ALL PAPERS
You can download all the 33 workshop papers in one handy volume, but
you will find it easier to download the individual and smaller files
instead.
Download the complete volume of papers
(WARNING! 11.4 MB)
INDIVIDUAL WORKSHOP PAPERS
Click on the links below to see the abstract and options to download
the full paper.
1. Legal pluralism and rural water management:
objectives, definitions and issues
(Barbara van Koppen, Ibrahim Juma, and John Butterworth)
2. The New Institutional Economics of India's Water
Policy
(Tushaar Shah)
3. Current reforms and their implications for rural water management
in Tanzania (Ibrahim H. Juma and Faustin P. Maganga)
4. Challenges of Legislating for Water Utilisation
in Rural Tanzania: Drafting New Laws (Palamagamba John Kabudi)
5. Kenya's new water law: an analysis of the implications
for the rural poor
(Albert Mumma)
6. Observations on the Intersections of Human Rights
and Custom: A Livelihood Perspective on Water
(Bill Derman, Anne Hellum, and Pinnie Sithole)
7. Shona customary practices in the context of
water sector reforms in Zimbabwe
(Claudious Chikozho and Jim Latham)
8. Understanding Legal Pluralism in Water
Rights: Lessons from Africa and Asia
(Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Leticia Nkonya)
9. Making Water Rights Administration Work
(Héctor Garduño)
10. Formal law and local water control in the
Andean region: a field of fierce contestation (Rutgerd Boelens
and Rocio Bustamante)
11. A step by step guide to scale up Community
Driven Development
(Hans P. Binswanger and Tuu-Van Nguyen)
12. Water in Rural Communities
(Jacomina P. de Regt)
13. Community-based strategies for negotiating water
rights
(Bryan Bruns)
14. Managing the River Njoro Watershed, Kenya: conflicting
laws, policies, and community priorities
(Francis Lelo, Wanjiku Chiuri and Mimi Jenkins)
15. Dynamics of poverty, livelihoods and property
rights in the Lower Nyando Basin of Kenya
(Brent Swallow, Leah Onyango, Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Nienke Holl)
16. Hydronomics and terranomics in the Nyando
basin in Western Kenya
(Leah Onyango, Brent Swallow, and Ruth Meinzen-Dick)
17. Getting access to adequate water: community organizing,
women and social change in Western Kenya
(Jessica L. Roy with Ben Crow and Brent Swallow)
18. Traditional Water Governance and South
Africa's "National Water Act" - Tension or Cooperation?
(Daniel Malzbender, Jaqui Goldin, Anthony Turton & Anton Earle)
19. Considerations on the composition of CMA Governing
Boards to achieve representation
(Guy Pegram and Eustathia Bofilatos)
20. Engaging disadvantaged communities: lessons
from the Inkomati CMA establishment process
(Aileen Jennifer Anderson)
21. Achieving Integrated Water Resource Management:
the mismatch in boundaries between water resources management and water
supply
(Sharon Pollard and Derick du Toit)
22. Economic-legal ideology and water management
in Zimbabwe: Implications for smallholder agriculture
(Emmanuel Manzungu and Rose Machiridza)
23. Water rights and rules, and management in spate
irrigation systems
(Abraham Mehari, Frank van Steenbergen and Bart Schultz)
24. Irrigation reform in Malawi: exploring critical
land-water intersections
(Anne Ferguson and Wapulumuka Mulwafu)
25. A framework to integrate formal and informal
water rights in river basin management
(Bruce Lankford and Willie Mwaruvanda)
26. Driving forces behind African transboundary
water law: internal, external, and implications
(Jonathan Lautze, Mark Giordano, and Maelis Borghese)
27. The Role of the District Assemblies
in the management of trans-district water resources in Ghana
(Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang)
28. Integrated water resource management in Tanzania:
interface between informal and formal water institutions
(Charles Sokile, Willy Mwaruvanda, and Barbara van Koppen)
29. Indigenous Systems of Conflict Resolution in
Oromia, Ethiopia
(Desalegn Chemeda Edossa, Mukand Singh Babel, Ashim Das Gupta and Seleshi
Bekele Awulache)
30. Translation of Water Rights and Water Management
in Zambia
(Paxina Chileshe, Julie Trottier and Leanne Wilson)
31. Access to and monopoly over wetlands in Malawi
(Daimon Kambewa)
32. The interface between customary and statutory
water rights - a statutory perspective
(Stefano Burchi)
33. The dynamic relationship between property rights,
water resource management and poverty in the Lake Victoria Basin
(Victor Orindi and Chris Huggins)
ABSTRACTS AND FULL PAPERS
Legal pluralism and rural water management:
objections, definitions and issues perspective (Barbara van Koppen,
Ibrahim Juma, and John Butterworth)
This paper aims to present objectives of the workshop and review key
definitions and issues based upon a rapid overview of all the submitted
papers.
