Debating the water professional of tomorrow

Abstract

Today's water problems seem both more urgent and complex than those of the past, and meeting tomorrow's food, fibre and biofuel demands with less water while conserving natural environments and also adapting to the effects of climate change, calls for new modes of operation. Centralistic and technocratic approaches to solving water problems are giving way to approaches that acknowledge the inherently political character of water management, the plurality of its actors, institutions, discourses and knowledge systems, triggering a debate about what the knowledge and skill requirements are for the water professional of tomorrow, and who these professionals will be. The papers in this special journal edition suggest there is no blueprint for facing the new challenges in the water sector. Instead, the perspectives on the profession clearly reflect the opposite, namely the complexity of water management, i.e. the perspectives presented addressed many different issues, were wide of range and manifold.