Environmental Policy Publications

IWRA's new Water International Policy Brief titled "Putting Water Security to Work," written by Udall Center director Chris Scott and UWE professor Chad Staddon. The special issue addresses sustainability, metrics, community participation, equity and more.

T. Albrecht, A.B. Crootof, and C.A. Scott. The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus is rapidly expanding in scholarly literature and policy settings as a novel way to address complex resource and development challenges. The nexus approach aims to identify tradeoffs and synergies of water, energy, and food systems, internalize social and environmental impacts, and guide development of cross-sectoral policies.

Transboundary waters are characterized by diverse and complex socio-politico-economic obstacles to effective water management. We examine five distinct cases in the arid Americas – in locations from the US–Mexico border to the Andes mountains – employing water security as a conceptual prism to unravel the multiple and varied attributes of transboundary water challenges.

The Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework serves as a valuable framework to explore and understand social and ecological interactions, and pathways in water governance. Yet, it lacks a robust understanding of change. We argue an analytical and methodological approach to engaging global changes in SES is critical to strengthening the scope and relevance of the SES framework. Relying on SES and resilience thinking, we propose an institutional and cognitive model of change that institutions and natural resources systems co-evolve to provide a dynamic understanding of SES that stands on three causal mechanisms: institutional complexity trap, rigidity trap, and learning processes.

From Tucson to Uruguay and Back: Securities and Inequalities in Water Infrastructure. By Andrea K. Gerlak. Presented at the Earth System Governance Conference, Lund Sweden, October 2017.

The authors quantify the spatial subsidies—a measure of the mismatch between where people receive economic benefits from a migratory species and where the migratory species receives ecological benefits from ecosystems—generated by the annual monarch migration across eastern North America.

Scott, C.A., A. Lutz Ley. 2016 in press. Enhancing water governance for climate resilience: Arizona, USA - Sonora, Mexico comparative assessment of the role of reservoirs in adaptive management for water security. In C. Tortajada (ed.) Increasing Resilience to Climate Variability and Change: The Role of Infrastructure and Governance in the Context of Adaptation, Springer, Berlin.

The crucial role of groundwater and the centrality of water governance in accommodating growing water demands sustainably are becoming well recognized. We review 10 case studies of groundwater governance—representing diverse global regions and local contexts—from the perspective of four well-established elements: (1) institutional setting; (2) availability and access to information and science; (3) robustness of civil society; and (4) economic and regulatory frameworks.

Enter the 'nexus' of multiple resources, linked in turn to management and policy frameworks, and embedded in broader political processes. The nexus conceptually links multiple resource-use practices and serves paradigmatically to understand interrelations among such practices that were previously considered in isolation. Here we will demonstrate that resource recovery is at the core of operationalizing the nexus. This is fundamentally different from efficiency and productivity, although nexus practices can be seen in terms of deriving increased output from limited resources.

Conservation planning can be challenging due to the need to balance biological concerns about population viability with social concerns about the benefits biodiversity provide to society, often while operating under a limited budget. Here, we use a multi-attribute utility function to assess the optimal maternity roosts to conserve for maintaining the population viability and the ecosystem services of a single species, the Mexican free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana).

Critics of the market-based, ecosystem services approach to biodiversity conservation worry that volatile market conditions and technological substitutes will diminish the value of ecosystem services and obviate the “economic benefits” arguments for conservation. To explore the effects of market forces and substitutes on service values, we assessed how the value of the pest-control services provided by Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana) to cotton production in the southwestern U.S. has changed over time.

The privatization of water supply and wastewater systems, together with institutional restructuring of governance – through decentralization and the penetration of global firms in local and regional markets – have been promoted as solutions to increase economic efficiency and achieve universal water supply and sanitation coverage. Yet a significant share of service provision and water resources development remains the responsibility of public authorities. The chapters in this book – with case evidence from Argentina, Chile, France, the USA, and other countries – address critical questions that dominate the international agenda on public versus private utilities, service provision, regulations, and resource development.

