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Abstract
This paper examines how cultural values are accommodated in natural resource management
and compares and contrast the approaches used in the Waikato River in New Zealand, the
Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, and the Colorado River in the USA. Economics plays an
integral part in the management of rivers in these case studies and two distinct approaches are
used; privatization and co-management. The paper reviews these approaches and proffers
suggestions on how indigenous knowledge, cultural and social relationships, and social,
cultural, and economic wellbeing may be integrated in a multi-cultural approach.