Water Governance and Politics 

What is 'water governance'? How do you define it? How does politics shape water governance genesis and dynamics? This introductory talk will start the conversation on different theoretical debates and areas of focus that characterize the vibrant transdisciplinary arena of water governance. Some foundational theoretical perspectives will be introduced and different cases of competition and cooperation over water resources on multiple scales will be illustrated as examples of the complex socio-hydrological interactions that playout in the real world.

References:

Woodhouse, P., & Muller, M. (2017). Water Governance—An Historical Perspective on Current Debates. World Development. Elsevier Ltd. 

Dell’Angelo, J., McCord, P. F., Gower, D., Carpenter, S., Caylor, K. K., & Evans, T. P. (2016). Community water governance on Mount Kenya: an assessment based on Ostrom’s design principles of natural resource management. Mountain Research and Development, 36(1), 102-115. 

Dell'Angelo, J., D'Odorico, P., & Rulli, M. C. (2018). The neglected costs of water peace. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 5(6), e1316.

Wolf, A. (2007). Shared Waters: Conflict and Cooperation. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 32, 241-269. 

McCord, P., Dell'Angelo, J., Baldwin, E., & Evans, T. (2017). Polycentric transformation in Kenyan water governance: A dynamic analysis of institutional and social‐ecological change. Policy Studies Journal, 45(4), 633-658.

Dell'Angelo, J., Rulli, M. C., & D'Odorico, P. (2018). The global water grabbing syndrome. Ecological Economics, 143, 276-285.

                                                                             

Prof. Jampel Dell'Angelo 

Jampel is an Assistant Professor of Water Governance in the Department of Environmental Policy Analysis at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He is an environmental social scientist interested in the political economy of natural resources, in particular water. 

His research is on the multilevel dimensions of cooperation and conflict over freshwater resources. The focus of his research spans from socio-environmental dynamics of climate change adaption in community irrigation schemes of rural Kenya to global patterns of virtual water appropriation associated with transnational land investments. He employs mixed methods and builds on theoretical pluralism combining perspectives from the Bloomington School of Political Economy and the Barcelona School of Political Ecology. Believing in the necessity to conduct true interdisciplinary research to tackle complex water governance problems he draws on a socio-environmental synthesis approach.

Dell’Angelo is a Visiting Scholar and Member of the Ecohydrology Lab in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkeley, and an Environmental Governance Affiliate Scholar at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), Maryland. 

About the e-Lecture Series:

This online training module has the objective to engage the NEWAVESRs and the audience in different water governance perspectives. All lectures are open to the public upon registration.

Please register here

A participation certificate can be requested if attending at least 80% of the online public talks.

*All times are in CET (UTC+1)
 

We would love to know what you think! Please leave a comment below and engage in our online discussion group.