Document Type : Case Study
Authors
1 Associate Professor of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.
2 Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Kurdistan, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.
Abstract
The water crisis in Iran has been viewed as a natural tragedy, and the solutions to it have been understood in hydrological discussions, which are mainly centralized, technocratic, and lacking participatory mechanisms. The present study, rejecting this view and adopting a bottom-up approach and adopting Strom's theory of common resource governance and the theory of social hydrology, sought to analyze the narratives of farmers in Dehgolan villages facing the water crisis and its relationship with their biosphere. The basic assumption was that farmers, as the first and most important beneficiaries of water resources, have different understandings and exposures, and the resulting data have been interpreted and explained as rich socio-political texts with the aim of revealing how the ecological water crisis is intertwined with the crisis of governance, social justice, and institutional marginalization. The fragility of the farmers' bioworld in Dehgolan is rooted in the triple interaction of weak institutional governance, the dominance of market rules, and impractical environmental awareness. These cases have led to farmers' reactive behaviors in this context and have brought about socio-cultural transformation and denial of their collective agency by institutions and each other. Therefore, it is necessary to change the governance paradigm (transition from centralized to participatory approaches), and redefine the relationship between the market, the environment, and society, based on which the role and position of farmers are placed at the center of participation and management of water resources.
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