Four-Part Framework to Value Water
An international research team led by Oxford University has published a new paper in Science in which they chart a new framework to value water for the Sustainable Development Goals. They provide a four-part framework for valuing and managing water that requires parallel and coordinated action in measurement, valuation, trade-offs, and capable institutions for allocating and financing water.
Dustin Garrick, a professor at the University of Oxford—and the former Philomathia Chair of Water Policy at McMaster University—was the lead author of the study. Garrick said, “Our paper responds to a global call to action. The cascading negative impacts of scarcity, shocks and inadequate water services underscore the need to value water better. There may not be any silver bullets, but there are clear steps to take.” He added, “We argue that valuing water is fundamentally about navigating trade-offs. The objective of our research is to show why we need to rethink the value of water, and how to go about it, by leveraging technology, science, and incentives to punch through stubborn governance barriers. Valuing water requires that we value institutions.”
The research states that there is a need to re-think the value of water for a number of reasons.
