Access and allocation: rights to water,sanitation and hygiene

This paper provides a decadal review of earth system governance (ESG) literature surrounding access and allocation to water, sanitation and hygiene. ‘access and allocation’ is one of five analytical problems, and ‘water’ a cross-cutting theme, identified in the ESG science and implementation plan (Biermann et al. 2010). A focused review of ESG and related literature reveals that the ESG literature is very robust in relation to access to water, sanitation and hygiene as a human right. However, the ESG literature lacks a robust, independent consideration of the right to hygiene or sanitation or its linkage and costs vis-à-vis other rights. There is no criteria for resolving competing demands on finite freshwater resources, as well as procedures for balancing rights. It is unclear how a transformed nuanced narrative of water access and allocation rights will address vulnerability and social inequality within this new balancing act.