Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
Sci Total Environ. 2019 Apr 10;660:519-530. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.01.030. Epub 2019 Jan 7.
Water governance in the Rio del Carmen watershed has failed to achieve sustainable water use, generating social conflicts, water overexploitation, and grassland loss. This leaves it unable to adapt and learn, to reconcile different stakeholder perspectives and to adequately respond to uncertainty. Adaptive water governance regulates water access through flexible, inclusive and innovative institutions, increasing system adaptive capacity in the face of uncertainty. This is necessary for water-scarce systems since they suffer context-specific exposure to land degradation and climate change. This research focuses on how water governance regulates water access in the Rio del Carmen watershed, Mexico, identifying key legal and institutional features that could increase adaptation and secure water resources in the long-term. 27 semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders in the watershed, in order to understand the water governance structure and its system dynamics. It was found that water mismanagement, overexploitation, and conflicts over access to water are due to the lack of application and neglect of formal rules. Results indicate that breaches of the legal framework are commonplace, permitted by corruption of both former and current government officials. Many farmers have institutionalized this corruption in order to access water; increasing social conflicts and hindering any type of planning or water management, which, in turn, continues to affect the ecological conditions of the watershed. By understanding the governance system, its structure and the interactions that weaken and bypass formal institutions to the detriment of water resources, stakeholder engagement has emerged as an entry point for enabling collaboration and acceptance of formal institutions. This process has the potential to create a formal network, as a Watershed Committee, that could be honoured in practice through the efficacy of this engagement.
里奥德尔卡门流域的水资源治理未能实现可持续用水，引发了社会冲突、水资源过度开采和草原流失等问题。这使得该流域无法适应和学习，无法调和不同利益相关者的观点，也无法充分应对不确定性。适应性水资源治理通过灵活、包容和创新的机构来调节水资源的获取，从而提高系统在面对不确定性时的适应能力。这对于水资源短缺的系统来说是必要的，因为它们面临着特定于土地退化和气候变化的风险。本研究聚焦于水资源治理如何调节墨西哥里奥德尔卡门流域的水资源获取，确定了可能增加适应能力并确保水资源长期安全的关键法律和制度特征。研究人员对流域内的主要利益相关者进行了 27 次半结构化访谈，以了解水资源治理结构及其系统动态。研究发现，水资源管理不善、过度开采以及水资源获取方面的冲突，都是由于缺乏对正式规则的应用和忽视。研究结果表明，违反法律框架的情况很常见，这是由于前政府和现任政府官员的腐败行为所导致的。许多农民已经将这种腐败行为制度化，以获取水资源；这增加了社会冲突，阻碍了任何形式的规划或水资源管理，从而进一步影响了流域的生态条件。通过了解治理系统、其结构以及削弱和规避正式机构的相互作用，以牺牲水资源为代价，利益相关者的参与已经成为实现合作和接受正式机构的切入点。这一过程有可能创建一个正式的网络，即流域委员会，通过这种参与的有效性，在实践中得到认可。
