Fresh Water in the Maningrida Region's Hybrid Economy:
Intercultural Contestation over Values and Property Rights
Jon Altman assisted by Virginie Branchut
This report was prepared for NAILSMA's Indigenous Water Policy
Group (IWPG)
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 on water in the Maningrida region's hybrid economy
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).
