Abstract
The concluding chapter of the book positions the future challenges of global water governance with respect to the growing recognition that humans are driving processes of global environmental change. Numerous futures are possible in the Anthropocene—the proposed geological epoch recognizing the collective force of human activity on the functioning of the Earth system. It tracks two potential structural responses for governance. The first is an emphasis on managing transitions of socio-technical systems. The second is an emphasis on transforming the conditions for governance. It provides a common framework for both by forwarding the four pillars of the UN Charter as the basis for governance. To date, only two of those pillars have been focused on in global environmental structures—international agreements between nations and social progress (i.e., economic development). The remaining two, ensuring peace and respecting the dignity of human rights, offer a normative basis for structuring future responses to the challenges of global water governance in an era of rapid social and environmental change.
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Schmidt, J.J., Matthews, N. (2017). Water Futures. In: Global Challenges in Water Governance. Global Challenges in Water Governance . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61503-5_5
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