Investigating Water Governance Performance in the Zayandeh-Rud Sub-basins: The Comparative Analysis of Isfahan and Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari sub-basins

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of Rural Development Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran

Abstract

Recently, water governance has become important due to the increasing complexities associated with water management. So that it is widely acknowledged that the world water crisis is more a crisis of governance than of water scarcity. In recent decades adopting the ‘Water Independence of Provinces’ law has created many social, environmental, economic and managerial crises in the Zayandeh-Rud basin and its two sub-basins (Isfahan and Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari) which have resulted in conflicts between the sub-basin stakeholders. The current applied study was qualitative regarding its methodology and followed a case study approach. The statistical population of the study included managers and senior experts of water governance in two sub-basins (Isfahan and Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari) and finally nine managers and experts in Isfahan sub-basin, four cases in extra-basin level, and six cases in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari sub-basin were selected as the sample population by means of snowball sampling method till theoretical saturation. Data collection was done by structured questionnaire and interview protocol. Using fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), the empirical analysis of water governance systems in two sub-basins showed that a set of factors associated with low performance regarding climate change adaptation. Regarding performance aspect, water governance in Zayandeh-Rud basin and its two sub-basins were Centralized Rent-seeking and Centralized Coordinated, respectively. This means that both basin and sub-basins have low performance regarding climate change adaptation and ability to resilience and adaptation challenges. The reason for the difference in the type of water governance performance at the level of the Zayandeh-Rud basin and its sub-basins was the poor coordination between water related organizations in sub-basins.

Keywords

Extended Abstract

Introduction

    Recently, the challenge is exacerbated for the regions face extremely with high risks of severe water scarcities and shortages (Spencer & Altman, 2010). The finite water supply is traceable to the increasing pressures from global changes lead to the reduction in rainfall due to climate change and an increased demand for water due to population pressures and agricultural and industrial expansions (Anderson et al., 2013; Montgomery et al., 2016). However, the core of the water crisis lies in the realm of over-exploitation of water resources and water mismanagement.

   The solution to water mismanagement is water governance. The trend of water governance reflects a shift in decentralization and privatization and a move to water polycentric governance. The polycentric governance increase ability of the water system to emerging crisis and challenges. One of the most stressful areas in Iran is the central region and Zayandeh-Rud basin. Polycentric water governance combines the distribution of power and authority with effective coordination among various centers and across spatial levels. Polycentric regimes have high performance, in particular with respect to adaptive capacity and to deal with the water crisis. (Pahl-Wostl & Knieper, 2014). One of the most stressful areas in Iran is the central region and Zayandeh-Rud basin.

Water crisis are one of the important issues in Iran, according to this water governance is considered of increasing importance. The water crisis in Iran is mainly a crisis of governance. Currently, the Zayandeh-Rud River has encountered severe water shortages, especially downstream of the basin, which has led to many economic, social and environmental crises (e.g., unemployment that forced farmers to migrate due to the dryness of the river and Gavkhoni wetland). A review of secondary sources showed that the water crisis in the Zayandeh-Rud basin has gone beyond technical and hardware problems and was mainly due to water governance problems. Thus, paradigm shifts must be occurred in the way that the old hardware and technocratic notions of water resources management are discarded and "soft" governance is created to encounter the challenges. The polycentric water governance regime has been proposed as a solution to water challenges. It is assumed that this regime has high coordination and distribution of power. The polycentric regime has also high performance, in particular with respect to adaptive capacity and to dealing with emerging challenges such as climate change.

 

Methods

   This research is qualitative regarding its methodology and applied case study approach. The statistical population of the study includes managers and senior experts of water governance in two sub-basins (Isfahan and Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari) and exrta-basin level (Water Coordination Council). The target organizations were Department of Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Natural Resources and Watershed Management, Jihad-e-Agriculture Organization, and Water and Sewage Company, Disaster Management Organization and the Governor of each province. The samples, included 19 cases (4 cases in extra-basin, 9 cases in Isfahan sub-basin, and 6 cases in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari sub-basin), were selected by snowball method. Data collection was done by structured questionnaire and interview protocol.

 

 

Results

   The empirical analysis was done useing fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) with the purpose of analyzing the empirical relevance of and test hypotheses related to different regime configurations. This method as a powerful technique to analyze causal relationships between a set of conditions and an outcome allows representing the context of water governance systems and the conditions that cannot be easily dichotomized in this system. Formal analysis was based on truth tables. So, the configurations (combinations of conditions) and associated outcomes were listed in Boolean representation. According to the respective most similar ideal-type, the configurations and outcomes were derived from the assignment of sets of conditions.

 

Discussion

   The performance of water governance in the Zayandeh-Rud basin was Centralized Rent-seeking. The two sub-basins of Isfahan and Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari were experienced Centralized Coordinated performance. The difference between the water governance performance types at the basin and sub-basin levels was due to the fact that Zayandeh-Rud basin includes two provinces of Isfahan and Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari within which the related water organizations had low coordination that led to conflicts. The issue of separation and fragmentation of the water governance in the basins occurred after adopting the ‘Water Independence of Provinces’ law. One of the most important outcomes of adapting this law was the parallelism of provinces and sub-basins that lad to in-coordination of water-related activities in the basin. This means that there was a high Centralization of power at the national level (extra-basin) as well as the lowest possible level of participation of civil society and local organizations. This showed that the governance of the Zayandeh-Rud basin is done at the supra-basin and national level with little or perhaps no attention to the lower levels (sub-basins and local level).

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Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research
Volume 54, Issue 1
March 2023
Pages 131-148

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