Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
enforce rules and values for water management. Another example is the Central Asian mirab ,
the local water master; though an individual actor it can be framed as an institution when ab
stracted from the concrete person that fulfills this role (see chapter 5.3 below).
Figure 3 : Water institutions
Source: Saleth, Dinar 1999: 9.
Although Saleth and Dinar acknowledge the significance of informal water institutions, they do
not systematically include them into the analysis also because of the inadequacy of economic
approaches for the scrutinization of informal institutions (Saleth, Dinar 2004: 72). This can be
considered a serious shortcoming, as informal institutions play an important role in water man
agement. Since ancient times, water has been more than a mere resource in all cultures. In
many cultures and religions, water has a spiritual status that defines certain rules for its usage.
Frequently, the use of water is determined more by awareness patterns of the population rather
than by sanctions imposed by formal rules. Especially in local water management, informal
rules are often more powerful than formal ones. Water rights can be effective without being a
written law but instead referring to other sources of legitimacy. Therefore, it is necessary to
include such informal rules, arrangements, and traditions into the analysis in order to under
stand the change and continuity in water institutions. This does not mean that we cannot draw
on the distinctions of Saleth and Dinar. Informal institutions can be grouped into these three
blocks as well; they are an integral rather than a discrete part. Water law, water administration,
and water policy, all consist of formal as well as informal rules.
Based on the conceptualization of institutions given above, water institutions are defined
as formal and informal rules and norms including their underlying cognitive systems as well
as the organizational structures that set and enforce them that regulate control of and access
to water resources, hence their usage, distribution, and status. Consequently, reforming water
institutions not only means changing formal rules or structures or informal arrangements. It
also affects values, traditions, attitudes and symbolic meanings associated with water.
Concerning the water institutions' environment, a holistic view on society as a whole is
indispensable: factors such as (political) culture, religion, the general legal framework, tradi
tional and local institutions, intended or unintended, have an impact on water governance and
water institutions. In its second World Water Development Report, the UNESCO point out
that the institutional environment can even have more of an impact on water usage than water
policy itself (UNESCO 2006: 49; see also Saleth, Dinar 1999: 11). Those factors can for exam
Search WWH ::




Custom Search