A critique of water scarcity discourses in educational policy and textbooks in Jordan

This article investigates the representation of water scarcity in Jordanian textbooks to understand its role on improving education on environmental sustainability. People's understanding of an issue guides their actions toward finding and implementing appropriate solutions to what they perceive as a problem. Discourses are key in constructing people's understanding of issues, in this case, water scarcity. This article shows the role of textbooks and of the educational system in constructing a discourse of water scarcity that frames the issue as due to nature, to neighboring countries, and to refugees. It then demonstrates how this framing opens and drives toward supply-side solutions and discusses to what extent the representations of water scarcity strive to achieve a better education on environmental sustainability

Politics of the Dead Sea Canal: a historical review of the evolving discourses, interests, and plans

This article explores how the idea of a canal connecting the Dead Sea with either the Red Sea or the Mediterranean Sea has evolved. It analyzes the proposals, the official interests, and the undeclared reasons. It provides a critical understanding of the discourses behind the complex hydro-political dynamics in a changing and contested topography within the context of a wider geopolitical conflict. This study sheds lights on the relations between interests, discourses, and the canal project. This study contributes to the literature on water history by shedding light on the evolving relations between interests, discourses, and the canal project

Yarmouk, Jordan, and Disi basins: Examining the impact of the discourse of water scarcity in Jordan on transboundary water governance

Extensive literature has shown the impact of water scarcity discourses on national policies, however the impact of water scarcity discourses on transboundary water governance has been overlooked. This article contributes to filling this gap by investigating the impact of the water scarcity discourse in the case of Jordan, specifically on three cases of transboundary water governance: the Yarmouk River, the Jordan River and the Disi Aquifer. This article shows that the water scarcity discourse is not enough to explain transboundary water governance, as it needs to be contextualized in the broader context, considering national security, regional geopolitics, inter-sectorial interests, and power asymmetries. This is particularly true when considering that the Arab region has most of its surface waters originating outside of its countries, and transboundary waters represent over two thirds of its overall water resources

The Guarani Aquifer System, highly present but not high profile: A hydropolitical analysis of transboundary groundwater governance

This article explores the governance of the Guarani Aquifer System (GAS) through the lens of critical hydropolitics and specifically through the framework of hydro-hegemony. This study is important as the GAS, which is one of the first examples of transboundary groundwater cooperation, has been studied through hydrological, geological and legal disciplinary approaches, but hydropolitical analyses of the issues raised in cooperation of this resource is still lacking. While a hydrological analysis of the GAS is important, it is not enough to comprehend and make sense of the governance and political agreements among the countries. For this reason, this article complements the existing studies on the hydrological, geological, and legal analyses published on this aquifer. By taking the case study of the GAS, this article makes important empirical contributions to the study of transboundary groundwater cooperation. This article argues that through critical hydropolitics, and in particular by consideration of the power asymmetries between states and their exploitation potential of groundwater, it is possible to more accurately understand the current water governance’s arrangements around the GAS. It also argues that critical hydropolitics fails to explain informal cooperation arrangements in the case of the GAS

Whose ‘reality’? Discourses and hydropolitics along the Yarmouk River

This article investigates Jordanian and Syrian hydropolitical discourses around the bilateral relations along the Yarmouk River, with a focus on the decreased flow of the Yarmouk River reaching the Wahda Dam. The article examines the bilateral agreements, the hydropolitical discourses they generate, and the competing solutions they open. By situating the analysis in the broader Jordanian–Syrian relations and considerations of power asymmetries, the empirical case study of the Yarmouk River Basin contributes to both hydropolitics and environmental discourse theory literatures

Tomatoes, tribes, bananas, and businessmen: An analysis of the shadow state and of the politics of water in Jordan

This article shed light on the shadow state, investigating who belongs to it, their interests, and their relation to the water sector. This is important because Jordan is known to be among the most water scarce countries in the world and some water professionals see in the shadow state an obstacle to implementing successful water policies, resulting to be one of the main reasons behind inefficiencies in the water sector in the country. Furthermore, an in-depth investigation of the relation between the shadow state and the water sector is needed. This article makes a contribution by analysing the current challenges posed by the shadow state to efficient operations of the water institutions as well as wider government, and the difficulties they encounter in responding with reforms in Jordan. This analysis will serve policy makers and water professionals to better understand how to navigate the complex Jordanian water sector. This is particularly important nowadays in order to ensure socio-economic and political stability of Jordan in the aftermath of the so-called “Arab Spring”

