CAS SEE Seminars with Guests: Alma Midžić

On Tuesday, June 11th, 2024 at 12:00 PM (CET), we are hosting the CAS SEE Seminar with Alma Midžić on “The Ways of Water: Commodity, Public Good, Common Resource” in conversation with the RECAS  Fellow Boriša Mraović.

Alma Midžić

Alma Midžić holds a degree from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo and a master degree from the regional MA program “Democracy and Human Rights in Southeast Europe” with a focus on social movements and common goods. Currently, she is working on her final thesis titled “Water Supply in Transition” as part of the interdisciplinary master’s program “Protection from Natural Disasters.” Alma has extensive experience supporting local initiatives and monitoring the work of public administration bodies. Her areas of interest include common goods, resource management, social control (with a focus on water), local self-government, participation in decision-making, and social and environmental sustainability. She is actively involved in advocating against the exploitation of natural resources in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is engaged in political work, despite not being affiliated with any political party. 

About the seminar

Many people are already experiencing water shortages; conflicts over water are not unknown, and the situation is exacerbated by climate change. However, there is still a low level of awareness regarding the limited supplies of freshwater resources. Access to drinking water is often taken for granted without considering distribution and management, and without acknowledging the not-so-bright forecasts for the availability of this resource in the future. Some estimates suggest that the world will face a global water deficit of 40% by 2030. The pressure on the resource is enormous due to the use for water supply, agriculture and industry, mining, the increasing use for energy purposes, and pollution. Recently, there has been an increasing demand to commercialize this common good, despite numerous instances of mismanagement following the privatization of water supply services, mainly through public-private partnerships. In this presentation, I will discuss two dominant models of water management – private and public – in relation to the practice of commoning. I’ll refer to the example of the water supply system in Luke, which is a case of a semi-legal water distribution system governed by the entire local community.

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RECAS Fellowships

RECAS Fellowships

Fellowships are supported by OSF Western Balkans, ERSTE Foundation and Rockefeller Brothers Fund.