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This thesis documents as well as questions how the presence of large mining operations in Andean regions of Peru alters social and natural landscapes. Taking conflicts over water as a useful entry-point for the analysis, it explores and unravels the dilemmas and challenges faced by the main conflicting actors: rural communities and mining companies. Through an in-depth analysis of how the actors navigate these challenges, focusing on those related to water, the thesis sets out to understand what happens with water in contexts of mineral extraction. It traces changes in how water is accessed, controlled and governed, and by whom. By making the complex character of water politics in mining contexts explicit, the thesis sheds light on how mining reconfigures water governance arrangements, while also contributing to wider debates about water governance in contexts characterized by huge power differences.

This book addresses two major issues in natural resource management and political ecology: the complex conflicting relationship between communities managing water on the ground and national/global policy-making institutions and elites; and how grassroots defend against encroachment, question the self-evidence of State-/market-based water governance, and confront coercive and participatory boundary policing ('normal' vs. 'abnormal'). The book examines grassroots building of multi-layered water-rights territories, and State, market and expert networks' vigorous efforts to reshape these water societies in their own image - seizing resources and/or aligning users, identities and rights systems within dominant frameworks. Distributive and cultural politics entwine. It is shown that attempts to modernize and normalize users through universalized water culture, 'rational water use' and de-politicized interventions deepen water security problems rather than alleviating them. However, social struggles negotiate and enforce water rights. User collectives challenge imposed water rights and identities, constructing new ones to strategically acquire water control autonomy and re-moralize their waterscapes. The author shows that battles for material control include the right to culturally define and politically organize water rights and territories.

This book addresses two major issues in natural resource management and political ecology: the complex conflicting relationship between communities managing water on the ground and national/global policy-making institutions and elites; and how grassroots defend against encroachment, question the self-evidence of State-/market-based water governance, and confront coercive and participatory boundary policing ('normal' vs. 'abnormal'). The book examines grassroots building of multi-layered water-rights territories, and State, market and expert networks' vigorous efforts to reshape these water societies in their own image - seizing resources and/or aligning users, identities and rights systems within dominant frameworks. Distributive and cultural politics entwine. It is shown that attempts to modernize and normalize users through universalized water culture, 'rational water use' and de-politicized interventions deepen water security problems rather than alleviating them. However, social struggles negotiate and enforce water rights. User collectives challenge imposed water rights and identities, constructing new ones to strategically acquire water control autonomy and re-moralize their waterscapes. The author shows that battles for material control include the right to culturally define and politically organize water rights and territories.

This thesis is about peasant and indigenous struggles for water rights in the Ecuadorian Highlands. It is based on the following main research question: How have peasant and indigenous communities developed multi-scalar political agency in water governance to gain and maintain their water access and related rights in the Ecuadorian Highlands since the 1980s? To answer this question, this thesis analyses the histories and relationships between organized water users, water reforms and non-governmental development organisations (NGOs) active in the Ecuadorian irrigation sector. Through state reforms, and processes of coproduction between NGOs and local peasant and indigenous communities, water user associations were created in many supra-community irrigation systems. Once created, these organisations formed the basis for the development of provincial and national federations and policy advocacy networks and platforms that now form the building blocks of the Ecuadorian water users movement.

