Living customary water tenure in rights-based water management in Sub-Saharan Africa

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cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Water Management Instituteen_US
cg.contributor.crpPolicies, Institutions, and Marketsen_US
cg.coverage.regionSub-Saharan Africaen_US
cg.creator.identifierBarbara Van Koppen: 0000-0002-7707-8127en_US
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.5337/2022.214en_US
cg.identifier.iwmilibraryH051372en_US
cg.isbn978-92-9090-944-6en_US
cg.issn1026-0862en_US
cg.placeColombo, Sri Lankaen_US
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen_US
dc.contributor.authorvan Koppen, Barbaraen_US
dc.date.accessioned2022-08-26T08:41:02Zen_US
dc.date.available2022-08-26T08:41:02Zen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/120948en_US
dc.titleLiving customary water tenure in rights-based water management in Sub-Saharan Africaen_US
dcterms.abstractLiving 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.en_US
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Accessen_US
dcterms.available2022en_US
dcterms.bibliographicCitationvan 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]en_US
dcterms.extent41p.en_US
dcterms.isPartOfIWMI Research Report 183en_US
dcterms.issued2022-08-26en_US
dcterms.languageenen_US
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-4.0en_US
dcterms.publisherInternational Water Management Instituteen_US
dcterms.subjectwater tenureen_US
dcterms.subjectcustomary tenureen_US
dcterms.subjectwater rightsen_US
dcterms.subjectwater managementen_US
dcterms.subjectwater lawen_US
dcterms.subjectcustomary lawen_US
dcterms.subjectwater resourcesen_US
dcterms.subjectwater sharingen_US
dcterms.subjectinfrastructureen_US
dcterms.subjectwater supplyen_US
dcterms.subjectmultiple use water servicesen_US
dcterms.subjectrural communitiesen_US
dcterms.subjectwater allocationen_US
dcterms.subjectsustainable development goalsen_US
dcterms.subjectwater, sanitation and hygieneen_US
dcterms.subjectnormsen_US
dcterms.subjectpoliciesen_US
dcterms.subjectlegislationen_US
dcterms.subjectwater governanceen_US
dcterms.subjectwater qualityen_US
dcterms.subjectwater distributionen_US
dcterms.subjectwater permitsen_US
dcterms.subjectconflictsen_US
dcterms.subjectcostsen_US
dcterms.subjectgenderen_US
dcterms.subjectwomenen_US
dcterms.subjectright to wateren_US
dcterms.subjectright to fooden_US
dcterms.subjecthouseholdsen_US
dcterms.subjectliving standardsen_US
dcterms.subjectdrinking wateren_US
dcterms.subjectdomestic wateren_US
dcterms.subjectfarmer-led irrigationen_US
dcterms.subjectpastoralistsen_US
dcterms.subjectlivestocken_US
dcterms.subjectlanden_US
dcterms.subjectwater securityen_US
dcterms.subjectnexus approachesen_US
dcterms.typeReporten_US

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