This paper discusses four questions about the recent water law reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa, which strengthen permit systems. First, do permit systems continue to dispossess rural small-scale users, as intended by European colonizers who introduced principles of Roman law? Second, is it wrong...

During the past decade, smallholder groundwater irrigation with motor pumps has increased considerably in Zambia. This study analyzes an important but hitherto ignored factor for adoption: the supply chain of imported motor pumps. The main obstacles for farmers are identified as: the highly...

This paper explores gender aspects of smallholders' private technology adoption for groundwater irrigation in Ghana and Zambia. It focuses on two variables of quantitative farm-household surveys: household headship and gendered plot management. The paper compares adoption rates and types of...

This article offers an approach to the study of the evolution, spread and uptake of integrated water resources management (IWRM). Specifically, it looks at the <italic>flow</italic> of IWRM as an idea in international and national fora, its <italic>translation and adoption</italic> into national contexts, and the on-the-ground...</italic>

This article traces the history of integrated water resources management (IWRM) in South Africa since the 1970s. It examines IWRM according to its three common pillars, which are also reflected in South Africa's National Water Act: economic efficiency, environmental sustainability, and equity....

Wetlands are a key livelihood resource in southern Africa. Historically they have been managed using local knowledge systems, but these systems have in many instances been undermined by colonial and postcolonial legal requirements. The IUCN's Ramsar initiative, supported by organisations such as...

Water is critically important to the livelihoods of more than 1 billion people living on less than $1 a day, particularly for the 850 million rural poor primarily engaged in agriculture. In many developing countries, water is a major factor constraining agricultural output, and income of the...

As the pressure on the water resources mounts within a river basin, institutional innovation may occur not as a result of a planned sequence of adjustments, but arising out of the interplay of several factors. By focusing on the basin trajectory this paper illustrates the importance of...