Philippus Wester

Boundaries of Consent: Stakeholder Representation in River Basin Management in Mexico and South Africa

Abstract Increasing the capacity of water users to influence decision-making is crucial in river basin management reforms. This article assesses emerging forums for river basin management in Mexico and South Africa and concludes that the pace of democratization of water management in both is slow. Mexico is characterized by continued government dominance and attempts to include already organized stakeholders in decision-making, while substantive stakeholder representation is lacking. South Africa is placing emphasis on social mobilization and transformation, leading to a slower implementation process and struggles over the redistribution of resources. While not a panacea, moving from stakeholder participation to substantive stakeholder representation in river basin management holds more promise of achieving equitable water management.

Hydrosocial territories: a political ecology perspective

ABSTRACT We define and explore hydrosocial territories as spatial configurations of people, institutions, water flows, hydraulic technology and the biophysical environment that revolve around the control of water. Territorial politics finds expression in encounters of diverse actors with divergent spatial and political-geographical interests. Their territory-building projections and strategies compete, superimpose and align to strengthen specific water-control claims. Thereby, actors continuously recompose the territory’s hydraulic grid, cultural reference frames, and political-economic relationships. Using a political ecology focus, we argue that territorial struggles go beyond battles over natural resources as they involve struggles over meaning, norms, knowledge, identity, authority and discourses.

Transforming River Basin Management In South Africa: Lessons from the Lower Komati River

Abstract This paper analyzes the transformation of river basin management in South Africa by focusing on the political processes involved in the creation of new water management bodies and irrigation infrastructure in the Lower Komati sub-basin. Institutional reform is described and analyzed in terms of the collaboration theory of Gray (1985). Attention is paid to the absence of mutual collaboration in the water domain through the analysis of three phases that are characteristic of collaborative management: problem setting, direction setting, and structuring. The perceptions and strategies of stakeholders in the change process are informed by the skewed access to land and water, the protracted struggle for redress of historical inequities, the quest for autonomy in water management by commercial farmers, and large political power differentials. This has resulted in differential access to decision making and political influence and in the materialization of these skewed relations in water control technology. The reluctance of stakeholders to explicitly recognize their interdependence and the role of the state as the convener of the change process has hampered the emergence of a shared appreciation of the problems in the water domain. Despite efforts by government to move towards equitable and inclusive water management, little redress of past inequities has taken place, and the majority of small farmers are uninformed and excluded from the change process. This suggests that the proposed Catchment Management Agency will not be representative nor attain equitable water management unless a well-conceived redistribution of water entitlements and land rights is carried out as part of an encompassing program to strengthen political democracy.

River basin trajectories: societies, environments and development

Using a variety of case studies, this book provides an overview of how societies have gradually developed their water resources and furthers our understanding of how such resources can be managed successfully or unsuccessfully. Discussing how and why particular options are selected, and why a particular course of events eventually prevails, the book stresses the importance of context and a multidisciplinary approach in moving towards sustainable and equitable development.

Sand in the Engine: The Travails of an Irrigated Rice Scheme in Bwanje Valley, Malawi

Abstract The establishment of the Bwanje Valley Irrigation Scheme (BVIS) in Malawi is a striking example of informed amnesia in development assistance. Despite the lessons learned earlier concerning a process approach to participatory irrigation development in Africa, in the case of BVIS outside interveners designed an irrigation system and parachuted it into Bwanje Valley as a black-boxed technology. Using a sociotechnical approach, this article analyses the travails of this irrigation scheme, showing that the conventional irrigation factory mindset is ill-suited for creating durable water networks. Achieving tangible improvements in rural livelihoods is better served by the interactive prototyping of water networks in situ, ensuring that new irrigation schemes are embedded in existing landscapes and complementary to existing livelihood strategies rather than supplanting them.

Let’s bring in the floods: de-poldering in the Netherlands as a strategy for long-term delta survival?

Controlled flooding, while heavily contested, is being experimented with in the Dutch delta as a new and ecologically oriented strategy to deal with floods, in contrast to the conventional flood prevention paradigm. The Noordwaard project (2012–15) represents an exemplary case. At the expense of agricultural practices, land is set aside occasionally to accommodate river floods, while restored flood and tidal dynamics aim to benefit nature development. It is argued that although controlled flooding aims to restore historical land and water dynamics in the area, the role of sedimentation processes has remained largely unaddressed in relation to shaping long-term delta futures.

Negotiating Surface Water Allocations to Achieve a Soft Landing in the Closed Lerma-Chapala Basin, Mexico

The Lerma-Chapala basin exemplifies the challenges posed by basin closure, where surface water allocation mechanisms, lack of environmental flows and access to water are critical issues. Underlying these issues is a need for accurate water accounting that is transparent and publicly available. This paper describes basin closure in the Lerma-Chapala basin, and focuses on negotiation processes surrounding surface water allocation mechanisms. Although significant attempts have been made to achieve a ‘soft landing’, the basin is still faced with water over-exploitation, environmental degradation, and a complicated transition from centralized water management to one in which states and water users have a larger say.

River basin trajectories: an inquiry into changing waterscapes

In Molle, Francois; Wester, P. (Eds.). River basin trajectories: societies, environments and development. Wallingford, UK: CABI; Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI)Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture Series 8

Competition for Water in the Lerma-Chapala Basin

Competition for water in the Lerma-Chapala basin in central Mexico has brought on a state of crisis. Rampant competition for groundwater has produced dramatic declines in aquifer levels (2.1 meters per year sustained over decades). In early 2000, the stored volume in the receiving waters of Lake Chapala was 28% of capacity, among the lowest levels recorded since systematic data collection began in 1934; runoff inflows have declined significantly with increased consumptive use upstream and declining groundwater levels. Surface water resources, which are subject to considerable inter-annual variability, have conventionally been used for low-to medium-valued irrigated production. Water demand is increasing for all consumptive use sectors (particularly domestic and industrial uses, but also agriculture), reinforcing the critical need for effective allocation mechanisms. The basin is subject to rapidly changing policy and economic conditions. Institutional innovations include a recent water law, basin-level water resources planning, increased user participation in water management, and nascent intra-sectoral water markets. In addition, the past few years have seen the introduction of a broad and far-reaching set of neo-liberal policies including Mexico’s signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the lifting of price controls for agricultural commodities, and the rolling back of subsidies, particularly for electrical energy. Partly in response to — but clearly with a momentum that proceeded — the changing macro-economic context, there has been rapid urbanization accompanied by seasonal or permanent migration from rural areas to the United States. These processes have important implications for agricultural production and the associated water use. This paper presents and analyzes data to characterize current water use and demand. Evolving water allocation mechanisms are assessed. We review the 1991 interstate treaty on the basin’s surface waters and assess the tradeoffs associated with the inter-sectoral water transfers it mandates. Economic valuation techniques are applied for the urban and agricultural water use sectors, with the results indicating that the highest marginal values lie in industrial water use (US

Making SDGs work for climate change hotspots

0.86–1.34 m−3) followed by commercial (US