Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities for Participatory Water Management in Turkey

Abstract

Water is among the most challenging natural resources to manage, in almost all over the world. Population increase, consumption-based life styles, increasing energy needs, economic and environmental policies and implementations, and global warming have been increasing day by day the pressure on water resources, which are not distributed evenly on Earth. Throughout this process, different stakeholders of water confront each other and have disagreements because of their conflicting interests and demands. It is widely accepted that most of the water related problems and conflicts arise from the top-down management approaches and therefore, participatory-collaborative-approaches which allow active participation of stakeholders are needed. According to the national development efforts, top-down management applications and related conflicts on water resources are also the case in Turkey since 1950s and these have increased dramatically from the beginning of the 2000s. On the other hand, linked to the harmonization with the European Union’s Water Framework Directive, there have been legal-administrative revisions related to water management in Turkey for the last ten years, which emphasize basin-based management and stakeholder participation. The purpose of this article is to identify and evaluate the current state of and opportunities for participation in water management in Turkey, within the scope of the national political and legal-administrative framework affecting the management of water directly, which has been revised during the last ten years. Then, current state is discussed in respect with different rungs and forms of participation. In conclusion, collaboration in three levels and contexts is proposed for the development of active participation in water management in Turkey. © 2016, Centenary University. All rights reserved.