Author

  • Alin Chintraruck

    • Shinawatra University, Bangkok, Thailand
    • Thailand

  • John Walsh

    • Shinawatra University, Bangkok, Thailand
    • Thailand

Abstract

Water management is a complex and multifarious issue that joins together a wide range of different problems and approaches. Since water is essential to human life, governments must make efforts to ensure that everyone receives the water necessary but, at the same time, they have to wrestle with the fact that water is a scarce resource that must be priced for consumption under conditions of constantly increasing demand from cities, industry, agriculture and tourism. Examination of three case studies, Australia, Singapore and Japan, indicates that contemporary water management issue may be considered in a number of categories and analysis has taken place on four such categories. These are global climate change, disaster mitigation, political and legal modernization and allocation of water resources. The case studies inform the discussion of water management practices and prospects for Thailand and it is shown that the country is progressing towards the examples represented by the more developed and advanced countries insofar as it is ever possible to import a water management solution into the very specific geographical, hydrological, social, political and cultural conditions in effect in a specific location.

Keywords

References

  • Alonso, A. M. (1994). The Politics of Space, Time and Substance: State, Formation, Nationalism and Ethnicity. Annual Review of Anthropology , 23, 379-405.
  • Althusser, L. (2001). Ideology and Ideological State Apparatus (Notes toward an Investigation), in Althusser, L., Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays, New York: Monthly Review Press, 85-127.
  • Armstrong, E. A. & Bernstein, M. (2008). Culture, Power, and Institutions: A Multi-Institutional Politics Approach to Social Movements, Sociological Theory , 26(1), 74-99.
  • Australian Government, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population, and Communities (2009). Integrated Water Resources Management in Australia: Water for the Future, available at: http://www.environment.gov.au/water/publications/action/case-studies/water-reforms.html.
  • Burby, R. J. (2006). Hurricane Katrina and the Paradoxes of Government Disaster Policy: Bringing about Wise Governmental Decisions for Hazardous Areas. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences , 604(1), 171-91.
  • Chintraruck, A. & Walsh, J. (2013). The Allocation of Water Resources to Competing Interests: The Case of Thailand, in Walsh, J. (ed.), Proceedings of the 1st SIU International Conference, Bangkok: SIU Press, 116-23.
  • Connors, M. K. (2008). Thailand – Four Elections and a Coup. Australian Journal of International Affairs , 62(4), 478-96.
  • Curtis, A. & Lockwood, M. (2000). Landcare and Catchment Management in Australia: Lessons for StateSponsored Community Participation. Society and Natural Resources: An International Journal , 13(1), 61-73.
  • Dauer, L. T., Zanzonico, P., Tuttle, M. R., Quinn, D. M. & Strauss, W. H. (2011). The Japanese Tsunami and Resulting Nuclear Emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi Power Facility: Technical, Radiologic, and Response Perspectives. The Journal of Nuclear Medicine , 52(9), 1423-32.
  • Doner, R. F. (2009). The Politics of Uneven Development: Thailand’s Economic Growth in Comparative Perspective, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
  • EDMS Ltd., (2007). Final Report: Review of the International Water Resources Management Policies and Actions and the Latest Practice in Their Environmental Evaluation and Strategic Environmental Assessment, Hong Kong: Environmental Protection Department.
  • Elliott, J. R. & Pais, J. (2006). Race, Class, and Hurricane Katrina: Social Differences in Human Responses to Disaster. Social Science Research , 35(2), 295-321.
  • George, C. (2007). Consolidating Authoritarian Rule: Calibrated Coercion in Singapore. The Pacific Review , 20(2), 127-45.
  • Giddens, A. (2008). The Politics of Climate Change: National Responses to the Challenge of Global Warming, Policy Network Paper , available at: http://www.fcampalans.cat/images/noticias/The_politics_of_climate_change_Anthony_Giddens(2) .pdf.
  • Global Water Partnership (GWP). (2012). What Is IWRM? available at: http://www.gwp.org/TheChallenge/What-is-IWRM/.
  • Goldman, M. (2007). How Water for All’ Policy became Hegemonic: The Power of the World Bank and Its Transnational Policy Networks. Geoforum , 38(5), 786-800.
  • Hall, S. (1985). Signification, Representation, Ideology: Althusser and the Post-Structuralist Debates. Critical Studies in Mass Communication , 2(2), 91-114.
  • Hamilton-Hart, N. (2000). The Singapore State Revisited. The Pacific Review , 13(2), 195-216.
  • Hardin, G. (1968). The Tragedy of the Commons. Science , 162, 1243-8.
  • Hirsch, P. (2010). The Changing Political Dynamics of Dam Building on the Mekong. Water Alternatives , 3(2), 312-23.
  • Hsieh, H. F. & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis. Qualitative Health Research , 15(9), 1277-88.
  • Huang, C., Barnett, A. G., Wang, X., Vaneckova, P., FitzGerald, P. & Tong, S. (2011). Projecting Future HeatRelated Mortality under Climate Change Scenarios: A Systematic Review. Environmental Health Perspectives , 119(12), 1681-90.
  • Huff, W. G. (1995). The Developmental State, Government, and Singapore’s Economic Development since 1960. World Development , 23(8), 1421-38.
