Assessment of policy instruments towards improving the water reservoirs’ governance in Northern Iran

Publication Type

Journal contribution (peer reviewed)

Authors

Mirzaei, A.; Knierim, A.; Fealy Nahavand, S.; Shokri, S. A.; Mahmoudi, H.

Year of publication

2018

Published in

Agricultural Water Management

DOI

10.1016/j.agwat.2018.09.020

Page (from - to)

48-58

Man-made water reservoirs called Ab-bandan in Mazandaran province, Northern Iran are used to collect precipitation
for irrigating rice fields. In spite of their importance, Ab-bandans face governance difficulties such as
the lack of a specific law, the lack of long-term and strategic planning, and low recognition of these reservoirs at
the national level. Therefore, water policy instruments are argued to be needed in order to overcome the barriers
and improve water governance. This paper aims to identify and assess relevant policy instruments for the improvement
of the governance of Ab-bandans by conducting an exploratory sequential research design. Based on
interviews with 30 regional experts, 31 policy instruments are identified and grouped into three reinforcing
dimensions of water governance; effectiveness, efficiency, and trust and engagement. Afterwards, these policy
instruments are assessed by a larger sample of participants through snowball sampling (n=169). Confirmatory
Factor Analysis reveals that, in survey participants’ opinion, 28 out of 31 policy instruments identified properly
represent three reinforcing dimensions of water governance. The results indicate that the enhancement of collective
action among farmers is the policy instrument which contributes more to the improvement of governance.
Furthermore, the dimensions are positively related to one another. Therefore, the policy instruments are
interdependent and should be addressed in a holistic way.