This report was prepared for
NAILSMA's Indigenous Water Policy Group (IWPG) by Jon Altman
assisted by Virginie Branchut.
The NAILSMA IWPG project
aims to articulate the least known aspects of water policy
particularly relevant to north Australia’s Indigenous
population, i.e. issues relating to property rights, use and
management by Indigenous people.
This report, Fresh Water in the Maningrida Region’s Hybrid Economy:
Intercultural Contestation over Values and Property Rights,
describes the results of one of the four case studies undertaken
during 2007, each with different research emphases as proposed in
the original funding application to Land and Water Australia (LWA)
in 2005. Other case study locations are Katherine (NT), Gulf of
Carpentaria (QLD) and the Ord River (WA).
This report describes the
current governance of water in the Maningrida region in central
Arnhem Land from three perspectives:
- a historical
analysis of the political economy of water
- a sectoral
analysis of the regional hybrid economy, and
- a spatial
analysis that has differentiated Maningrida township from the
hinterland.
A cultural analysis is
provided of regional values associated with water before a set of
emerging contestations were outlined in relation to water property
rights and water governance. The analysis highlighted that much of
the complexity of water issues in this region can be attributed to
a range of inter-linkages (a range of economic and
institutional).
To download a copy of this
report, visit the NAILSMA web site: www.nailsma.org.au
