Water Justice
Water justice is becoming an ever-more pressing issue in times of increasing water-based inequalities and discrimination. Megacities, mining, forestry, industry, and agribusiness claim an increasingly large share of available surface and groundwater reserves. Water grabbing and pollution generate poverty and endanger ecosystems’ sustainability. Beyond large, visible injustices, the book also unfolds the many “hidden” water world injustices, subtly masked as “rational,” “equitable,” and “democratic.” It features critical conceptual approaches, including analysis of environmental, social, cultural, and legal issues surrounding the distribution and management of water. Illustrated with case studies of historic and contemporary water injustices and contestations around the world, the book lays new ground for challenging current water governance forms and unequal power structures. It also provides inspiration for building alternative water realities. With contributions from renowned scholars, this is an indispensable book for students, researchers, and policy makers interested in water governance, environmental policy and law, political geography, and cultural anthropology.
Rutgerd Boelens is Professor of Water Governance and Social Justice in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Wageningen University and Professor of Political Ecology of Water in Latin America with CEDLA (Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation) and the University of Amsterdam. He is also Visiting Professor at the Catholic University of Peru and the Central University of Ecuador and coordinates the international Justicia Hídrica/Water Justice alliance. His work focuses on water rights, water grabbing, hydrosocial territories, legal pluralism, cultural politics, governmentality, and social mobilization.
Tom Perreault is Professor of Geography at Syracuse University in New York. His research examines the intersections of political ecology, resource governance, agrarian transformation, and indigenous and campesino social mobilization in the central Andes and western Amazon. His research has been funded by Fulbright, the Inter-American Foundation, the United Nations, and the US National Science Foundation.
Jeroen Vos is Assistant Professor of Water Governance in the Department of Water Resources Management at Wageningen University where he teaches on agricultural water governance and political ecology of water. As a water policy advisor he has also worked in Peru and Bolivia with different international development organizations. His current research interests are the dynamics and discourses of water use and governance by agribusinesses in Latin America.
