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In Partnership:
Water Resources Center
University of Minnesota Extension
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences

Water Resources Center
173 McNeal Hall
1985 Buford Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55108
612-624-9282
umwrc@umn.edu

WRC Home > About the WRC

Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment and the Life Sciences

The Water Resources Center is a member of the Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences, which aims to support work on the legal, ethical, and policy implications of problems in health, environment, and the life sciences. The Consortium coordinates among and builds on the strength of 16 centers and programs at the University of Minnesota. Our goal is to advance knowledge, public understanding, and sound policy. We undertake a wide range of activities including sponsoring public lectures and conferences; offering intramural funding to support faculty, students, and colloquia; recommending faculty hiring and programmatic innovation; encouraging and supporting curricular innovation; facilitating collaborative research; and advising on public policy. The Consortium is directed by its member centers and programs and is open to all points of view.

The WRC in cooperation with the Consortium will be hosting a series of faculty workshops that will develop an integrated framework for addressing the “Economic and Social Power of Water: a Source of War or a Catalyst of Peace?”. There are growing pressures on water resources globally. Decreasing usable water supplies coupled with rapid increases in demand and poor management have led to inefficient and unsustainable use of water resources with significant economic, social, public health, and environmental ramifications. Globally, a failure to meet basic human and environmental needs for water has given rise to increasing tensions about access to water. Many believe that competition over water resources will increase tension and possibly cause conflict between states and sectors. Competition over water occurs at multiple scales, and has led both to hostilities and to cooperation in the past. Understanding the social dynamics of conflicts on multiple scales may provide valuable information for future conflict management. This core group of faculty will use different disciplinary lenses - biophysical, social, and economic - to develop a better understanding of the sources of conflict and cooperation.

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