Strategies for Resilience

Abstracts

It is too easy to blame today’s water problems on climate change. While it is clear that climate impacts are having real consequences on water systems, it is less clear the problems described in earlier chapters would not have occurred without climate change. Global water systems are under increasing stress from the failure to adapt to changing diets, housing and gardening preferences, energy demands, technological change, economic development patterns, and climate change. Predict-and-plan management systems are no longer appropriate in an era of rapid change. This book offers a new way of conceptualizing water problems that embraces uncertainty, seeks to design a more sustainable future, searches for robust solutions, and builds social institutions to promote social learning. This chapter outlines strategies for uncertain water futures.