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While the interdependence of the different aspects of water security and the relevance of ethical and distributive aspects is acknowledged in both policy circles and academia, a comprehensive introduction to water ethics is still missing. This book aims to fill that gap, by exploring the common thread that follows from three current interrelated debates: the allocation of water resources, the human right to water, and the commodification and privatisation of water services. These questions create a plea for alternatives to the predominantly consequentialist approach to dealing with water issues. The author explores the normative and ethical aspects of flood and water-related risks, and looks at the topic of responsibility: who should be responsible for correcting inequities, or taking remedial action in the case of pollution?
These and other questions to be linked to ongoing discussion in other disciplines within philosophy, such as environmental ethics, climate ethics, the ethics of technology and climate justice, making this text important across a wide range of courses for upper undergraduate and graduate students.
List of contents
1. Introduction: The nature of the world's water challenges / 2. Water and values / 3. Water and justice / 4. Water and human rights / 5. Water and economic valuation / 6. Water and responsibility / 7. Water and engineering
About the author
Neelke Doorn (1973) is full professor "Ethics of Water Engineering" at the Section Ethics and Philosophy of Technology at the Technical University Delft. Neelke's current research concentrates on moral issues in technological risk and water governance, with a special focus on how a resilience approach affects the distribution of responsibilities in risk and water governance. In 2013, she was awarded a prestigious Veni-grant for outstanding researchers from the
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). She was shortlisted for the engineer of the year award 2014 from the Dutch professional engineering organization (KIVI) for her work on the interface of ethics and engineering. Neelke is Editor-in-Chief of Techné: Research in Philosophy and
Technology (Journal of the Society for Philosophy and Technology). She has authored over 70 peer reviewed publications and is regularly invited to give public talks about topics on the interface of technology, risk, and morality.
Summary
A comprehensive introduction to water ethics, this book explores the common thread between debates in the allocation of water resources, the human right to water and the commodification and privatisation of water services, and fills the gap for alternatives to the predominantly consequentialist approach to dealing with these issues.