This thesis is about peasant and indigenous struggles for water rights in the Ecuadorian Highlands. It is based on the following main research question: How have peasant and indigenous communities developed multi-scalar political agency in water governance to gain and maintain their water access and related rights in the Ecuadorian Highlands since the 1980s? To answer this question, this thesis analyses the histories and relationships between organized water users, water reforms and non-governmental development organisations (NGOs) active in the Ecuadorian irrigation sector. Through state reforms, and processes of coproduction between NGOs and local peasant and indigenous communities, water user associations were created in many supra-community irrigation systems. Once created, these organisations formed the basis for the development of provincial and national federations and policy advocacy networks and platforms that now form the building blocks of the Ecuadorian water users movement. Dit proefschrift gaat over de strijd om water en waterrechten van kleine boeren en inheemse gemeenschappen in de Ecuadoraanse hooglanden. De volgende onderzoeksvraag staat hierin centraal: hoe hebben gemeenschappen van kleine boeren en de inheemse bevolking in de Ecuadoraanse hooglanden hun politieke macht voor het verkrijgen en behouden van toegang tot water en bijbehorende rechten sinds de jaren 1980 ontwikkeld op verschillende bestuurlijke niveaus? Om deze vraag te beantwoorden heb ik de geschiedenis van - en de relatie tussen - georganiseerde watergebruikers, hervormingen in de watersector en niet-gouvernementele organisaties (NGO’s) werkzaam in dit veld geanalyseerd. Als gevolg van, en in reactie op overheidshervormingen en door samenwerkingen tussen NGO’s en watergebruikers, werden er in veel irrigatiesystemen watergebruikersorganisaties opgezet, zowel in autonome als in door de overheid beheerde systemen. Deze organisaties vormen de basis voor de ontwikkeling van provinciale en nationale federaties, belangenbehartigingsorganisaties en platforms waaruit de watergebruikersbeweging van Ecuador is ontstaan.

One of the measures that can help developing countries in meeting Target 10 of the Millennium Development Goals – halving the number of people without access to water and adequate sanitation by 2015 – is through a water sector reform. In this research the Malaysian water sector reform is assessed by answering the following questions: • How can we understand and explain the policy process of the reform? • To what extent have the outputs of the reform contributed to the realization of the reform’s objectives? and • To what extent has the water sector reform improved the operational efficiency and environmental effectiveness of water utilities? This research was approached from two theoretical perspectives: the policy arrangement approach and the policy evaluation approach. The policy arrangement approach provides the analytical tools to ascertain answers to the first question. This is done by thoroughly investigating the main discourses underpinning the water sector reform, the resources-power nexus, the actors and the rules applied and created in the reform process. The policy evaluation approach answers the remaining two questions from two aspects. First, by assessing the output efficacy of four institutional outputs against the reform objectives. Second, by assessing seven quantitative indicators related to the performance of water utilities on operational efficiency and environmental effectiveness. Chapter 1 takes us through the historical development of the Malaysian water supply sector from as early as the 19th century. The first water supply development has taken place in the Federated Malay States and the Strait Settlement under the British administration. Over the years, continuous investments have put Malaysia amongst countries with high access to drinking water in the world. As the country developed and economic development accelerated, public funding proved no longer able to satisfy budgets needed for water infrastructure development. Turning to private sector assistance has neither solved this problem, nor relieved state governments from financial burdens. Political and socio-economic reasons prohibit water from being priced at its actual costs. Low tariffs (and subsidised tariffs) do not only hamper water conservation, but also deprive water utilities from generating extra revenues to sustain operation and to expand services to new areas. Chapter 2 consists of two parts. The first part presents a general overview of water supply reform processes and explains the key concepts – equilibrium levels, efficiency, effectiveness, equity, competition and unbundling – which are highly relevant to the analysis of water supply reform in Malaysia and beyond. The second part discusses two theoretical frameworks used in this research: (1) the policy arrangement approach for understanding and analysing the reform process; and (2) the policy evaluation approach for measuring the outcomes of the reform on seven indicators: four for operational efficiency – non-revenue water, collection efficiency, unit production cost and customer complaints – and three for environmental efficiency – sludge management, water quality and information disclosure. The last section of this chapter formulates a theoretical framework for this research and explains how this framework helps to answer the research questions. Also Chapter 3 is divided into two parts. The first part reflects on the leading events of and driving forces behind the reform process. This includes re-visiting the policy decision of the National Water Resources Council made in 2003, the formation of the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications right after the 2004 general elections, the commissioning of a major study and the amendment to the Federal Constitution. The reform accelerated the desire to address the presence of high non-revenue water, low water tariffs, weak regulation and the unviable financial mechanism for coping with the issue of under-investment and over-dependency on public funding in the water sector. The second part analyses the outcomes of the reform from four perspectives: regulation, water resource management, financial and operational issues. The analysis produced mixed results. Considerable positive achievements are clearly visible with regard to the role of the central regulator on regulation oversight, the financial mechanism of the PAAB and the corporatisation of state water departments. But the state water resources regulator has not shown promising results in safeguarding water resources. In Chapter 4, the water supply sector reform is analysed using the policy arrangement approach. The analysis shows a shift in water management towards the public control both at the federal and state government levels. This can be seen from the dominating corporatisation discourse, showing a growing tendency towards centralisation of water management. The shared-responsibility approach gives the federal government powers on water regulation and financing matters while reinforcing the dominant role of state governments on water provisioning and water resources. The dominant role of state actors in water is aided by their possession of vast resources – legal, water rights, financial – thus undermining the presence of market actors (private water utilities) in the sector. By the same token, several unprecedented rules emerged from the reform. The most noticeable one is the participation of the Prime Minister and his Deputy during the reform process. Others include the declassification of the public documents, drafts of WSIA and SPANA, from the official secret law to solicit public feedback, and the public hearings process involving members from the opposition parties as well as civil society. Chapter 5 presents the assessment of four operational efficiency indicators: non-revenue water, collection efficiency, unit production costs and customer complaints. The assessment was furthered investigated in two cases studies – PBAPP and SADA. It became evident that private water utilities are superior in managing water losses and collection efficiency compared to their counterparts in the public sector, while there is no clear distinction with regard to their capability in managing costs and customer complaints. This research re-affirms the contribution of nonreform factors to the performance of water utilities before and after the reform, and between private and public water utilities. The findings from the two cases studies confirm the general findings of this research. This chapter also highlights the importance of performance indicators (as a regulation tool) in the water sector in which successful reform depends considerably on the presence of reliable information. Chapter 6 analyses the performance of water utilities on three environmental effectiveness indicators: sludge management, water quality and information disclosure. Similar to Chapter 5, private water utilities demonstrate a higher compliance level to sludge management under the Environmental Quality Act 1974 and information disclosure requirements than their counterparts in the public sector. Both private and public utilities have a good compliance level in relation to the National Guideline for Drinking Water Quality Standard 2001 for water quality. Findings from the two case studies confirm the presence of a weak relation between the reform and the performance of water utilities on environmental effectiveness indicators. This chapter highlights the call from water utilities to the government to establish sludge treatment companies to spearhead the research and development activities in sludge recycling and to avoid direct discharge of raw sludge into streams. The majority of water utilities are aware of the mandatory information requirement under Section 29 WSIA. By the same token, civil society groups such as CAWP call for a greater information disclosure transparency by making all documents related to the function of NWSC and water utilities available to the public. Lastly, this chapter proposes for adoption of environmental indicators in measuring the performance of water utilities as well as to strengthen the link between information holders/disclosers and information users to facilitate greater transparency and democratic practices in the water sector. In conclusion, Chapter 7 answers the research questions as follows: (1) the policy process of the Malaysian water sector reform represents the current global trend in centralising water management within the public domain with a clear division of tasks between policy formulation, regulation oversight and service provision. State actors – the federal government on policy formulation, regulation and financing; state governments (through state water companies) on water provisioning and water resources – become dominant players in the water sector; it reduces the role of private water utilities to only a fraction of activities (i.e. treatment) within the entire value chain of water; and it strengthens close regulation oversight from the regulator. Lastly, there is a growing influence of civil society groups on the water sector; (2) the output effectiveness analysis (of the reform) has produced mixed results. Despite the fact that the central regulator, water corporations and the financier are proven to be the important institutions that meet the objectives, the state water resources regulator has not (yet) shown to be a significant institution in meeting the objective of safeguarding water resources; and (3) due to the timing of this research and limited data availability, it proved difficult to link the performance of water utilities on operational efficiency and environmental effectiveness to the reform. This study further concluded that the relevance of the policy arrangement approach and the policy evaluation approach frameworks for policy evaluation research are enhanced when they are used in combination. Moreover, the application of the latter to assess water sector performance in the data-poor environments experienced in this research presses for more use of expert judgments to complement incomplete and unreliable quantifiable datasets. It is suggested that further research be carried out over a longer time interval when required data are available, laws are fully enforced and the reform institutions are well functioning. Such research should involve a wider selection of case studies of the entire domain of water utilities using both theoretical frameworks. The immediate policy recommendations include the call to the government to consider measures to facilitate greater public participation in the policy making process of the reform, the consolidation of water management under a single water body and the establishment of a national and disclosed data bank for the water sector.