Dubai: An Urbanism Shaped for Global Tourism

The urban transformation experience of Dubai presents an interesting model of dealing with globalization and benefiting from its flows of people, capital, and transformation. Although that city does not have rich urban heritage or natural attractions compared to other cities in the region, it managed to construct an urban structure that captured a relatively significant portion of global tourism to its local context. In this research paper the author argue that Dubai has achieved this quest by constructing a series of what author call "places of people flows." This research mean by places of people flows, projects that have the capacity of triggering people flows to the city. This research mean categorizes these places into: 1) Places of urban image, or spectacular projects that contributes to the quality of the urban image of the city. 2) Places of linkage that connects the city to the global domain. 3) Places of agglomeration that host flows of people flows coming to the city. This research mean analyzed by the role of these places of people flows in transforming Dubai from a peripheral city to one of the most attractive tourism destination in the Middle East

An Analysis of Water Awareness Campaign Messaging in the Case of Jordan: Water Conservation for State Security

This article examines water awareness campaign messaging of the Water Efficiency and Public Information for Action (WEPIA) campaign. Using Jordanian government documents and structured interviews, it argues that the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI) promotes water awareness campaigns to shape water users’ habits and perspectives on water. The goal of this strategy is to align popular concerns about water security with government concerns over state security, i.e., to create responsible water citizens. This article suggests that the Jordanian MWI seeks to shape citizens’ water behavior through two key strategies. First, it convinces the population to shift its habits using ideas of national responsibility for the nation’s water network. Second, it disseminates a topically diverse combination of water awareness materials to the Jordanian population to shape their water habits in a manner that supports state security

Between Regulation and Targeted Expropriation: Rural-to-urban Groundwater Reallocation in Jordan

In response to rising urban water demand, some regions have reallocated water from irrigation to more valuable uses. Groundwater over-exploitation, however, continues to degrade aquifer quality, and states rarely succeed at stopping overuse. This study asks whether growing urban requirements enable the reallocation of groundwater from irrigation to higher value added uses in domestic and industrial consumption. The paper is based on a series of interviews with policy makers and academics in Jordan, combined with data from remote sensing analysis. The results find that regulatory measures such as tariffs and well licensing have a limited impact on agricultural water use when opposed by a broad coalition of interest groups; instead, a targeted expropriation n a single small area, combined with an expansion of supply, did succeed in reallocating 35 million cubic metres of groundwater. The results suggest that urban water needs do increase state interest in reallocation. That reallocation was successful in only one of the attempted basins suggests that donor-region resistance is a major factor in reallocation outcomes. We discuss the strategy of, for future reallocators, targeting only aquifers with low political and enforcement costs

The Water–Employment–Migration nexus: buzzword or useful framework?

Motivation Critical development studies have overlooked water-related nexuses and frameworks proposed by development agencies that recognize that water and sanitation are linked to other development challenges and identify the synergies and trade-offs between sectors. In particular, critical development studies have ignored these nexus approaches urged upon the governments of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the world's most water-scarce region. Purpose The article presents a case study of the Water–Employment–Migration (WEM) nexus framework, which has been recently proposed in policy circles. The analysis reflects on the extent to which this new nexus may be either a buzzword or instead a useful framework to improve national policies in the MENA region. Methods and approach We undertook a comprehensive review of the relevant literature on the WEM nexus. We complemented this secondary data with interviews with key informants from the institutions involved in the WEM nexus, as well as from youth organizations active in the Mediterranean region and working in the development sector. Findings What emerged is that there are no concrete examples of how to operationalize the WEM nexus at the policy level. Many respondents in the MENA region highlighted the need to “mainstream WEM in policies and plans” but were vague when asked how. There is a need for more critical evidence to elevate the WEM nexus from a discussion topic among regional organizations, to a concept that can be useful and practical. Policy implications Rather than a new nexus, which would capture only a few sectors relating to water, what is needed is a systems thinking approach, able to encompass the complexity and multifaceted issues relating to water resources