Socio-hydrology: Use-inspired water sustainability science for the Anthropocene

Sivapalan, M and Konar, M and Srinivasan, V and Chhatre, A and Wutich, A and Scott, C A and Wescoat, J L and Rodríguez-Iturbe, I (2014) Socio-hydrology: Use-inspired water sustainability science for the Anthropocene. Earth's Future, 2 (4). pp. 225-230. ISSN 2328-4277

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Abstract

Abstract Water is at the core of the most difficult sustainability challenges facing humans in the modern era, involving feedbacks across multiple scales, sectors, and agents. We suggest that a transformative new discipline is necessary to address many and varied water-related challenges in the Anthropocene. Specifically, we propose socio-hydrology as a use-inspired scientific discipline to focus on understanding, interpretation, and scenario development of the flows and stocks in the human-modified water cycle across time and space scales. A key aspect of socio-hydrology is explicit inclusion of two-way feedbacks between human and water systems, which differentiates socio-hydrology from other inter-disciplinary disciplines dealing with water. We illustrate the potential of socio-hydrology through three examples of water sustainability problems, defined as paradoxes, which can only be fully resolved within a new socio-hydrologic framework that encompasses such two-way coupling between human and water systems.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: The research paper was published by the author with the affiliation of University of Illinois.
Subjects: Sustainable Development
Economics
Date Deposited: 15 May 2019 17:38
Last Modified: 06 Jul 2023 21:55
URI: https://eprints.exchange.isb.edu/id/eprint/966

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