691 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 10 of 691
Journal Article Lost in Development's Shadow: The Downstream Human Consequences of Dams(2010) Richter, Brian D.; Postel, Sandra; Revenga, Carmen; Scudder, Thayer; Lehner, Bernhard; Churchill, Allegra; Chow, Morgan"The World Commission on Dams (WCD) report documented a number of social and environmental problems observed in dam development projects. The WCD gave particular emphasis to the challenges of properly resettling populations physically displaced by dams, and estimated the total number of people directly displaced at 40-80 million. Less attention has been given, however, to populations living downstream of dams whose livelihoods have been affected by dam-induced alterations of river flows. By substantially changing natural flow patterns and blocking movements of fish and other animals, large dams can severely disrupt natural riverine production systems – especially fisheries, flood-recession agriculture and dry-season grazing. We offer here the first global estimate of the number of river-dependent people potentially affected by dam-induced changes in river flows and other ecosystem conditions. Our conservative estimate of 472 million river-dependent people living downstream of large dams along impacted river reaches lends urgency to the need for more comprehensive assessments of dam costs and benefits, as well as to the social inequities between dam beneficiaries and those potentially disadvantaged by dam projects. We conclude with three key steps in dam development processes that could substantially alleviate the damaging downstream impacts of dams."Journal Article Resilience in Transboundary Water Governance: The Okavango River Basin(2013) Green, Olivia O.; Cosens, Barbara A.; Garmestani, Ahjond S."When the availability of a vital resource varies between times of overabundance and extreme scarcity, management regimes must manifest flexibility and authority to adapt while maintaining legitimacy. Unfortunately, the need for adaptability often conflicts with the desire for certainty in legal and regulatory regimes, and laws that fail to account for variability often result in conflict when the inevitable disturbance occurs. Additional keys to resilience are collaboration among physical scientists, political actors, local leaders, and other stakeholders, and, when the commons is shared among sovereign states, collaboration between and among institutions with authority to act at different scales or with respect to different aspects of an ecological system. At the scale of transboundary river basins, where treaties govern water utilization, particular treaty mechanisms can reduce conflict potential by fostering collaboration and accounting for change. One necessary element is a mechanism for coordination and collaboration at the scale of the basin. This could be satisfied by mechanisms ranging from informal networks to the establishment of an international commission to jointly manage water, but a mechanism for collaboration at the basin scale alone does not ensure sound water management. To better guide resource management, study of applied resilience theory has revealed a number of management practices that are integral for adaptive governance. Here, we describe key resilience principles for treaty design and adaptive governance and then apply the principles to a case study of one transboundary basin where the need and willingness to manage collaboratively and iteratively is high--the Okavango River Basin of southwest Africa. This descriptive and applied approach should be particularly instructive for treaty negotiators, transboundary resource managers, and should aid program developers."Journal Article Sea Change: Exploring the International Effort to Promote Marine Protected Areas(2010) Gray, Noella J."Citing multiple threats to marine biodiversity and resources, the international marine conservation community is promoting greater adoption of marine protected areas (MPAs). Like terrestrial protected areas, MPAs are characterised by debates over the appropriate role for scientific input and citizen participation and how to balance concerns for both social equity and ecological effectiveness. This paper explores how such debates are influencing the framing of MPAs as a global policy tool, based on an 'event ethnography' conducted at the 2008 World Conservation Congress in Barcelona. International non-governmental organisations (NGOs) dominated the discussions and agenda setting, although multiple concerns for MPAs were incorporated into the discussions. The framing of MPAs highlighted a global scale and vision, reflected by and reinforcing the dominant role of the big NGOs. However, it did not go unchallenged, nor is it prescriptive."Journal Article Nature and Extent of Problems of Agro-Graziers in Bhawalpur District, Pakistan(2009) Azam, M.B.; Khan, Z.H.; Yaqoob, S.; Khan, R.A."Studies on nature and extent of problems faced by agro-graziers were carried out in Bhawalpur district of Southern Punjab, Pakistan during 1991. Non cooperative attitude of government