Water in the West examines the evolution of water governance

June 20, 2016 | Water in the West | Insights

By 
Esther Conrad

On March 29, 2016, Researchers from the Water in the West Program and the Bill Lane Center for the American West organized two panel sessions in which they presented their work at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) in San Francisco. Entitled “Drawing Lessons from Regulatory and Collaborative Approaches to Water Management in Western United States and Canada,” these sessions focused on how water institutions have evolved in the face of increasing risks from drought and climate change, and in response to a growing recognition of environmental values and the needs of indigenous and other marginalized communities.

Water in the West sustainable groundwater program lead Tara Moran discussed results of a survey of groundwater managers in California on their use of data and models, while postdoctoral scholar Debra Perrone presented findings on groundwater policies in 17 western U.S. states. Postdoctoral scholar Esther Conrad presented her research on the practice of collaborative water governance in California, and postdoctoral scholar Sibyl Diver presented her research on tribal sovereignty in the Klamath River watershed. Speakers from the Bill Lane Center included Nicola Ulibarri, Iris Hui, and Thomas LeFavre-Bulle.

A complete list of speakers as well as abstracts for each talk are available here:

Panel 1: http://meridian.aag.org/callforpapers/program/SessionDetail.cfm?SessionID=24484

Panel 2: http://meridian.aag.org/callforpapers/program/SessionDetail.cfm?SessionID=24485

Connect