Paper to be completed - see PDF summary
of presentation 152 kB
The New Institutional Economics of India's Water Policy (Tushaar
Shah)
Much institutional analysis in the water sector at national as well
as global levels has focused principally on the working of law, policy
and administration of water sector-the three pillars of water institutions.
In New Institutional Economics, these constitute the IE (IE) of the
water economy, which is distinguished from institutional arrangements
(IA). The latter are humanly imposed 'rules in use' that govern the
behavior of water users and producers, and dealings between them. Water
User Associations, pump irrigation markets, fishery co-operatives and
contractors, urban tanker water markets are examples of institutional
arrangements (IA). NIE's central concern about 'why economies fail to
undertake appropriate activities if they had a high pay-off' is of great
interest to actors in the IE -governments, NGOs, donors, policy makers,
legislators, local administrators. These therefore have views about
and keen interest in shaping IA to improve the working of the water
economy. In this paper, we explore issues involved in unleashing performance-enhancing
change in IA's.
Full paper PDF 427 kB and MS-Word
506 kB
Current reforms and their implications for rural water management
in Tanzania (Ibrahim H. Juma and Faustin P. Maganga)
Tanzania is at an advanced stage of drafting a new legal framework for
water resources management, aimed at attaining the objectives of the
National Water Policy of 2002. Three separate pieces of legislation
will result from the proposed legal framework to cover water resources
management, rural water supply and urban water supply and sewerage.
This paper discusses the government's efforts in trying to fix property
regimes and formalizing informal arrangements related to the use of
water resources. The paper traces historically the process of formalising
customary laws; then presents four case studies that display interactions
between traditional water management systems and the modern, formal
systems. The paper also contains a discussion of the proposed policy
and legal changes, focusing on the extent to which the proposed legislative
dispensation will protect the existing traditional or customary water
rights. It is argued that, despite the early initiatives at providing
space for the growth of customary law, the legal system pertaining in
Tanzania today is tilted more in favour of formal than informal systems.
Full paper PDF 205 kB and MS-Word
118 kB
Challenges of Legislating for Water Utilisation in Rural Tanzania:
Drafting New Laws (Palamagamba John Kabudi)
Mainland Tanzania is in a process of preparing new pieces of legislation
that will govern and regulate the water sector. The drafting of the
new laws is in line with the implementation of the National Water Policy
(NAWAPO) which among other things calls for review of the existing institutional
and legal framework and propose legislative instruments according to
the policy directives. The on-going exercise has posed several challenges
in relation to the process of drafting the laws as well as the scope
and content of the proposed laws. For the first time in the history
of legislating for water supply in Tanzania the issue of rural water
supply has received a special attention both in the Policy and in the
legislation proposals. However, despite that encouraging development
there are still issues that need to be clarified on the governance and
utilisation of water by rural population. How eventually the issues
of rural will be adequately addressed will depend very much on the active
participation of the rural population and other concerned stakeholders
in the on-going process.
Full paper PDF 183 kB and MS-Word
98 kB
Kenya's new water law: an analysis of the implications for the rural
poor (Albert Mumma)
This paper analyses the implications of Kenya's Water Act 2002 for the
rural poor in the management of water resources and delivery of water
services. The paper is premised on the belief that pluralistic legal
frameworks are necessary for the effective management of water resources
and delivery of water services to this group. The paper argues that,
to the extent that the Water Act 2002 depends on state based legal frameworks,
its effectiveness in meeting the needs of the rural poor will be limited,
particularly given the limitations of technical and financial resources
facing the Kenyan state. Consequently, it is necessary that a conscious
policy of pursuing use of the limited opportunities the law presents
be adopted in order to maximize the law's potential in meeting the needs
of the rural poor.
