Change to hydropower development in Bhutan and Nepal

Ogino, Kaoru; Dash, Sambit Kumar; Nakayama, Mikiyasu

doi:10.1016/j.esd.2019.02.005

Cited by 29 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Sufficient scientific literature is available about the different aspects of Bhutan's water resources. Different scientific studies cover water supply/ sanitary, water quality, water balance, irrigation, institutional arrangements, glaciers, water availability, climate change, groundwater, hydro-economy, and the hydropower potential of Bhutan [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Kharat and Mundra [21] have covered Bhutan's internal and external water issues in detail.…”

Section: Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Critical Review of Water Resources and Their Management in Bhutan

2021

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Bhutan is a small yet water-abundant country. The country suffers from frequent flooding and is lately experiencing a growing risk of localized droughts due to inappropriate water resource management and climate change. Such a situation calls for much more efficient use and management of water in Bhutan. This paper undertakes an extensive analysis of the country’s water resources for better planning and management of the available water resources. Bhutan can be divided into three zones, the Southern Foothills, the Central Inner Himalayas, and the Higher Himalayas. The top four leading industries of Bhutan are related to water, either directly or indirectly. The country at present is at a very early stage of development. The government has prioritized water resources management over recent years. Water for hydropower in Bhutan has been in focus as compared to that allocated for irrigation, industries, and environmental demand. The demand for water in Bhutan has also increased in the last decade due to population increase, changes in lifestyle, and economic advancements through tourism and hydropower projects. Climate variation, deteriorating water quality, frequent floods, and increasing urbanization threaten the sustainability of water resources. Water accessibility issues for settlements due to the country’s harsh geographical landscape is leading towards localized water scarcity. Serious attention to rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge is required to address localized water scarcity issues.

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Section: Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Water resources in Bhutan are known as 'white gold' as hydropower generated one of the highest revenues in Bhutan [57,60,61]. The country's hydropower projects are also structurally safe and economically cost-effective [15]. About 99% of the electricity used in Bhutan comes from power generated by hydropower plants.…”

Section: Hydropowermentioning

confidence: 99%

A Critical Review of Water Resources and Their Management in Bhutan

2021

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“…Such a scenario is reasonable, especially given a contrast to the degree of hydrologic modification in the two countries. For example, while both countries are rich in hydropower potential, but there is a greater power demand and larger number of dams in Nepal [112]. Given the potential for seasonal migratory behavior in Schizothorax [61,113], dams may disrupt movement of species, inadvertently promoting interspecific contact.…”

Section: (B) Varying Rates Of Hybridization Among Drainagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parallel introgression, not recurrent emergence, explains apparent elevational ecotypes of polyploid Himalayan snowtrout

Chafin

Regmi

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Replicated evolutionary patterns are often attributed to recurrent emergence following parallel selective pressures. However, similar genetic patterns (e.g., 'genomic islands') can also emerge following extensive homogenization in secondary contact, as a by-product of heterogeneous introgression. For example, within Himalayan tributaries of the Ganges/Brahmaputra rivers, drainage-specific mtDNA clades of polyploid snowtrout (Cyprinidae: Schizothorax) are partitioned as co-occurring morphological 'ecotypes,' hypothesized to represent parallel divergence among adjacent streams. To evaluate this scenario, we utilized a reduced-representation genomic approach (N=35,319 de-novo and N=10,884 transcriptome-aligned SNPs) applied to high-altitude Nepali/Bhutanese snowtrout (N=48 each). We unambiguously quantified ploidy levels by first deriving genome-wide allelic depths followed by ploidy-aware Bayesian models that produced genotypes statistically consistent with diploid/tetraploid expectations. When genotyped SNPs were clustering within drainages, the convergence of eco-phenotypes was sustained. However, subsequent partitioned analyses of phylogeny and population admixture instead identified subsets of loci under selection which retained genealogical concordance with morphology, with apparent patterns of parallel ecotype emergence instead driven by widespread genomic homogenization. Here, prior isolation is effectively masked by admixture occurring in secondary contact. We note two salient factors:1) Polyploidy has promoted homogenization in tetraploid Himalayan snowtrout; and 2) Homogenization varies across Himalayan tributaries, presumably in lockstep with extent of anthropogenic modification.

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“…Situated in the heart of the Himalayas, Nepal is a geographically, culturally, and societally complex country that has a long history of energy-based International Development assistance [1]. Despite an abundance of natural resources for producing sustainable clean energy through hydropower [2,3] and a robust Renewable Energy Subsidy Policy [4], 65.8% of rural households [5] use firewood to satisfy their cooking energy needs. When adjusted for income, this represents 67.2% of the poorest quintile and 19.8% [5] of the richest quintile.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

TIME to Change: An Evaluation of Practical Action Nepal’s Results Based Finance Program

2021

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Set against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7, and the need to increase biomass Improved Cookstove (ICS) adoption and sustained use across the globe, this paper presents an evaluation of Practical Action Nepal’s (PAN) Results Based Financing for Improved Cookstove Market Development in Nepal (RBF) project, which was conducted between January and April 2020. Nepal has a long history of International Development assistance, yet 65.8% of rural households still use firewood as their primary source of energy. With this in mind we aimed to understand the barriers, enablers and engagement strategies for the adoption and sustained use of Improved Cookstoves (ICS), map key stakeholder role perceptions and interactions, and identify areas for improvement to increase the sustained use of ICS in the focus communities. This paper uses the methodological approach from the qualitative Technology Implementation Model for Energy (TIME) for the data collection and analysis elements. Our core results show a direct need for improved communication between all key stakeholder groups, the impact of demand and supply side financial incentives in creating reputational risk for community-based key stakeholders, and how the RBF mechanism promotes initial end-user adoption but not sustained use of ICS due to a focus on immediate results.

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Change to hydropower development in Bhutan and Nepal

Cited by 29 publications

References 9 publications

A Critical Review of Water Resources and Their Management in Bhutan

A Critical Review of Water Resources and Their Management in Bhutan

Parallel introgression, not recurrent emergence, explains apparent elevational ecotypes of polyploid Himalayan snowtrout

TIME to Change: An Evaluation of Practical Action Nepal’s Results Based Finance Program

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