Water rights, investments and meanings: conflict and change in a traditional irrigation system in northern Morocco

A world of water: Rain, rivers and seas in Southeast Asian histories

“…Some would seem to think that if someone needs irrigation water they have, or should have, a right to it. In cases of legal pluralism there may be violent disagreement between local and national social and jural entities over what the rights to water are, and who has them under what circumstances (see Bruns and Meinzen-Dick 2000;Mathieu et al 2001 and Ruf 2001 for striking cases).…”

“…Most cases of conflict involving legal pluralism are instances of the state extending its involvement in communal irrigation, often to the detriment of the communal system (Bruns and Meinzen-Dick 1998;Mathieu et. al.…”

Communal irrigation: A comparative perspective

“…Some would seem to think that if someone needs irrigation water they have, or should have, a right to it. In cases of legal pluralism there may be violent disagreement between local and national social and jural entities over what the rights to water are, and who has them under what circumstances (see Bruns and Meinzen-Dick 2000; Mathieu et al 2001 andRuf 2001 for striking cases).…”

Should water rules be formalized? An experiment in the High Atlas

“…et article traite des problèmes que pose la formalisation par l'écriture des règles locales de gestion de l'eau dans des sociétés de tradition orale, lors de la mise en oeuvre de politiques nationales à l'échelon local. Pour officialiser des pratiques locales et des droits existants, le processus de formalisation des règles de gestion implique une compréhension des logiques locales d'organisation (Chauveau, 1997 ;Mathieu et al, 2001). Cela ne va pas de soi car la grille de lecture mobilisée par les intervenants extérieurs est généralement fondée sur des principes de rationalité technique et économique qui ne permettent pas de saisir les logiques qui sous-tendent les pratiques locales.…”