Shifting Perspectives in an Era of Complexity and Change: Incorporating Resilience into the Water Governance of Canadian Drainage Basins

Water governance and management are important challenges for the River Indus Basin in Pakistan. Water governance refers to social, political and economic factors that influence water management. The water scarcity and water security are a major concern for the state to control its water resources. The study aims to give Sindh water policy by exploring the challenges to Indus Basin in managing water resources and to identify opportunities Indus Basin can look to improve water management. Interviews were conducted from water experts and analysts having 5 years’ experience or more in the water sector of Pakistan through a semi-structured self-developed questionnaire using purposive sampling technique and transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings show that increasing population, climatic change and rising demand of water are major challenges Indus is facing and Indus with time is getting water-scarce therefore need strong institutions, civil society and legislatures to ensure equitable distribution of water and maintain the ecosystem. The study emphasizes that water governance and management are necessary for sustainable use of water. Pakistan, the water stress country needs to address ‘governance’ at a wider scale to solve problems in the Indus Basin for the livelihood of people. The research will benefit the state, water experts, institutions as well as civil society to promote efficient use of water in Indus Basin.

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DRAINAGE BASIN AS A COMPLEX SOCIO-NATURAL HIERARCHICAL SYSTEM

THE LIFE OF THE EARTH ◽

10.29003/m1483.0514-7468.2020_42_3/293-303 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 42 (3) ◽

pp. 293-303

Author(s):

VALERIY BONDAREV

Keyword(s):

Drainage Basin ◽

Temporal Analysis ◽

Large River ◽

Hierarchical Level ◽

Effective Management ◽

Drainage Basins ◽

Time Intervals ◽

Natural Systems ◽

Spatial And Temporal Analysis ◽

Entire Complex

The theoretical and methodological basis of the systems hierarchical spatial and temporal analysis of a drainage basin, which addresses the problems of effective management in socio-natural systems of different ranks, is considered. It is proposed to distinguish 9 orders of forms that are relevant to the analysis of drainage basins, where the first level is represented by individual aggregates and particles, and the last - by basins of large and the largest rivers. As part of the allocation of geological, historical and modern time intervals, the specificity of the implementation of processes in basins of different scales from changing states, through functioning to evolution is demonstrated. The interrelation of conditions and factors that determine the processes occurring within the drainage basins is revealed. It is shown that a specific combination of conditions and factors that determine processes in the drainage basin is associated with the hierarchy of the objects under consideration, i.e. the choice of a spatial-temporal hierarchical level is crucial for the organization of study within drainage basins. At one hierarchical level, some phenomenon can be considered as a factor, and at another - as a condition. For example, tectonic processes can be considered as an active factor in the evolution of large river basins in the geological perspective, but for small drainage basin, this is already a conservative background condition. It is shown that at the historical time the anthropogenic factor often comes to the fore, with the appearance of which in the functioning of the drainage basin, there is a need to take into account the entire complex of socio-environmental problems that can affect the sustainable state of various territories, especially in the field of water and land use. Hierarchical levels of managing subjects are identified, which are primarily responsible for effective management at the appropriate hierarchical level of the organization of the socio-natural system within the catchment area, starting from an individual to humankind as a whole.

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