Assesses whether the Antarctic Treaty System, an international governance process for the Antarctic global commons, is a possible model of governance for Arctic natural resources.

Based on a survey of U.S. Forest Service staff, evaluates the potential of using an ecosystem services approach as part of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental impact assessment process.

Includes detailed case studies of the water-climate "vulnerability and adaptation" situation for four communities: Tucson, Ariz.; the twinned border cities of Nogales, Ariz., and Nogales, Son.; Hermosillo, Son.; and Puerto Peñasco, Son.

Discusses the unique role of Antarctica (as part of the global commons) in the global warming scenario, the strategic role of Antarctic science and information related to global warming policy, and related institutional arrangements and policy challenges.

Report of the Strategy Forum on Transboundary Environments and Adaptation to Climate Change convened at WILD9 (9th World Wilderness Conference), Mérida, Mexico, supported by the U.S. Forest Service Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute.

Evaluates various state and federal regulations of electronic waste (e-waste), and presents two case studies (in Tucson, Ariz. and along the U.S.-Mexico border).

Suggests a novel approach to the management of the U.S.-Mexico transboundary environment, framing the conservation of the natural resources shared by the two countries in terms of shared ecosystem services and presenting three cases as examples.

Varady, R.G., K. Meehan, and E. McGovern. 2008. Charting the emergence of ‘Global Water Initiatives’ in world water governance. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth,15pp.

Varady, R.G., K. Meehan, J. Rodda, M. Iles-Shih, and E. McGovern. 2008. Strengthening Global Water Initiatives to sustain world water governance. Environment, 50(2):18-31.

Pineda Pablos, N., A. Browning-Aiken, and M. Wilder. 2007. Equilibrio de bajo nivel y manejo urbano del agua en Cananea, Sonora / Low-level equilibrium and urban water management in Cananea, Sonora by Frontera Norte, 19(37):143-72 (Spanish, w/ English abstract).

Ray, A.J., G.M. Garfin, L. Brito-Castillo, M. Cortez-Vázquez, H.F. Diaz, J. Garatuza-Payán, D. Gochis, R. Lobato-Sánchez, R.G. Varady, C. Watts. 2007. Monsoon region climate applications: Integrating climate science with regional planning and policy. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 88(6):933-5.

Rosenberg, N.J., V.M. Mehta, J.R. Olsen, H. von Storch, R.G. Varady, M.J. Hayes, and D. Wilhite. 2007. Societal adaptation to decadal climate variability in the United States. CRCES Workshop on Adaptation to Decadal Climate Variability in the United States, 26-28 Apr. 2007, Waikoloa, Hawaii. Eos 88, 43: 444.

McGovern, E.D., R.G. Varady, and A. Browning-Aiken. 2006. Water Policy Research on the San Pedro River Basin: An Annotated Bibliography of Contributions by the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, 1997-2006. Udall Center, 13 pp.

Shipek, L., M. Wilder, J. Kentnor, G. Owen, A. Browning-Aiken, and D. Fisher de Leon. 2006. Drought Beyond Borders: Bilingual Lesson Plans for the Binational Santa Cruz Watershed. Center for Latin American Studies and Udall Center, 27pp.

Shipek, L., M. Wilder, J. Kentnor, G. Owen, A. Browning-Aiken, and D. Fisher de Leon. 2006. Climate Change Beyond Borders: Bilingual Lesson Plans for the Binational Santa Cruz Watershed. Center for Latin American Studies and Udall Center, 26pp.

Varady, R.G., and A. Browning-Aiken. 2005. The birth of a Mexican watershed council in the San Pedro basin in Sonora. In Planeación y Cooperación Transfronteriza en la Frontera México-Estados Unidos (Transboundary Planning and Cooperation in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region), ed. by C. Fuentes-Flores and S. Peña-Medina. Ciudad Juárez , Mexico: El Colegio de la Frontera Norte & Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, Ambiente y Desarrollo. pp. 165-83.

