A human ecological analysis of water conflict in rural areas: Evidence from Iran

Access to water has always been a source of tension and has been and continues to be a conflict among stakeholders. In the meantime, villagers and farmers have a major stake in analyzing water conflicts. Water conflicts investigation is possible from different perspectives, one of the most important being the human ecological angle. This research aimed to study the human ecological analysis of water conflict in Iran’s rural areas. For this purpose, ethical approach and VBN theory were used to measure water conflict behavior (WCB). This study is a descriptive-correlational, ex-post facto and causal relationship that was conducted using a survey. The statistical population was rural people in Zarrineh River watershed basin, Kurdistan province, Iran (N = 14910) which 380 of them were selected as a sample using stratified random sampling method. The research instrument was a questionnaire which was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability was determined using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The findings showed that most of the villagers were at open water conflict level and their dominant environmental attitude was egoistic and WCB was significantly higher in them. Based on VBN theory the causal chain model of environmental value attitudes (EVA), beliefs and norms affecting WCB was presented and tested. The results indicate a crisis in water resources management, especially from the point of view of human ecology, which further reveals the need for fundamental changes to create and establish appropriate environmental insights in water stakeholders. •This purpose was to study human ecological analysis of water conflict in Iran’s rural areas.•The ethical approach and VBN theory were used to measure water conflict behavior.•The research method was descriptive-correlation and causal-relational.•A causal framework been presented considering the water conflict behavior.•Results indicate the need to create an appropriate insights in water stakeholders.