Water policy in New Caledonia: Participative co-building of water governance in a decolonization process

Abstract

In 2018, a few months before the first referendum for full sovereignty, the government of New Caledonia launched the co-design of the country's first water policy based on a broad consultation that involved 1 out of 600 New Caledonians, the locally so-called “Shared Water Policy”. The book both presents and assesses the original and broad participatory process used to build the new water policy. It does so by crossing different points of view (government, local managers and customary authorities). The book is also devoted to bridging the gap between customary land studies and water policy. It seeks a way to weave water representations and customary water management practices into the new policy. This experience in a unique decolonisation complex context will inspire policy makers, academics, managers working on participatory methodologies for more inclusive water policy and governance processes, especially in countries where indigenous populations and legal pluralism orders coexist.