Assessment of local organizations’ institutional adaptive capacity to water scarcity in Tashk-Bakhtegan Basin

Water resources systems are facing with changes in terms of natural and socio-economic aspects. As a result, water resources management should be prepared for the future possibilities, rather than relying on the predicting of probabilities. Hence, the management approach should tend towards the mechanisms which can promote understanding and adapting to changes. That school of thoughts which is based on versatility with changes is known as adaptive management. From this perspective, adaptation to change is a priority for the adaptive management. One of the main features of an adaptive structure, is its capacity to adapt to change. Thus, this study aims to assess the adaptive capacity of the local organizations in Tashk –Bkhtgan Basin versus water scarcity. The adopted methodology is based on the Adaptive Capacity Wheel. The required data were gathered using questionnaires and structured interviews. The results show that a relatively negative adaptive capacity within the local organizations. That means there are gaps among the local organizations to deal with the negative effects of new conditions that need to be repaired.