Full paper PDF 209 kB and MS-Word
566 kB
Observations on the Intersections of Human Rights and Custom: A
Livelihood Perspective on Water (Bill Derman,
Anne Hellum, and Pinnie Sithole)
Water reform involves changing how a nations waters are managed and
understood. Zimbabwes water reforms were conducted principally with
the four Dublin principles in mind rather than the human rights frameworks
also available. We have found that a common feature of customary norms
and practices as observed in a wide range of contemporary studies of
natural resource management in Zimbabwes rural areas and international
human law is the emphasis on resources that are vital for livelihood,
such as food and water. We have found principles underlying access to
water and land and have been surprised at the strength of normative
frameworks despite a literature which emphasizes contestation and overlapping
spheres of authority. In turn, this has led us to examine if and how
these normative local frameworks are consonant with some principles
of the right to livelihood and right to water now embodied in a range
of international instruments. This paper connects researchers' observations
on the practice of a right to water in rural Zimbabwe with how that
right could be considered within the broader context of a right to livelihood.
Full paper PDF 219 kB and MS-Word
159 kB
Shona customary practices in the context of water sector reforms
in Zimbabwe (Claudious Chikozho and Jim
Latham)
Zimbabwe has implemented a water sector reform programme aimed at decentralizing
water resources management to the user level. The Water Act of 1998
led to the establishment of new management institutions. Although the
act does not make any reference to customary law, traditional informal
practices still prevail among rural communities. Case studies illustrate
that the new water legislation lacks relevance for rural communities,
who rely on their indigenous institutions for the management of natural
resources. These customary practices are well understood by the people,
they have congruence with their worldviews and are functional. There
is a conspicuous absence of true devolution of authority in the new
statutory arrangements. This means that at grass roots level, the only
consistent and observable form of management is that found in local
customary institutions. The paper argues that despite the influence
of colonial and post-colonial regimes, traditional institutions remain
relevant to local communities.
Full paper PDF 341 kB and MS-Word
7490 kB (Warning! big file)
Understanding Legal Pluralism in Water Rights: Lessons from Africa
and Asia (Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Leticia
Nkonya)
Water rights, like the underlying resource itself, are fluid and changing;
they necessarily connect people; and they can derive from many sources.
As water rights are now receiving increasing attention from scholars
and policymakers in developing countries, it is useful to examine the
differences and similarities between land and water rights-as well as
the linkages between the two. Without an understanding of the range
and complexity of existing institutions that shape water use, efforts
to improve water allocations may be ineffective or even have the opposite
effects from those intended. Reforms need to carefully consider the
range of options available. This paper reviews the multiple sources
and types of water rights, the links between land and water rights,
using examples from Africa and Asia. It then examines the implications
for conflict and for water rights reform processes.
Full paper PDF 197 kB and MS-Word
163 kB
Making Water Rights Administration Work (Héctor Garduño)
This paper distills guidelines from experiences in Argentina (Mendoza
Province), Chile, Mexico, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Uruguay
in designing and implementing their respective formal water rights administration
systems, grouped in guidelines for setting up an enabling environment
for implementation, for drafting "implementable" water legislation;
for the implementation itself, and for making a water rights administration
system a true water resources management tool. The last set refers to
the most important challenge, namely "doing the right thing, not just
the thing right". It also proposes a dynamic approach to water resources
policy, law and regulations drafting, namely the "parallel track approach".
Informal/customary systems of water rights are not specifically addressed
in the seven case studies summarized herein; assuming - perhaps naively
- that in most cases customary practices may be taken into account through
stakeholder participation within the fold of formal water resource legislation.
Therefore, a fifth set, namely guidelines for addressing plural legislative
frameworks through stakeholder participation is also offered.
Full paper PDF 347 kB and MS-Word
421 kB
Formal law and local water control in the Andean region: a field
of fierce contestation (Rutgerd Boelens and
Rocio Bustamante)
Water access and control rights of peasant and indigenous communities
in the Andean countries are under continuous attack. Apart from historical
processes of rights encroachment by elites and landlords, currently
powerful water actors intervene within communities and territories while
often neglecting agreements on local water rights and management rules.
