agriculture will meet heavy resistance and cause
unease among farmers, which is likely to be
transferred to MPs and professional parliamentary commissions. This may essentially halt any
reforms attempting to further phase out subsidies.
Without a deep analysis of the political economy
of energy subsidies for irrigation groundwater
pumping, the reform is unlikely to work because
the resistance from subsidy recipients will stop
further progress in this area. The last major
political discussion about regulating the subsidization of irrigation water at the national level in
Iran occurred in 2015–16, just before the most
recent parliamentary election in February of
2016. In 2015, 96 MPs came up with an initiative
to fully subsidize irrigation water for agriculture
and set the price of water at zero.
22 Fortunately,
the plan was temporarily forgotten as the MPs
engaged in the parliamentary election campaign
in the winter of 2016.
It is clear that the self-sufficiency programs
and the phasing out of indirect subsidies are
contradictory and cannot be implemented at the
same time. Additionally, a master plan for supporting all affected rural communities and
smallholders is needed. It must be mentioned that
the good governance of water resources is not
limited to only the elimination of water and
energy related subsidies, but it also refers to
multilevel systems of social, economic, and
administrative instruments for water resources
management and delivery of water services
(Rogers and Hall 2003). Definitely, analyzing all
dimensions of water governance is beyond the
scope of this paper. However, using economic
tools for managing water resources is one of the
major issues of water governance. As is presented in this paper, economic tools cannot be
implemented in a simple way as long as many
people heavily depend on the provision of cheap
water for their livelihoods. Different solutions are
possible for tackling the political economy of the
energy-water nexus. For instance, in order to
manage groundwater resources in India, energy
rationing was suggested as one solution (Shah
et al. 2008). Following this approach, free energy
is provided for wells for just a few hours per day.
Simultaneously, no under-priced electricity will
be provided anymore. The acceptability and the
consequences of this policy in Iran should be
studied in more detail; no studies have examined
solutions in this direction up until now. Moreover, there are some attempts to introduce
community-based groundwater resources management by the Iranian Water Policy Research
Institute (IWPRI), although the successful
application of this approach in the field on a
noticeable scale has not been reported yet.
23
These are two examples of managing groundwater resources without using direct economic
tools. Both approaches require laws and regulations to be altered and responsible institutions
should keep this on their agendas. Nevertheless,
the elimination of energy subsidies and their
possible consequences is a policy option that
cannot be postponed, and it requires careful
consideration of the incentives of all involved
stakeholders.
Following the political economy of the waterenergy-food nexus, it would seem prudent and
practical to focus on finding alternative income
sources for rural communities that would be
dramatically affected by substantial changes in
groundwater abstraction costs. Eco-tourism,
supporting small rural industries (e.g. carpet
production, etc.), and tourism based on regional
history and cultures are some potential ways for
creating alternative livelihoods. New innovations
and the latest developments in modern technologies can also help create jobs in rural Iranian
areas. For instance, the expansion of solar energy
through a decentralized energy generation system
can be one of these solutions. All of these possibilities should be analyzed by separate studies
and their feasibility should be researched. Since
2011, the government of Iran has started to
provide facilities for the expansion of photovoltaic energy in Iran in order to use its massive
solar energy potentials. This entered into a new
phase in 2015 after a new system of feed in tariffs
22
Source: https://www3.irna.ir/fa/News/81947715/, last
accessed 23.5.2016.
23
IWPRI (2015): http://iwpri.ir/home/single/127 (last
accessed 11.7.2018).
The Energy-Water Nexus in Iran …
123
unease among farmers, which is likely to be
transferred to MPs and professional parliamentary commissions. This may essentially halt any
reforms attempting to further phase out subsidies.
Without a deep analysis of the political economy
of energy subsidies for irrigation groundwater
pumping, the reform is unlikely to work because
the resistance from subsidy recipients will stop
further progress in this area. The last major
political discussion about regulating the subsidization of irrigation water at the national level in
Iran occurred in 2015–16, just before the most
recent parliamentary election in February of
2016. In 2015, 96 MPs came up with an initiative
to fully subsidize irrigation water for agriculture
and set the price of water at zero.
22 Fortunately,
the plan was temporarily forgotten as the MPs
engaged in the parliamentary election campaign
in the winter of 2016.
It is clear that the self-sufficiency programs
and the phasing out of indirect subsidies are
contradictory and cannot be implemented at the
same time. Additionally, a master plan for supporting all affected rural communities and
smallholders is needed. It must be mentioned that
the good governance of water resources is not
limited to only the elimination of water and
energy related subsidies, but it also refers to
multilevel systems of social, economic, and
administrative instruments for water resources
management and delivery of water services
(Rogers and Hall 2003). Definitely, analyzing all
dimensions of water governance is beyond the
scope of this paper. However, using economic
tools for managing water resources is one of the
major issues of water governance. As is presented in this paper, economic tools cannot be
implemented in a simple way as long as many
people heavily depend on the provision of cheap
water for their livelihoods. Different solutions are
possible for tackling the political economy of the
energy-water nexus. For instance, in order to
manage groundwater resources in India, energy
rationing was suggested as one solution (Shah
et al. 2008). Following this approach, free energy
is provided for wells for just a few hours per day.
Simultaneously, no under-priced electricity will
be provided anymore. The acceptability and the
consequences of this policy in Iran should be
studied in more detail; no studies have examined
solutions in this direction up until now. Moreover, there are some attempts to introduce
community-based groundwater resources management by the Iranian Water Policy Research
Institute (IWPRI), although the successful
application of this approach in the field on a
noticeable scale has not been reported yet.
23
These are two examples of managing groundwater resources without using direct economic
tools. Both approaches require laws and regulations to be altered and responsible institutions
should keep this on their agendas. Nevertheless,
the elimination of energy subsidies and their
possible consequences is a policy option that
cannot be postponed, and it requires careful
consideration of the incentives of all involved
stakeholders.
Following the political economy of the waterenergy-food nexus, it would seem prudent and
practical to focus on finding alternative income
sources for rural communities that would be
dramatically affected by substantial changes in
groundwater abstraction costs. Eco-tourism,
supporting small rural industries (e.g. carpet
production, etc.), and tourism based on regional
history and cultures are some potential ways for
creating alternative livelihoods. New innovations
and the latest developments in modern technologies can also help create jobs in rural Iranian
areas. For instance, the expansion of solar energy
through a decentralized energy generation system
can be one of these solutions. All of these possibilities should be analyzed by separate studies
and their feasibility should be researched. Since
2011, the government of Iran has started to
provide facilities for the expansion of photovoltaic energy in Iran in order to use its massive
solar energy potentials. This entered into a new
phase in 2015 after a new system of feed in tariffs
22
Source: https://www3.irna.ir/fa/News/81947715/, last
accessed 23.5.2016.
23
IWPRI (2015): http://iwpri.ir/home/single/127 (last
accessed 11.7.2018).
The Energy-Water Nexus in Iran …
123