  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (2012). Managing the Risks to Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Justus, J. R. & Fletcher, S. R. (2006). Global Climate Change, CRS Issue Brief for Congress, available at: http://www.earth-news.org/NLE/CRSreports/06apr/IB89005.pdf.
  • Karl, T. R. & Trenberth, K. E. (2003). Modern Global Climate Change. Science , 302, 1719-23.
  • Kildea, P. & Williams, G. (2011). The Water Act and the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Public Law Review , 22, 9-14.
  • Kriticos, D. J., Sutherst, R. W., Brown, J. R., Adkins, S. W. & Maywald, G. F. (2003). Climate Change and the Potential Distribution of an Invasive Alien Plant: Acacia nilotica spp. indica in Australia. Journal of Applied Ecology , 40(1).
  • Lebel, L., Garden, P. & Imamura, M. (2005). The Politics of Scale, Position, and Place in the Governance of Water Resources in the Mekong Region, Ecology and Society, 10(2).
  • Lesbirel, H. S. (1998). NIMBY Politics: Energy Sitting and the Management of Environment Conflict, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
  • Lynch, B. (2010). An Examination of Environmental Reporting by Australian State Government Departments. Accounting Forum , 34(1), 32-45.
  • MacIntyre, A. (1998). Political Institutions and the Economic Crisis in Thailand and Indonesia. ASEAN Economic Bulletin , 15(3), 362-72.
  • Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLITT). (2011). Achieving Water Resources Security in Japan and Worldwide, Tokyo: MLITT.
  • Muller, M. (2007). Adapting to Climate Change: Water Management for Urban Resilience. Environment and Urbanization , 19, 99-113.
  • Murphy, B. F. & Timbal, B. (2008). A Review of Recent Climate Variability and Climate Change in Southeastern Australia. International Journal of Climatology , 28(7), 859-79.
  • Okumura, T., Ninomiya, N. & Ohta, M. (2003). The Chemical Disaster Response System in Japan. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , 18(S3), 189-92.
  • Patz, J. A., Campbell-Lendrum, D., Holloway, T. & Foley, J. A. (2005). Impact of Regional Climate Change on Human Health. Nature , 438, 310-7.
  • Polanyi, M. (1958). Personal Knowledge, New York, NY: Harper & Row.
  • Public Utilities Board (PUB). (2009). Water Works: Annual Report, 2009, Singapore: PUB.
  • Richter, B. D., Mathews, R., Harrison, D. L. & Wigington, R. (2003). Ecologically Sustainable Water Management: Managing River Flows for Ecological Integrity. Ecological Applications , 13, 206-24.
  • Ruangdit, P. (2013). S. Korean Firm Leads the Pack, Bangkok Post (February 6th ), 1.
  • Russell, R. C., Currie, B. J., Lindsay, M. F., McKenzie, J. S., Ritchie, S. A. & Whelan, P. I. (2009). Dengue and Climate Change in Australia: Predictions for the Future Should Incorporate Knowledge from the Past. The Medical Journal of Australia , 190(5), 265-8.
  • Satterthwaite, D., Huq, S., Reid, H., Pelling, M. & Lankao, R. (2009). Adapting to Climate Change in Urban Areas: The Possibilities and Constraints in Low- and Middle-Income Nations, in Bicknell, J., Dodman, D. & Satterthwaite, D. (eds.), Adapting Cities to Climate Change: Understanding and Addressing the Development Challenges, Abingdon & New York, NY: EarthScan, 3-50.
  • Sisowath, D. C. (2006). Region within a Region: The Mekong and ASEAN, in Diokno, M.S.I. & Chinh, N.V. (eds.), The Mekong Arranged and Rearranged, Chiang Mai: Mekong Press, 121-40.
  • Slaughter, A. M. (1985). International Law in a World of Liberal States. European Journal of International Law , 6, 1-39.
  • Sneddon, C. & Fox, C. (2006). Rethinking Transboundary Waters: A Critical Hydropolitics of the Mekong Region. Political Geography , 25, 181-202.
  • Stake, R. E. (1978). The Case Study Method in Social Inquiry. Educational Researcher , 7(2), 5-8.
  • Stake, R. E. (1995). The Art of Case Research, Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Stiglitz, J. E. (1974). Growth with Exhaustible Natural Resources: The Competitive Economy. The Review of Economic Studies , 41, 139-52.
  • Theparat, C. (2012). Floodways Project Envisioned as Permanent Solution, Bangkok Post (May 14th ), B1.
  • Tol, R. S. J. (2005). Adaptation and Mitigation: Trade-offs in Substance and Methods. Environmental Science and Policy , 8, 572-8.
  • Tortajida, C. (2006). Singapore: An Exemplary Case for Urban Water Management, Singapore: PUB. United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). (2011). Singapore’s Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Program, available at: www.unep.org/gc/gcss-viii/Singapore.IWRM.pdf.
  • Usher, A. D. (2009). Thai Forestry: A Critical History, Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books.
  • Van Tatenhowe, J. P. M. & Leroy, P. (2003). Environment and Participation in a Context of Political Modernization. Environmental Values , 12, 155-74.
  • Walsh, K. J. E. & Ryan, B. F. (2000). Tropical Cyclone Intensity Increase near Australia as a Result of Climate Change. Journal of Climate , 13(16), 3029-36.
  • Weichselgartner, J. (2001). Disaster Mitigation: The Concept of Vulnerability Revisited. Disaster Prevention and Management , 10(2), 85-95.
  • World Bank. (2006). Water Resources Management in Japan: Policy, Institutional and Legal Issues, Washington, DC: World Bank.
  • World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). (1987). Our Common Future, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Yin, R. (1984). Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Zaki, S. & Amin, A. T. M. N. (2009). Does Basic Services Privatization Benefit the Urban Poor? Some Evidence form Water Supply Privatization in Thailand. Urban Studies , 46(11), 2301-27.
  • Zeitoun, M. & Warner, J. (2006). Hydro-Hegemony – a Framework for Analysis of Trans-Boundary Water Conflicts. Water Policy , 8, 435-60.

