Water Security and Climate Change

This research paper critiques the securitization of water governance under the influence of climate change discourse, arguing that a 'water security' approach can lead to the transgression of normative positions. The authors propose a 'water equity discourse' that empowers sub-national agents to bypass traditional power brokering and achieve more equitable governance.

• The authors argue that the 'water security discourse' uses expert claims about human-biophysical relationships to justify 'post-normal actions' that may transgress normative positions when water challenges are securitized via climate change discourse.
• The authors propose a 'water equity discourse' as an alternative to the security-focused approach. They suggest that integrating norm-critical considerations into securitization can empower new sub-national agents to implement changes and avoid the 'vicious cycles of power brokering' found in current controversy-resolution processes.
• Water governance is described as an increasingly 'intractable (wicked)' issue due to climate change, with the international community linking it to human security threats, terrorism by ISIS, and the war in the Sudanese Darfur.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2017). Water Security and Climate Change. https://www.sei.org/publications/water-security-climate-change/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Water Security and Climate Change. 2017. https://www.sei.org/publications/water-security-climate-change/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Water Security and Climate Change |date=11 December 2017 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/water-security-climate-change/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2017water, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Water Security and Climate Change}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2017}, month = dec, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/water-security-climate-change/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }