Hydropolitics: What it is and Why it Matters

Abstract

Power relations influence the way we claim and use natural, and especially water, resources. Predicted impacts of global climate change on water resources in the Pacific Northwest presuppose intensified conflict among users/uses. This talk will argue that understanding and accounting for hydropolitics could enhance adaptation to climate-induced changes. Professor Asah also uses, as an example of hydropolitics, the situation in the Lake Chad Basin of Central-North Africa.