Managing the effects of socio-economic trends on water
Background
Water resources are under pressure in Canada and around the world. Problems such as overuse and contamination persist despite decades of sustained attention from scientists, governments, international organizations, and civil society. Part of the challenge is that water is not an isolated issue. Political, cultural, social, and economic factors play an important role in Canada’s water resources and governance systems. Some of the drivers and forces originate from within the larger water sector, but others are linked to decisions and actions in sectors normally considered external to the water sector, such as energy, banking and investment, and agriculture.
This project rethinks the way we could be governing freshwater by more explicitly considering social, economic, and political trends that have implications for water governance in Canada.
Researchers tested their approach to examine the nutrient issues in Lake Erie. While the primary challenge is a result of drivers within the basin such as agricultural runoff, there are external actors and drivers at the regional, national, and continental scales at play. The researchers found that agricultural markets and global food value chains in particular are an important exter
Principal Investigator:
Rob de Loë, Professor and Associate Dean of Research, School of Environment, Resources, and Sustainability
Project duration:
2017-2020
GWF funding support:
$300,000
Key messages for policy makers
- The nutrient management policy framework for Lake Erie should explicitly and clearly account for external drivers that influence water quality management including agricultural export policy, renewable energy mandates, and ethanol policies.
Key messages for water governance scholars
- Future research is needed to examine the role of politics and power relations in shaping winners and losers in water management decisions. This is key to creating adaptive water governance approaches that support social learning and institutional nesting that can respond to external pressures and opportunities in global trends.
- Water governance scholars should account more explicitly for agricultural trade when diagnosing collective action problems and assessing different adaptive water governance strategies.
Key publications
Garrick, D., Alvarado-Revilla, F., de Loë, R., & Jorgensen, I. (2022). Markets and misfits in adaptive water governance: How agricultural markets shape water conflict and cooperation. Ecology and Society, 27(4). https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-13337-270402
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