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The Global Politics of Water Grabbing

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  • Jennifer Franco
  • Lyla Mehta
  • Gert Jan Veldwisch

Abstract

The contestation and appropriation of water is not new, but it has been highlighted by recent global debates on land grabbing. Water grabbing takes place in a field that is locally and globally plural-legal. Formal law has been fostering both land and water grabs but formal water and land management have been separated from each other—an institutional void that makes encroachment even easier. Ambiguous processes of global water and land governance have increased local-level uncertainties and complexities that powerful players can navigate, making them into mechanisms of exclusion of poor and marginalised people. As in formal land management corporate influence has grown. For less powerful players resolving ambiguities in conflicting regulatory frameworks may require tipping the balance towards the most congenial. Yet, compared with land governance, global water governance is less contested from an equity and water justice perspective, even though land is fixed, while water is fluid and part of the hydrological cycle; therefore water grabbing potentially affects greater numbers of diverse water users. Water grabbing can be a powerful entry point for the contestation needed to build counterweights to the neoliberal, corporate business-led convergence in global resource governance discourses and processes. Elaborating a human right to water in response to water grabbing is urgently needed.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer Franco & Lyla Mehta & Gert Jan Veldwisch, 2013. "The Global Politics of Water Grabbing," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(9), pages 1651-1675, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ctwqxx:v:34:y:2013:i:9:p:1651-1675
    DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2013.843852
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    Cited by:

    1. Nolte, Kerstin & Voget-Kleschin, Lieske, 2014. "Consultation in Large-Scale Land Acquisitions: An Evaluation of Three Cases in Mali," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 654-668.
    2. Muriel Adams & Sonja Klinsky & Nalini Chhetri, 2019. "Barriers to Sustainability in Poor Marginalized Communities in the United States: The Criminal Justice, the Prison-Industrial Complex and Foster Care Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-25, December.
    3. Russo Lopes, Gabriela & Bastos Lima, Mairon G. & Reis, Tiago N.P. dos, 2021. "Maldevelopment revisited: Inclusiveness and social impacts of soy expansion over Brazil’s Cerrado in Matopiba," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    4. Franco, Jennifer C. & Borras, Saturnino M., 2019. "Grey areas in green grabbing: subtle and indirect interconnections between climate change politics and land grabs and their implications for research," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 192-199.
    5. María Luisa de Lázaro Torres & Pilar Borderías Uribeondo & Francisco José Morales Yago, 2020. "Citizen and Educational Initiatives to Support Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation for All," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-23, March.
    6. Jaime Martínez-Valderrama & Jorge Olcina & Gonzalo Delacámara & Emilio Guirado & Fernando T. Maestre, 2023. "Complex Policy Mixes are Needed to Cope with Agricultural Water Demands Under Climate Change," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 37(6), pages 2805-2834, May.
    7. Rob C. Loë & James J. Patterson, 2018. "Boundary Judgments in Water Governance: Diagnosing Internal and External Factors that Matter in a Complex World," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 32(2), pages 565-581, January.
    8. Suvi Sojamo, 2015. "Unlocking the “Prisoner’s Dilemma” of Corporate Water Stewardship in South Africa—Exploring Corporate Power and Legitimacy of Engagement in Water Management and Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-26, May.
    9. Theesfeld, Insa, 2018. "From Land to Water Grabbing: A Property Rights Perspective on Linked Natural Resources," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 62-70.
    10. Petrescu, Dacinia Crina & Hartel, Tibor & Petrescu-Mag, Ruxandra Malina, 2020. "Global land grab: Toward a country typology for future land negotiations," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    11. Dell'Angelo, Jampel & Rulli, Maria Cristina & D'Odorico, Paolo, 2018. "The Global Water Grabbing Syndrome," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 276-285.
    12. Chiara Mazzocchi & Michele Salvan & Luigi Orsi & Guido Sali, 2018. "The Determinants of Large-Scale Land Acquisitions (LSLAs) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): A Case Study," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-13, December.

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