University of Tasmania
Browse
170 de Lourdes Melo Zurita.pdf (402.14 kB)

Reframing water: contesting H2O within the European Union

Download (402.14 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-18, 12:20 authored by de Lourdes Melo Zurita, M, Thomsen, DC, Smith, TF, Lyth, A, Preston, BL, Baum, S
Water fulfills multiple functions and is instilled with numerous meanings: it is concurrently an economic input, an aesthetic reference, a religious symbol, a public good, a fundamental resource for public health, and a biophysical need for humans and ecosystems. Hence, water has multiple ontologies embedded within diverse social, cultural, spiritual, and political domains. For this paper, we reviewed 78 pieces of water legislation across the European Union, critically analysing the different ways in which water has been defined; subsequently we contrasted these definitions against the European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD). We argue that the act of defining water is not only a deeply social and political process, but that it often privileges specific worldviews; and that the impetus of the WFD reveals a neoliberal approach to water governance: an emphasis on water as a commercial product that should be subjected to market influences. Subsequently, we conclude that the emerging concept of the ’hydrosocial cycle,’ which emphasises the inherent links between water and society, could be a useful heuristic tool to promote a broader conception of water based on diverse understandings, that challenge hegemonic definitions of water.

Funding

European Union

History

Publication title

Geoforum

Volume

65

Pagination

170-178

ISSN

0016-7185

Department/School

School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences

Publisher

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd

Place of publication

The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, England, Ox5 1Gb

Rights statement

©? 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Environmental policy, legislation and standards not elsewhere classified

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC