Living customary water tenure in rights-based water management in Sub-Saharan Africa
Living customary water tenure is the most accepted socio-legal system among the large majority of rural people in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on literature, this report seeks to develop a grounded understanding of the ways in which rural people meet their domestic and productive water needs on homeste...
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| Formato: | Informe técnico |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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International Water Management Institute
2022
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| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/120948 |
| _version_ | 1855537857286897664 |
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| author | van Koppen, Barbara |
| author_browse | van Koppen, Barbara |
| author_facet | van Koppen, Barbara |
| author_sort | van Koppen, Barbara |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Living customary water tenure is the most accepted socio-legal system among the large majority of rural people in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on literature, this report seeks to develop a grounded understanding of the ways in which rural people meet their domestic and productive water needs on homesteads, distant fields or other sites of use, largely outside the ambits of the state. Taking the rural farming or pastoralist community as the unit of analysis, three components are distinguished. The first component deals with the fundamental perceptions of the links between humankind and naturally available water resources as a commons to be shared by all, partially linked to communities’ collective land rights. The second component deals with the sharing of these finite and contested naturally available water resources, especially during dry seasons and droughts. Customary arrangements shape both the ‘sharing in’ of water resources within communities and the ‘sharing out’ with other customary communities or powerful third parties. Since colonial times, communities have been vulnerable to those third parties grabbing water resources and overriding customary uses and governance. The third component deals with infrastructure to store and convey water resources. Since time immemorial, communities have invested in infrastructure for self supply, ranging from micro-scale soil moisture retention techniques to large-scale collective deep wells. As increasingly recognized in both the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and irrigation sectors, this component of self supply is rapidly expanding. In all three components, local diversity is high, with gender, class and other social hierarchies intertwining with social safety nets, neighborliness and moral economies.
The study derives two sets of implications for state and non-state policies, laws and interventions. First, state legislation about the sharing of water resources should recognize and protect living customary water tenure, especially through due process in ‘sharing out’ water with powerful third parties. Remarkably, water law, which is dominated by permit systems in sub-Saharan Africa, lags behind other legislation in recognizing customary water tenure (see IWMI Research Report 182). Second, by taking communities’ self supply for multiple uses as a starting point for further water infrastructure development, the WASH, irrigation and other sectors can follow the priorities of communities, including the most vulnerable; identify cost-effective multi-purpose infrastructure; develop local skills; and, hence, contribute more sustainably to achieving more United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDGs 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 13. Further historical and interdisciplinary research to achieve these benefits is recommended. |
| format | Informe técnico |
| id | CGSpace120948 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | International Water Management Institute |
| publisherStr | International Water Management Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1209482025-11-07T08:46:08Z Living customary water tenure in rights-based water management in Sub-Saharan Africa van Koppen, Barbara water tenure customary tenure water rights water management water law customary law water resources water sharing infrastructure water supply multiple use water services rural communities water allocation sustainable development goals water, sanitation and hygiene norms policies legislation water governance water quality water distribution water permits conflicts costs gender women right to water right to food households living standards drinking water domestic water farmer-led irrigation pastoralists livestock land water security nexus approaches Living customary water tenure is the most accepted socio-legal system among the large majority of rural people in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on literature, this report seeks to develop a grounded understanding of the ways in which rural people meet their domestic and productive water needs on homesteads, distant fields or other sites of use, largely outside the ambits of the state. Taking the rural farming or pastoralist community as the unit of analysis, three components are distinguished. The first component deals with the fundamental perceptions of the links between humankind and naturally available water resources as a commons to be shared by all, partially linked to communities’ collective land rights. The second component deals with the sharing of these finite and contested naturally available water resources, especially during dry seasons and droughts. Customary arrangements shape both the ‘sharing in’ of water resources within communities and the ‘sharing out’ with other customary communities or powerful third parties. Since colonial times, communities have been vulnerable to those third parties grabbing water resources and overriding customary uses and governance. The third component deals with infrastructure to store and convey water resources. Since time immemorial, communities have invested in infrastructure for self supply, ranging from micro-scale soil moisture retention techniques to large-scale collective deep wells. As increasingly recognized in both the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and irrigation sectors, this component of self supply is rapidly expanding. In all three components, local diversity is high, with gender, class and other social hierarchies intertwining with social safety nets, neighborliness and moral economies. The study derives two sets of implications for state and non-state policies, laws and interventions. First, state legislation about the sharing of water resources should recognize and protect living customary water tenure, especially through due process in ‘sharing out’ water with powerful third parties. Remarkably, water law, which is dominated by permit systems in sub-Saharan Africa, lags behind other legislation in recognizing customary water tenure (see IWMI Research Report 182). Second, by taking communities’ self supply for multiple uses as a starting point for further water infrastructure development, the WASH, irrigation and other sectors can follow the priorities of communities, including the most vulnerable; identify cost-effective multi-purpose infrastructure; develop local skills; and, hence, contribute more sustainably to achieving more United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDGs 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 13. Further historical and interdisciplinary research to achieve these benefits is recommended. 2022-08-26 2022-08-26T08:41:02Z 2022-08-26T08:41:02Z Report https://hdl.handle.net/10568/120948 en Open Access application/pdf International Water Management Institute van Koppen, Barbara. 2022. Living customary water tenure in rights-based water management in Sub-Saharan Africa. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 41p. (IWMI Research Report 183) [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2022.214] |
| spellingShingle | water tenure customary tenure water rights water management water law customary law water resources water sharing infrastructure water supply multiple use water services rural communities water allocation sustainable development goals water, sanitation and hygiene norms policies legislation water governance water quality water distribution water permits conflicts costs gender women right to water right to food households living standards drinking water domestic water farmer-led irrigation pastoralists livestock land water security nexus approaches van Koppen, Barbara Living customary water tenure in rights-based water management in Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title | Living customary water tenure in rights-based water management in Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full | Living customary water tenure in rights-based water management in Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_fullStr | Living customary water tenure in rights-based water management in Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Living customary water tenure in rights-based water management in Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_short | Living customary water tenure in rights-based water management in Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_sort | living customary water tenure in rights based water management in sub saharan africa |
| topic | water tenure customary tenure water rights water management water law customary law water resources water sharing infrastructure water supply multiple use water services rural communities water allocation sustainable development goals water, sanitation and hygiene norms policies legislation water governance water quality water distribution water permits conflicts costs gender women right to water right to food households living standards drinking water domestic water farmer-led irrigation pastoralists livestock land water security nexus approaches |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/120948 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT vankoppenbarbara livingcustomarywatertenureinrightsbasedwatermanagementinsubsaharanafrica |