ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the discourse on ‘codes’ or ‘guidelines’ depoliticises the phenomenon unfolding in Africa and around the globe and turns a blind eye to the wider causes and implications of the emergent trend – access to water resources being only one of them. Inspired by a political ecology perspective, it is concerned with the socio-political dimension of resource management. From a legal or governance perspective, water rights are highly complicated – even without delving into the complexity of transboundary water resources. The water policy discourse, and the framing of problems and solutions in the water sector has only taken on a global dimension since the 1990s. Control over land and water has traditionally been one of the central tenets of national sovereignty. Media reports have focused on Sovereign Wealth Funds of the Gulf states and Western investment funds as main actors, even though private and local investors are increasingly joining the race for unutilised, ‘reserve’ lands.
