River basin / watershed governance and planning

A critical look at the long-term vision and strategic plan of the Ministry of Energy suggests that a change in thinking from a traditional mechanical approach to a systemic one is being conceived. However, the essential features and components of an ecosystem-based approach need to be clearly delineated. Also, objectives and priorities should be defined and a hierarchical multi-scale river basin planning system should be developed. Lack of an integrated indicator-based plan for the management of river basins and watersheds is one of the main reasons for the limited success in water resources management in Iran. Absence of a coherent and systematic conceptual framework for watershed assessment and management is another significant shortcoming. Through a comparative analysis, this paper introduces the watershed governance approach as a substitute for water governance. The former concept is fully in line with ecosystem-based and nature-based solutions and can be considered as a paradigm shift in water resources management.