Abstract
Iran has reached critical level of water crisis, although long been facing water scarcity. Currently, the belief gained ground that the challenges of today and tomorrow are more related to poor governance than water shortage and the main strategy to cope with water crisis lies in water governance reform. ...
Read More
Iran has reached critical level of water crisis, although long been facing water scarcity. Currently, the belief gained ground that the challenges of today and tomorrow are more related to poor governance than water shortage and the main strategy to cope with water crisis lies in water governance reform. The new research agenda of water governance underlines on interdisciplinary examination of theories drawn from public economics, institutional economics, political economy and public administration. The aim of this study is to analysis the past and present sustainability of water governance in Zayandeh-Rood basin. By combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, data were collected through documentary and survey research by structured interviews with 171 farmers and 68 experts. The results showed that the current water governance is not favorable with equity, effectiveness and efficiency, transparency, accountability, responsiveness, coherency, participation and rule of law principles. Further, this study tried to explain the fundamental principles of sustainability in traditional water governance which can facilitate the transition to effective and fit-for-purpose water governance.
S. Saraei; H. Afrakhteh; V. Riahi; H. Jalalian
Abstract
The dependence of the agricultural sector to water input is undeniable. In the era of information and communication, due to population growth and limited water resources, it is essential to employee information and communication technologies in order to provide food for people. This interdisciplinary ...
Read More
The dependence of the agricultural sector to water input is undeniable. In the era of information and communication, due to population growth and limited water resources, it is essential to employee information and communication technologies in order to provide food for people. This interdisciplinary article, considering Agricultural, Information Technology, Management and Geography sciences; has tried to analyze the role of ICT in agricultural water use optimization using soft system approach that is the methodology of systematic thinking approach in management science. The issue of water use in agriculture has structural complexity, and the different stakeholders, have different views on it. Therefore, it is considered a soft issue. In this study, the basic question is answered that ICT through what mechanism could help to refine the pattern of water use in agriculture. The population of the study was all the farmers located in the Gavkhooni zone (N =145381) and a number of statistical sample was estimated at 383 using Cochran's formula. Using questionnaire required information was collected. Also, using semi-structured interviews with experts and officials of relevant agencies, stakeholders' views on the issue were identified. In the end, some suggestions for how to use ICT to solve this problem are presented. The results showed that from the viewpoints of stakeholders, an irrigation system through notification to farmers can help them in decision-making related to irrigation and can be effective in the amount of water use by farmers. Of course, setting up such a system demands of coordination between the concerned authorities and training the primary consumers.
