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Culture as trigger for sustainability transition in the water domain: the case of the Spanish water policy and the Ebro river basin

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Abstract

There is a mounting body of literature dealing generally with the dynamics of transitions of human systems towards sustainability and specifically with the different stages and processes of transitions. However, the question of why transition processes occur in the first place remains largely unexplained. This paper explores the concept of transition triggers, such as culture or material resource scarcity, and provides a theoretical framework to explain the emergence of a transition and its relation to recent developments in Spanish water policy. We adapt the general framework provided by current transition theory and gather empirical evidence and insights from processes occurring within the Spanish policy context and the Ebro river basin in particular. Our results show that the sole existence of biophysical limits to water use or development cannot explain the start of a possible sustainability transition in this domain in Spain. Changes in the existing water policies in the direction of sustainability were not ignited by people directly affected by water scarcities but by a coalition of sensitive agents, mostly from academia, NGOs and local constituencies, who managed to articulate new identities, integrate multiple sources of policy relevant knowledge, and develop new values under the umbrella of the new water culture movement.

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Notes

  1. According to one of our consulted stakeholders who participated actively in the making of the NWC movement, three main periods can be distinguished in the articulation of such movement. The first, almost at the end of the dictatorship was characterised by some failed attempts so carry out some water transfers in the Ebro river basin and spans from 1973 to 1989. The second period, from 1989 to 1995 entails the formalisation of the movement in a more decisive and effective way. The third, from 1995 to the present, has been characterised by an increasing role in policy making and the need to develop specific proposals and alternatives to the previous dominant water practices. However, we understand that the transition may have started when such coalition of groups was actually articulated in a more formal and extensive way.

  2. Within the Ebro river basin, there are seven autonomous communities—each with their own Parliament-, 17 province governments, and 1,624 town councils plus numerous different supra- and inter county administrations.

  3. For the NWC Foundation web page see http://www.unizar.es/fnca/index3.php?id=1&pag=11.

  4. See http://www.unizar.es/fnca/euwater/index2.php?x=1&idioma=en for the content, process and history of this declaration.

  5. In the Ebro river basin, there have already been other attempts to move towards sustainability in other policy domains, such as agriculture. These, however, have failed to connect experiences occurring at the individual or micro-level to the higher level of institutional and cultural changes. Apparently, strong market agents operating at the meso level, mostly supermarkets, play a decisive role in preventing organic farmers to sell their products more widely and therefore, to up-scale their activities as to enter into the take-off stage in the sustainability transition.

  6. For a critical account, and the real difficulties to do so, see the documentary A Contracorriente by Pons et al (2006).

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Acknowledgments

This research has been funded and has benefit from discussions within EU project MATISSE (Methods and Tools for Integrated Sustainability Assessment) for the domain of water (Contract 004059-GOCE-MATISSE; 1/4/2005–31/3/2008). Authors would like to thank Jill Jager and Paul Weaver for their helpful comments on the manuscript. An early version of this paper was presented at the fifth Iberian Congress of Water Planning and Management, Faro, Portugal, 4–6 December 2006.

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  1. Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

    J. David Tàbara & Akgun Ilhan

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  1. J. David Tàbara
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Correspondence to J. David Tàbara.

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Tàbara, J.D., Ilhan, A. Culture as trigger for sustainability transition in the water domain: the case of the Spanish water policy and the Ebro river basin. Reg Environ Change 8, 59–71 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-007-0043-3

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