Sustainable water\ngovernance is expected to solve problems related to water scarcity, hydro-electricity\nand water contamination, to name a few. How do we understand sustainability in\nrelation to water governance? Why do many water interventions labelled as\n\u201csustainable\u201d produce highly contradictory results?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this episode, Mira K\u00e4k\u00f6nen talks about how dams are marketed as multi-purpose, sustainable solutions which can provide renewable energy and mitigate floods. The reality, however, unfolds differently as she explains: \u201cthe ways how these dams are built are through these concessionary agreements, where the corporate concessionaires have very high level of autonomy in how they operate the dam\u2026 and of course their rationale is to produce profit from selling hydro-electricity and so actually these dams are very uni-purpose dams [\u2026]\u201d Climate justifications for dams are contradictory in a situation, where several other harmful impacts of the dams get neglected, Mira says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sustainable water governance relates to wider\ndiscourses on sustainability. According to Jessica Budds, sustainability can be\nmisleading, as \u201cin the sustainability narrative there is this idea that the\nenvironment, the economy and social needs can be balanced quite neatly\u201d. This type\nof portrayal tends to hide the trade-offs occurring within these relationships,\nJessica continues. Instead of focusing e.g., on the technical implementation of\nwater interventions, \u201cI think what is really important in the whole debate\naround sustainable water governance, is to focus on unevenness, and the\nunevenness of the effects of interventions [\u2026] on different social groups [\u2026]\u201d,\nJessica highlights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this episode\nof Sustainability Unwrapped, Linda Annala Tesfaye,\npost-doctoral researcher at Hanken School of Economics at the Centre\nfor Corporate Responsibility discusses the tensions surrounding\nsustainable use of water with Jessica Budds, Associate Professor at the\nUniversity of East Anglia and Mira K\u00e4k\u00f6nen, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at\nTampere Institute for Advanced Study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tune in to the episode to learn more about\nwater governance! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This text is written by Linda Annala Tesfaye and Elise Wegelius<\/p>\n\n\n\n