departments and farmers for not allowing agro-graziers to graze their animals along canals, forests, rangelands, irrigated plantations and agricultural fields was a very common problem. Due to poverty, agro-graziers were unable to purchase costly concentrates and cultivated fodders to feed their animals. They could not buy veterinary medicines to cure their animals against different diseases. Moreover, no loan subsidy, financial assistance or credit was granted by the Government for the alleviation of poverty of agro-graziers. In addition, 30 and 35% agro-graziers in the district faced problems of shortage or non availability of forage and water, respectively."Journal Article Cultural Factors as Co-Determinants of Participation in River Basin Management(2007) Enserink, Bert; Patel, Mita; Kranz, Nicole; Maestu, Josefina"Finding a place for public participation in the policies and practices of European river basin management planning is a challenge for the authorities in the participating countries and territories. Understanding the relation between national culture, the historical and political differences in the respective countries, and their practical experience with participation is considered important to support the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive. Knowledge and understanding of this relation is important to provide a context and basis from which new participatory practices can be designed and experiences evaluated and to identify conditions necessary for social learning. Within the context of the HarmoniCOP project, such a study was undertaken in the form of a National Approach and Background study, which examined and evaluated both historical and recent experiences that exist across Europe in relation to public participation and water management as it is today. We draw upon the findings of the HarmoniCOP national reports to identify common features and cultural differences. We depart from the traditional ideational concept of culture as a long-lasting system of perceptions, beliefs, norms, and values to provide a detailed discussion of the practices in four countries. We demonstrate that culture is just one of the factors that explain the differences in national approaches to public participation and argue that culture perceived as a more dynamic, integrated, adaptive socio-cultural system in which groups of actors create new frames, norms, and routines is a more promising road for further research."Journal Article Involvement of Rural Women in Aquaculture: An Innovative Approach(2000) Shaleesha, A.; Stanley, V. A."Although women have proved to be competent in adopting new aquaculture technologies, their role is very much restricted and often ignored. One of the major reasons is the location of aquaculture sites and several sociocultural taboos against women who strive to earn for their familys subsistence in rural areas. There is a gender bias in many aquaculture activities. To ensure that women utilize their full potential in profitable activities like aquaculture, it is necessary to provide capacity building support to rural women, which will eventually lead to their empowerment. In countries like India, the technology provided to women must take into account cultural aspects. One such project - backyard ornamental fish breeding and management - has been found to offer immense scope for improving the livelihood of rural women. This paper gives some practical tips for dissemination of technology in the rural sector, particularly to rural women."Journal Article Practices and Lessons Learned in Coping with Climatic Hazards at the River-Basin Scale: Floods and Droughts(2008) Krysanova, Valentina; Buiteveld, Hendrik; Haase, Dagmar; Hattermann, Fred F.; Van Niekerk, Kate; Roest, Koen; Martinez-Santos, Pedro; Schlüter, Maja"Climatic hazards such as floods and droughts have always been a primary matter of concern for human populations. Severe floods damage settlements, transport networks, and arable land. Although devastating droughts are harmful primarily for agriculture and terrestrial ecosystems, they can also lead to local water supply shortages. Despite significant achievements in science and technology and success stories in environmental management in the 20th century, people still continue to suffer the consequences of climate hazards worldwide. This paper provides an overview of existing practices for coping with floods and droughts, compares strategies in different river basins, and outlines the areas that need improvement. First, the existing protection measures and response strategies against floods and droughts are briefly described. An overview is given of expected climate change and existing coping strategies for floods and droughts in seven case study basins. Four of the basins, namely the Elbe, Guadiana, Rhine, and Tisza, are located in Europe; the Nile and the Orange are in Africa; and the Amudarya is in Central Asia. Analysis of the coping strategies shows that structural measures exist in all seven river basins, but that nonstructural measures are generally not very extensive and/or