One of the measures that can help developing countries in meeting Target 10 of the Millennium Development Goals – halving the number of people without access to water and adequate sanitation by 2015 – is through a water sector reform. In this research the Malaysian water sector reform is assessed by answering the following questions: • How can we understand and explain the policy process of the reform? • To what extent have the outputs of the reform contributed to the realization of the reform’s objectives? and • To what extent has the water sector reform improved the operational efficiency and environmental effectiveness of water utilities? This research was approached from two theoretical perspectives: the policy arrangement approach and the policy evaluation approach. The policy arrangement approach provides the analytical tools to ascertain answers to the first question. This is done by thoroughly investigating the main discourses underpinning the water sector reform, the resources-power nexus, the actors and the rules applied and created in the reform process. The policy evaluation approach answers the remaining two questions from two aspects. First, by assessing the output efficacy of four institutional outputs against the reform objectives. Second, by assessing seven quantitative indicators related to the performance of water utilities on operational efficiency and environmental effectiveness. Chapter 1 takes us through the historical development of the Malaysian water supply sector from as early as the 19th century. The first water supply development has taken place in the Federated Malay States and the Strait Settlement under the British administration. Over the years, continuous investments have put Malaysia amongst countries with high access to drinking water in the world. As the country developed and economic development accelerated, public funding proved no longer able to satisfy budgets needed for water infrastructure development. Turning to private sector assistance has neither solved this problem, nor relieved state governments from financial burdens. Political and socio-economic reasons prohibit water from being priced at its actual costs. Low tariffs (and subsidised tariffs) do not only hamper water conservation, but also deprive water utilities from generating extra revenues to sustain operation and to expand services to new areas. Chapter 2 consists of two parts. The first part presents a general overview of water supply reform processes and explains the key concepts – equilibrium levels, efficiency, effectiveness, equity, competition and unbundling – which are highly relevant to the analysis of water supply reform in Malaysia and beyond. The second part discusses two theoretical frameworks used in this research: (1) the policy arrangement approach for understanding and analysing the reform process; and (2) the policy evaluation approach for measuring the outcomes of the reform on seven indicators: four for operational efficiency – non-revenue water, collection efficiency, unit production cost and customer complaints – and three for environmental efficiency – sludge management, water quality and information disclosure. The last section of this chapter formulates a theoretical framework for this research and explains how this framework helps to answer the research questions. Also Chapter 3 is divided into two parts. The first part reflects on the leading events of and driving forces behind the reform process. This includes re-visiting the policy decision of the National Water Resources Council made in 2003, the formation of the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications right after the 2004 general elections, the commissioning of a major study and the amendment to the Federal Constitution. The reform accelerated the desire to address the presence of high non-revenue water, low water tariffs, weak regulation and the unviable financial mechanism for coping with the issue of under-investment and over-dependency on public funding in the water sector. The second part analyses the outcomes of the reform from four perspectives: regulation, water resource management, financial and operational issues. The analysis produced mixed results. Considerable positive achievements are clearly visible with regard to the role of the central regulator on regulation oversight, the financial mechanism of the PAAB and the corporatisation of state water departments. But the state water resources regulator has not shown promising results in safeguarding water resources. In Chapter 4, the water supply sector reform is analysed using the policy arrangement approach. The analysis shows a shift in water management towards the public control both at the federal and state government levels. This can be seen from the dominating corporatisation discourse, showing a growing tendency towards centralisation of water management. The shared-responsibility approach gives the federal government powers on water regulation and financing matters while reinforcing the dominant role of state governments on water provisioning and water resources. The dominant role of state actors in water is aided by their possession of vast resources – legal, water rights, financial – thus undermining the presence of market actors (private water utilities) in the sector. By the same token, several unprecedented rules emerged from the reform. The most noticeable one is the participation of the Prime Minister and his Deputy during the reform process. Others include the declassification of the public documents, drafts of WSIA and SPANA, from the official secret law to solicit public feedback, and the public hearings process involving members from the opposition parties as well as civil society. Chapter 5 presents the assessment of four operational efficiency indicators: non-revenue water, collection efficiency, unit production costs and customer complaints. The assessment was furthered investigated in two cases studies – PBAPP and SADA. It became evident that private water utilities are superior in managing water losses and collection efficiency compared to their counterparts in the public sector, while there is no clear distinction with regard to their capability in managing costs and customer complaints. This research re-affirms the contribution of nonreform factors to the performance of water utilities before and after the reform, and between private and public water utilities. The findings from the two cases studies confirm the general findings of this research. This chapter also highlights the importance of performance indicators (as a regulation tool) in the water sector in which successful reform depends considerably on the presence of reliable information. Chapter 6 analyses the performance of water utilities on three environmental effectiveness indicators: sludge management, water quality and information disclosure. Similar to Chapter 5, private water utilities demonstrate a higher compliance level to sludge management under the Environmental Quality Act 1974 and information disclosure requirements than their counterparts in the public sector. Both private and public utilities have a good compliance level in relation to the National Guideline for Drinking Water Quality Standard 2001 for water quality. Findings from the two case studies confirm the presence of a weak relation between the reform and the performance of water utilities on environmental effectiveness indicators. This chapter highlights the call from water utilities to the government to establish sludge treatment companies to spearhead the research and development activities in sludge recycling and to avoid direct discharge of raw sludge into streams. The majority of water utilities are aware of the mandatory information requirement under Section 29 WSIA. By the same token, civil society groups such as CAWP call for a greater information disclosure transparency by making all documents related to the function of NWSC and water utilities available to the public. Lastly, this chapter proposes for adoption of environmental indicators in measuring the performance of water utilities as well as to strengthen the link between information holders/disclosers and information users to facilitate greater transparency and democratic practices in the water sector. In conclusion, Chapter 7 answers the research questions as follows: (1) the policy process of the Malaysian water sector reform represents the current global trend in centralising water management within the public domain with a clear division of tasks between policy formulation, regulation oversight and service provision. State actors – the federal government on policy formulation, regulation and financing; state governments (through state water companies) on water provisioning and water resources – become dominant players in the water sector; it reduces the role of private water utilities to only a fraction of activities (i.e. treatment) within the entire value chain of water; and it strengthens close regulation oversight from the regulator. Lastly, there is a growing influence of civil society groups on the water sector; (2) the output effectiveness analysis (of the reform) has produced mixed results. Despite the fact that the central regulator, water corporations and the financier are proven to be the important institutions that meet the objectives, the state water resources regulator has not (yet) shown to be a significant institution in meeting the objective of safeguarding water resources; and (3) due to the timing of this research and limited data availability, it proved difficult to link the performance of water utilities on operational efficiency and environmental effectiveness to the reform. This study further concluded that the relevance of the policy arrangement approach and the policy evaluation approach frameworks for policy evaluation research are enhanced when they are used in combination. Moreover, the application of the latter to assess water sector performance in the data-poor environments experienced in this research presses for more use of expert judgments to complement incomplete and unreliable quantifiable datasets. It is suggested that further research be carried out over a longer time interval when required data are available, laws are fully enforced and the reform institutions are well functioning. Such research should involve a wider selection of case studies of the entire domain of water utilities using both theoretical frameworks. The immediate policy recommendations include the call to the government to consider measures to facilitate greater public participation in the policy making process of the reform, the consolidation of water management under a single water body and the establishment of a national and disclosed data bank for the water sector.

This thesis is the result of a multidisciplinary research which tries to explain water injustices and the threats to water rights access and control experienced by indigenous peasants of the Peruvian Andes. It attempts to contribute to the analysis of the interactions between ethnicity and gender, and to understand how these form an intrinsic part of the contemporary ethno-politics of water. It also critically analyses the role of state interventions and international financial aid programmes in irrigation development and peasant communities. For the purposes of this research, ethnography and ethno-history, complemented by data generated by means of action-research and an intensive literature study of records written by Spanish and indigenous chroniclers, have been used. Through the presentation and analysis of these written sources, and by carefully mapping and documenting existing water practices in the communities of the Colca Valley, located in the southern Andes of Peru, the thesis shows how water has played a role not only in livelihood strategies but also in shaping cultural identity and the socio-organizational and political dynamics of communities. Water has constituted a central resource in defining and re-defining ethnicity and gender in the Andes. Conversely, ethnicity and gender have also been constitutive elements of fair and secure access to water by supporting and creating power asymmetries and hierarchies in Andean communities throughout Peruvian history. The thesis shows how irrigation policies and interventions have created spaces and opportunities both for inclusion and exclusion, for contestation and struggles, as well as for the empowerment of marginalized people. Keywords: ethno-politics, water security, ethnicity, gender, water rights, cultural politics, modernization, irrigation development, large-scale irrigation, alternative development and resistance.

