While the demand for fresh water is increasingly growing, securing water access for all communities is impeded by the impacts of climate change, imposing worldwide challenges to provide sufficient water. In many regions, these water challenges are additionally intensified due to tourism and the high-water need of the industry. This includes the Swedish island destination Öland, which has been investigated in this study. While water provision in tourism destinations is challenging due to seasonality, local needs and water relations are additionally often overlooked due to the focus on the economic benefits. Hence, water injustices caused by tourism have been increasingly reported. For the farmers, who are just like the tourism industry highly dependent on water, problems with the resource increasingly threaten their livelihoods. As research about water injustices is crucial but remains scarce, this thesis addressed this issue by investigating how farmers construct water issues, and how those issues link to perceptions of injustice. For this purpose, the notion of recognition was used as a lens to investigate justice issues. By conducting 10 qualitative in-depth interviews with farmers and reconstructing their narratives revealing how they perceive misrecognition, this study found subsequent differences in how farmers on Öland construct water issues. Hence, depending on the location on the island, farming practices, and water source, water issues differed. Three main water issues could be identified;missing municipal access, problems in securing water access for irrigation, and water issues caused by tourism. All of them could be linked to different theories of misrecognition, demonstrating the injustices that farmers on Ölandare perceiving. However, while the lack of recognition could be illustrated, the major issue for the farmers remains the natural impacts of climate change.

The extraction of lithium, a crucial mineral for the production of batteries in the rapidlyexpanding electric vehicle and renewable energy sectors, has gained significant attention due toits environmental and social implications. This thesis provides a comprehensive literature reviewon the environmental and social challenges associated with lithium extraction from the LithiumTriangle countries, namely Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, through the lens of political ecology.Drawing upon a wide range of scholarly articles, reports, and case studies, this research examinesthe complex interplay between ecological dynamics and sociopolitical factors in the context oflithium extraction. The literature review explores key themes including land use conflicts, waterscarcity and pollution, indigenous rights and participation, governance and regulation, and globalmarket dynamics. The literature review reveals that lithium extraction in the Lithium Trianglecountries presents various environmental challenges. These include the large-scale use of waterresources, potential water contamination from mining activities, and the disruption of fragileecosystems. From a political ecology perspective, the review highlights the power dynamics andpolitical-economic structures that shape the governance of lithium extraction. It criticallyanalyzes the role of multinational corporations, government policies, and international marketforces in influencing the environmental and social outcomes of lithium mining operations.Furthermore, the review emphasizes the importance of recognizing and incorporating theperspectives and rights of local communities and indigenous groups in decision-makingprocesses. By adopting a political ecology perspective, it underscores the need for sustainable andsocially just approaches to lithium mining that prioritize environmental conservation, communityengagement, and equitable distribution of benefits. The findings of this literature review caninform future research, policy development, and advocacy efforts aimed at promoting responsibleand inclusive practices in the lithium industry. / Lithium utvinning, en nyckelkomponent i elbils- och förnybar energisektorns framväxt, haruppmärksammats för dess påverkan på miljö och samhälle. Denna avhandling utför enomfattande litteraturgenomgång om miljö- och samhällsutmaningar vid litiumutvinning i LitiumTriangel-länderna: Argentina, Bolivia och Chile. Genom att analysera en bred samlingvetenskapliga artiklar, rapporter och fallstudier utforskar studien det komplexa samspelet mellanekologi och sociopolitisk vid litiumutvinning. Litteraturgenomgången utforskar centrala ämnensom markkonflikter, vattenbrist och föroreningar, ursprungsbefolkningars rättigheter ochdeltagande, styrning och globala marknadskrafter. Resultaten avslöjar miljöutmaningar vidlitiumutvinning i Triangel-länderna, inklusive vattenanvändning, förorening ochekosystemstörningar. Genom ett politiskt ekologiskt perspektiv belyser översikten maktstruktureroch påverkan från multinationella företag, regeringspolitik och internationella marknadskrafter.Översikten understryker även vikten av att inkludera lokalbefolkningens ochursprungsbefolkningars perspektiv och rättigheter i beslutsprocesser. Studien främjar hållbara ochrättvisa tillvägagångssätt för litiumutvinning och visar att resultaten kan påverka framtidaforskning, policyutveckling och påverkansarbete för ansvarsfulla och inkluderande metoder inomlitiumindustrin.

The COVID-19 crisis represents a major disruption to societies across the planet, magnifying existing threats to social-ecological resilience. Illustrating these threats are links between inadequate water and sanitation services, climate stressors, and the challenge of coping with a global pandemic. In an urban context, water services are an intermediary between the built and natural environments, making sustainable water management a crucial aspect of cities’ resilience and efforts towards sustainable development. Yet, there is a growing need to understand how urban resilience functions across scales in order to develop sustainable transformations that align a city’s resilience goals with the wellbeing of its communities. Global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing water crisis threaten wellbeing beyond disease risk, highlighting the need for a broader understanding of risks that make communities vulnerable to such crises. Examining these connections within Cape Town, this case study investigates issues of water service delivery in low-income communities both before and during the pandemic. The city encounters increasing impacts of the climate crisis such as drought and flooding, while disadvantaged communities also experience basic service inequities. Existing problems involve leaking pipes, blocked drains, water contamination, and limited access to water taps and toilets. To understand how water issues could impact people’s wellbeing directly and indirectly, this thesis analyses perspectives of community members who describe their experiences with water-related risks. They speak of obstacles to daily tasks like cleaning and practicing basic hygiene, which are essential for disease prevention during a pandemic. However, the results indicate that water issues can also threaten wellbeing in less visible ways than immediate disease risk and can lead to psychological stress, social conflicts, and food insecurity. Identifying water-related risks through people’s own experiences is important for developing shared meanings of resilience for communities and the city as a whole. Risk management focusing on community-centred approaches to these challenges could help clarify how cities can collectively influence their own transformation. This thesis hopes to identify a broader scope of threats to community water justice and wellbeing, contributing to our understanding of urban resilience in a time of rising crises.

Rural communities have, for much of history, been left with inadequate or no water service. This is because the traditional state/private dichotomy of water provision is inadequate for addressing the unique needs of small, isolated communities. Drawing from the Common-Pool Resource literature, co-management arose in recent decades as a solution to address this pandemic of rural water exclusion. In Costa Rica, co-management takes the form of community water associations known as ASADAS. This thesis explores the successes and challenges of ASADAS through the use of three case study communities. Using interviews, surveys, water sampling and national legislation in addition to secondary sources, this thesis seeks to understand the possibilities and limits of employing co-management as a tool for achieving the human right to water in Costa Rica and around the globe.