“Nature-Based Solutions” and Global Water Shortages: A Political Ecology of The United Nation’s World Water Development Report 2018.

Abstract

Abstract The United Nations World Water Development Report of 2018 describes water scarcity as a problem of population growth and climate change. This research paper will challenge this report’s hegemonic conception of water scarcity by providing evidence for how there are political explanations for water scarcity other than population growth and climate change. I argue that the report promotes cornucopian and technocentric solutions with the intention of utilizing green infrastructures and water-related ecosystem services for increasing the availability of water. This one-dimensional view of water scarcity prevents a discussion of the important political decision making behind the globally uneven distribution of water. The following analysis uses concepts from political ecology to demonstrate the potential implications of this one-dimensional perspective of water scarcity.