An Analysis of Key Drivers of Agricultural Water Resources Governance (Case study: Tarom County, Iran)

Document Type : Applied Article

Authors

• Saeid Nasire Zare ¹
• Asghar Tahmasebi ²

¹ Ph.D. student , Department of Geography and Rural Planning, Faculty of Geographical Science, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

² Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Rural Planning, Faculty of Geographical Science, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

10.22067/jwsd.v9i1.2111.1102

Abstract

Many regions in Iran, are facing significant stagnation of natural resources, including access to sufficient and sustainable water, and its adverse consequences have appeared in many sustainability indicators of these regions. Good governance is commonly recognized as the most important initiative for addressing the agricultural water shortage in the country. Thus, it is crucially important to examine the priority area of interventions for the realization of water governance. With this in mind, this research is conducted to identify the key factors and driving forces of agriculture water governance in Tarom County in Iran. The required data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 29 managers and experts in agriculture, environmental protection, and rural water supply and sewerage departments and were coded and analyzed using MAXQDA software. Then, the interaction of identifies key factors was examined by pairwise comparison questionnaires filled by 12 experts and managers and analyzed with MICMAC Software. The findings revile that, the governance of agricultural water resources in Tarom city is unstable and the facilitation of stakeholder’s participation and, decentralization and delegation of authority to the local level are two main driving forces for the realization of water governance in the region. Furthermore, improving the irrigation water efficiency, formulation of appropriate regulatory policies in water supply and demand sections, as well as proper management of surface and groundwater are identified and recommendable as the key goals for improving agriculture water governance.

Keywords

• Water Management
• Sustainable Management
• Good Governance
• Tarom County

Main Subjects

• Water Management and Economy

---

References

تاتار، م.، پایزن، ع. و احمدوند، م. 1394. حکمروایی خوب کلید بحران مدیریت آب کشاورزی: الگوی مفهومی بر مبنای مدیریت تضاد. اولین کنگره سالانه جهان و بحران انرژی، شیراز، ایران. 
تاتار، م.، پایزن، ع. و احمدوند، م. 1398. تبیین حکمروایی خوب منابع آب سطحی کشاورزی در حوضه آبخیز گاوشان، استان کرمانشاه. مجله بین‌المللی علوم و فناوری کشاورزی، 21(6): 1379-1393.
دحیماوی، ع.، آخوندعلی، ع. م.، شیروانیان، ع. و برومندنسب، س. 1397. استخراج و وزن‌دهی شاخص‌های معرف اصول حکمروایی آب کشاورزی در شبکه‌های آبیاری و زهکشی خوزستان. مجله تحقیقات منابع آب ایران، 14(4): 245-235.
شعاعی، ع.، آدینه‌وند، ع. ا. و حاجی‌زاده، م. 1391. ارزیابی عملکرد شهرداری‌ها براساس حکمروایی خوب شهری (مطالعه موردی: شهر یاسوج). فصلنامه مطالعات مدیریت شهری، 4(11): 10-20.
صفریان، ر. و امام جمعه‌زاده، س. ج. 1396. الگوی حکمروایی خوب؛ سرمایه‌ اجتماعی و توسعه‌ همه‌جانبه. فصلنامه دولت پژوهی مجله دانشکده حقوق و علوم سیاسی، 3(12): 145-181.
عمرانیان خراسانی، ح. 1394. یادداشت تحلیل: حکمروایی خوب و مدیریت آب. نشریه آب و توسعه پایدار، 1(3): 94-95.
قائمی، آ.، لاریجانی، م.، شبیری، س. م. و سرمدی، م. ر. 1396. ارائه مدل مفهومی حکمروایی پایدار در مدیریت بهم پیوسته منابع آب کشور با تأکید بر آموزش و ظرفیت‌سازی. مجله آب و فاضلاب، 28(4): 112-117.
کریمی طرقبه، ح.، کروانی، پ. و مهدوی، م. 1397. حکمروایی خوب روستایی راهکاری جهت مدیریت منابع آب کشاورزی مورد مطالعه: روستاهای شهرستان قوچان. نشریه جغرافیا و برنامه‌ریزی منطقه‌ای، 9(1): 7-15.
کهریزی، ش. 1393. بررسی حکمروایی خوب در بهبود مدیریت آب. پایان‌نامه کارشناسی‌ارشد. دانشکده مدیریت، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی واحد تهران مرکزی، تهران.

