Creating legal rights for rivers: lessons from Australia, New Zealand, and India

As pressures on water resources increase, the demand for innovative institutional arrangements, which address the overuse of water, and underprovision of ecosystem health, is rising. One new and emerging approach is the use of legal personality to protect water systems in law through the granting of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Erin L. O'Donnell, Julia Talbot-Jones
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Resilience Alliance 2018-03-01
Series:Ecology and Society
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol23/iss1/art7/
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spelling doaj-0be6d996d6a2457aa95aa310d9378c562020-11-24T22:09:13ZengResilience AllianceEcology and Society1708-30872018-03-01231710.5751/ES-09854-2301079854Creating legal rights for rivers: lessons from Australia, New Zealand, and IndiaErin L. O'Donnell0Julia Talbot-Jones1University of MelbourneAustralian National UniversityAs pressures on water resources increase, the demand for innovative institutional arrangements, which address the overuse of water, and underprovision of ecosystem health, is rising. One new and emerging approach is the use of legal personality to protect water systems in law through the granting of legal rights to rivers. This constitutes a significant development in the fields of environmental law and water resources management, yet little analysis is available of how the approach has been used and applied. We critically examine the new legal rights for rivers using three case studies from Australia, New Zealand, and India. We analyze how legal rights have been created in each case, and the complexity of enforcing these legal rights to protect the rivers. We conclude that legal personality could be a useful alternative approach for river management, provided that the new legal rights are given sufficient force and effect.http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol23/iss1/art7/Gangeslegal rightsriverVictorian Environmental Water HolderWhanganui
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Erin L. O'Donnell
Julia Talbot-Jones
spellingShingle Erin L. O'Donnell
Julia Talbot-Jones
Creating legal rights for rivers: lessons from Australia, New Zealand, and India
Ecology and Society
Ganges
legal rights
river
Victorian Environmental Water Holder
Whanganui
author_facet Erin L. O'Donnell
Julia Talbot-Jones
author_sort Erin L. O'Donnell
title Creating legal rights for rivers: lessons from Australia, New Zealand, and India
title_short Creating legal rights for rivers: lessons from Australia, New Zealand, and India
title_full Creating legal rights for rivers: lessons from Australia, New Zealand, and India
title_fullStr Creating legal rights for rivers: lessons from Australia, New Zealand, and India
title_full_unstemmed Creating legal rights for rivers: lessons from Australia, New Zealand, and India
title_sort creating legal rights for rivers: lessons from australia, new zealand, and india
publisher Resilience Alliance
series Ecology and Society
issn 1708-3087
publishDate 2018-03-01
description As pressures on water resources increase, the demand for innovative institutional arrangements, which address the overuse of water, and underprovision of ecosystem health, is rising. One new and emerging approach is the use of legal personality to protect water systems in law through the granting of legal rights to rivers. This constitutes a significant development in the fields of environmental law and water resources management, yet little analysis is available of how the approach has been used and applied. We critically examine the new legal rights for rivers using three case studies from Australia, New Zealand, and India. We analyze how legal rights have been created in each case, and the complexity of enforcing these legal rights to protect the rivers. We conclude that legal personality could be a useful alternative approach for river management, provided that the new legal rights are given sufficient force and effect.
topic Ganges
legal rights
river
Victorian Environmental Water Holder
Whanganui
url http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol23/iss1/art7/
work_keys_str_mv AT erinlodonnell creatinglegalrightsforriverslessonsfromaustralianewzealandandindia
AT juliatalbotjones creatinglegalrightsforriverslessonsfromaustralianewzealandandindia
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