Political ecology of inter-basin water transfers in Turkish water governance
Författare
Summary, in English
We explore the emergence of two contemporary mega water projects in Turkey that are designed to meet the demands of the country's major urban centers. Moreover, we analyze how policy makers in the water sector frame problems and solutions. We argue that these projects represent a tendency to depoliticize water management and steer away from controversial issues of water allocation by emphasizing large-scale, centralized, technical, and supply-oriented solutions. In doing so, urgent concerns are ignored regarding unsustainable water use, impacts on rural livelihoods, and institutional shortcomings in the water sector. These aspirations build heavily on prevailing discourses of modernity, development, and economic growth, and how urban centers are perceived as drivers of this growth. In the light of these tendencies, social and environmental implications are downplayed, even though the projects will change or already have changed the dynamics within urban-rural life and agricultural water resources practices. We develop an understanding of how such projects are presented as the only solution to problems of water scarcity in Turkey.
Avdelning/ar
Publiceringsår
2014
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
15-15
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Ecology & Society
Volym
19
Issue
4
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
The Resilience Alliance
Ämne
- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Nyckelord
- inter-basin water transfers
- political ecology
- Turkey
- urban water
- water governance
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 1708-3087