Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book begins with the most influential initiatives for global water ethics: those undertaken by the United Nations (UN). It introduces important distinctions and considerations from meta-ethics and normative ethics. The book complements the philosophical background with considerations from the philosophy of science. It provides the link to decision-making and water governance. One way to think more generally about the role of ethics and philosophy in water management is precisely to note its role of making values explicit. The book examines integrated water resources management (IWRM), and thus a central concept of water governance. Making ethical aspects of this concept explicit and linking them to specific instruments for the analysis of these values in relation to water uses, provides ways to understand the dynamics within the notoriously vague IWRM. The book then discusses the variety of water charters and water charting.