Amanda Garcia, Keith Hipel, Amer Obeidi
Received 2017/09/12, Accepted 2017/11/24, Published 2017/12/20

Amanda Garcia1), Keith Hipel2), Amer Obeidi3)

1) Department of Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada
2) Department of Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada, Centre for International Governance Innovation, Canada, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Canada
3) Department of Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada, Department of Management Sciences, University of Waterloo, Canada

The Water Sustainability Act in British Columbia, Canada is a source of conflict among citizens, the provincial government, and industrial groundwater users. The water extraction fees stipulated in the act highlight the issue of water commodification and its potential legal consequences. Complementary approaches for conflict analysis are used to study this emerging conflict in order to gain valuable strategic insights. Analysis is performed using the Graph Model for Conflict Resolution, a flexible methodology for analyzing and modelling conflicts. In addition, generalized metarationalities and metarational trees, which account for the role and influence of policies in decision-making, are used to explore possible resolutions of the conflict. The analyses show that the current situation, where protesters lobby the government but the fees are not increased, is an equilibrium and thus unlikely to change.

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Copyright (c) 2017 The Author(s) CC-BY 4.0