Vertical state law and intervention practices, as well as new privatization
policies, tend to intensify the problem and generally ignore, discriminate
or undermine local normative frameworks. Recognition of and security
for the diverse and dynamic local rights and management frameworks is
crucial not just for improving rural livelihoods but also for national
food security in the Andean countries. The paper outlines the efforts
of the action-research, exchange and advocacy program WALIR (Water Law
and Indigenous Rights) to address these issues. The water policy and
legal context in the Andean region, and some of the key conceptual challenges
related to the official recognition of local socio-legal repertoires
are briefly discussed. It ends with a reflection on conditions for improving
rights recognition of marginalized groups and peasant and indigenous
communities, through policy and interactive intervention strategies.
Full paper PDF 225 kB and MS-Word
162 kB
A step by step guide to scale up Community Driven Development
(Hans P. Binswanger and Tuu-Van Nguyen)
This paper synthesizes the experiences on how to scale up Community
Driven Development (CDD) programs into national CDD programs. The objective
of the paper is to assist the reader by providing a step-by-step approach
to designing and planning the scale-up of multi-sectoral CDD initiatives.
It focuses in particular on the program development phase, in which
a program is scaled up to first cover one (or a few) district in its
entirety, so that all villages and urban neighborhoods (i.e., all "communities")
have access to the program.
Full paper PDF 309 kB and MS-Word
267 kB
Water in Rural Communities (Jacomina P. de Regt)
This note focuses on how the community driven development approach is
applied to this problem of getting water to rural communities. A recent
review of World Bank water supply projects by OED shows that local community
involvement in decision-making about services and in implementing and
managing those services is linked to greater beneficiary satisfaction
with services, and thus a greater willingness to pay. The Bank's experience
with watershed management has similar findings. Significant involvement
by local stakeholders correlates with better replicability and sustainability
in outcomes and impacts. A lesser degree of participation is associated
with a lower likelihood of sustainability.
Full paper PDF 278 kB and MS-Word
145 kB
Community-based strategies for negotiating water rights (Bryan
Bruns)
As access to water is threatened, communities may act to secure their
rights to water. Critiques of community-based natural resources management
and institutional design principles for common-property resources management
highlight limitations on external modification of local institutions.
A user-oriented perspective on water governance suggests that collective
action as principals negotiating water rights may be primarily defensive,
constructed of heterogeneous coalitions, strategically mixing claims
and forums, and only partially susceptible to cascading institutional
transformation. Measures to support community-based negotiation of water
rights include legislative reform, legal empowerment, networking, advocacy,
participatory planning, technical advice, and facilitation.
Full paper PDF 223 kB and MS-Word
154 kB
Managing the River Njoro Watershed, Kenya: conflicting laws, policies,
and community priorities (Francis Lelo, Wanjiku
Chiuri and Mimi Jenkins)
This paper reports on an experimental process underway in the River
Njoro Watershed in Kenya to engage riparian communities, other local
stakeholders, and government policy-makers in a dialogue to develop
a riparian management plan. The process is part of the Sustainable Management
of Watersheds Project (SUMAWA-CRSP), a multidisciplinary applied research
effort established in 2002. The River Njoro's riparian zone is a common
pool resource that supports critical downstream watershed services and
provides valued resources to its poorer communities. However, its survival
is threatened by the incompatibility between communal regulatory mechanisms,
tribal norms and mechanisms of statutory enforcement, and between national
laws and institutional arrangements in Kenya. The ensuing free access
lawless mentality has lead to resource degradation and subsequent decline
in riparian services such as water quality and flood protection. A contributing
cause is the absence of any institutional structure to harmonize conflicting
government laws and policies on land, water, and forest resources on
the ground.
Full paper PDF 543 kB and MS-Word
3780 kB (Warning! Big file)
Dynamics of poverty, livelihoods and property rights in the Lower
Nyando Basin of Kenya (Brent Swallow, Leah
Onyango, Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Nienke Holl)
Data from 14 villages representing contrasting circumstances around
the Lower Nyando basin in Kenya indicate that the incidence of poverty
is higher in the flood plain than in the other parts of the basin. Over
the last ten years, poverty has risen significantly in an area controlled
by the National Irrigation Board (NIB), increased slowly in smallholder
mixed farming areas, and remained relatively stable in areas supported
by the Provincial Irrigation Unit (PIU). Reasons for these trends are
discussed, and are linked to factors including land tenure and forms
of external support. Customary gender biases against women are also
exacerbated in the irrigation schemes. As it plans a revitalization
of the irrigation sector under the new Water Act of 2002, the government
should consider organizational arrangements that will provide women
and men farmers with suitable services without compromising their discretion
over land and water use.
