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Research project 'How can water use conflicts between humans and nature be avoided'

In many parts of the World, water-related problems, such as water scarcity and pollution, represent a threat to humans and nature. Increasing population, economic growth, and climate change are expected to exacerbate the situation. Often, an underlying cause of water-related problems lies in the lack of efficient and effective water governance structures. This project, which is funded by the Bode Foundation, therefore investigates the influence of governance structures on water use conflicts between humans and nature. In doing so, societal, political, economic and ecological basic conditions will be taken into account in order to be able to derive instructions for politics, and society. A focus of the analyses will be on adaptive capacity and learning processes. Comparative analyses for about 30 case studies will be conducted. Furthermore, the role of actor networks will be studied in-depth in single case studies.