advanced. Finally, the success stories in dealing with climatic hazards and lessons learned, taken partly from the seven case study basins and partly from literature, are summarized."Journal Article Human Dimensions of Coral Reef Social-Ecological Systems(2012) Kittinger, John N.; Finkbeiner, Elena M.; Glazier, Edward W.; Crowder, Larry B."Coral reefs are among the most diverse ecosystems on the planet but are declining because of human activities. Despite general recognition of the human role in the plight of coral reefs, the vast majority of research focuses on the ecological rather than the human dimensions of reef ecosystems, limiting our understanding of social relationships with these environments as well as potential solutions for reef recovery. General frameworks for social-ecological systems (SESs) have been advanced, but system-specific approaches are needed to develop a more nuanced view of human-environmental interactions for specific contexts and resource systems, and at specific scales. We synthesize existing concepts related to SESs and present a human dimensions framework that explores the linkages between social system structural traits, human activities, ecosystem services, and human well-being in coral reef SESs. Key features of the framework include social-ecological reciprocity, proximate and underlying dimensions, and the directionality of key relationships and feedback loops. Such frameworks are needed if human dimensions research is to be more fully integrated into studies of ecosystem change and the sustainability of linked SESs."Journal Article New Marine Commons Along the Chilean Coast: The Management Areas (MAs) of Peñuelas and Chigualoco(2011) Fernández, Gloria L. Gallardo; Friman, Eva"To halt degradation of benthic resources in Chile, management areas (MAs) were set up under the Territorial Use Rights in Fisheries (TURFs) framework in the late 1990s. Integrated into the global market, MAs have since expanded along the Chilean coast, involving thousands of small-scale artisanal fishers. This paper analyses how economic criteria relates to social and ecological performance of Chilean MAs, by applying TURFs, commons and co-management theory to two cases: MAs Peñuelas and Chigualoco. To collect and analyse data Participatory Rural Appraisal tools, interviews and official statistics and reports were used. Our results show that MAs economic benefits are connected to fluctuations on the global market. Adapting to changing world market prices then becomes paramount. TURFs main goal is ecological conservation, but achieving this seems to depend on meeting fishers livelihoods; failure to do so likely results in failure to meet conservation objectives. A serious weakness of the Chilean TURFs system is that it does not pay enough attention to fishers livelihoods or to the global market context. Furthermore, there is a strong relationship between good economic benefits and social sustainability. But irrespective of economic performance, fisher organizations have been empowered and gained increased resource control with the TURFs system. At policy level, a differentiated and more flexible system could be more suitable for existing heterogeneous MAs and their particular economic, social and ecological challenges. For improved economic sustainability and resource conservation, a system with multiplespecies managing MAs could be promoted as well. Finally, to enhance theory of commons, co-management and TURFs, we argue for greater acknowledgement of TURFs social benefits in addition to economic assessments. More attention should also be paid to global market conditions of which MAs are dependent and in which they are embedded: macrostructures that are seldom considered in the analyses."Journal Article Computer-supported Games and Role Plays in Teaching Water Management(2012) Hoekstra, Arjen"There is an increasing demand for an interdisciplinary approach in teaching water management. Computer-supported games and role plays offer the potential of creating an environment in which different disciplines come together and in which students are challenged to develop integrated understanding. Two examples are discussed. The River Basin Game is a common-pool resource game in which participants experience the risk of over-abstractions of water in a river basin and learn how this risk relates to the complexity of the system, the conflict between individual and group optimum and the difficulty to come to good cooperation. The Globalization of Water Role Play makes participants familiar with the global dimension of water management by letting them experience how national governments can integrate considerations of water scarcity and domestic water productivities into decisions on international trade in commodities like food, cotton and bio-energy. The two examples illustrate that plays inspire participants to think about the functioning of systems as a whole and to develop good cooperative courses of action, whereby both uncertainties about the system and the presence of different values and perspectives among participants play a role."