Understanding legal pluralism in water and land rights: Lessons from Africa and Asia

Abstract

Water rights, like the underlying resource itself, are fluid and changing; they necessarily connect people and they can derive from many sources. Much of the property rights literature has focused on rights to land but, as water rights are now receiving increasing attention from scholars and policy makers 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 in terms of efficiency, environment, equity, empowerment and conflict reduction. Reforms need to carefully consider the range of options available. This chapter reviews the multiple sources and types of water rights and 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.© CAB International 2007.