The effect of policy incoherence on the emergence of groundwater-related subsidence phenomena: a case study from Iran

ABSTRACT

Land subsidence due to overexploitation of aquifers is often attributed to incoherent public policies. Taking the case of the Mahyar valley in Iran as an example, and based on a mixed-method research design, this study analyses the effects of policy incoherence on well use for agricultural irrigation and the resulting groundwater levels. Results show how an accumulation of policy incoherence over time results in an increased construction of wells, ultimately leading to a groundwater table drawdown, with a significant decrease of 7.61 m in the last 16 years.

KEYWORDS:

• Policy coherence
• groundwater
• subsidence
• resource nexus
• agri-food
• governance
• Iran

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the Isfahan University of Technology (IUT) and the United Nations University FLORES for participating in this master’s thesis collaboration. Furthermore, they thank the Isfahan Regional Water Company and the National Cartographic Center (NCC) for providing support with data collection. Finally, the authors are grateful to the experts who contributed to this work by actively participating in the interviews.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.