Identification and Explanation of Barriers to Water Resources Protection in the Urmia Lake Basin: A Qualitative Study

The main purpose of this descriptive-analytical study was to identify and explain the barriers to protection of water resources in the Urmia Lake Basin. Participants in this research were key experts and informants in UL Rehabilitation Headquarters, Urmia University, Agriculture-Jihad Organizations, Regional Water Companies, Departments of Environmental Protection and Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Centers in three provinces of West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan and Kurdistan among which 19 people were selected through purposive sampling method for doing the research. Semi-structured interviews (in individual and group form) were used to collect data and the data were analyzed using MAXQDA software. The results of the study showed that barriers to water resources protection in the Urmia Lake Basin were in the form of 28 different signs among which not using the real participation of stakeholders in water resources management (among the signs related to social- cultural barriers), lack of promotion of sustainable and compatible livelihoods with water resources at the basin level (among the signs related to economic barriers), lack of sufficient coherence for decision-making between local, provincial and national levels (among the signs related to organizational- Institutional barriers), the lack of comprehensive water distribution law (among the signs related to legal-administrative barriers) and top-down management of water resources (among the signs related to management barriers) had the highest priorities compared to other signs. Finally, based on the research findings, some strategies were presented to eliminate barriers to the protection of water resources in the Urmia Lake Basin.