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Water and Governance

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Water and Human Societies

Abstract

“Water and Governance” is an expansive topic that includes how communities and states have sought to manage access to water supplies. This topic includes “water law,” but also includes informal arrangements that have been utilized to govern water use. One of the earliest codified set of rules mandating how water should be managed was issued by King Hammurabi of the Babylonian empire. Over the centuries different systems have emerged that govern access to water along waterways, and at times, particularly in colonial regions, there is a mixture of local and colonial practices. With the emergence of the nation-state, and ultimately of global governance organizations in the twentieth century, inter- and multi-state efforts have been made to ensure universal access to water as well as the effective management of transboundary waterways.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Organization for European Cooperation and Development (OECD), “OECD Water Governance Indicator Framework,” 2018, 5, https://www.oecd.org/regional/OECD-Water-Governance-Indicator-Framework.pdf.

  2. 2.

    P. Woodhouse and M. Muller, “Water Governance—An Historical Perspective on Current Debates,” World Development 9:C (2017), 226.

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Correspondence to David A. Pietz .

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Pietz, D.A., Zeisler-Vralsted, D. (2021). Water and Governance. In: Water and Human Societies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67692-6_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67692-6_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

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