Abstract

Under conditions of legal pluralism, conflicts over water are often played out as conflicts between different legal orders, between the law of the state and local (traditional, customary) legal forms. This chapter discusses some of the characteristic properties of water rights and of conflicts over water and over water rights. It starts with a story about a water conflict in West Sumatra. This story is used later to illustrate some of the complexities of conflicts over water and water rights, in Indonesia and elsewhere. The chapter highlights that the rights to control, own, and allocate water and other natural resources are usually interwoven with political organization and define who has the right of socio-political control over water, who has the right to allocate water over different uses and users, and who has the right to use water. They also define obligations of the different holders of water rights. Keywords: Indonesia; legal pluralism; political organization; socio-political control; water conflicts; water rights; West Sumatra

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