ABSTRACT
Water management attests to human ability to successfully adapt to environmental, societal and other stressors, and persistent efforts to counter adversity or negativity in the face of change, disruption, or disturbance. The interaction between society, environment and water can best be understood from a perspective that takes long-term dynamics into account and addresses questions from an integrated, interdisciplinary perspective. Since water permeates the past, present and future of societies, water history informs and is shaped by many fields of study across the humanities, social sciences and geosciences. This chapter gives voice to histories of water and how water, societies and environments have interacted with each other, and initiated and negotiated change. It presents the sheer diversity of nature, scale and impact of these interrelated themes – water management, crises and resilience – is expressed in the range of contributions. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