Full paper PDF 1040 kB and MS-Word
1890 kB
Hydronomics and terranomics in the Nyando basin in Western Kenya
(Leah Onyango, Brent Swallow, and Ruth Meinzen-Dick)
This paper uses the concepts of hydronomics as systems of rules that
define water management and terranomics as systems of rules that define
land management and explores their linkages in rainfed agriculture and
irrigation areas in the Nyando basin. The upper reaches of the basin
have experienced a change from large scale commercial farming to more
intensive small holder farming while in the flood prone lower reaches
of the basin several irrigation schemes have been set up. The basin
has a complex history of settlement, irrigation development and land
tenure over the last 50 years, resulting in distinct patterns of poverty,
land use, water management and land tenure across the basin. The changes
in management of land have a corresponding effect on access to and use
of water in the basin but there are no corresponding policy changes
to ensure that no one is loosing out.
Full paper PDF 781 kB and MS-Word
5070 kB (WARNING! big file)
Getting access to adequate water: community organizing, women and
social change in Western Kenya (Jessica L. Roy
with Ben Crow and Brent Swallow)
This paper presents initial findings from research exploring the influence
of community organizing and gender relations on access to water in Western
Kenya. Improved access to water promises significant progress in the
lives of many of Africa's rural and urban poor, but few rural communities
in Africa have been able to self-organize to significantly improve their
access to water. This research seeks to illuminate the social conditions,
rights and practices that may hinder or facilitate community organization
to achieve better access to water. Two particularly intriguing findings
emerge: 1) amongst a wide range of social conditions that hinder the
founding of water projects is a hint of male anxiety about how women
may use time saved from water collection, and 2) in one community where
the obstacles to organizing were overcome, and a successful piped water
system installed women, were able to use their time saved from water
collection to enhance household tea production and establish a group
that has generated new income from casual labour and the production
and sale of new crops.
Full paper PDF 192 kB and MS-Word
122 kB
Traditional Water Governance and South Africa's "National Water
Act" - Tension or Cooperation? (Daniel
Malzbender, Jaqui Goldin, Anthony Turton & Anton Earle)
In its first part this paper discusses the rationale for the recognition
of traditional water management structures in the light of the realities
of water management and supply in South Africa's rural areas. Based
on the findings of two case studies it is argued that customary arrangements
form part of the social adaptive capacity of communities and can aid
integrated water resource management. In the second part, the relationship
between traditional water governance structures and South Africa's new
National Water Act is explored and the case is made that South Africa's
law and policy framework supports the recognition of traditional water
governance structures as part of the overall water management strategy.
Based on these arguments, in its final part, the paper debates the role
for traditional leadership in water management in the cross-over zone
between traditional rural customs and the new democratic governance
and service delivery structures in South Africa.
Full paper PDF 200 kB and MS-Word
167 kB
Considerations on the composition of CMA Governing Boards to achieve
representation (Guy Pegram and Eustathia Bofilatos)
South Africa is embarking on a process of progressively establishing
19 catchment management agencies with the purpose of decentralising
water resources management and involving local communities. There is
a legislatively required process leading to the appointment of the CMA
Governing Board, involving a recommendation on the composition of the
Board by an Advisory Committee followed by nomination by identified
organs of state and bodies. It is argued that this provides an appropriate
mechanism to ensure adequate representation of the interests of rural,
poor and marginalised communities, particularly as these groups trend
to be relatively unorganised and non-cohesive at a water management
area level. This hypothesis is supported by the recommendation on the
Inkomati CMA Governing Board.
