Michael Gilmont
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Contact details
Email: michael.gilmont@kcl.ac.uk
Research interests
Water Governance: forms, emergence and implications of a new water policy system
This research evaluates the emergence of a new paradigm of water management, that of a holistic water governance approach. This approach has become evident in a number of locations over the later twentieth and early twenty-first century. The main purpose of this research is to understand the political landscape of this transition from a top-down, engineering driven development of water resources, towards a more ‘discursive’ process incorporating reallocation of existing resources to the environment, economic production, and social needs.
Within this research, special attention will be given to sources, targets, content and the impact of policy communication, and especially in what political economy circumstances the reforms take place. The importance of understanding the political landscape in which water policy reforms occur will be investigated to determine the extent to which underlying hydrological and economic fundamentals are assimilated into the policy reform process.
The research explores the following hypotheses:
A) Based on current experience, water governance represents a new political approach to policy making for water resource management.
B) The Institutional and Organisational change which accompanies a shift towards water governance is a contested political process with identifiable control. This control influences (in part) the nature of change, its speed and time.
C) ‘Governance’ involves embracing an evolving discursive space, mediated by available information and pre-existing behaviors
The work explores the ongoing reform in water policy in three neoliberal political economies: California, the Murray Darling Basin in Australia, and Israel. Within these case studies, this research draws primarily on a series of in-depth interviews with a number of representative individuals involved in the process of policy change over the past 30 years. They cover government, environment (both science and campaigners), economy (mainly agricultural economic users of water) and society (social interests and urban water). This data is supplemented by analysis of secondary sources including key policy documents and publications.
This data is being used to develop conceptual models of the interaction between the political landscape, policy structures and water policy outcomes.
During fieldwork in Australia in June-August 2010, Michael was based at the Geography Department at Monash University, establishing a link between the water team there and the London Water Research Group/KCL.
Supervisors: Mark Pelling and Tony Allan
Research Group: Environment, Politics and Development
Within this research, special attention will be given to sources, targets, content and the impact of policy communication, and especially in what political economy circumstances the reforms take place. The importance of understanding the political landscape in which water policy reforms occur will be investigated to determine the extent to which underlying hydrological and economic fundamentals are assimilated into the policy reform process.
The research explores the following hypotheses:
A) Based on current experience, water governance represents a new political approach to policy making for water resource management.
B) The Institutional and Organisational change which accompanies a shift towards water governance is a contested political process with identifiable control. This control influences (in part) the nature of change, its speed and time.
C) ‘Governance’ involves embracing an evolving discursive space, mediated by available information and pre-existing behaviors
The work explores the ongoing reform in water policy in three neoliberal political economies: California, the Murray Darling Basin in Australia, and Israel. Within these case studies, this research draws primarily on a series of in-depth interviews with a number of representative individuals involved in the process of policy change over the past 30 years. They cover government, environment (both science and campaigners), economy (mainly agricultural economic users of water) and society (social interests and urban water). This data is supplemented by analysis of secondary sources including key policy documents and publications.
This data is being used to develop conceptual models of the interaction between the political landscape, policy structures and water policy outcomes.
During fieldwork in Australia in June-August 2010, Michael was based at the Geography Department at Monash University, establishing a link between the water team there and the London Water Research Group/KCL.
Supervisors: Mark Pelling and Tony Allan
Research Group: Environment, Politics and Development
Biography
Michael graduated with a BA in Geography from Cambridge University (Robinson College) in 2007. His undergraduate dissertation explored the reasons why states may choose demand-management or supply-augmentation approaches to manage increasing water scarcity, with a focus on Israel and Victoria (Australia). This built on his interest in the relationship between the environmental and political sciences, and particularly the cross disciplinary challenges posed by water management.
Michael studied for an MSc in Hydrology at Imperial College (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering) completing in 2008. His MSc research focused on developing a statistical rainfall simulator for south western Yemen using a Generalised Linear Modelling package, as a potential downscaling tool for assessing the impact of climate change on regional water resources.
Michael worked as an archivist and research assistant for the Royal Geographical Society, in both 2004 and 2005. In summer 2006, he was a Civil Service Fast Stream intern in the Civil Society division of the Department for International Development.
Michael studied for an MSc in Hydrology at Imperial College (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering) completing in 2008. His MSc research focused on developing a statistical rainfall simulator for south western Yemen using a Generalised Linear Modelling package, as a potential downscaling tool for assessing the impact of climate change on regional water resources.
Michael worked as an archivist and research assistant for the Royal Geographical Society, in both 2004 and 2005. In summer 2006, he was a Civil Service Fast Stream intern in the Civil Society division of the Department for International Development.
