Public Priorities
Megadrought in La Ligua Basin and the Aspiration for Water Safety: A Global South Geohistorical Issue
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session María Otero Auristondo
In the Global South, permanent access to safe water is not always a given reality. This problematic is especially accute in Latin America, and in Chile in particular, due to a neoliberal approach to water as a business to exploit a natural resource rather than a neccesity to its citizens. Private holding of water access more so than permanent draught cycles, in a historical perspective, has designed a path that, in a global context of Climate Change, has put thousands of lives at risk. Through GIS analysis, interviews and focus groups, as well as archival work that goes back to the 19th century, a pattern of misguided choices, in a multiscale level of government, have put together a public policy towards water in Chile that has not been sustainable nor planned for the long haul of state-wide decision making process. The learned behaviours and actions of people who inhabit the La Ligua basin can show us how resilience to drought -and water public policy- is constructed through time, and how that resilience -or resistance?- has impacted the territory that produced it. This output can, eventually, be taken into account in the betterment or new designs of public policy towards water in Chile.
The State of Climate Change, Water Governance and Community Resilience in the City of Toronto
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Yena Bassone-Quashie, Carolyn Johns
The city of Toronto is Canada’s largest city, and the fourth largest in North America. In the last two decades, it has experienced significant issues with climate-related water issues, including changing water levels and increasingly frequent and intense wet weather events, which have resulted in, among other things, decreasing water quality and significant local flooding. This paper undertakes an extensive review of current climate science and modelling, climate and water policies, plans and programs in the city, as well as existing governance and community capacities/responses to water-related climate hazards. A modified version of the Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (BRIC) framework that incorporates locally relevant environmental, governance and social indicators, is used to build a comprehensive profile of the state of climate change readiness and community resilience in the city. Results from the modified BRIC assessment are used to identify current areas of strength in city/community resilience-building actions and efforts, as well as potential areas of growth and improvement. Using the city of Toronto as an illustrative case-study, this paper demonstrates the importance of establishing a strong baseline understanding of the current community, governance and institutional contexts, as a precursor to, and a fundamental step in addressing existing gaps in community resilience and water governance actions and efforts, and ultimately, in increasing overall climate and community resilience in the city. The paper also explores and highlights the key role of community engagement, equity and Indigenous knowledges and perspectives in building capacity to increase this climate readiness and resilience.
