In the rapidly changing water worlds of South Asia and other regions, the right to water, water rights and water justice are increasingly important topics. Unfortunately, in water and development policies as well as in mainstream academic research, too little attention is paid to questions of rights and justice. Too often, the needs of poor and marginalized groups in society are subsumed under larger and more abstract denominators such as economic or water resource development without any real attention to or guarantee for the security of these groups’ water rights, livelihoods and existence, and with damage to the environment.
 
A small funding from the Wageningen University-based INREF fund (Interdisciplinary Research and Education Fund) has given us the possibility of organizing a workshop on water justice in South Asia. We see this initiative as a first step in our ambition to create and expand the space for research, exchange, capacity building and policy advice about water rights and water justice in South Asia, in close cooperation with a variety of academic and other partners in this region. Another ambition is to link such an expanding water justice network to existing networks in other regions of the world (see e.g. http://www.concertacion.info/index.php?i=28) in which Wageningen University (WUR) is a partner.
 
Click here for details about the Workshop.