Water Rights And Empowerment

Empowering Society

"Water is not only a source of life and culture. It is also a source of power, conflicting interests and identity battles. Rights to materially access, culturally organize and politically control water resources are poorly understood by mainstream scientific approaches and hardly addressed by current normative frameworks. These issues become even more challenging when law and policy-makers and dominant power groups try to grasp, contain and handle them in multicultural societies. The struggles over the uses, meanings and appropriation of water are especially well-illustrated in Andean communities and local water systems of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia, as well as in Native American communities in south-western USA. The problem is that throughout history, these nation-states have attempted to 'civilize' and bring into the mainstream the different cultures and peoples within their borders instead of understanding 'context' and harnessing the strengths and potentials of diversity. This book examines the multi-scale struggles for cultural justice and socio-economic re-distribution that arise as Latin American communities and user federations seek access to water resources and decision-making power regarding their control and management. It is set in the dynamic context of unequal, globalizing power relations, politics of scale and identity, environmental encroachment and the increasing presence of extractive industries that are creating additional pressures on local livelihoods. While much of the focus of the book is on the Andean Region, a number of comparative chapters are also included. These address issues such as water rights and defence strategies in neighbouring countries and those of Native American people in the southern USA, as well as state reform and multi-culturalism across Latin and Native America and the use of international standards in struggles for indigenous water rights. This book shows that, against all odds, people are actively contesting neoliberal globalization and water power plays. In doing so, they construct new, hybrid water rights systems, livelihoods, cultures and hydro-political networks, and dynamically challenge the mainstream powers and politics."--Publisher's description.

This Book Uses Case Studies From Across The Globe To Identity The Range Of Water Rights And Bases For Claims On The Resources; Present Local Experiences In Negotiating Water Rights In The Context Of Growing Water Scarcity And Competition; And Discuss Opportunities To Empower Farmers In Water Resource Management.

In a world fraught with visions of an impending 'water crisis' it is not surprising that the main barrier to achieving the Millennium Goals of Development of water, sanitation and hygiene, for all, is not seen as a lack of willingness to learn from the past, to acknowledge failure and success and respect the diversity of approaches and social actors. this book brings together five in-depth case studies of civil society interventions from different parts of India which have struggled to resolve issues of women's participation, equity and sustainability in community based water management systems. From the water scarce areas of coastal Gujarat where UTTHAN has been promoting decentralized and gender equitable water alternatives to the SEWA campaign on women, water and work, and AKRSP(I)'s attempts to involve women farmers in participatory irrigation management interventions in adivasi dominated South Gujarat, from community lift-irrigation schemes in Jharkhand managed by women's group promoted by PRADAN, to SOPPECOM's efforts in facilitating rights to water and land for women and the landless in Maharashtra, the case studies illustrate that the process of negotiating change of, 'flowing upstream' is indeed messy, complicated and complex. Emerging insights while located in a specific socio-economic, political and cultural context provide a menu of essential but not necessarily sufficient, ingredients towards a strategy for mainstreaming gender and equity rights in water management. Together, the cases raise important questions on the social construction of water policy in India, the gendered structure of facilitating organizations, networking and the role of learning in developing accountable and socially inclusive governance mechanisms for managing our natural resources.

This analysis of the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation (HRtWS) uncovers why some groups around the world are still excluded from these rights. Léo Heller, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation, draws on his own research in nine countries and reviews the theoretical, legal, and political issues involved. The first part presents the origins of the HRtWS, their legal and normative meanings and the debates surrounding them. Part II discusses the drivers, mainly external to the water and sanitation sector, that shape public policies and explain why individuals and groups are included in or excluded from access to services. In Part III, public policies guided by the realization of HRtWS are addressed. Part IV highlights populations and spheres of living that have been particularly neglected in efforts to promote access to services.

The 28-page Layperson's Guide to Water Rights Law, recognized as the most thorough explanation of California water rights law available to non-lawyers, traces the authority for water flowing in a stream or reservoir, from a faucet or into an irrigation ditch through the complex web of California water rights. It includes historical information on the development of water rights law, sections on surface water rights and groundwater rights, a description of the different agencies involve in water rights, and a section on the issues not only shaped by water rights decisions but that are also driving changes in water rights. Includes chronology of landmark cases and legislation and an extensive glossary.