Beyond a Decade of Water Justice: Review, Directions, and Pathways to Achieve “Water for All”

Water justice is increasingly recognized as central to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), which seeks universal access to safe water and sanitation. Yet persistent injustices in water access, allocation, governance, and participation continue to undermine this goal. Despite growing gl...

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Main Authors: Fanaian, Safa, Manero, A., Nguyen, N., Grafton, R. Q.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Wiley 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179571
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author Fanaian, Safa
Manero, A.
Nguyen, N.
Grafton, R. Q.
author_browse Fanaian, Safa
Grafton, R. Q.
Manero, A.
Nguyen, N.
author_facet Fanaian, Safa
Manero, A.
Nguyen, N.
Grafton, R. Q.
author_sort Fanaian, Safa
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Water justice is increasingly recognized as central to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), which seeks universal access to safe water and sanitation. Yet persistent injustices in water access, allocation, governance, and participation continue to undermine this goal. Despite growing global attention to and applications of “water justice,” a critical disconnect between understanding and practice highlights the need for a formal review and synthesis of just, equitable, and sustainable water management and governance. In response, we provide a comprehensive review of water justice scholarship published between 2012 and 2023. We systematically review and synthesize insights from 470 peer-reviewed studies to examine the evolution of water justice concepts, map their alignment with SDG sub-goals over time, and inventory proposed solutions. Our findings reveal a shift in the literature from an emphasis on distribution and procedural justice to a more recent focus on decolonial, socio-ecological, and pluralistic approaches to water justice. Our review highlights persistent barriers to water justice, including entrenched power asymmetries, institutional capture, and policy misalignment, while also identifying emerging responses focused on hybrid governance models, co-production processes, and justice-oriented social movements. We conclude that further advances in water justice research and practices require greater consideration of structural inequalities, reappraisal of water governance approaches, comparisons of alternative evidence-based, and context-specific actions, and an analysis of transformative responses to injustices.
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spelling CGSpace1795712026-01-14T05:12:07Z Beyond a Decade of Water Justice: Review, Directions, and Pathways to Achieve “Water for All” Fanaian, Safa Manero, A. Nguyen, N. Grafton, R. Q. water rights water governance justice Sustainable Development Goals water availability water allocation Water justice is increasingly recognized as central to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), which seeks universal access to safe water and sanitation. Yet persistent injustices in water access, allocation, governance, and participation continue to undermine this goal. Despite growing global attention to and applications of “water justice,” a critical disconnect between understanding and practice highlights the need for a formal review and synthesis of just, equitable, and sustainable water management and governance. In response, we provide a comprehensive review of water justice scholarship published between 2012 and 2023. We systematically review and synthesize insights from 470 peer-reviewed studies to examine the evolution of water justice concepts, map their alignment with SDG sub-goals over time, and inventory proposed solutions. Our findings reveal a shift in the literature from an emphasis on distribution and procedural justice to a more recent focus on decolonial, socio-ecological, and pluralistic approaches to water justice. Our review highlights persistent barriers to water justice, including entrenched power asymmetries, institutional capture, and policy misalignment, while also identifying emerging responses focused on hybrid governance models, co-production processes, and justice-oriented social movements. We conclude that further advances in water justice research and practices require greater consideration of structural inequalities, reappraisal of water governance approaches, comparisons of alternative evidence-based, and context-specific actions, and an analysis of transformative responses to injustices. 2025-12-15 2026-01-09T03:36:37Z 2026-01-09T03:36:37Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179571 en Open Access Wiley Fanaian, S.; Manero, A.; Nguyen, N.; Grafton, R. Q. 2025. Beyond a Decade of Water Justice: Review, Directions, and Pathways to Achieve “Water for All”. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 12(6). (Online first). doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.70043
spellingShingle water rights
water governance
justice
Sustainable Development Goals
water availability
water allocation
Fanaian, Safa
Manero, A.
Nguyen, N.
Grafton, R. Q.
Beyond a Decade of Water Justice: Review, Directions, and Pathways to Achieve “Water for All”
title Beyond a Decade of Water Justice: Review, Directions, and Pathways to Achieve “Water for All”
title_full Beyond a Decade of Water Justice: Review, Directions, and Pathways to Achieve “Water for All”
title_fullStr Beyond a Decade of Water Justice: Review, Directions, and Pathways to Achieve “Water for All”
title_full_unstemmed Beyond a Decade of Water Justice: Review, Directions, and Pathways to Achieve “Water for All”
title_short Beyond a Decade of Water Justice: Review, Directions, and Pathways to Achieve “Water for All”
title_sort beyond a decade of water justice review directions and pathways to achieve water for all
topic water rights
water governance
justice
Sustainable Development Goals
water availability
water allocation
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179571
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