Hydropsychology: the human side of water research

Abstract

The world's freshwater resources are already under severe stress. The anticipated population increase and global climate change raise further concerns on the future. Transboundary and other shared waters have been the sources of numerous conflicts between the countries and communities sharing them, and there are fears that many of these shared basins will be hotspots for violent conflicts in this century. Proper planning and management of these shared waters will play a key role in resolving future water problems and conflicts. Despite the many existing legal frameworks and bilateral/multilateral agreements, tremendous challenges remain in managing the shared waters. These challenges have scientific, political, economic, environmental, social, cultural, racial, religious, linguistic and other facets. This study discusses the human side of water planning, management and conflicts. The positive and negative effects of water planning and management on human life are presented, with particular emphasis on human behaviour. How these effects, in turn, can shape our perception of water planning and management and motivate us towards specific agenda(s) is also discussed. The water dispute in an inter-state river basin (the Cauvery River basin) in south India is chosen as a representative for discussion. It is argued that studying the transactions between humans and water-related activities should be an integral part of water research. The field of "hydropsychology" is proposed for this kind of study, and a few ideas are also presented for making fundamental advances.Key words hydrology; water planning and management; transboundary waters; water crisis and conflict; human behaviour; hydropsychology Hydropsychologie: le côté humain des recherches sur l'eau Résumé Les ressources en eau douce du monde sont déjà soumises à un stress sévère. L'augmentation prévue de la population et le changement climatique global accentuent les préoccupations pour l'avenir. Les eaux transfrontalières et partagées ont été à l'origine de nombreux conflits entre les pays et les communautés qui les partagent, et l'on craint que beaucoup de ces bassins partagés ne deviennent des points chauds à l'origine de violents conflits au cours du siècle. Une planification et une gestion appropriées de ces eaux partagées seront cruciales dans la résolution des futurs problèmes et conflits liés à l'eau. Malgré les nombreux cadres juridiques et accords bilatéraux/multilatéraux existants, d'énormes défis persistent en matière de gestion des eaux partagées.

Planning and management of shared waters: hydropolitics and hydropsychology – two sides of the same coin

“…An examination of the literature on water planning and the management of shared waters indeed reflects hydropolitics' top-down approach. For instance, issues regarding transboundary and other shared waters are essentially discussed and dealt with at the level of national (or state) government, and often driven by broad national (or state) interests, rather than addressing the specific roles of or effects on individuals and communities through a bottom-up approach (for some details, see Elhance, 1999;Gleick, 1993;Sivakumar, 2011b;Swain, 2011;Wolf, 1998). There is no question that politics sometimes helps to draw attention to critical water issues.…”

“…The lack of studies on the interactions between human behaviour and water planning and management at all scales of water resources and human society is surprising given that human psychology drives social and economic activities, politics included, rather than the other way around. Recently, in discussing an inter-state river water dispute in South India, the present author proposed the notion of "hydropsychology" as the study of interactions between human behaviour and water-related activities in a two-directional manner (Sivakumar, 2011b).…”

Water crisis: From conflict to cooperation—an overview

“…The human behaviour and attitude (at individual and collective levels) towards water sharing and consumption is only one of such issues. Sivakumar (2011b) highlights this issue through "hydropsychology", i.e. the study of the transactions between human behaviour and water management.…”

Mortality awareness and water decisions: a social psychological analysis of supply-management, demand-management and soft-path paradigms

“…Previous flood experiences instilled both negative emotions of fear and powerlessness and positive ones of solidarity and belonging. Other research finds that stakeholders' value orientations are a factor in water management and planning (Sivakumar, 2011;Vugteveen et al, 2010;Wolfe, 2012). These studies address individuals' risk perceptions and both positive and negative emotional associations with water experiences, but they do not address the influence of different thought systems or mortality salience on decision making.…”

“…World Bank, 2015). There is no reason to think that our water choices at any scale should be exempt from these cognitive systems (Sarewitz, 2004;Russell and Fielding, 2010;Sivakumar, 2011;Aggestam, 2014).…”