Author(s)

K. Nagata, M. Sayyari, M. Inaoka & M. Yajima

Abstract

Sefidrud River is one of the largest rivers in Iran and its basin extends mainly into seven (7) provinces, where typical water resources conflicts exist between the lower and upper reaches as well as between existing and future water rights. It is of the urgent needs for balanced economic development in the basin to mitigate the conflicts and to realize integrated water resources development and management. This paper reports the progress and result of conflict management among the relevant provinces. Firstly the background of the conflict was clarified and the clues to solutions were analyzed from the viewpoint of water use rights, equity/social justice, economic efficiency and reliability of data and information. Secondly, a collaborative and win-win approach was proposed and applied to the conflict management. Finally some direction toward a conflict solution and realization of the IWRM concept was proposed for the provinces. Keywords: water resources, water right, conflict management, IWRM, Iran. 1 Introduction The Islamic Republic of Iran is characterized by its extremely unequallydistributed water resources: Annual mean precipitation is 250 mm while available per capita water resources are 1,900m3/year, which is about a quarter of the world mean value. On the other hand, the water demands have been increasing due to rapid growth of agriculture, industry and population. The Sefidrud River with the large tributaries of Gezelozen and Shahrud Rivers is one of the foremost rivers in Iran, and is located in the northwestern part of the country. Its basin extends mainly into seven (7) provinces having the

Keywords

water resources, water right, conflict management, IWRM, Iran