This seminar will report on recent research about fresh water governance arrangements in the Maningrida region covering some 10,000 square kilometres in tropical Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. The seminar describes the region's water resources and then focuses on three linked broad perspectives on water: a historical analysis of the political economy of water; a sectoral analysis of water in the regional 'hybrid' economy; and a spatial analysis of water governance in Maningrida and the hinterland. These three perspectives are combined in a discussion about cross-cultural contestation over water values and property rights, and early steps that might be taken to ameliorate such contestation are outlined. The seminar proposes that a new water governance paradigm is needed for this region especially if Indigenous development aspirations are to be realised.

A 2008 background paper on which the seminar is based is available at http://www.anu.edu.au/caepr/Publications/WP/CAEPRWP46.pdf.