Government management and overexploitation of groundwater resources

Government management and overexploitation of groundwater resources: absence of local community initiatives in Ardabil plain-Iran

Azizi, Ali (University of Tehran)
Ghorbani, Amineh (TU Delft Energie and Industrie)
Malekmohammadi, Bahram (University of Tehran)
Jafari, Hamid Reza (University of Tehran)

2017

Although mismanagement of groundwater resources has resulted in their destruction over centuries, climate change is speeding up this process more than ever. On the one hand, urgent action by government bodies is needed to address the challenge. On the other hand, a vast body of literature proves that bottom-up collective action, although requiring a longer time period, is a better solution to manage such resources. This research aims to address this dilemma. The groundwater resource in Ardabil plain in Iran, which has long been managed solely through government intervention, has been chosen as a case study to explore the opportunities and limitations of managing a critically endangered area from a common pool resource perspective. Our study suggests that managing Ardabil groundwater resources should be conducted on two scales. The bottom-up institutional agreements should take place at village scale while the government should stay in charge of the overall organization at plain scale.

Ardabil-Iran
common pool resources
government management
groundwater
social–ecological systems framework

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:36c69eda-2edc-4889-b667-9da5812d14d0

https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2016.1257975

2018-01-25

0964-0568

Journal of Environmental Planning and Management (online), 1-24

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2017 Ali Azizi, Amineh Ghorbani, Bahram Malekmohammadi, Hamid Reza Jafari