Nina Hissen
Staff Profiles
- e-mail address
- n.hissen@uea.ac.uk
- First Name
- Nina
- Surname
- Hissen
- Institution
- University of East Anglia
- Postal Address
Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Norwich Research Park
Norwich NR4 7TJ
United Kingdom- Current Position
- PhD Researcher
- Research Interests
Water Security, multi-level governance, climate change, hydropolitics, the Nile Basin, environmental conflict, East African political systems.
Research Themes
PhD Researchers Profile
- Tyndall Research Theme
- Water and Landuse
- Duration of your PhD
- 2010/2013
- Thesis's Supervisor
- Dr Marisa Goulden, Dr Mark Zeitoun, Dr Declan Conway
- Funder
- Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
- My Thesis' Abstract
The objective of this PhD research is to understand the implications of the Climate Change Discourse (CCD) and Water Security Discourse (WSD) for water governance over transboundary water resources in the Equatorial Nile Basin (EQNB) in the context of water conflicts and cooperation. For the EQNB riparians (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and DR Congo) water is of great importance for socio-economic development and hence a lack of water due to mismanagement or climatic impacts is expected to lead to political tensions and conflicts.
This research questions the Malthusian notion that water scarcity exacerbated by climate change leads to conflict. Based on theories of discourse analysis, multi-level governance and securitization, the study critically analyses the CCD and WSD over water in the EQNB. It assesses the links between decision-making and the discourses on climate change and water security. The contents, the structure and key actors for the two discourses in the EQNB are discussed and linked to the institutional structure of decision-making. Implications of the interaction between the institutional structure, the discourses and decision outcomes for securitization and hence conflict and cooperation over water are examined.
The research uses an embedded case-study approach. It is based on an in-depth study of decision-making processes over water in the Mara River Basin, a tributary to Lake Victoria shared by Kenya and Tanzania. The results are integrated into the wider context of water management in the EQNB. The study uses a mixed methods approach of qualitative and quantitative methods. Semi-structured interviews are conducted as part of the qualitative data collection. Quantitative data on understandings of climate change and water security is derived through conducting Q-sort based interviews, which are used to outline the CCD amongst water managers.
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