Participants will gain an overview of the controversies involved in the world’s water conflicts and acquire a good understanding of a particular issue that they choose to explore in-depth. Subjects will include multi-level water governance, disputes about the building and operation of large dams, environmental sustainability, public participation, NGOs - international and national, roles of donor governments and organisations such as the World Bank, systems of water law, water markets, environmental refugees, climate change adaptation, international relations and definitions of water security. Conflicts many forms but problems with governance is a central theme. The Rhine, Colorado, Danube, Nile, Jordan, Euphrates, the Aral Sea, Ganges, Amazon, Yangtze, Mekong and Murray-Darling river systems as well as the vast groundwater basins of northern India, China and the high plains of the United States, are just a few examples of hydrological systems in decline because of inadequate governance.

Development of research skills re water governance issues and the management of common environmental resources and understanding of:

• the central importance of water for adaptation to climate change
• links between water and the world’s prospects for  energy and food,
• the pre-requisites for effective water markets and the relationship with sustainability.

50% for a 2,500 word research essay, 10% for a presentation on the topic of the essay, 40% for the best eight 300 word pre-tutorial commentaries.

10 hours per week including three hours in class.

No assumed knowledge.

Reading brick

Fred Pearce, 2006, When the rivers run dry” water the defining crisis of the twenty first century, Beacon press, Boston.

In addition to the reading brick:-

Barnett, Jon, 2001, The meaning of environmental security: ecological politics and policy in the new security era, Zed books.

Connell Daniel, 2007, Water politics in the Murray-Darling Basin, Federation Press.

Dolsak N, Ostrum E, 2003, The commons in the new millennium: challenges and adaptations, MIT Press.

Flannery Tim, 2005, The Weather Makers - how man is changing the climate and what it means for life on earth, Atlantic Monthly Press.

Fradkin, Phillip L., 1995, A River no more - the Colorado river and the west, University of California Press.

Homer-Dixon Thomas, 1999, Environment, scarcity and violence, Princeton University Press.

Homer-Dixon Thomas, 2007, The upside of down, Text Publishing.

Hundley NJR, 2001, The great thirst: Californians and water: a history, revised edition, University of California Press.

Lant C, (Ed) 2006 Dec, ‘Integrated water Resources Management - new governance, tools and challenges' (special issue 135) Journal of Water Research and Education

Young Oran, 2002, The institutional dimension of environmental change. Fit. Interplay and scale, MIT Press.

Lee Kai N, 1993, Compass and Gyroscope - integrating science and politics for the environment, Island Press.

McDonald Bernadette, Jehl Douglas, (Eds) 2003, Whose water is it - the unquenchable thirst of a water-hungry world, National Geographic.  

Postel Sandra, Pillar of Sand - Can the irrigation miracle last? W W Norton & Company.
World Commission on Dams, 2000, Dams and Development - a new framework for decision making - the report of the World Commission on Dams, Earthscan Publications.

Postel Sandra, Richter Brian, 2003, Rivers for Life - Managing water for People and Nature, Island Press.

Reid WV, (Ed) 2005, Millennium ecosystem assessment: Ecosystems and human well being, - synthesis report, World Resources Institute, Island Press.

Young Robert A, 2005, Determining the economic value of water: concepts and methods, Resources for the Future.

High quality internet access, especially for external students.

Delivery Mode - On campus via a weekly combined three hour lecture and tutorial and through distance education. In the latter case students will be expected to take part in a regular weekly Skype tutorial.