Marta Antonelli

Marta's current research is related to water allocation, management and policy in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). The research seeks to conceptualise water security - what is it and how has it changed through time - and governance, while shedding light on practicable and feasible alternatives that would help overcome water security in such a water stressed the region.
 
The study suggests that problems of water scarcity, mismanagement and deterioration of water quality would be alleviated if the resources were properly treated as an economic good. An analysis of the Water Footprint and Virtual Water trade balances in the region will also be provided. The overarching framework that informs the study is Political Ecology, its aim being uncovering the political and economic dynamics that have influenced and shaped water policy in the region. It will be employed in this study as a pro-active research effort to capture the force at work in current ecological struggles and explore the alternatives in the face of change.

Marta was born in Rome, Italy in 1984. She had been a student of Economics of International Cooperation and Development and completed her MA in Economic Sciences of International Cooperation and Development at La Sapienza University of Rome, graduating with First Honours. Marta then undertook the MA in Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. She started her PhD at KCL in September 2009.

Daanish Mustafa and Tony Allan