International Food Policy Research Institute
IFPRI Home About Contact Careers Search  
Publications
IFPRI Publications 2020 Publications Search our Database Articles & Book Chapters Datasets Other Languages Order Form AddThis Social Bookmark Button
Cover ImageWater Rights Reform
Lessons for Institutional Design
Edited by Bryan Randolph Bruns, Claudia Ringler, and Ruth Meinzen-Dick
2005



Foreword

Access to water is essential for improving the lives of poor people. In many parts of the world, growing competition for scarce supplies of freshwater threatens current livelihoods and hopes for the future. Inadequate institutions for water governance contribute to social inequity, economic inefficiency, and environmental degradation. The importance of water rights is increasingly acknowledged, but too little is known about how water rights systems can be improved in practice, and how to avoid the risk that reforms may backfire, worsening insecurity, confusion, and injustice regarding access to water.

In 2003 IFPRI, building on its past work in this area, led a conference of researchers and practitioners focusing on water rights. This book grew out of that conference. It brings together practical lessons from experience in water rights reform, demonstrating how changes in policies, laws, regulations, agency procedures, and other social practices that arrange rights to water can help resolve conflicts, secure access, and enhance benefits from this most vital of natural resources.

The volume contributes to a growing body of knowledge about the management of natural resources, and how policy reforms can help improve the lives of the poor. It illustrates ways in which improved water rights and allocation practices can raise water productivity, enhance livelihoods, and increase benefits from existing and new investments in the sector.

Secure water rights for the poor, and governance structures to ensure that their rights are protected, are needed for both equitable and sustainable water use. This volume sets out to clarify strategies and instruments available to safeguard existing water users and customary rights in the context of supporting equitable and efficient water allocation. Leading researchers and practitioners provide new insights into the options that various stakeholders may consider in developing water allocation institutions. They draw on practical experiences with water rights reforms, including eight detailed case studies on six continents, together with broader comparison and synthesis of international experience. It is my hope that the recommendations in this volume will contribute to the process of equitable and productive reforms in water rights systems.

Joachim von Braun
Director General, IFPRI

About the Editors

Bryan Randolph Bruns is a consulting sociologist with an independent practice specializing in participatory management of irrigation and water resources. He holds a Ph.D. in development sociology from Cornell University. He co-edited Negotiating Water Rights with Ruth Meinzen-Dick. His areas of interest include the role of technological change in international development, infrastructure governance, and dynamics of property rights institutions. Additional information and papers are available at his Web site, www.BryanBruns.com.

Ruth Meinzen-Dick is a senior research fellow in the Environment and Production Technology Division of the International Food Policy Research Institute. She holds a Ph.D. in development sociology from Cornell University. She coordinates the CGIAR System-wide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights and conducts research on various aspects of water and natural resource management, gender issues, and poverty reduction. Her publications include Negotiating Water Rights (co-edited with Bryan R. Bruns), Institutional Reforms in Indian Irrigation (co-authored with Ashok Gulati and K. V. Raju), and Innovation in Natural Resource Management (co-edited with Anna Knox, Frank Place, and Brent Swallow).

Claudia Ringler is a research fellow in the Environment and Production Technology Division of the International Food Policy Research Institute, where she co-leads IFPRI's water research program. She holds a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the Center for Development Research, Bonn University, Germany. Her research interests are in water resources management (in particular, river basin management) and agricultural and natural resource policies for developing countries.

Download

The book is available for download in PDF format as an entire document or by chapter.

Order
Send Feedback

We will post selected comments on this website. Please see our feedback guidelines for more information. Your e-mail address is required, but on request will not be posted.

Please use this form only for comments on this publication. To order a copy of the publication, please fill out the order form. For general comments on the website, use our website feedback form.

E-mail:
Post email address    Do Not Post email address
Comments:
    


© Copyright and Fair Use  |  Send Feedback
IFPRI is supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
TOP of the page