Indigenous participation in water governance varies across geographies

A review of 226 articles and 183 case studies across 15 countries finds most literature centres on Australia, Canada, the USA and New Zealand, and only 19% of case studies reported consideration of Indigenous values or knowledge.

A systematic review examined 226 journal articles and extracted 183 unique case studies of Indigenous participation in dominant water governance systems across 15 countries. The literature is concentrated in four settler-colonial states (Australia, Canada, the USA and New Zealand) and spans local to international scales. Many studies give limited description or evaluation of participation processes. Only a small share of case studies documented inclusion of Indigenous values or knowledge. Main findings: - The review covered 226 articles and 183 case studies across 15 countries, with 85% of articles discussing Australia, Canada, the USA or New Zealand. - Participation types were often unspecified or described as policy engagement (23%); legal engagement also represented 23% of cases; partnerships made up 16%; and resistance or political mobilization accounted for 16% (largely in South America). - Inclusion of Indigenous knowledge or values was reported in 19% of case studies (34 of 183), most frequently in Australia and New Zealand; dedicated examples of cultural flows and mapping of cultural water values are noted. - Documentation and evaluation were limited: 55% of case studies provided a description of participation, and about a quarter of those included any evaluation (27 studies), with only one study reporting Indigenous involvement in the evaluation process. - Scale distribution showed 44% of case studies at the local level (81/183), 31% at the federal level (57), 23% at the provincial level (42), and only 4% at the international level (7); six transboundary cases involved the USA and Canada. Summary: The review documents a geographic concentration of published cases in several settler-colonial states and an uneven treatment of participation types, with relatively few examples showing explicit inclusion of Indigenous values or knowledge. The literature also shows limited descriptive and evaluative reporting of participatory processes, and international-scale examples are rare and often lack detail. Undetermined at this time.