to create actionable knowledge. We know this workshop experience is intense. Each morning, we start…
Hydropower Conflicts in Southern Chile
Chile is now relying on hydropower to support its amazing economic growth. It is a country without oil, gas or coal reserves of its own. Liquified natural gas (LNG) and coal imports are being increased, and there is some talk of expanding non-conventional renewable resources, but hydro represents at least 35% of the current energy […]