Water Security and Climate Change

The paper argues that the 'water security' discourse often leads to the securitization of water challenges, which can justify the transgression of normative positions. In contrast, the authors propose a 'water equity' discourse that incorporates norm-critical considerations to empower sub-national agents and bypass traditional power-brokering cycles in addressing water controversies exacerbated by climate change.

• The authors argue that when climate change discourse leads to the securitization of water challenges, it can justify 'post-normal actions' that 'legitimately transgress normative positions'.
• The 'water equity' discourse is presented as an alternative to the 'water security' discourse; by integrating norm-critical considerations into securitization, the authors suggest that new sub-national agents can be empowered to enact changes and avoid 'vicious cycles of power brokering'.
• Water governance is described as an increasingly 'intractable (wicked)' issue due to climate change, with the international community linking it to human security threats, the war in Sudanese Darfur, and terrorism by ISIS.

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} }