As governments across Asia are searching for ways to increase water security for rural and urban water uses, the need to articulate water rights and improve water allocation practices is rapidly becoming a priority issue to them. The process is made more complex by rapid urbanization, climate change, and other drivers of change.

With the support of the Network of Asian River Basin Organizations (NARBO), practitioners are discovering what role they can play in avoiding and solving problems among stakeholders, and in building an enabling environment for integrated water resources management in river basins.

This report builds on the foundation of the five NARBO workshops on water rights. The report aims to:

• provide practical clarity on the concepts and terminology surrounding water rights and water allocation
• summarize key findings from the cross-country comparisons made during the four workshops held between 2005 and 2007
• stimulate in-depth discussion on water rights and identify ways to overcome the challenges of their implementation
• provide inputs for future NARBO and ADB activities to assist governments in the region in improving water rights and water allocation in the context of integrated water resources management

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You can download Water Rights and Water Allocation: Issues and Challenges for Asia in PDF format.

Jeremy Bird, Wouter Lincklaen Arriens, Dennis Von Custodio
©2009 Asian Development Bank

FORWARD
More than a decade ago, stakeholders— consulted for the preparation of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) water policy—were among the first to underscore that the water crisis affecting the region is mostly a crisis of water governance. ADB’s Water for All policy1 emerged, therefore, as governance-oriented.

Adopted in 2001 and reviewed in 2006, it aims to improve water governance across many fronts: (i) water services delivery; (ii) water resources management in river basins; and (iii) strengthening the enabling environment of policies, legislation, and institutional reforms.

The importance of improving water governance was reiterated recently in the Asian Water Development Outlook 2007 report (AWDO) commissioned by ADB for the 1st Asia–Pacific Water Summit. Although suggesting that there is enough knowledge, technology, and expertise available in Asia to solve its existing and future water problems, AWDO concluded that ...

ABOUT THE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
ADB’s vision is an Asia and Pacific region free of poverty. Its mission is to help its developing member countries substantially reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their people.

Despite the region’s many successes, it remains home to two-thirds of the world’s poor: 1.8 billion people who live on less than $2 a day, with 903 million struggling on less than $1.25 a day. ADB is committed to reducing poverty through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration.

Based in Manila, ADB is owned by 67 members, including 48 from the region. Its main instruments for helping its developing member countries are policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants, and technical assistance.

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