Negotiation skills are a critical, although often overlooked, aspect of water management, especially in situations where water crosses boundaries. Conflicts arise when water is managed as a fixed or scarce resource, and allocated in a way that assumes some parties will gain while others lose. In a recent blog post, Professor Lawrence Susskind examines how negotiation training can help water professionals develop a “value-creating” approach to negotiation, and find new solutions to cross-boundary disputes.
Lawrence Susskind is Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; author of Built to Win; co-author of Breaking Robert’s Rules and Breaking the Impasse.