Identification and Thematic Analysis of Barriers to Adaptation to Climate Change in the Water Resources System (Case Study: Qarranqu Basin)

Since the water resources systems are most affected by the climate change phenomenon, the organizations which manage the social and ecological demands of water can greatly impact the adaptation to this phenomenon. The adaptive capacity of a water resources system is influenced by various factors and the improvement of each of these factors would lead to an increase in the adaptation capacity of the entire system against the climate change and accordingly less vulnerability against it. In this article, the barriers to the adaptation of the water resources system of the Qarrangu basin against climate change have been identified from the perspective of administrative institutions related to water resources management and the causal relationships between these institutions have been investigated. The study was carried out in the framework of qualitative research strategy and based on thematic analysis method and interviewing the key people in the organizations in charge of the water management in the watershed. Using purposeful sampling under the snowball method and conducting 20 interviews, the theoretical saturation was achieved. Aiming at more reliability 2 more interviews were also conducted but no extra information was acquired. The results show that adaptation barriers in the studied basin can be categorized in three main groups; barriers caused by the attributes of actors, by the characteristics of the water resources system structure, and by the environmental characteristics. Finally, using the system dynamic analysis approach, the causal relationships between the barriers have been identified and solutions have been proposed to overcome such.