Research summary
Earth’s water resources are increasingly threatened by climate change, industry, development and pollution. But the water governance approaches we currently rely on-that is, the political, social, economic and administrative systems that influence how we use and manage water-are proving inadequate to address these threats. An emerging "water resilience" approach to governance is increasingly seen as a solution.
As Canada Research Chair in Human Dimensions of Water Resources and Water Resilience, Dr. Julia Baird is studying the human dimensions of water resilience. She and her research team are focusing on decision-making at two interacting levels: the group level (to address governance collaboration and effectiveness) and the individual level (to investigate worldviews, how to shape them, and how doing so could lead to system-level governance changes). Ultimately, Baird and her team hope to find the most effective way forward to collectively navigate future water crises.