
Mine Islar
Senior Lecturer, Docent

Political ecology of inter-basin water transfers in Turkish water governance
Author
Summary, in English
We explore the emergence of two contemporary mega water projects in Turkey that are designed to meet the demands of the country's major urban centers. Moreover, we analyze how policy makers in the water sector frame problems and solutions. We argue that these projects represent a tendency to depoliticize water management and steer away from controversial issues of water allocation by emphasizing large-scale, centralized, technical, and supply-oriented solutions. In doing so, urgent concerns are ignored regarding unsustainable water use, impacts on rural livelihoods, and institutional shortcomings in the water sector. These aspirations build heavily on prevailing discourses of modernity, development, and economic growth, and how urban centers are perceived as drivers of this growth. In the light of these tendencies, social and environmental implications are downplayed, even though the projects will change or already have changed the dynamics within urban-rural life and agricultural water resources practices. We develop an understanding of how such projects are presented as the only solution to problems of water scarcity in Turkey.
Department/s
- LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)
Publishing year
2014
Language
English
Pages
15-15
Publication/Series
Ecology & Society
Volume
19
Issue
4
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
The Resilience Alliance
Topic
- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Keywords
- inter-basin water transfers
- political ecology
- Turkey
- urban water
- water governance
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1708-3087