The long way of implementing river basin management in Post-Soviet states - a conflict analysis in the Western Bug River basin (Ukraine)

摘要

The Western Bug River catchment in the Western Ukraine serves as an example to illustrate the types of conflicts which can exist between different sectors such as agricultural, industrial, and domestic especially in regard to wastewater management. Like other former Soviet Republics, Ukraine aims towards implementing a river basin management (RBM) approach to respond to these challenges. With the implementation of this concept, the river basin scale gained importance as the appropriate management level for achieving RBM objectives, but management at this scale poses challenges to the old well established administrative structures. Based on field and interview surveys conducted in the case study area, this paper outlines the different types of challenges arising in the implementation of RBM in the Western Bug and the implications for the water quality in the basin. The results show that the legal and political frameworks for implementing and enforcing the RBM concept are rather weak. Furthermore, the old administrative structures remain strong and deeply entrenched within the minds of the people. Another obstacle is that the main pollution sources have to be dealt with at higher political and administrative levels and are not able to be addressed adequately at the river basin scale.