16
1 Green and Ecological Infrastructures and Water Security …
between resource protection and resource use. Water security needs to be considered at local,
national and regional levels.
Water Aid (2012) defined water security as the reliable access to an adequate
quantity and quality of water for basic human needs, small-scale livelihoods and
local ecosystem services, coupled with the well-managed risk of water-related disasters. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation—International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP) (2012) noted that water security is the capacity of a population to safeguard access to adequate quantities of
acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being and socioeconomic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and
water-related disasters and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability. This conceptualisation of UNESCO-IHP (2012) applies at a watershed
level. According to Grey and Sadoff (2007), water security is the reliable availability
of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods and production, coupled with a satisfactory level of water-related risks to people, environments
and economies. Water security, in this regard, acts as a risk minimiser. The United
Nations Water (UN-Water) (2013, cited in Steyn et al. 2019: 3), defines water security
in a similar way to Grey and Sadoff (2007), stating that it is:
The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters,
and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and stability.
The above definitions relate to water quantity and quality, as well as the notion
of security being a safeguard against the risk of political instability (UNESCOIHP 2012), water-borne diseases and water-related disasters, such as droughts and
flooding. These explanations also refer to the economic means of production and
welfare creation (Water Aid 2012; UNESCO-IHP 2012; Grey and Sadoff 2007). If
these definitions are phrased differently, water security relates either to the stability of
political systems against the backdrop of the non-appearance of violence and instability, or to the absence of biophysical risks originating in the natural environment,
such as water-borne diseases. Water security as a concept, therefore, plays several
roles, either as a risk minimiser, a socio-economic developer or a political stabiliser.
These water security notions reflect an empiricism that is geared towards the
creation of wealth and the absence of physical and psychological harm. What we also
need is a normative sense of what water security means and how it could promote the
human condition, as well as the natural environment. It is here where governance and
management are important to consider with respect to their empirical and normative
practices.
Since specialists delineate the concept of water security in the above-mentioned
manner, it is an aspirational subject and an all-encompassing notion in socioeconomic development, from an individual level to a global level (Meissner 2016).
Indeed, water security, which is briefly defined as the safe and secure access to
an adequate quantity and quality of water for human and environmental use, is a
multifaceted undertaking that involves a plethora of stakeholders and management
1 Green and Ecological Infrastructures and Water Security …
between resource protection and resource use. Water security needs to be considered at local,
national and regional levels.
Water Aid (2012) defined water security as the reliable access to an adequate
quantity and quality of water for basic human needs, small-scale livelihoods and
local ecosystem services, coupled with the well-managed risk of water-related disasters. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation—International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP) (2012) noted that water security is the capacity of a population to safeguard access to adequate quantities of
acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being and socioeconomic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and
water-related disasters and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability. This conceptualisation of UNESCO-IHP (2012) applies at a watershed
level. According to Grey and Sadoff (2007), water security is the reliable availability
of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods and production, coupled with a satisfactory level of water-related risks to people, environments
and economies. Water security, in this regard, acts as a risk minimiser. The United
Nations Water (UN-Water) (2013, cited in Steyn et al. 2019: 3), defines water security
in a similar way to Grey and Sadoff (2007), stating that it is:
The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters,
and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and stability.
The above definitions relate to water quantity and quality, as well as the notion
of security being a safeguard against the risk of political instability (UNESCOIHP 2012), water-borne diseases and water-related disasters, such as droughts and
flooding. These explanations also refer to the economic means of production and
welfare creation (Water Aid 2012; UNESCO-IHP 2012; Grey and Sadoff 2007). If
these definitions are phrased differently, water security relates either to the stability of
political systems against the backdrop of the non-appearance of violence and instability, or to the absence of biophysical risks originating in the natural environment,
such as water-borne diseases. Water security as a concept, therefore, plays several
roles, either as a risk minimiser, a socio-economic developer or a political stabiliser.
These water security notions reflect an empiricism that is geared towards the
creation of wealth and the absence of physical and psychological harm. What we also
need is a normative sense of what water security means and how it could promote the
human condition, as well as the natural environment. It is here where governance and
management are important to consider with respect to their empirical and normative
practices.
Since specialists delineate the concept of water security in the above-mentioned
manner, it is an aspirational subject and an all-encompassing notion in socioeconomic development, from an individual level to a global level (Meissner 2016).
Indeed, water security, which is briefly defined as the safe and secure access to
an adequate quantity and quality of water for human and environmental use, is a
multifaceted undertaking that involves a plethora of stakeholders and management