Decolonising water rights: Moving forward

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Looking last week at techniques used by small scale farmers in Niger and Burkina Faso to regenerate and management water and soil, has led me to researching whether this is a viable option for other regions of Africa.

Many African Countries rely on a nation-wide water permit system. In the colonial era, the goal of water legislation was to establish colonial ownership of water and land resources (Van Koppen & Schreiner 2018). The laws surrounding water and permits were rooted in European law. A recent report published by Barbara van Koppen (International water management institute) details how smallholder farmers are being pushed aside due to post-colonial water laws that restrict their access to water for agricultural use by using permits to legitimise the use. The prevailing issue with the system is that it bias towards large-scale water use in fields such as, mining, industry and large-scale irrigation. Water use by farmers without a permit is criminalised, a system put in place by colonial rulers in the 20th century.

The Financial times recently published an article entitled ' We must decolonise water rights for Africa to advance.' The article explains the legacies of colonialism that restrict black South African's owning land, in relation to the report. A public announcement of plans to reform race-based land ownership seems long overdue.

South African Disparity for small scale farmers:

These permits reflect historical barriers to African agricultural intensification (Frankema, 2014). In South Africa, where the demographic distribution of water permits became a vehicle for an uneven and bias system. The inequality in South Africa's water sector can be traced back to the country's inequalities allocation of water resources (Terawri & Oumar, 2013). The provision of water replicated the racial segregation patterns. The native majority in South Africa are landless.

Water rights and land ownership are inextricably linked, as ''to be able to use water in many parts of Africa, you need to have land.'' (Timothy Williams, IWMI’s director for Africa).

Moving forward:

Permit systems have equality and  logistical implementing issues (Van Koppen & Schreiner 2018), however they are viewed as necessary for governance of water as they allow for regulation of water use from individuals as well as large-scale corporations. An application of a 'hybrid approach' to water permits regulation has been suggested, this covers granting equal legal standing of permit holders and non-permit holders, as well paying particular attention to water users with the greatest impact on water supplies. This hybrid system is thought to improve water access for small-hold farmers, which will enable irrigation of small farms which is necessary in regions that rely on rain-fall to run their farms, with droughts becoming increasingly frequent.