Participatory Dynamic Systems Approach to Facilitate Multisectorial Sustainable Water Management in Konya Closed Basin

Sustainable management of water resources is one of the biggest challenges of our times particularly in terms of food security and ecosystem health (Molden, 2013, p.10). When already scarce nature of water resources is combined with the anthropogenic stress factors, water scarcity becomes one of the major threats for humanity and ecosystem. Old-fashioned command and control approaches in water resource management mostly dealt with providing sufficient amount of water to meet societal needs without concern on the ecosystem services. However, there needs to be a shift towards actions that can “work with nature” (Winz et al., 2009). In that sense, multi-sectoral approaches or water-energy-food nexus perspective supported with stakeholder engagement can unravel better before worse problems with dynamic systems approach. In this research, strategic water management problems in Konya Closed Basin are analyzed by using system dynamics approach and participatory methods from a water-food-ecosystem nexus perspective. Konya Closed Basin is an important agricultural production hub in Turkey, yet the region has been facing serious water scarcity problems in the past couple of decades. The Basin mostly relies on groundwater for irrigation; however, as a common pool resource, groundwater resources are hard to manage. Groundwater management challenges in the basin primarily include uncontrolled overuse of the resource, and unlicensed well drilling. On the other hand, surface water management brings additional challenges both for the water supply and ecosystem services and creates conflicts between the upstream and downstream users. Within the scope of this research, water resource systems are conceptualized in a holistic way and conflicts over water resources and conjoint use of surface water and groundwater resources are analyzed. The methodology is enhanced with stakeholder mapping and governance analysis. To understand the governance structure, one-to-one interviews were held with the key stakeholders and a participatory workshop is organized to develop a common understanding about how water management problems have emerged in the past, and how these problems potentially threat environmental and economic sustainability in the future. With the involvement of key stakeholders, a multi-sectoral dynamic simulation model is developed which covers the interactions between hydrologic, socio-economic and agricultural components of the systems. The model simulates the surface water allocation decisions of authorities in the basin and their impacts on the groundwater resources, agricultural production and land-use change. The reference behavior of the model shows that in the absence of effective policies, pressure on the water resources will remain due to the tendency to cultivate more water demanding crops. The model will provide a user-friendly interface which allows policy makers to test and propose alternative management policies to ensure long-term environmental sustainability of the basin without requiring any software knowledge.

Acknowledgement: This work was supported by OurMED PRIMA Program project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation under grant agreement No. 2222.

 

References:

Molden, D., 2013. Water for food water for life: A comprehensive assessment of water management in agriculture. Routledge.

Winz, I., Brierley, G. and Trowsdale, S., 2009. The use of system dynamics simulation in water resources management. Water resources management, 23(7), pp.1301-1323.