ABSTRACT
This volume has argued that scarcity is not merely a natural phenomenon that can be isolated from planning models, allocation and knowledge politics, policy choices, market forces and power, social and gender dynamics. Empirical and theoretical contributions have questioned the universal application of the scarcity postulate and Homo economicus. Examples from water, food/agriculture and energy have demonstrated that conventional visions of scarcity that focus on aggregate numbers and physical quantities are privileged over local knowledges and experiences of scarcity. Totalizing discourses of science and progress tend to support a universalizing notion of scarcity. These universal notions of scarcity often result in self-fulfilling prophesies around ‘crises’. The ‘scare’ of scarcity has led to scarcity emerging as a political strategy for powerful groups, and problematic ideas about nature and society continue to be reproduced. These feed into simplistic and often inappropriate solutions that cause inaccessibility and perpetrate exclusions. Thus, the notion of scarcity often aggravates the problem of scarcity.
