An analysis of the stakeholders of groundwater resources management in Iran

Abstract

Excessive exploitation of groundwater resources (GR) in Iran has become a tragedy of water resources whose roots should be sought in the lack of cooperation and communication between institutions involved in the groundwater resources management (GRM). In this regard, identifying institutions, classifying them, and analyzing the pattern of communication and cooperation between them constitute an important step towards their synergistic cooperation for collective action. The process of identifying and classifying stakeholders and discovering the relationships of stakeholders can be understood through stakeholder analysis (SA). The present study aims to use the SA method to identify the stakeholders, classify them, and determine the structure of their relationship through social network analysis (SNA). Based on the results of the stakeholder identification phase, 25 institutions were identified as those involved in GRM in Lorestan province. According to the influence-importance classification matrix, the stakeholders were divided into categories A, B, and C. The key stakeholders are those that can significantly influence the management of groundwater resources. The SNA method shows that, among the studied stakeholders, ‘Regional Water Company’ and ‘Water & Soil Management Department of Agriculture Organization’ have the most communication links and cooperation within the network of communications and cooperation with other institutions involved in GRM.