The vulnerability of agriculture and energy production to water scarcity is not so new. Historically, this issue has been mainly addressed through the regulation of water sharing. A major problem today is that the water scarcity is worsening and that past solutions are not sufficient to resolve the problem. What are the new parameters to take into account? What public policies should be put in place? How can we adapt to the new hydrological conditions which promise to last for a long time?

This is what Giacomo Parrinello, an environmental historian, devotes a large part of his research to. In this episode Giacomo Parrinello shares with us the results of his research.

An assistant professor and researcher at Sciences Po’s Centre for History, Giacomo Parrinello is also a member of the European Society for Environmental History. For a long time, he has in particular investigated the history of the Mediterranean coast.

Additional Resources (Open Access)

• Giacomo Parrinello - Times of Drought, Visualizing Climate and Loss, Center for History and Economics, Harvard University, 2022 
• Giacomo Parrinello, G. Mathias Kondolf -  The social life of sediment. Water History, 2021
• Giacomo Parrinello, Simone Bizzi and Nicola Surian - "The retreat of the delta: a geomorphological history of the Po river basin during the twentieth century." Water History, 2021
  

Recorded on 9 June 2023

Talk with Sergei is a podcast by Sciences Po. Hélène Naudet supervised the production of this series, accompanied by Anaelle Vergonjeanne. The Sciences Po audio department produced and mixed it. 

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