Scott, C.A., N.I. Faruqui, L. Rachid-Sally (eds.) 2004. Wastewater Use in Irrigated Agriculture: Confronting the Livelihood and Environmental Realities. CAB International, Wallingford, 193 p. [html]

Varady, R.G., and B.J. Morehouse. 2004. Cuanto cuesta? Development and water in Ambos Nogales and the Upper San Pedro Basin. In The Social Costs of Industrial Growth in Northern Mexico, ed. by K. Kopinak. La Jolla, CA: Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, UCSD. pp. 205-48.

​Varady, R.G., and B. J. Morehouse. 2003. Moving borders from the periphery to the center: river basins, political boundaries, and water management policy. In Water: Science, Policy, and Management, ed. by R. Lawford, D. Fort, H. Hartmann, and S. Eden. American Geophysical Union Water Resources Monograph 16. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union. pp. 143-59.

​Verduzco, B. 2003. Beyond Transboundary Environmental Cooperation: Civil Society and Policy Outcomes on the U.S.- Mexico Border during the 1990s. Winner of the 1999 Ford Foundation/Udall Center Fellowship in Environmental Conflict Resolution on the U.S.-Mexico Border. Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, Tucson, AZ. 29pp.

​Liverman, D.M., and R. Merideth. 2002. Climate and society in the U.S. Southwest: The context for a regional assessment, Climate Research 21:199-218.

​Culp, P. 2001. Feasibility of Purchase and Transfer of Water for Instream Flow in the Colorado River Delta, Mexico. Winner of the 2000 Lillian S. Fisher Prize in Environmental Law and Public Policy. Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy: Tucson, AZ. 45pp.

​Merideth, R. 2001. A Primer on Climatic Variability and Change in the Southwest. Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy: Tucson, AZ. 28pp.

​Moote, A., and Maria Gutierrez. 2001. Views from the Upper San Pedro River Basin: Local Perceptions of Water Issues. Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy: Tucson, AZ. 57pp.

​Varady, R.G., A. Moote, and R. Merideth. 2000. Water management options for the Upper San Pedro River basin: Assessing the social and institutional landscape, Natural Resources Journal 40(2):223-35.

​Milich, L., and R.G. Varady. 1998. Managing transboundary resources: Lessons from river-basin accords, Environment 40(8):10-15, 35-41.

​Merideth, R., D. Liverman, R. Bales, and M. Patterson, eds. 1998. Climate Variability and Change in the Southwest: Impacts, Information Needs, and Issues for Policymaking. Conference Proceedings (September 3-5, 1997, Tucson, AZ). Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy: Tucson, AZ. 88pp.

​Emerson, K., R. Yarde, and Tanya Heikkila. 1997. Environmental Conflict Resolution in the West Conference Proceedings (April 4-5, 1997, Tucson, AZ). Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy: Tucson, AZ. 242pp.

​Varady, R.G., D. Colnic, R. Merideth, and T. Sprouse. 1997. The U.S.-Mexican Border Environment Cooperation Commission: Collected perspectives on the first two years, Journal of Borderland Studies11(2):89-113.

​Carter, D., C. Peña, R.G. Varady, and W.A. Suk. 1996. Environmental health and hazardous waste issues related to the U.S.-Mexico border, Environmental Health Perspectives 104(6):590-4.

​Varady, R.G., H. Ingram, and L. Milich. 1995. The Sonoran Primeria Alta: Shared environmental problems and challenges, Journal of the Southwest 37(1):102-22.

​Varady, R.G., and M.D. Mack. 1995. Transboundary water resources and public health in the U.S.-Mexico border region, Journal of Environmental Health 57(8):8-14.

​Ingram, H., L. Milich, and R.G. Varady. 1994. Managing transboundary resources: Lessons from Ambos Nogales, Environment 36(4):6-9, 28-38.