Abstract
Water is considered from its origins an essential resource for humanity. The humanistic vision of water shared by the Romans and the Arabs is evident in the configuration of water as a vital resource for all, generating social, economic, legal, health, and cultural values, connoting and defining the people who were supplied with it. The concern for the supply of and access to water has always been present in Spain, since territorially Spain has a unique configuration, which in turn marks a peculiar normative regulation of its natural resources, as well as the traditional historical law that regulates the operation of institutions such as the Water Tribunal of Valencia, the Council of Good Men of Murcia or the Private Water Courts, among others. This and the new European regulation on environmentally sustainable development, has intensely affected the Bajo Segura area, transforming a marshy territory into the Huerta de Europa, with policies of reuse in three hydrological cycles, reconversion of dry land areas into other production areas, with symbiosis between dead and living waters, and a clear distinction between traditional irrigation and water transfers. Consequently, combining the legal methodology with the DAFO analysis, the aim of this study is to analyse, from a historical-legal perspective, how the diverse regulations have shaped the governance of water resources throughout history, delimiting the agricultural and territorial landscape of the Bajo Segura until this area became a reference in the use and exploitation of water resources, from time immemorial and with a future perspective.
Presenters
María Francisca Zaragoza MartíProfessor, Historical-legal Sciences, University of Alicante, Spain
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
HYDROLOGICAL ASSET, NORMATIVE REGULATION, ACCES TO WATER, Huerta de Europa
