What happens when new - and powerful - water users emerge?

Economic growth is often accompanied by new uses of water. In many parts of the world, the advent of new- and often powerful- water users into a rural area radically changes the level of competition for water.

Based on the case of lead mining in the Con Cuong district in Vietnam, this video report provides an example of what may happen when new water users arrive. It illustrates that those who make the decision to allow new water users to start operating tend to be different from those who bear the costs of the new type and level of competition which emerge in the wake of the advent of new users.

Competing for Water - when new powerful users emerge
Duration: 10.29 minutes. Produced 2010 by Sten Rehder and the Competing for Water programme. The video report is also available with Vietnamese sub-titles.

This video forms part of a series of three video reports that illustrate conclusions coming out of the "Competing for Water" research programme.

The titles of the other two videos are "Competing for Water - the challenge of local water governance" (available in English and Spanish) and "Competing for Water - when more water leads to conflict ".

The videos can be downloaded and embedded from www.vimeo.com/channels/competingforwater.

More information about the Competing for Water programme which is a collaborative research programme documenting and analysing the extent, intensity and nature of water-related conflict and cooperation occurring over a 10-year period in one district in each of the following countries: Bolivia, Mali, Nicaragua, Vietnam and Zambia, can be found here.

For more information, please contact Helle Munk Ravnborg.

Competing for water - when new powerful users emergefrom Sten Rehder on Vimeo.