The Role of Social Capital in Water Reservoirs Governance: Evidence from Northern Iran
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The Role of Social Capital in Water Reservoirs Governance: Evidence from Northern Iran Arezoo Mirzaei 1
&
Andrea Knierim 1 & Saeid Fealy Nahavand 2 & Masoomeh Shemshad 3
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Collective local governance of traditional water reservoirs (Ab-bandans) in Mazandaran province, Northern Iran, is gradually disappearing. Using the concept of social capital, we explore how and why components of social capital (trust, co-operation, social network cohesion, leadership roles, and conflict resolution) among various local stakeholders influence water management through semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with key local stakeholders (29 interviews). We used NVivo software to code the interview transcripts through the identification of relevant themes. Our results indicate that the most important component of social capital for local community water management is conflict resolution. Local community leaders play a crucial role in promoting and facilitating cooperation and conflict resolution among communities through negotiation and conciliation mechanisms. However, these mechanisms have proved inadequate in providing lasting resolution of conflicts between neighbouring communities over water management. Since the Iranian government has overall responsibility for water management, we recommend it engage directly in the resolution of local water conflicts to ensure lasting solutions acceptable to all local stakeholders. Keywords Water management . Local leadership . Social capital . Conflict resolution . Mazandaran province . Northern Iran
Introduction Demand for water is increasing and the world is expected to face a 40% global water shortage by 2030 (UNESCO WWAP 2015), potentially leading to conflicts (Serageldin 2009). Iran is located in an arid and semi-arid region with average annual precipitation of 228 mm, which is 72% less than the global average of 814 mm (Karandish and Hoekstra 2017). Agriculture in Iran consumes more than 90% of available water (Karandish and Hoekstra 2017). Many Iranian experts claim that the most significant cause of the current water crisis is the failure of effective water governance (Foltz 2002), including managerial, political, and institutional failures (Madani 2014). Water governance covers “the range of
* Arezoo Mirzaei [email protected] 1
Institute of Social Sciences in Agriculture, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
2
Agricultural Extension and Education Institute, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
3
Agricultural Extension and Education Institute, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
political, social, economic, and administrative systems that are in place to develop and manage water resources, and the delivery of water services, at different levels of society” (Rogers and Hall 2003: 16). Water governance involves a range of actors and structures in water policy formulation and implementation (Akhmouch and Correia 2016), and includes a set of coll
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