African Water Development Report 2006 - United Nations Economic ...

cording to the 1992 Dublin Statement at theUnited Nations Conference on Environmentand Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro,in June 1992, “water has an economic value in allits competing uses and should be recognized asan economic good”. There is still a debate on thetheoretical and operational implications of thisconcept and the economic impact on the poor.In contemporary water management endeavoursin less-developed countries, the modern westernapproach, which is meant to bring “development”to “underdeveloped” regions, only toooften clashes with pre-modern traditional conceptsof “value of water” that are deeply embeddedin the customary life of local communities(UNESCO IHP, 2004). Whereas in the contextof the modern State and economy an instrumentaltechnocratic and utilitarian approach to waterVALUING WATERBox 12.1 Water and IslamThe value of water in Islam is reflected in the Holy Quran which states that “from water every living creature wascreated”. In addition, Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) declared that all people have free access to water.The wells were protected by not allowing digging new wells within the vicinity of the old wells, and this area wasreferred to as “harim”. The same applies to other water sources. Prophet Mohammed established a religious institutionwhich was declared as collective property, known as “waqf”. In this context, some of the water resourcesand wells were declared as “waqf” and all the public had the right to use them (ISESCO 2001).Islam views water both as a social and an economic good, and water equity as a combination of water quantityand quality. According to the Islamic principles, water is a public property. Access to water should be free, and allpersons have rights to water resources. The legal system of rights in Islam recognizes market institutions for watertransactions, and trade in water is allowable as for any other good. But water cannot be charged for in its naturalstate since it is a gift from Allah, but the services for collecting, treating, storing and distributing water can be priced,as it is being done in many Muslim countries (IWRA, 1998). The Prophet encouraged people to use water sparinglyeven for very important purposes, such as washing and ablutions.Another major issue is that Islam does not forbid the use of wastewater, provided it is treated sufficiently to renderit safe. Water is therefore a vital social good and a fundamental human right in Islam, and water conservation wasexplicitly encouraged by the Prophet (Raghida Haddad, 2002)Generally, Islamic principles concerning water laws are based on two rights which are, according to ISESCO 2001:(a) the right of thirst where all people have the right to quench thirst or to water animals and (b) the right of irrigationwhere water can be used to water land and plants.The laws are deduced from:(a) Holy Quran: The Holy Quran contains 500 Ayats concerning water which are reflected in Islamic waterlaws(b) Sunna or Hadiths: When Islam spread over very large areas whose geology, hydrology and meteorologywere different, many new problems arose in the water sector. This led to plenty of problems which werenot known before due to the simplicity of life. This made it inevitable to use Prophet Mohammed’s instructionsand explanations of certain problems as guidelines to solve new problems, namely:(i) Ijma: This is when all Muslim community has consensus of opinion on a matter. This principle is basedon Prophet Mohammed’s Hadith which states that “my people will never agree on an error”.(ii) Qiyas: This means the deduction by analogy or legal analogy. Qiyas is not accepted in the domain offundamental principles of Islam.(iii) Custom: The customs are respected in Islam and can be used provided that they are not contrary tothe fundamental principles of Islam.The first States to establish water laws under the rule of foreign powers are Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. Egypthas used local regulations for the management of its water resources since the nineteenth century.277