Water Rights and Water Trading in England and Wales
Jon Stern
Stern.pdf (492.66 KB)
Water Rights and Water Trading in England and Wales
This policy brief assesses the role of ‘rights’ in water use and water trade in the face of increasing water scarcity and uncertainty caused by climate change. 
 
The ‘water shares’ approach to water pricing and trade has become arguably the leading option for abstraction reform. An abstraction mechanism of this type can make a major contribution to commodifying the use of water while ensuring sufficient water for ‘the environment’. By providing secure property rights and ensuring that trade reflects security, water rights and water trading are not just reconciled but can reinforce one another.
 
ALSO OF INTEREST
Policy Brief
Media Law after Leveson: A view from the coalface

In this policy brief, the Guardian’s Director of Editorial Legal Services Gillian Phillips presents her perspective on the post-Leveson media law landscape, arguing that journalists are being submerged in a complex network of more and more law and regulation, which threatens not only to restrict but to criminalize journalists’ conduct.

Download
Policy Brief
Press Regulation: Taking account of media convergence

This policy brief by media expert Lara Fielden proposes a radical new framework for press regulation based on a comparative study of international press councils, which addresses what Lord Justice Leveson has described as the 'elephant in the room' of the Leveson Inquiry: regulation of online media.

 

Download
Policy Brief
Ethical Business Regulation

This policy brief outlines the concept of Ethical Business Regulation (EBR), which aims to foster a business culture of mutual engagement, respect, learning, and constant improvement, based on social trust.

Download
Policy Brief
The Leveson Inquiry: There's a bargain to be struck over media freedom and regulation

The Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practice, and ethics of the British press was triggered when the phone-hacking scandal’s full scale became clear in July 2011 and closed the News of the World. But the inquiry has gone much wider than that, hearing evidence about accuracy, fairness, privacy, regulation, and law. 

 

Download