Poverty, development, and Himalayan ecosystems

Abstract:Wetlands provide a diverse range of ecosystem services supporting livelihoods of many people. Despite their value, wetlands are continuously being degraded. There is scant information on individual wetlands, people's dependency and their exploitation at a local scale. We therefore assessed wetland ecosystem services, the drivers of change and impacts of those drivers on ecosystem services and people's dependency through a case study of the Maguri-Motapung Beel wetlands of Assam, India. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected through household surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and community workshops. The analyses showed a total of 29 ecosystem services, and high dependency on these with five out of seven livelihood strategies sourced from ecosystem services. Over-exploitation of wetland resources and siltation were reported as the major direct drivers of change with impacts on both ecosystem services and people's livelihoods. Drastic decreases in availability of thatch, fish stocks, fodder and tourism were observed. This suggests that there is an urgent need for a comprehensive participatory management plan. Actions are needed to maintain the Maguri-Motapung Beel wetlands and the flow of services in order to sustain people's livelihoods in the area. With an estimated 50% global loss of wetlands in the last century and the loss of 5,000 square kilometers a year in Asia alone, the loss of ecosystem services and livelihood impacts shown in our study may be typical of what is occurring in the region and perhaps globally.

show abstract

“…We adopted similar strategies to Sandhu and Sandhu [50] to identify how people's livelihoods were dependent on ecosystem services.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem Service Changes and Livelihood Impacts in the Maguri-Motapung Wetlands of Assam, India

Bhatta

Chaudhary

Pandit

et al. 2016

Land

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Nonpoint source pollution, especially from agricultural areas, is a major factor causing eutrophication and associated algal blooms in regions throughout the world [ 13 , 14 , 15 ]. Despite a wide variety of mitigation options [ 15 ] and planning tools [ 16 ], impaired water quality continues to plague water bodies on a global basis. The proliferation of cyanobacterial blooms, and their associated toxins, is anticipated to worsen when combined with climate change [ 17 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Does the intensity of agricultural land use overwhelm the assimilative capacity of the BMPs? Or perhaps, as implied by Kleinman et al [ 16 ], is there sufficient satisfaction with implementation of the management practice (an output) instead of its effectiveness (an outcome) that we do not push harder for better outcomes?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of Best Management Practices to Reduce Phosphorus Loading to a Highly Eutrophic Lake

Steinman

Hassett

Oudsema

2018

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reducing nonpoint source pollution is an ongoing challenge in watersheds throughout the world. Implementation of best management practices, both structural and nonstructural, is the usual response to this challenge, with the presumption that they are effective. However, monitoring of their efficacy is not a standard practice. In this study, we evaluate the effectiveness of two wetland restoration projects, designed to handle runoff during high flow events and serve as flow-through retention basins before returning flow further downstream. The Macatawa Watershed is located in west Michigan, is heavily agricultural, and drains into Lake Macatawa, a hypereutrophic lake with total phosphorus concentrations usually exceeding 100 µg/L. We measured turbidity, total phosphorus, and soluble reactive phosphorus both upstream and downstream of these wetland complexes during base flow and storm events. While both turbidity and phosphorus increased significantly during storm events compared to baseflow, we found no significant difference in upstream vs. downstream water quality two years following BMP construction. We also measured water quality in Lake Macatawa, and found the lake remained highly impaired. Possible reasons for the lack of improved water quality: (1) The restored wetlands are too young to function optimally in sediment and phosphorus retention; (2) the scale of these BMPs is too small given the overall loads; (3) the locations of these BMPs are not optimal in terms of pollutant reduction; and (4) the years following postconstruction were relatively dry so the wetlands had limited opportunity to retain pollutants. These possibilities are evaluated.

show abstract

“…Alors que les changements globaux redessinent notre rapport au monde, de nombreux questionnements, propositions et controverses surgissent depuis une décennie quant au devenir des territoires de montagne au XXI e siècle. Ceux-ci abordent des enjeux aussi divers que -entre autres -la gouvernance des espaces protégés et des frontières (Jacob, 2017), la relation ville-montagne (Dematteis, 2009), les projets d'infrastructures (Sutton, 2011), la vulnérabilité de ces territoires (Richard et al, 2010) ou encore les transitions soutenables (Buclet, 2015 ;Sandhu and Sandhu, 2015 ;Soubirou, 2018). Quels sont aujourd'hui les processus d'innovation sociale qui produisent la montagnité du XXI e siècle ?…”

unclassified