Water security: A review of place-based research

Gerlak, Andrea K.; House‐Peters, Lily; Varady, Robert G.; Albrecht, Tamee R.; Zúñiga-Terán, Adriana A.; Grenade, Rafael Routson De; Cook, Christina; Scott, Christopher A.

doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2018.01.009

Cited by 120 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 70 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…(Lubell et al, 2014) highlight the impact of geographical factors in an SES. Gerlak et al (2018) confirm that space and scale play a critical role in the water security. As a consequence, SESs studies must have a spatial dimension and ideally include GIS information into databases.…”

Section: Dealing With Measurement Disparity and Evolution: Recommendamentioning

confidence: 64%

“…The persistent diversity in perspectives and applications of water security suggests that scholars adapt the concept to the contexts of the cases they are studying. Gerlak et al (2018) found that 60% of the studies using a definition of water security offer a new definition, and thus are case-based. While this can suggest the need for a more community-context view to understand and realize water security, it might also suggest a limited generalizability of water security and hinder our knowledge of water security.…”

Section: Limitations To General Knowledge About Water Security: Measumentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Explaining and Measuring Social-Ecological Pathways: The Case of Global Changes and Water Security

Bolognesi¹,

Gerlak²,

Giuliani³

2018

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework serves as a valuable framework to explore and understand social and ecological interactions, and pathways in water governance. Yet, it lacks a robust understanding of change. We argue an analytical and methodological approach to engaging global changes in SES is critical to strengthening the scope and relevance of the SES framework. Relying on SES and resilience thinking, we propose an institutional and cognitive model of change that institutions and natural resources systems co-evolve to provide a dynamic understanding of SES that stands on three causal mechanisms: institutional complexity trap, rigidity trap, and learning processes. We illustrate how Data Cube technology could overcome current limitations and offer reliable avenues to test hypothesis about the dynamics of social-ecological systems and water security by offering to combine spatial and time data with no major technical requirements for users.

show abstract

Section: Dealing With Measurement Disparity and Evolution: Recommendamentioning

confidence: 64%

Section: Limitations To General Knowledge About Water Security: Measumentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining and Measuring Social-Ecological Pathways: The Case of Global Changes and Water Security

Bolognesi¹,

Gerlak²,

Giuliani³

2018

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There has been much written on water security including reviews of the history, language and definitions (Giordano 2017;Cook and Bakker 2012;Garrick and Hall 2014;Beck and Villarroel Walker 2013;Lankford et al 2013;Pahl-Wostl, Bhaduri, and Gupta 2016;Gerlak et al 2018;Zeitoun et al 2016;Hoekstra, Buurman, and van Ginkel 2018). The concept and language of water security has been in use for many years, with references made at least as far back as 1933 to water-borne infections that 'came to threaten the water security of part of London' (British Medical Association 1933).…”

Section: Finding Water Security Definitions -Development Of Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Grey and Sadoff (2007) proposed a much-referenced definition (see citation count in Table 2) of water security drawing upon food and energy security definitions. Another widely referenced definition (Giordano 2017;Garrick and Hall 2014;Gerlak et al 2018) was proposed by the United Nations (2013).…”

Section: Finding Water Security Definitions -Development Of Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…There were multiple occasions when definitions presented in peer-reviewed technical papers have been attributed inaccurately. Recent examples include the work ofGerlak et al (2018) who attribute a definition toNorman et al (2010) that was originally proposed byDunn and Bakker (2009); and a second definition attributed toBakker (2012) that is a rearrangement of the often quoted Grey and Sadoff definition from 2007.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Urban water security - what does it mean?

Allan

Kenway

Head

2018

Urban Water Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This research is focussed on understanding what urban water security means -a surprisingly elusive concept given the global shift from rural to urban living. We first make the case for a distinct urban water security definition. We then identify 25 unique water security definitions, of which three relate to the urban context but all with scope for improvement. Applying novel indices, we assess the prevalence, complexity and evolution of themes and dimensions within all definitions and find a stable spectrum of themes; but note a shifting emphasis towards environmental and social dimensions, away from quality and quantity of supply. Overall the definitions are becoming more comprehensive by simply listing more outcomes to be achieved. Instead of this 'shopping-list' approach, we propose a simplified urban water security definition with a focus on agreement of needs with community stakeholders, while using the themes to guide what the objectives might be.

show abstract