This thesis is the result of a multidisciplinary research which tries to explain water injustices and the threats to water rights access and control experienced by indigenous peasants of the Peruvian Andes. It attempts to contribute to the analysis of the interactions between ethnicity and gender, and to understand how these form an intrinsic part of the contemporary ethno-politics of water. It also critically analyses the role of state interventions and international financial aid programmes in irrigation development and peasant communities. For the purposes of this research, ethnography and ethno-history, complemented by data generated by means of action-research and an intensive literature study of records written by Spanish and indigenous chroniclers, have been used. Through the presentation and analysis of these written sources, and by carefully mapping and documenting existing water practices in the communities of the Colca Valley, located in the southern Andes of Peru, the thesis shows how water has played a role not only in livelihood strategies but also in shaping cultural identity and the socio-organizational and political dynamics of communities. Water has constituted a central resource in defining and re-defining ethnicity and gender in the Andes. Conversely, ethnicity and gender have also been constitutive elements of fair and secure access to water by supporting and creating power asymmetries and hierarchies in Andean communities throughout Peruvian history. The thesis shows how irrigation policies and interventions have created spaces and opportunities both for inclusion and exclusion, for contestation and struggles, as well as for the empowerment of marginalized people. Keywords: ethno-politics, water security, ethnicity, gender, water rights, cultural politics, modernization, irrigation development, large-scale irrigation, alternative development and resistance.

Reseña: La reivindicación de los derechos colectivos ha sido parte importante de las luchas de las organizaciones sociales que gestionan el agua en los Andes. Las formas de lo colectivo y las reglas en torno a su constitución están muy vinculadas a la existencia de estas organizaciones y a la diversidad de las relaciones que se establecen con y en torno al agua. Estas relaciones se mantienen a pesar de los fuertes embates de la "modernización" que a través de múltiples mecanismos promueve la existencia de derechos individualizados y transables en el mercado. ¿Cómo se manifiesta esta confrontación entre una gestión basada en derechos colectivos y procesos de reforma institucional que promueven la individualización en diferentes contextos socioeconómicos, históricos y políticos?, ¿ qué tipo de transformaciones están atravesando las organizaciones que gestionan el agua a raíz de estas dinámicas?

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 neighboring 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.

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 neighboring 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.

Reseña: La reivindicación de los derechos colectivos ha sido parte importante de las luchas de las organizaciones sociales que gestionan el agua en los Andes. Las formas de lo colectivo y las reglas en torno a su constitución están muy vinculadas a la existencia de estas organizaciones y a la diversidad de las relaciones que se establecen con y en torno al agua. Estas relaciones se mantienen a pesar de los fuertes embates de la "modernización" que a través de múltiples mecanismos promueve la existencia de derechos individualizados y transables en el mercado. ¿Cómo se manifiesta esta confrontación entre una gestión basada en derechos colectivos y procesos de reforma institucional que promueven la individualización en diferentes contextos socioeconómicos, históricos y políticos?, ¿ qué tipo de transformaciones están atravesando las organizaciones que gestionan el agua a raíz de estas dinámicas?

