Lived experiences of ‘peak water’ in the high mountains of Nepal and Peru

River rhythmicity: A conceptual means of understanding and leveraging the relational values of rivers

“…First, it responds to the challenge of how to weave together the human and more‐than‐human dynamics of rivers and how to emphasize continually unfolding processes and relations, instead of focusing on interactions between discrete entities categorized as natural or social (West et al, 2020). It represents an alternative to ‘impacts‐driven’ approaches rooted in the natural sciences (McDowell et al, 2021) that seek to understand the effects of river alteration on society. As an inherently relational concept, rhythmicity starts from the premise that society does not adapt to hydrology, rather people ‘negotiate the simultaneously social and hydrological fields of relationships in which they live their lives’ (Krause, 2016, p. 685).…”

Braiding knowledges of braided rivers – the need for place‐based perspectives and lived experience in the science of landscapes

“…These indices of vulnerability did not take into account the lived experiences of the actual people in these watersheds we defined as most vulnerable, nor how they are perceiving and adapting (or maladapting) to changes in water quality and quantity. Such risks assessed from global analyses are deficient without the local context (historical, ecological, anthropogenic and biophysical) that ultimately determine actual vulnerability (McDowell et al, 2021). In order to reorient the discipline towards a more ethical and societally‐relevant role, we need to seek and include place‐based, local and situated perspectives into the scientific work of understanding the landscapes we are working in, particularly as so many of the communities most impacted by these changing landscapes are the least involved in guiding our scientific efforts and outcomes.…”

“…Ask the fishermen in a salmon‐bearing stream in Alaska or Patagonia, or the Māori or Heiltsuk constructing their long houses in the active floodplains of Aotearoa and coastal British Columbia, and they will tell you all about how glacier retreat, earthquakes and debris flows have affected sediment yields and caused the river channel to avulse, and how often this has happened since time immemorial (Evans, 2020; Pitman et al, 2020; White, 2011). Ask the potato farmers in the Nepal Himalaya or the Peruvian Andes about changes in runoff, and they will tell you about seasonal shifts in streamflow and water sources, and slope instabilities from decreasing snowpack (McDowell et al, 2021). Ask the ranchers in Australia or the vintners in California about the impacts of wildfire, and they will share histories of succession and soil restoration as a function of fire intensity.…”

Closing the Adaptation Gap in Mountains

“…However, given the dynamic nature of climate and social conditions, particularly over longer timescales, adaptations must be capable of flexibility in response to new information. These issues can be addressed through adaptation planning processes that engage with available scientific informationkey references include the ''High Mountain Areas'' chapter in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on the Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (Hock et al 2019) and the forthcoming ''Cross-Chapter Paper on Mountains'' in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report-as well as community members whose familiarity with specific mountain regions can complement scientific assessments of locally relevant climatic changes (Quincey et al 2018;McDowell et al 2021). Because adaptation needs change over time, planning processes should attend to local priorities and knowledge bases on an ongoing basis, with flexibility comprising a core tenet of capacity-building approaches.…”