WALIR (Water Law and Indigenous Rights) is an international and inter-institutional endeavor based on action-research, scholarly exchange, advocacy, and empowerment. This comparative research program builds upon academic research and action-researchers in local networks - both indigenous and non-indigenous. It is a kind of think-tank that critically informs debates on indigenous and customary rights in water legislation and water policy, both to facilitate local action platforms and to influence law- and policy-makers. WALIR is especially concerned with the equitable distribution of water rights and democratic decision-making, and a key focus is the empowerment of those sectors which are oppressed, discriminated against, and marginalized in the context of water law and practice.
This cooperation initiative is being carried out jointly by Wageningen University through its Faculty on Irrigation and Water Resources Engineering and the Economic Comision for Latin America and the Caribbean through its Division of Natural Resources and Infrastructure.

Wageningen University is an international educational institution of The Netherlands, Its aims, among others, is to contribute to the improvement of life quality of the people and towards the development of areas such as nutrition, health, sustainable agricultural systems and social changes. Wageningen University participation in WALIR is an example of its compromise with human kind, in this case by contributing to the water rights of indigenous people.

ECLAC, through the Division of Natural Resources and Infrastructure, sees WALIR as an initiative aiming at the achievement of the United Nations Millenium objectives. This cooperation will promote subjects related to both human kind and sustainable development; therefore, a great part of the United Nations Millenium objectives will be dealt with. ECLAC will carry out as well efforts aimed at promoting the development of subjects such as governance, human rights and generation of strategies related to indigenuos people rights and to vulnerable groups, within the framework mentioned below.

WALIR recognizes indigenous and customary water rights in the context of local rule making, national law, and international treaties. Thematic research projects complement and strengthen the network.

Examples of project themes are:

- Water management and livelihood systems
- Water and indigenous identity
- Gender and indigenous water rights
- Local water rights and food security
- Encroachment on historical rights
- Legal pluralism
- Water policy dialogue methods

On the basis of this research, WALIR and its counterpart platforms implement a number of exchange, dissemination, capacity-buildin, and advocacy related activities regarding water legislation.