This book documents a water conflict known as the Bayanan water issue in Calapan City, the Philippines. Drinking water privatization in Calapan City was implemented by the book; a private company was granted extensive water rights and subsequently made capital investments in a drinking water system in a bid to improve water services for consumers. Sadly, it was also water privatization failure by the book. In circumstances of a weak State and a weak market, the policy intervention of water privatization intensified conflicts over water control, excluded water users from decisions about their own resources, allowed commercial interests to prevail and produced increased risks to ecosystems. These issues are serious barriers for any form of equitable and sustainable water management, and call for critical rethinking of market approaches in water management. Increased water conflicts and risks to ecosystems need to be addressed more prominently in contemporary debates on (drinking) water privatization. Therefore this case study of the Philippines is relevant reading for any policy maker, practitioner and researcher working on water privatization.

This report has three objectives: 1. To synthesise and analyse the current water resources management policy environment as it pertains to engaging community structures in development planning, 2. To describe and comparatively analyse the social, structural and operational characteristics of traditional water management institutions around the country, 3. Drawing upon these findings, to analyse the principal opportunities and challenges of using community institutions within formal water rights management structures. Recent drafts of the Water Sector Strategy (WSS) and the Water Law provide the main policy environment for water management. The drafts of the WSS pay tribute to integrated water resources management (IWRM) by incorporating stakeholder participation at the local level (with a focus on water user associations or WUAs) and at the basin level (with a focus on river basin councils). This is also emphasised in the Draft Water Law, with its section on river basin councils and sub-basin councils. The law on WUAs, however, is less explicit. While the July 2007 Draft WSS focused on water pricing, the February 2008 draft focused on poverty alleviation and did not discuss water pricing (although cost recovery for construction and services is still anticipated). The June 2008 Draft Water Law continues to focus on establishing a modern permit system, with the exception of right-of-way areas (areas that are protected and free from interventions). All versions of the Draft WSS have a strong focus on infrastructure rehabilitation and expansion. The drafts highlight the role of NGOs and donors in achieving this, but not all of them deal with the negative consequences that these efforts might have for downstream riparian states.

This book documents a water conflict known as the Bayanan water issue in Calapan City, the Philippines. Drinking water privatization in Calapan City was implemented by the book; a private company was granted extensive water rights and subsequently made capital investments in a drinking water system in a bid to improve water services for consumers. Sadly, it was also water privatization failure by the book. In circumstances of a weak State and a weak market, the policy intervention of water privatization intensified conflicts over water control, excluded water users from decisions about their own resources, allowed commercial interests to prevail and produced increased risks to ecosystems. These issues are serious barriers for any form of equitable and sustainable water management, and call for critical rethinking of market approaches in water management. Increased water conflicts and risks to ecosystems need to be addressed more prominently in contemporary debates on (drinking) water privatization. Therefore this case study of the Philippines is relevant reading for any policy maker, practitioner and researcher working on water privatization.

This report has three objectives: 1. To synthesise and analyse the current water resources management policy environment as it pertains to engaging community structures in development planning, 2. To describe and comparatively analyse the social, structural and operational characteristics of traditional water management institutions around the country, 3. Drawing upon these findings, to analyse the principal opportunities and challenges of using community institutions within formal water rights management structures. Recent drafts of the Water Sector Strategy (WSS) and the Water Law provide the main policy environment for water management. The drafts of the WSS pay tribute to integrated water resources management (IWRM) by incorporating stakeholder participation at the local level (with a focus on water user associations or WUAs) and at the basin level (with a focus on river basin councils). This is also emphasised in the Draft Water Law, with its section on river basin councils and sub-basin councils. The law on WUAs, however, is less explicit. While the July 2007 Draft WSS focused on water pricing, the February 2008 draft focused on poverty alleviation and did not discuss water pricing (although cost recovery for construction and services is still anticipated). The June 2008 Draft Water Law continues to focus on establishing a modern permit system, with the exception of right-of-way areas (areas that are protected and free from interventions). All versions of the Draft WSS have a strong focus on infrastructure rehabilitation and expansion. The drafts highlight the role of NGOs and donors in achieving this, but not all of them deal with the negative consequences that these efforts might have for downstream riparian states.

cum laude graduation (with distinction)

cum laude graduation (with distinction)

UNESCO publication