Making the Most of the Water We Have: The Soft Path Approach to Water Management
The Soft Path Approach
First published in June 2009, Making the Most of the Water We Have is the most comprehensive water soft path resource to date. Edited by the POLIS Project on Ecological Governance’s David B. Brooks and Oliver M. Brandes, and environmental consultant Stephen Gurman, it compiles the writings of more than 20 water scientists, policy advisors and analysts, and political ecologists.
This is the first comprehensive analysis of the water soft path, drawing on studies from Canada and around the world. Making the Most of the Water We Have demonstrates that soft path analyses are both analytical and practical. It emphasizes that soft paths, beyond being conceptually attractive, can be economically and politically feasible.
The paperback edition was released in March 2011.
A Management Strategy That Frees Up Water
Based on the “soft path” approach to the energy sector, a transition is now under way to a soft path for water. This approach starts by ensuring that ecosystem needs for water are satisfied and then undertakes a radical approach to reducing human uses of water by economic and social incentives, including open decision-making, water markets and equitable pricing, and the application of super-efficient technology, all applied in ways that avoid jeopardizing quality of life.
The soft path for water is therefore a management strategy that frees up water by curbing water waste. This book is the first to present and apply the water soft path approach. It has three aims: to bring to a wider audience the concept and the potential of water soft paths; to demonstrate that soft path analysis is analytical and practical, and not just “eco-dreaming”; and to indicate that soft paths are not only conceptually attractive but that they can be made economically and politically feasible. Includes a tool kit for planners and other practitioners.
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Posted April 2011