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Resource Efficiency Complexity and the Commons

Author: Bruce Lankford

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-09-05

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 1134079389

The efficient use of natural resources is key to a sustainable economy, and yet the complexities of the physical aspects of resource efficiency are poorly understood. In this challenging book, the author proposes a major advance in our understanding of this topic by analysing resource efficiency and efficiency gains from the perspective of common pool resources, applying this idea particularly to water resources and its use in irrigated agriculture. The author proposes a novel concept of "the paracommons", through which the savings of increased resource efficiency can be viewed. In effect he asks; "who gets the gain of an efficiency gain?" By reusing, economising and avoiding losses, wastes and wastages, freed up resources are available for further use by four ‘destinations’; the same user, parties directly connected to that user, the wider economy or returned to the common pool. The paracommons is thus a commons of – and competition for – resources salvaged by changes to the efficiency of natural resource systems. The idea can be applied to a range of resources such as water, energy, forests and high-seas fisheries. Five issues are explored: the complexity of resource use efficiency; the uncertainty of efficiency interventions and outcomes; destinations of freed up losses, wastes and wastages; implications for resource conservation; and the interconnectedness of users and systems brought about by efficiency changes. The book shows how these ideas put efficiency on a par with other dimensions of resource governance and sustainability such as equity, justice, resilience and access.

Resource Efficiency Complexity and the Commons

Author: Bruce Lankford

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-09-05

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1134079311

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The efficient use of natural resources is key to a sustainable economy, and yet the complexities of the physical aspects of resource efficiency are poorly understood. In this challenging book, the author proposes a major advance in our understanding of this topic by analysing resource efficiency and efficiency gains from the perspective of common pool resources, applying this idea particularly to water resources and its use in irrigated agriculture. The author proposes a novel concept of "the paracommons", through which the savings of increased resource efficiency can be viewed. In effect he asks; "who gets the gain of an efficiency gain?" By reusing, economising and avoiding losses, wastes and wastages, freed up resources are available for further use by four ‘destinations’; the same user, parties directly connected to that user, the wider economy or returned to the common pool. The paracommons is thus a commons of – and competition for – resources salvaged by changes to the efficiency of natural resource systems. The idea can be applied to a range of resources such as water, energy, forests and high-seas fisheries. Five issues are explored: the complexity of resource use efficiency; the uncertainty of efficiency interventions and outcomes; destinations of freed up losses, wastes and wastages; implications for resource conservation; and the interconnectedness of users and systems brought about by efficiency changes. The book shows how these ideas put efficiency on a par with other dimensions of resource governance and sustainability such as equity, justice, resilience and access.

Releasing the Commons

Author: Ash Amin

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-28

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 131737536X

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This book moves beyond seeing the commons in the past tense, an entity passed over from the public into the private, to reimagine the commons as a process, a contest of force, a reconstitution, and a site of convening practices. It highlights new spaces of gathering opening up, such as the digital commons, and new practices of being in common, such as community economies and solidarity networks. The commons is seen as a contested domain of the collective and as a changing way of being in common, with the balance poised in the tensile play between political economy and social innovation. The book focuses on the possibility of recovering a future in which more can be held by the many, focusing on three concepts: nation and nature as a commons, publics and rights, and bodies, concerning the management of lives and livelihoods. Across these three passage points, the book finds evidence of a commons under attack but also defended in fragile though promising ways. With contributions from leading scholars, this thought provoking book will be of great interest to students and scholars in geography, environmental studies, politics, anthropology, and cultural studies.

The Oxford Handbook of Water Politics and Policy

Author: Ken Conca

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 713

ISBN-13: 0199335087

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This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note that the online publication date for this handbook is the date that the first article in the title was published online. For more information, please read the site FAQs.

Water is for Fighting Over

Author: John Fleck

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2016-09-01

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 1610916808

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"Illuminating." —New York Times WIRED's Required Science Reading 2016 When we think of water in the West, we think of conflict and crisis. In recent years, newspaper headlines have screamed, “Scarce water and the death of California farms,” “The Dust Bowl returns,” “A ‘megadrought’ will grip U.S. in the coming decades.” Yet similar stories have been appearing for decades and the taps continue to flow. John Fleck argues that the talk of impending doom is not only untrue, but dangerous. When people get scared, they fight for the last drop of water; but when they actually have less, they use less. Having covered environmental issues in the West for a quarter century, Fleck would be the last writer to discount the serious problems posed by a dwindling Colorado River. But in that time, Fleck has also seen people in the Colorado River Basin come together, conserve, and share the water that is available. Western communities, whether farmers and city-dwellers or US environmentalists and Mexican water managers, have a promising record of cooperation, a record often obscured by the crisis narrative. In this fresh take on western water, Fleck brings to light the true history of collaboration and examines the bonds currently being forged to solve the Basin’s most dire threats. Rather than perpetuate the myth “Whiskey's for drinkin', water's for fightin' over," Fleck urges readers to embrace a new, more optimistic narrative—a future where the Colorado continues to flow.

Governing the Nexus

Author: Mathew Kurian

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-11-08

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 3319057472

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Global trends such as urbanization, demographic and climate change that are currently underway pose serious challenges to sustainable development and integrated resources management. The complex relations between demands, resource availability and quality and financial and physical constraints can be addressed by knowledge based policies and reform of professional practice. The nexus approach recognizes the urgent need for this knowledge and its interpretation in a policy- relevant setting that is guided by the understanding that there is a lack of blueprints for development based on integrated management of water, soil and waste resources in the Member States. Generation and application of knowledge is both a priority for individual but also institutional capacity development.

Water Markets

Author: Wheeler, Sarah A.

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2021-08-27

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1788976932

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Exploring water scarcity issues in light of the growing crisis in global water management, this book examines the applicability of water markets. It provides an overview and understanding of the presence of water markets across the globe, analysing the ways in which different countries and regions are grappling with water scarcity.

Water accounting & auditing guidelines

Author: Batchelor, C

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2016-01-01

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 9251093318

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In many regions of the world, sustainable and reliable delivery of water services has become increasingly complex and problematic. Complexities that are very likely to increase, considering the unprecedented confluence of pressures linked to demographic, economic, dietary trends, and climate change. Particularly if overall demand for freshwater exceeds supply, the delivery of water services is often less about engineering, although engineering is still required, and more about politics, governa nce, managing and protecting sources, resolving conflicts about water, ensuring rights to water are respected, and so on. It is also about understanding and monitoring the hydrological cycle at the appropriate scale of analysis. This is where water accounting and auditing can play a crucial role. The rationale behind this water accounting and auditing sourcebook is that scope exists worldwide to improve water-related sectoral and inter-sectoral decision-making at local, regional and national le vels. Water accounting and auditing are recommended by FAO and others as being fundamental to initiatives that aim to cope with water scarcity. This sourcebook aims to provide practical advice on the application and use of water accounting and auditing, helping users planning and implementing processes that best fit their needs.