Abstract
This paper proposes a bottom–up “nexus medium” perspective to examine and understand social organization and how socio-ecological challenges in remote rural regions are dealt with in communities that receive only limited external support. While “nexus mediums” constitute substances, matter, or objects that combine manifold vital meanings and can be seen as socially constructed and materialized arenas of social interaction, autonomous resource management is seen as a means of local social organization. Taking water as the nexus medium of choice allows us to generate locally informed insights about the role of this scarce resource for the everyday life and social organization of communities inhabiting arid rural areas. This reasoning will be exemplified by three local case studies conducted during empirical research in the Pamirs of Tajikistan utilizing a mix of qualitative methods. The findings reveal how many fundamental everyday-life-related aspects and activities of the studied communities are related to water, and how these communities are organized around common water use and management arrangements that are based on joint decision-making, shared benefits and responsibilities, and collaborative action. The “nexus medium” concept appears to be an appropriate approach for research that seeks to understand from a local perspective how communal living is organized and how socio-ecological challenges are addressed.
Highlights
The resolution of complex social and environmental issues, as exemplified by the SustainableDevelopment Goals, and the reliable supply and usage of resources in the context of Global Change require “systems thinking” [1] and integrated action
The presented results show that water plays a key role in the lifeworld, everyday life activities, livelihood strategies, collaborative resource management arrangements, and the local-specific form of autonomous social organization of the people inhabiting the rural areas of the arid mountain region of the Western Pamirs
Autonomous irrigation arrangements, address crucial economic meanings of water and enable the exercise of irrigation agriculture representing a basic component of the livelihood strategies of many rural households in a context of very limited non-agricultural income opportunities in the Western Pamirs
Summary
Development Goals, and the reliable supply and usage of resources in the context of Global Change require “systems thinking” [1] and integrated action In this regard, so-called “nexus” approaches have been applied in recent years in the context of globalization and global environmental change to top–down development politics [2,3]. -called “nexus” approaches have been applied in recent years in the context of globalization and global environmental change to top–down development politics [2,3] This has been accompanied by solution-oriented scientific research [1,4,5,6,7,8]; development-oriented measures [9,10]; and profit-seeking economic activities [11,12]. A critical downside of such top–down approaches is that the micro-scale of the everyday lives of people, local understandings and manifestations of the studied challenges, Water 2020, 12, 2905; doi:10.3390/w12102905 www.mdpi.com/journal/water
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
