Abstract
water management paradigm. However, there is a lack of clarity about how to translate this paradigm into practice. We propose a multifaceted approach to valuing water that considers not just the values that people assign to water, such as its uses and benefits, but also broader personal guiding principles (e.g., security) and governance-related values (e.g., social justice) that underpin decision-making about water. Using an interdisciplinary conceptual framework and data from a global survey among water professionals (N=293), we provide the first empirical evidence showing how preferences among three archetypical perspectives on water management – (1) controlling water flows through engineering solutions; (2) managing water through market-based mechanisms; (3) working with natural water ecosystems – can be explained by different types of values held by respondents, despite the enormous diversity among water management contexts around the world. The valuing water paradigm thus has an expressly political dimension to it; applying it makes explicit how water management decisions are informed by and may reinforce some values and
weaken others. As such, it can be a useful diagnostic in the context of water conflicts, to help understand how decisions about water are linked to different stakeholder groups’ values. Valuing water may thus involve balancing conceptually contrasting values and preferences. It also requires the development and application of mechanisms and institutions foreffective stakeholder participation in decision-making, especially in the context of significant powerdifferentials between relevant stakeholders.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 103685 |
| Journal | Environmental Science and Policy |
| Volume | 153 |
| Early online date | 29 Jan 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 31 Mar 2024 |
Data Availability Statement
Data will be made available on request.Funding
The authors wouldlike to thank the many survey participants for making this research possible,the advisory board members of the Valuing Water Initiative, members ofWater@Leeds, Shervin Shahvi, Laurent-Charles Tremblay-Lévesque, Carla Müller-Zantop,and Udisha Saklani, for their comments on draft versions of the surveyquestionnaire, Hatem Chouchane for reviewing the French and Arabictranslations, Marina Iosifian for reviewing the Russian translation, and MarieFerré for reviewing the French translation. Sam Taylor assisted with designingFigures. This research was funded by the Valuing Water Initiative of theGovernment of the Netherlands. Members of the Valuing Water Initiative alsoprovided constructive feedback on this work throughout the entire researchprocess. The authors would like to thank the many survey participants for making this research possible, the advisory board members of the Valuing Water Initiative, members of Water@Leeds, Shervin Shahvi, Laurent-Charles Tremblay-Lévesque, Carla Müller-Zantop, and Udisha Saklani, for their comments on draft versions of the survey questionnaire, Hatem Chouchane for reviewing the French and Arabic translations, Marina Iosifian for reviewing the Russian translation, and Marie Ferré for reviewing the French translation. Sam Taylor assisted with designing Figures. This research was funded by the Valuing Water Initiative of the Government of the Netherlands. Members of the Valuing Water Initiative also provided constructive feedback on this work throughout the entire research process.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Udisha Saklani | |
| Valuing Water Initiative |
Keywords
- Environmental values
- Global survey
- Valuing water
- Water governance
- Water management
- Water policy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law