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Water rights in southern Kyrgyzstan

This study explores the legal provisions and social practices surrounding water rights in southern Kyrgyzstan, including the legislative framework, everyday interactions, and regularized patterns of behavior. It highlights the gap between legal standards and empirical realities, and discusses the objectives and challenges of irrigation reform. The analysis also delves into the power dynamics, conflicts, and symbolic meanings associated with water rights, as well as the moral, economic, and gendered dimensions of access to water.

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Water rights in southern Kyrgyzstan

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  1. Water rights in southern Kyrgyzstan Legal provisions and social practices for access to water Dr. Christine Bichsel, Institute of Geography, University of Berne

  2. Ferghana Valley Source: UNEP / GRID-Arendal (2005)

  3. Water rights • Relationships between people over water • Individual/group claims to water • Power arrangement in society

  4. Legal provisions and social practices • Legislative framework • People‘s everyday interaction • Regularised patterns of behaviour

  5. The gap between ‘ought’ and ‘is’ • ‚Legal‘ is not ‚empirical‘ • Normative evaluation of social facts • Law as a legitimate source of order • Governance for human improvement

  6. Legal framework for reform • Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic (1991) • Law on established tariffs for irrigation service (1995) • Regulation/Statute ‚On Water User Associations in rural areas‘ (1995-97) • Law ‚On (Unions) Associations of Water Users’ (2002) • Water Code (2005)

  7. Legal provisions • State property on water resources • Right to water use • Irrigation service fees • Decentralised ownership and competences

  8. Objectives of irrigation reform • More democratic governance • More efficient water use • Enhanced collective action • Equitable water allocation • Sustainable maintenance and operation

  9. Analysts on irrigation reforms • Frequent illicit abstraction • Distribution and allocation conflicts • Low collection rates • Weak institutional capacity • No efficient water use

  10. Example of irrigation system Source: own data, processed by Christoph Hösli

  11. ‘Better be at the head of water…’ • Powerful geographic position • Ownership / use rights to land • ‘Chasing water’ • Situational, contextual and temporal collectivities • Downstream resistance ‘El bashy bolgucha, suu bashy bol’ (Kyrg.)

  12. Irrigation as power-resistance • Riparian rights • Upstream-downstream relationship • Power and conflict system • Uncertainty of access • ‘Water without a master’

  13. ‘The fate of the land is the fate of people’ • Symbolic meaning • Collective claims • Historical narratives • Value of land and water • Strategic interests ‘Jer tagdyry – el tagdyry’ (Kyrg.)

  14. Irrigation as socially embedded • Prior appropriation • Historico-legal aspects • Identity and attachment • Burden of ownership • Political nature of infrastructure

  15. ‚Close to water means close to God‘ • Water as a gift of God • Life and livelihood • Gendered institutions • Poverty and access ‘Suuga jakyn – Kudaiga jakyn’ (Kyrg.)

  16. Irrigation as moral economy • Right to water • Inequalities (age, gender, wealth) • Moralities of access • Economised water

  17. Water rights today • Western water governance • Pre-independence structures and imaginaries • Local moralities and norms (‘tradition’) • On-site power relations

  18. Legal and empirical at odds • ‘Bricolage’ / legal pluralism • Dysfunctionalities • Rule of law • Post-socialist transformation • Normative models of society

  19. Conclusion • ‚Dimensions‘ of irrigation systems • Irrigation systems reflect societal systems • Infrastructure as ‚nodal points‘

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