1. Human ecosystems and the local level
Dr. Joshka
Wessels
Political Ecology and Water

2. Groups A and B
A: Emil Dickson, Jurate Miliute-Plepiene, Lina Herbertsson,
William Davis, Lovisa Nilsson
B: Emma Li Johansson, Hanna Alfredsson, Karmen Sumic
Lina Eklund, Natalya Yakusheva, Nina Weitz

3. Group Exercise Scales in Environmental
Governance (Module 1)
• Write as many environmental spaces and places you can
think of, each on a separate post-it note (10 mins).
• Write as many levels and scales you can think of (local,
regional, national etc.) (10 mins)
• Group the environmental spaces according to best levels
of governance, if there are interlinkages include those
too.
(15 mins)
• Prepare and present results to the other group and
discuss (20 mins)

4. Complex systems
Amaral & Ottino (2004) attempt to give a definition; a
complex system is a system with a large number of
elements, building blocks or agents, capable of
interacting with each other and with their environment.
“New ecology” proposes theory and methods to
address the dynamics of ecosystems as complex
systems (Able & Stepp, 2003).

5. The Human Ecosystem

6. Human Ecosystems and the Local
Level
Human ecosystems as “human-
dominated ecosystems in which
the human species is the
central agent”
Vitousek and Mooney (1997)

10. Jordan River Basin

11. Main Challenges in the JRB
• Global climatic changes
• Regional depletion of groundwater
• No permanent agreements btwn riparians
• Contradicting agreements
• Dysfunctional water committees
• No relevance of the UNSC resolutions
• Negative impacts on watersheds, ecosystems and individual
livelihoods

12. Hydro Hegemony
Hydro-hegemony is hegemony at the river basin level, achieved
through water resource control strategies such as resource
capture, integration and containment – Zeitoun & Warner
Hegemon
•Riparian position
•Military or economic power
•Exploitation potential infrastructure & technology

13. Occupied Golan Heights

14. Hydropolitics at local level

15. Perpetuation of Conflict
• Competition for resources (selfishness)
• Status quo perpetuated through competition to maintain a
hydro-hegemonic position
• Liberal peace building takes the politics out of water, into
the technocratic domain
• No chance for reconciliation or processing of past
traumas before restoring trust
• Consisting negative mental pictures and mistrust