Master thesis in Sustainable Development 2020/49 Examensarbete i Hållbar utveckling Silent waters – Diving beyond the resource nexus A critical case study of clothing brands on water sustainability issues Celina Thaller de Zarate DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES INSTITUTIONEN FÖR GEOVETENSKAPER Master thesis in Sustainable Development 2020/49 Examensarbete i Hållbar utveckling Silent waters – Diving beyond the resource nexus A critical case study of clothing brands on water sustainability issues Celina Thaller de Zarate Supervisor: Sarah Cornell Subject Reviewer: Celinda Palm Copyright © Celina Thaller de Zarate and the Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University Published at Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University (www.geo.uu.se), Uppsala, 2020 Content 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Research Aim and Objectives ............................................................................................................. 3 1.2 Research Questions ............................................................................................................................. 3 1.3 Delimitations ....................................................................................................................................... 3 2. Background ............................................................................................................................................. 5 2.1. Clothes and Human Development ..................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Resource Challenges ......................................................................................................................... 12 2.3 Justice Challenges ............................................................................................................................. 13 3 Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................................................... 16 3.1 Nexus Approach ................................................................................................................................ 16 3.2 The WPR Approach – A Feminist Perspective ................................................................................. 20 4. Methods and Study Design ................................................................................................................... 24 4.1 Study Design and Data Sources ........................................................................................................ 24 4.1 Literature Review .............................................................................................................................. 26 4.2 Semi-Structured Interviews .............................................................................................................. 28 4.2.1 Selection of Interviewees ........................................................................................................... 28 4.2.2 Development of Interview Questions......................................................................................... 29 4.2.3 Performing the Interviews .......................................................................................................... 29 4.4.4 Processing of Interview Material ............................................................................................... 29 5. Results .................................................................................................................................................... 31 5.1 What Is the Problem Represented to Be? .......................................................................................... 31 5.1.1 Environmental Issues ................................................................................................................. 31 5.1.2 Technological Issues .................................................................................................................. 36 5.1.3 Economic Issues ......................................................................................................................... 39 5.1.4 Socio-political issues.................................................................................................................. 44 6. Analysis and Discussion ........................................................................................................................ 49 6.1 What Assumptions Underpin the Problem Representation? ............................................................. 51 6.2 How Has This Representation of the Problem Come About? ........................................................... 54 6.3 What is Left Problematic in This Problem Representation? ............................................................. 56 6.3.1 Environment, Resources & Anthropocentrism .......................................................................... 57 6.3.2 Technical Solutions & Resource Management .......................................................................... 57 6.3.3 Business ..................................................................................................................................... 57 6.3.4 Politics, Society and Justice ....................................................................................................... 58 6.4 What Effects Are Produced by This Problem Representation? ........................................................ 59 6.5 How Has This Representation of the Problem Been Produced, Disseminated and Defended? ........ 62 7. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................ 63 7. Acknowledgement ................................................................................................................................. 65 8. References .............................................................................................................................................. 66 Appendix .................................................................................................................................................... 77 Silent waters – Diving beyond the resource nexus A critical case study of clothing brands on water sustainability issues CELINA THALLER DE ZARATE Thaller de Zarate, C., 2020: Silent waters – Diving beyond the resource nexus. A critical case study of clothing brands on water sustainability issues. Master thesis in Sustainable Development at Uppsala University, No. 2020/49, 77 pp, 30 ECTS/hp Abstract: The clothing industry can be linked to problematic issues of social equity and environmental sustainability worldwide. This is manifested in the every-day consumer behavior of industrialized societies, which heavily relies on geographically distant labor and resources. Therefore, this thesis looked at the interconnection of social equity and environmental sustainability from a nexus perspective. Nexus approaches are increasingly defining the pathway to sustainable development, yet they typically represent resource-efficient and technological solutions. This form of problematizing water sustainability can keep long-term societal justice problems ‘beneath the surface’, meaning that they are less considered. The WPR approach was used as an analysis tool to understand underlying implications of water sustainability problematizations in the clothing industry. An embedded single case study on the Sweden Textile Water Initiative (STWI) was conducted, which included and integrated literature review, brand document analysis and semi-structured interviews. The initiative’s goal is to help clothing brands to address water sustainability issues along the supply chain. The results show that water sustainability stands in connection to four overarching themes; environmental issues, economic issues, technological issues and socio-political issues. There is a consensus in the literature and amongst the industry representatives that the problems connected to water sustainability in the clothing industry mainly occur on factory level in producing countries. Additionally, the results show that brands have difficulties to act on their responsibility as strong influencers of the supply chain if there is not a business case. Overall this thesis concludes that the classical nexus approach is not a sufficient solution to water sustainability issues if resources make up the center of analysis and social implications are only considered secondary effects. Keywords: Sustainable development, integrated nexus approach, problem representation, water, feminist research, clothing industry Celina Thaller de Zarate, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE- 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden Silent waters – Diving beyond the resource nexus A critical case study of clothing brands on water sustainability issues CELINA THALLER DE ZARATE Thaller de Zarate, C., 2020: Silent waters – Diving beyond the resource nexus. A critical case study of clothing brands on water sustainability issues. Master thesis in Sustainable Development at Uppsala University, No. 2020/49, 77 pp, 30 ECTS/hp Summary: The act of getting dressed in the morning can be seen as symbol of clothing consumption. This ritual strongly relies on distant labor and resources in producing countries. This thesis explains how water sustainability is