Implications of legal pluralism for natural resource management

This article illustrates the implications of legal pluralism for our unders tanding of natural resource management and policies toward resource tenure, using the example of water rights. There is widespread recognition that pr operty rights play a fundamental role in shaping how people manage natural resources. But many conceptions of property rights have focused only on sta tic definitions, usually as defined in statutory law. The legal anthropolog ical perspective highlights the coexistence and interaction between multipl e legal orders such as state, customary, religious, project and local laws, all of which provide bases for claiming property rights. These multiple le gal frameworks also facilitate considerable flexibility for people to manoe uvre in their use of natural resources, thus helping to cope with uncertain ty In many parts of the world, water rights are dynamic, flexible and subje ct to frequent negotiations because of uncertain water supply, damages to i ntake structures due to floods and landslides, and social, economic and pol itical changes. The article demonstrates how multiple, flexible and dynamic legal orders are more responsive to these uncertainties and changes than a single, fixed legal system with a static property regime.