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Water has been missing in the 2012 Voluntary Guidelines on the responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) of Land, Fisheries and Forests. Yet, the VGGT’s generic values of transparency, participation, equity, justice, equality of gender and accountability would equally hold for water tenure. This presentation explores the application of these values, building on past Water Tenure Monday webinars and other research and policy dialogue in South Africa, Africa and global.

Starting point is a distinction between two related, but different features of water for sustainable human wellbeing: water infrastructure development as first condition and, as second condition wherever naturally available water resources are scarce or taken by others, the water resources that flow into the infrastructure. Thus, the VGGT values could largely align with states’ commitment as duty bearers for both infrastructure development and water resource allocation for basic domestic uses, as the WASH sector’s mandate.

Further, VGGT values would be applicable to infrastructure development for irrigation and other productive uses and for integrated water resource allocation. Two ongoing debates are relevant for the latter: (a) the expansion of the acknowledged prioritization of water resources for domestic uses to also include core minimum water resource rights to realize rights to food and income; (b) the recognition of customary water tenure integrated in land, fisheries and forest tenure, which warrants, among other, a decolonization of permit systems and end to a commodification of water resources.

In this way, VGGT values overcome sectoral siloes, as anchored in rural communities’ age-old integrated customary tenure of multiple surface and groundwater sources for multiple uses through multi-purpose infrastructure as the rule, and single-purpose as the exception.

Dr. Barbara van Koppen is Scientist Emerita with the International Water Management Institute, based in Southern Africa regional office. Her books and over 150 international publications focus on rural multiple use water services (MUS) and water law reform from a gender, poverty and human rights perspective.

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The Water Tenure Mondays webinar series creates a forum for building a stronger water tenure concept and pursues FAO’s efforts in broadening the knowledge base of its application to achieve more equitable and secure access to water, even in conditions of scarcity. The webinars are held in English with simultaneous interpretation to French. To keep you updated on the Water Tenure Mondays, access the material of the past sessions and check the full calendar of events, visit the dedicated webpage.