Downloads

No downloads have been recorded for this article yet. Figures appear here once readers begin downloading the full text.

How to Cite

Chintraruck, A., & Walsh, J. (2013). Contemporary Water Management Issues in Thailand in Comparative Perspective. Journal of Social and Development Sciences, 4(5), 218-228. https://doi.org/10.22610/jsds.v4i5.755

Share this article

License

Copyright (c) 2013 Alin Chintraruck, John Walsh (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author (s) should affirm that the material has not been published previously. It has not been submitted and it is not under consideration by any other journal. At the same time author (s) need to execute a publication permission agreement to assume the responsibility of the submitted content and any omissions and errors therein. After submission of revised paper in the light of suggestions of the reviewers, the editorial team  edits and formats manuscripts to bring uniformity and standardization in published material.

This work will be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) and under condition of the license, users are free to read, copy, remix, transform, redistribute, download, print, search or link to the full texts of articles and even build upon their work as long as they credit the author for the original work. Moreover, as per journal policy author (s) hold and retain copyrights without any restrictions.

Keywords

Section

Research Paper

Published in

Vol. 4 No. 5 (2013) Workforce, Enterprise & Sustainable Resources View issue contents

Published

2013-05-30

Submissions

Have research to publish? Journal of Social and Development Sciences welcomes submissions.

Make a Submission