Explore data from Africa.
Examine the extent to which national-level legal frameworks recognize the freshwater rights of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities in Africa through distinct “community-based water tenure regimes” (CWTRs). To learn more about community-based tenure rights in Africa, see RRI’s Forest Tenure Data.
5 countries and 11 Community-based Water Tenure Regimes:
Morocco is the only country where no CWTR was identified in this analysis. The lack of community-based water tenure rights is particularly notable as Morocco is also the most water-stressed country featured in this analysis.
70% of African CWTRs are characterized by a legislative land-water nexus. Where it exists, this nexus is instrumental in according communities with exclusion rights; all 7 CWTRs that render communities’ water rights dependent on recognized land rights also recognize exclusion rights, whereas only 1 of the 3 African CWTRs without a land-water nexus recognizes communities’ exclusion rights.
Overall, African CWTRs provide the most consistent recognition of exclusion rights among the three regions studied.
Africa Performance (Threshold Questions & Legal Indicators)
For 5 countries in Africa, RRI maintains detailed qualitative data on the strength of Water Tenure rights legally held by Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities. Learn more about RRI’s Water Tenure Methodology.
These questions evaluate elements of legally recognized freshwater rights that impact all people within a given country and that strongly influence the strength and security of community-based freshwater rights.
CWTR-level threshold questions provide critical context within which the bundle of freshwater rights held by Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendants, local communities, and women in those communities should be understood.
The methodology assesses five legal indicators—use, transferability, exclusion, governance, and domestic due process and compensation—along with associated sub-indicators for each identified CWTR.