Engaging water citizens: the potential for reshaping water governance

Problems of water insecurity (floods, droughts, pollution, depletion and degradation, lack of access), once considered to be symptoms of underdevelopment in the global south, increasingly affect countries of the global north. Mainstream ‘techno-managerial’ models of water governance, delivered through state departments or private companies, are proving insufficient to address these challenges and often fail to engage with water users and communities in meaningful ways. In response to these growing insecurities, citizens’ initiatives are emerging across Europe to address water concerns.

In this workshop we explore the potential of citizens’ initiatives in Europe to reshape water governance. To do this we learn from the experience of local citizens’ initiatives in Montpellier (France) and Ilkley (UK), analysing them as emergent institutions of collective action, mediating people-environment interactions, and reshaping citizen-state relations. We aim to better understand how people become engaged with water issues, how citizen-led institutions emerge and evolve, what kind of environmental and social impacts they generate, and how these processes can be supported and facilitated.

In the workshop we will also experiment with ‘reversing the gaze’; adapting knowledge and approaches generated in the global south, to the study of citizen initiatives in the global north. By undertaking joint learning with the citizen initiatives, we aim to creatively bridge boundaries between different contexts; between researchers, citizens’ and water professionals; between scientific and lay knowledge.

Workshop Program

10.00: Arrival and coffee

10.30 -10.40: Opening and welcome – Gilles Pradeau (MAK’IT) & Marcel Kuper (G-Eau)

10.40 -13.00: Session 1 – Engaging water citizens in Montpellier and Ilkley

Vincent Perret (Les Amis de la Chapelle de Baillarguet) and Olivier Delabrusse (Les Belvédères du Lez) –

Marjolaine Combes and Mathieu Argaud (Bipolar) –

Jean-Louis Couture (Mosson Coulée Verte) –

Karen Shackleton (Ilkley Clean River Group, UK) –

Discussion moderated by Romain Valadaud (G-EAU)

13.00- 14.00: Repas

14.00 – 14.30 : Marie Hélène Cocq (Sentinelles de Rivières)

14.30 -16.00: Session 2 – Renverser le regard: travailler avec les citoyens et les communautés des « Suds » et des « Nords

Christelle Gramaglia (G-Eau): Citizen initiatives in France and Senegal

Audrey Richard (Independent researcher): Citizen initiatives in France and India

Irene Leonardelli (University of Calabria, Italy) – Gender and women’s engagement in India and Italy

Discussion moderated by Jeltsje Kemerink (UNESCO-IHE Delft, The Netherlands)

15.30-16.00: Tea break

16.00 – 17.30: Session 3 – Future directions

Jean-Philippe Venot (G-Eau )– Towards a political ecology of engaged participatory approaches 

Margreet Zwarteveen (IHE Delft and University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands) – From citizen initiatives to commoning? Crafting water care

Frances Cleaver (Lancaster University, UK /Mak’it) – Institutions and the potential for transformation

Discussion moderated by Marcel Kuper (G-Eau)

17.30-18.30: Cocktail