'Like Manna from Heaven?': Just Water, History and the Philosophical Justification of Water Property Rights

Abstract

This chapter discusses the role that historical considerations should play in the allocation of water. The heart of water policy and can be usefully divided into two kinds: namely moderate scarcity and hard scarcity. In thinking of water as a problem of distributive justice, it is important to ensure that the allocation of burdens as also an important element of the problem of distributive justice is not ignored. Any talk of distributive justice in water must acknowledge the role that property rights play in determining access to water. Robert Nozick classifies distributive theories using two distinctions between: historical and end-state theories, and patterned and unpatterned theories. Talk of historical claims as a general class involves making sweeping generalizations across very different kinds of assertions. The historically based land claims of Indigenous peoples are based on cultural connections and traditions of stewardship, rather than on the notion of mixing one's labour and therefore should not be understood in Nozickian terms.