Abdul Tawab Balakarzai

Topic

Traditional groundwater governance in arid regions: Institutional evolution, marginalization, and social-ecological resilience

Department of Geography

Date & location

• Thursday, July 30, 2026
• 8:30 A.M.
• Clearihue Building, Room B017

Examining Committee

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Michele-Lee Moore, Department of Geography, University of Victoria (Co-Supervisor)
• Dr. Kristian Dubrawski, Department of Geography, UVic (Co-Supervisor)
• Dr. Katja Brundiers, Transformational Sustainability Science Group, University of Freiburg (Outside Member)

External Examiner

• Dr. Prateep Nayak, School of Environmental, Enterprise, and Development, University of Waterloo

Chair of Oral Examination

• Dr. Andrew Rowe, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UVic

Abstract

As climate-induced water scarcity intensifies, global environmental policy responses continue to privilege externalized management paradigms such as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) or Nature-based Solutions (NbS). However, rural Indigenous and local water management practices in the Global South, such as karez systems, are frequently marginalized by the implementation of these frameworks. The karez system is a traditional irrigation network that channels groundwater through interconnected shafts and a sloping tunnel, delivering water by gravity for agriculture and domestic use. Grounded in social-ecological systems (SES) resilience theory and utilizing an exploratory qualitative case study approach, this dissertation addresses the central question: How has the ancient social-ecological knowledge embedded in karez systems been integrated into contemporary water governance? To answer this, the research focuses on karez systems within Afghanistan, and draws on extensive interviews with Local Knowledge Holders (LKHs), Water Governance Actors (WGAs), and Sector Experts (EXPs) to: i) identify the relationships those responsible for caring for karez have with the groundwater system, ii) examine the alignment of the karez system with modern NbS frameworks, and iii) investigate the implementation of IWRM water governance reforms and whether they have re-shaped the karez system.

The second chapter explores karez water management and governance as a social-ecological system that is supported by a form of biocultural stewardship. It reveals how karez in different areas across Afghanistan are deeply intertwined with identity, ceremonial practices, gender-based cultural practices, and traditional governance. However, the findings also show that the resilience of these intertwined social-ecological relationships is being eroded both by solar-powered deep wells, which have been introduced as a climate adaptation but which are now driving over extraction and by waves of international development interventions, some of which have harmed the physical infrastructure and the social-cultural practices associated with the karez. The third chapter evaluates the karez against established NbS criteria and demonstrates how traditional seepage-prevention practices ensure that the karez functions as a highly adaptive, low-carbon NbS. However, the research also reveals that current greening practices, which are sometimes also seen as NbS for climate adaptation, pose threats. Finally, the fourth chapter explores the evolution of the karez system within Afghanistan’s formal water governance reform during the period of international state-building, which heavily promoted IWRM as a pathway to sustainability from 2001 to 2021. The findings show that state-building marginalized the karez and its traditional stewardship and governance while inadvertently entrenching clientelism and empowering warlords that obstructed governance reforms. Moreover, a form of shadow governance by insurgents and “permissive anarchy” facilitated the unregulated proliferation of solar-powered deep wells and a localized “race to the bottom” for groundwater access. The findings underscore the highly variable nature of how reform processes are implemented and perceived locally.

Ultimately, this dissertation demonstrates that karez are more than just irrigation infrastructure; they are complex social-ecological systems intertwined with community identities and ways of being. However, the resilience of these systems faces increasingly intensive challenges. While karez have co-evolved with a long history of conflict and aridity, these systems are now struggling to continue to exist because of solar-powered deep wells, over-extraction, decades of institutional neglect, and the systemic exclusion of traditional knowledge in previous government reforms. While the karez and the groundwater within them have not been direct objects or sources of conflict, they are intertwined with the dynamics of conflict and peacebuilding efforts. Based on the analysis, this research suggests that any sustainable post-conflict transition in the future will require a deep understanding and fair negotiation of traditional stewardship and a shift in how governance reforms, peacebuilding or reconstruction success is evaluated—from bureaucratic milestones to localized social-ecological system resilience indicators such as aquifer health and community-led water-sharing agreements. Crucially, insights from the karez are applicable to numerous contexts given the need to safeguard traditional groundwater systems, manage social ecological trade-offs of greening initiatives and climate adaptation strategies, and center local knowledge across diverse geopolitical landscapes in arid regions around the world.