Full paper PDF 151 kB and MS-Word
110 kB
Engaging disadvantaged communities: lessons from the Inkomati CMA
establishment process (Aileen Jennifer Anderson)
South Africa is currently establishing 19 basin-level governing-bodies
called Catchment Management Agencies. CMA's are responsible for implementing
South Africa's new water management approach that aims to foster economic
development and poverty eradication, while maintaining the ecological
integrity of the system. The first CMA was established in the Inkomati
catchment area in March 2004 and the minister, based on the recommendations
of the advisory committee, will soon appoint a governing board. The
Inkomati CMA was established after seven years of public participation
and stakeholder negotiations. Based on an analysis of the participatory
process to draft the Inkomati CMA proposal, this paper outlines specific
challenges that lie ahead for the Inkomati governing board and the successful
implementation of the Inkomati CMA. The paper identifies specific ways
to engage disadvantaged communities in the CMA process.
Full paper PDF 158 kB and MS-Word
121 kB
Achieving Integrated Water Resource Management: the mismatch in
boundaries between water resources management
and water supply (Sharon Pollard and Derick du Toit)
Central to the National Water Policy of South Africa and echoed in the
National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998) and Water Services Act (Act 108
of 1997) is the devolution of water management and regulation to regional
authorities that take the form of Water Services Authorities and Catchment
Management Agencies. Our argument is that local government has a very
narrow focus of responsibility within WRM - that is, a focus specifically
on water supply - and that this is not planned within the WRM framework
of the catchment. We suggest that in a new policy environment that talks
to sustainability planning this represents a major oversight. Moreover,
this situation is exacerbated by the different boundaries within which
WRM and water supply operate. We illustrate this argument through examining
the situation in the Sand River catchment and the Bohlabela Municipal
District and highlights key issues that should be considered in charting
a way forward.
Full paper PDF 260 kB and MS-Word
174 kB
Economic-legal ideology and water management in Zimbabwe: Implications
for smallholder agriculture (Emmanuel Manzungu and Rose Machiridza)
With an estimated 70% of the 11.6 million Zimbabweans living in impoverished
rural areas, and dependent on smallholder agriculture for their livelihoods,
it follows that improvements in this sub-sector can contribute to poverty
alleviation, particularly food insecurity. This depends on appropriate
water management in such a semi-arid climate, making the case for appropriate
legal regimes in the water sector self-evident. The paper analyses the
constraints that are being encountered in this area by drawing some
lessons from the colonial era. The colonial state was more successful
because it provided the complementary resources for its white hydraulic
mission. The failure of the post-colonial state to deliver a black hydraulic
mission can be understood in the same terms - the failure to enunciate
and pursue an economic ideology that provided for the development of
sustainable smallholder agriculture. One of the main reasons was that
the post-colonial state did not capitalize on indigenous and water management
experiences, which was ironic given that the leaders professed indigenous
roots. This is reflected by the absence of these important experiences
in policy discourse. This has rendered the legal reforms in the water
sector somewhat cosmetic.
Full paper PDF 254 kB and MS-Word
175 kB
Water rights and rules, and management in spate irrigation systems
(Abraham Mehari, Frank van Steenbergen and Bart
Schultz)
Spate irrigation is a floodwater harvesting and management system. Floodwater
is unpredictable in occurrence and amount. It is emitted through wadis
(ephemeral streams) and diverted to fields using earthen or concrete
structures. Primarily based on the research conducted in some spate
irrigation systems in Eritrea, Yemen and Pakistan, this paper discusses
the impact on floodwater management of several water rights and rules,
and the enforcement approaches used by various local organizations.
It analyses if and how the water rights and rules have been tailored
in response to changes in events in time, such as increase in irrigated
area and structural modernizations; and how these affected the floodwater
management. It assesses why national/provincial water laws became necessary
for floodwater management following the modernization. The paper concludes
by outlining what water rights and rules can achieve when applied in
situations they were prepared for, and how negative their consequences
can be otherwise.
Full paper PDF 745 kB and MS-Word
1080 kB
Irrigation reform in Malawi: exploring critical land-water intersections
(Anne Ferguson and Wapulumuka Mulwafu)
Malawi, similar to other Southern African countries, has adopted new
water, land, and irrigation policies and legislation involving promotion
of decentralized management, user groups, and privatization of resources
previously under customary or public tenure. We examine how the water
and land policies intersect with the new irrigation policy, and are
being played out in the context of two smallholder irrigation schemes
in the Lake Chilwa Basin, which are being transferred to farmers' associations.