Amede T., Awulachew S.B., Matti B. and Yitayew M. 2014. Managing rainwater for resilient dryland systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: Review of evidences. Nile river basin, 517-540.
Araral E. 2010. Improving effectiveness and efficiency in the water sector: institutions, infrastructure and indicators, Water Policy. IWA Publishing, 12(S1): 1–7.
Bucknall J., Damania R. and Rao H. 2006. Good governance for good water management, The World Bank Group. Washington.
Burney J. A., Naylor R. L. and Postel S. L. 2013. The case for distributed irrigation as a development priority in sub-Saharan Africa, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. National Acad Sciences. 110(31): 12513–12517.
Cofie O. and Amede T. 2015. Water management for sustainable agricultural intensification and smallholder resilience in sub-Saharan Africa. Water Resources and Rural Development, 6: 3-11.
Connor R. 2015. The United Nations world water development report 2015: water for a sustainable world. UNESCO publishing.
Debaere P., Richter B.D., Davis K.F., Duvall M.S., Gephart J.A., O'Bannon C.E., Pelnik C., Powell E.M. and Smith T.W. 2014. Water markets as a response to scarcity. Water Policy, 16(4): 625-649.
Emelko M. B., Silins U., Bladon K. D. and Stone M. 2011. Implications of land disturbance on drinking water treatability in a changing climate: Demonstrating the need for “source water supply and protection” strategies. Water research, 45(2): 461-472.
Godet M. 2008. Strategic Foresight La Prospective, Cahiers du LIPSOR. French.
Gondo R. and Kolawole O. D. 2019. Sustainable Water Resources Management: Issues and Principles of Water Governance in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, International Journal of Rural Management. SAGE Publications Sage India: New Delhi, India, 15(2):198–217.
Hadjigeorgalis E. 2009. A place for water markets: performance and challenges, Review of Agricultural Economics. Oxford University Press. Review of Agricultural Economics, 31(1): 50–67.
Jury W. A. and Vaux H. 2005. The role of science in solving the world’s emerging water problems, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. National Acad Sciences, 102(44): 15715–15720.
Kang S., Hao X., Du T., Tong L., Su X., Lu H., Li X., Huo Z., Li S. and Ding R. 2017. Improving agricultural water productivity to ensure food security in China under changing environment: From research to practice. Agricultural Water Management. 179: 5-17.
Lefroy R. D. B., Bechstedt H. D. and Rais M. 2006. Indictors for sustainable land management based on farmers surveys in Vietnam: Indonesia and Thailand agriculture, Journal of Ecosystem and Environment, 81(5): 137-146.
Mati B. M. 2011. Optimizing agricultural water management for the green revolution in Africa. In Innovations as Key to the Green Revolution in Africa. Springer. Dordrecht. Presented at the Symposium on: Innovations as Key to the Green Revolution in Africa: Exploring the Scientific Facts. Arusha, Tanzania 
Namara R. E., Hanjra M. A., Castillo G. E., Ravnborg H. M., Smith L. and Van Koppen B. 2010. Agricultural water management and poverty linkages. Agricultural water management, 97(4): 520-527.
Nazemi N., Foley R. W., Louis G. and Keeler L. W. 2020. Divergent agricultural water governance scenarios: The case of Zayanderud basin, Iran. Agricultural Water Management, 229: 105921.
Niyazmetov D., Soliev I. and Rudenko I. 2019. State-facilitated bottom up in agricultural water governance and sustainability of solutions to recurring water stress: a case study from smallholders’ perspective in Uzbekistan. Central Asian Journal of Water Research (CAJWR), 5(1): 42-57.
OECD. 2011. Water governance in OECD countries: A multi-level approach. OECD.
OECD. 2015a. OECD water governance initiative. (accessed at) https://www.oecd.org/gov/regional-policy/OECD-Principles-on-Water-Governance-brochure.pdf. 
OECD. 2015b. OECD principles on water governance, note by thesecretary-general, doc C(2015)71 Ref: JT03376062. Paris: OECD Publishing.
Pereira L.S. 2005. Water and agriculture: Facing water scarcity and environmental challenges. Agricultural Engineering International: the CIGR Journal of Scientific Research and Development, 7: 35-42.
Porkka M., Gerten D., Schaphoff  S., Siebert S. and Kummu M. 2016. Causes and trends of water scarcity in food production. Environmental research letters, 11(1): 015001.
Regner J. H., Salman A. Z., Wolff H. P. and Al-Karablieh E. 2006. Approaches and impacts of Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) in complex, centralized irrigation systems-experiences and results from the Jordan Valley. In Conference on International Agricultural Research for Development. University of Bonn, Germany.
Rogers P. and Hall AW. 2003. Effective water governance. Global Water Partnership Stockholm. TEC BACKGROUND PAPERS NO. 7. Printed by Elanders Novum. First printing. Sweden.
Sithirith M. 2017. Water governance in Cambodia: From centralized water governance to farmer water user community. Resources, 6(3): 44.
Sun S., Wang Y., Liu J., Cai H., Wu P., Geng Q. and Xu L. 2016. Sustainability assessment of regional water resources under the DPSIR framework. Journal of Hydrology, 532: 140-148. 
Tantoh H.B. and Simatele D. 2018. Complexity and uncertainty in water resource governance in Northwest Cameroon: Reconnoitring the challenges and potential of community-based water resource management, Land use policy. Elsevier, 75: 237–251.
Tantoh H. B. and McKay T. J. M. 2020. Rural self-empowerment: The case of small water supply management in Northwest, Cameroon, GeoJournal. Springer, 85(1): 159–171.
UNDP. 2013. User’s guide on assessing water governance, United Nations Development Programme Oslo.
USAID. 2010. MENA Regional Water Governance Benchmarking Project/ Concept and Approach Framework.
Valipour M. 2016. How do different factors impact agricultural water management?, Open Agriculture. De Gruyter, 1(1): 89-111.
Wang X., Yang H., Shi M., Zhou D. and Zhang Z. 2015. Managing stakeholders' conflicts for water reallocation from agriculture to industry in the Heihe River Basin in Northwest China. Science of the Total Environment, 505: 823-832.
Wei Y., Wang Z., Wang H., Yao T. and Li Y. 2018. Promoting inclusive water governance and forecasting the structure of water consumption based on compositional data: A case study of Beijing. Science of the Total Environment, 634: 407-416.
Woodhouse P. and Muller M. 2017. Water governance—An historical perspective on current debates, World Development. Elsevier, 92: 225–241.