Traditional Groundwater Governance in Arid Regions: Institutional Evolution, Marginalization, and Social-Ecological Resilience
Publisher: University of Victoria, Department of Geography
Author(s): Abdul Tawab Balakarzai
Date: 2026
Topics: Basic Services, Conflict Causes, Cooperation, Governance, Renewable Resources
Countries: Afghanistan
As climate induced water scarcity intensifies, global environmental policy responses continue to privilege externalized management paradigms such as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) or Nature-based Solutions (NbS). However, rural Indigenous and local water management practices in the Global South, such as karez systems, are frequently marginalized by the implementation of these frameworks. The karez system is a traditional irrigation network that channels groundwater through interconnected shafts and a sloping tunnel, delivering water by gravity for agriculture and domestic use. Grounded in social-ecological systems (SES) resilience theory and utilizing an exploratory qualitative case study approach, this dissertation addresses the central question: How has the ancient social-ecological knowledge embedded in karez systems been integrated into contemporary water governance? To answer this, the research focuses on karez systems within Afghanistan, and draws on extensive interviews with Local Knowledge Holders (LKHs), Water Governance Actors (WGAs), and Sector Experts (EXPs) to: i) identify the relationships those responsible for caring for karez have with the groundwater system, ii) examine the alignment of the karez system with modern NbS frameworks, and iii) investigate the implementation of IWRM water governance reforms and whether they have re-shaped the karez system.