This new policy setting has opened the door to contestation over rights
of access to irrigation scheme plots by traditional authorities, scheme
management personnel, and farmers. Rather than adopting a sector-by-sector
focus, we examine how the policies are intertwined and interact with
existing customary rights and practices in ways that have not been fully
considered. The study demonstrates the need for a livelihoods perspective
in determining who benefits and loses from these new policy directions.
Full paper PDF 195 kB and MS-Word
139 kB
A framework to integrate formal and informal water rights in river
basin management (Bruce Lankford and Willie
Mwaruvanda)
The paper explores a water management framework for bringing together
formal water permits and informal water agreements to effect intra-
and inter-sectoral water allocation. This framework is based on setting
and modifying seasonally applied volumetric and proportional caps for
managing irrigation abstractions and the sharing of water between users
and sectors in river basins. The volumetric cap, which establishes the
upper ceiling of irrigation abstractions in the wet season, relates
to formal water permits and maximum intake capacities. The proportional
cap, which functions in the dry season beneath the volumetric ceiling,
builds on customary water negotiations and on the design and adjustment
of intakes by users. The analysis is informed by conditions found in
the Great Ruaha River Basin, Southern Tanzania, where rivers sequentially
provide water for irrigation, a wetland, the Ruaha National Park, and
for electricity generation. A working example of the framework helps
explain its effect on inter-sectoral re-allocation.
Full paper PDF 249 kB and MS-Word
275 kB
Driving forces behind African transboundary water law: internal,
external, and implications (Jonathan Lautze,
Mark Giordano, and Maelis Borghese)
While it may be commonly assumed that transboundary water law is driven
by water related concerns revealed in the texts of international agreements,
external, textually invisible factors often influence the formation
and realization of treaties as well. Using both textual and contextual
analysis, this study provides an initial assessment of the drivers of
international water law in Africa's post-colonial period. The authors
first develop a typology of major drivers and then use that typology
to examine the development and implementation of transboundary water
law in four African basins: the Nile, Senegal, Niger, and Volta. The
analysis reveals that, while virtually all agreements are driven by
a combination of internal and external factors, external drivers have
played a major role in agreement orientation and realization and in
some cases are even responsible for treaty formation. Importantly, these
external drivers generally reflect global paradigms that have been imported
to Africa regardless of whether conditions on the continent warrant
their use.
Full paper PDF 236 kB and MS-Word
184 kB
The Role of the District Assemblies in the management of trans-district
water resources in Ghana (Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang)
Ghana's legal regime for the management of water resources combines
both the formal and informal customary law principles. Under the customary
law, water as part of the customary land holding is vested in communities,
families, as the case may be. In the formal sector the water resources
are vested in the state and any use requires a permit or license from
the Water Resources Commission (WRC). In considering an application
for water use in Ghana the law requires a consultation of the traditional
institutions in determining the grant or otherwise. This ensures the
consideration of traditional concepts and norms, such as the concept
of water spirits and the holy days of water bodies. These concepts are
essential for the sustainable management and conservation of water resources
in Ghana.
Full paper PDF 120 kB and MS-Word
89 kB
Integrated water resource management in Tanzania: interface between
informal and formal water institutions (Charles
Sokile, Willy Mwaruvanda, and Barbara van Koppen)
Formal and informal institutions are closely linked and greatly depend
on each other. As in other countries, Tanzania recently engaged in a
far-reaching formal institutional reform towards Integrated Water Resources
Management. This paper focuses on the interfaces and linkages between
formal and informal institutional frameworks for water management in
Tanzania with a case study of the Mkoji sub catchment in the Rufiji
Basin. The paper identifies four major areas of interfaces, namely;
centralized and local institutions; modern water rights and customary
rights; Water User Associations and informal associations of water users;
and formal and informal power relations. The paper argues that although
there are some positive linkages between formal and informal institutions,
there are also struggles and bickering between the two. The paper highlights
the complexity of institutional interfacing. Finally the paper identifies
potential ways in which the ongoing reform should consider customary
arrangements and provide a better framework for sound management of
water.
