River Basin Trajectories : Societies, Environments and Development

by F. Molle; P. Wester

• ISBN13: 9781845935382
• ISBN10: 1845935381
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-12-27
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Summary

Using a variety of case studies, this book provides an overview of how societies have gradually developed their water resources and furthers our understanding of how such resources can be managed successfully or unsuccessfully. Discussing how and why particular options are selected, and why a particular course of events eventually prevails, the book stresses the importance of context and a multidisciplinary approach in moving towards sustainable and equitable development.

Author Biography

Francois Molle is a Senior Researcher at the Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement, France, and holds a joint appointment with the International Water Management Institute. He has 25 years of experience in irrigation and water management in South America, Africa, Asia and the Middle-East. He now focuses his research on institutional and political aspects of water management, water governance, river basin management and water policy. His research in recent years has been centered on water governance in the Mekong Region and he has recently co-edited a book entitled Contested Waterscapes in the Mekong Region: Hydropower, Livelihoods and governance. He is also co-edior in chief of Water Alternatives.
Philippus Wester is Assistant Professor Water Reforms with the Centre for Water and Climate of Wageningen University, The Netherlands. Trained as a sociotechnical water management researcher, he has 15 years of experience studying water resources management in Senegal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico and The Netherlands. His current research focuses on river basin management, institutional change processes and participatory groundwater management.

Table of Contents

Contributors	p. vii
Series Foreword	p. xii
Acknowledgements	p. xiv
River Basin Trajectories: an Inquiry into Changing Waterscapes	p. 1
Squeezed Dry: the Historical Trajectory of the Lower Jordan River Basin	p. 20
Are Good Intentions Leading to Good Outcomes? Continuities in Social, Economic and Hydro-political Trajectories in the Olifants River Basin, South Africa	p. 47
From Half-full to Half-empty: the Hydraulic Mission and Water Overexploitation in the Lerma-Chapala Basin, Mexico	p. 75
Managing the Yellow River: Continuity and Change	p. 99
The Colorado River: What Prospect for 'a River No More'?	p. 123
Sharing Scarce Resources in a Mediterranean River Basin: Wadi Merguellil in Central Tunisia	p. 147
Water Competition, Variability and River Basin Governance: a Critical Analysis of the Great Ruaha River, Tanzania	p. 171
Buying Respite: Esfahan and the Zayandeh Rud River Basin, Iran	p. 196
Rural Dynamics and New Challenges in the Indian Water Sector: the Trajectory of the Krishna Basin, South India	p. 214
Pumped Out: Basin Closure and Farmer Adaptations in the Bhavani Basin in Southern India	p. 238
Much Ado about the Murray: the Drama of Restraining Water Use	p. 263
Index293
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