ABSTRACT
In many parts of the world, indigenous peoples have achieved legal recognition of community rights to exploit local natural resources such as land, water and forests under their own rules and practices. This legal doctrine of recognizing rights that were never specifically given up by indigenous peoples when they ceded their lands to colonizing nations in the 18th and 19th centuries began in North America. Now, commonly subject to diverse restrictions, it is being followed in Latin America, the Philippines and Australia. It may hold promise as a means of preserving local community control of water in the Andes.