Full paper PDF 305 kB and MS-Word
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Indigenous systems of conflict resolution in Oromia, Ethiopia
(Desalegn Chemeda Edossa, Mukand Singh Babel, Ashim
Das Gupta and Seleshi Bekele Awulache)
This paper describes the role of the Gadaa system, a uniquely democratic
political and social institution of the Oromo people in Ethiopia, in
the utilization of important resources such as water, as well as its
contribution in conflict resolution among individuals and communities.
It discusses ways to overcome the difference between customary and statutory
approaches in conflict resolution. A synthesis of customary and statutory
system of conflict resolution may facilitate a better understanding
that will lead to improved management of resources, which are predominant
variables for the socio-economic development of the country. It suggests
that top-down imposition and enforcement of statutory laws that replace
customary laws should be avoided. Instead, mechanisms should be sought
to learn from the Lubas, elders who are knowledgeable in the Gadaa system,
about the customary mechanisms of conflict resolution so as to integrate
them in enacting or implementing statutory laws.
Full paper PDF 255 kB and MS-Word
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Translation of water rights and water management in Zambia (Paxina
Chileshe, Julie Trottier and Leanne Wilson)
The human right to water has been articulated in the UN Economic and
Social Policy Documents. At the national level this approach is challenging
to adopt especially for the least developed countries. The limited financial
resources of countries like Zambia compound these challenges. Water
rights in Zambia follow a common law property rights system. Common
law is mostly applicable in urban centres whereas customary law is more
applicable in rural areas. The dual application of the laws makes the
translation of water rights at grassroot levels an interesting case
to explore. Two different rural areas will be used to highlight the
issues faced by the communities in managing their water resources and
their perceptions of water rights. The cases also bring out the role
of the state and other actors like NGOs and community based organisations
in water management.
Full paper PDF 459 kB and MS-Word
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Access to and monopoly over wetlands in Malawi (Daimon Kambewa)
This paper focuses on the existing customary tenure and use rights to
valuable wetland gardens and governance mechanisms. It identifies the
modes of access, drawing attention to the differing roles of chiefs,
families as well as households in wetland management. The study, carried
out in the Lake Chilwa wetland in Malawi's Southern Region, demonstrates
that access to water and land resources is closely intertwined and embedded
in social ties and power relations. It contrasts the customary systems
of governance and tenure with those that are likely to be put in place
by the new land, water and irrigation policies and laws. A combination
of qualitative methods and survey research was used to examine how the
policies and development strategies are interacting with customary practices
and are influencing livelihood strategies.
Full paper PDF 219 kB and MS-Word
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The interface between customary and statutory water rights - a statutory
perspective (Stefano Burchi)
In the countries where customary rules play a significant role, particularly
in the rural areas, customary law and customary water rights are a factor
to be reckoned with when preparing "modern" legislation regulating the
abstraction and use of water resources through government permits or
licences. From a statutory perspective, the two water rights systems
intersect and interact in the transitional phase following enactment
of new water legislation, and in the course of administering the latter's
abstraction licensing regulatory provisions. The law avails mechanisms
to prevent collision between the two water rights systems, and to settle
disputes. The analysis of these mechanisms raises a number of issues.
Further research into the functioning of these mechanisms will be welcome
to shed additional light on a much neglected facet of water resources
law, and to eventually strengthen non-confrontational approaches to
accommodating customary water rights and practices in the new dispensation
inaugurated by modern water legislation.
Full paper PDF 168 kB and MS-Word
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The dynamic relationship between property rights, water resource
management and poverty in the Lake Victoria Basin (Victor
Orindi and Chris Huggins)
This review aims to synthesize information on the dynamic relationships
between property rights to land and natural resources, water resource
management and poverty in the Lake Victoria Basin of East Africa. It
focuses on the way in which water management systems, under the conceptual
umbrella of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), address customary
claims to land and water. The water sector in all the three countries
is being reformed, decentralized and liberalized to improve efficiency
in water delivery. However, it is not clear whether this will result
in improved water access for low-income areas, especially remote rural
areas. There are concerns that some aspects of the water sector are
being emphasized at the expense of others and this may distract attention
from some of the socio-economic and political causes of poor water access.
Similarly, all three countries are currently in the process of revising
land policies and laws. The paper concludes that customary land and
water rights remain significant forms of rights across the basin, even
though they are not addressed through legal or policy frameworks.
Full paper PDF 255 kB and MS-Word
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