Reframing Scarcity

Analytical tools & literature

• Ontological realism approached through epistemological scepticism to understand ecological change, following a realist political-ecology approach (Forsyth, 2001). Such critical perspective enables one to combine an objectivist study of the material problems with an interpretative analysis of the scientific and political approaches to cope with them. In Forsyth’s words (2001, p. 146), it allows the study of “how scientific explanations of environmental change provide only partial insights into complex biophysical processes, and that existing models of explanation reflect the agendas of the societies that created them.”

Recommended resources

• The material dimension of the analysis considers the unsustainability of the hydrologic cycle (Linton, 2008) as a point of departure to look into the natural and social aspects together. The human impact on the hydrological cycle results in particular geographies of water, in which water scarcity is generated and addressed in particular ways. The SRB is a good example of Deliverable 6.2 9 the different practices, hydraulic technologies, socioeconomic structures, and culturalpolitical institutions that constitute different geographies of water in a single region.
• Hydrosocial territories (Boelens et al., 2016) offers a useful framework to analyse the different cultural, politic, and economic water governance models and discourses in the region through the study of: a) hydrosocial networks and territorialization, b) politics of scalar territorial reconfiguration, c) governmentalization of territory, and d) territorial pluralism.
• Relevance of the notion of water grabbing (Franco et al, 2013, Dell'Angelo, 2017) to unpack power dynamics and the nature of water use and consumption in reality.

Reflections and recommendations by the researcher

The analysis of power dynamics in river basin governance entails an inter-scalar examination of hydrosocial networks, that is, the particular policy networks based on coalitions of stakeholders of different sectors at multiple levels to advocate for particular policies. The scalar analytic dimension implies, in the Spanish context, having special attention to the role of the State and the politics of River Basin Organizations (RBO), key actors in the implementation of water and drought management plans and policies at the river basin level in Spain. In what refers to the tactics of territorialization, I centre the analysis in the afore-mentioned dimensions of power from a critical position with the ideal of policy relevant environmental knowledge (Turnhout, 2018). Furthermore, in harmony with the political ecology perspective engaged with social justice, I consider that the consideration/fabulation of alternative territories in alliance with different individuals, groups and communities of the basin, would be a powerful approach to transform hydrosocial problématiques, requiring a necessary connection between research and action (Zwarteveen and Boelens, 2014).