Whose river is it?: an assessment of livelihood and cultural water flow requirements for the Karnali Basin
The term “environmental flows” refers to a combination of features, including quantity, quality, and timing of water flows required to sustainably maintain a river’s health, balancing both ecological and societal needs. Incorporating basic human livelihood and sociocultural aspects in environmental...
| Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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Resilience Alliance, Inc.
2020
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/109856 |
| _version_ | 1855529074790760448 |
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| author | Sharma, Akriti Karki, Emma Eriyagama, Nishadi Shrestha, Gitta Jeuland, Marc Bharati, Luna |
| author_browse | Bharati, Luna Eriyagama, Nishadi Jeuland, Marc Karki, Emma Sharma, Akriti Shrestha, Gitta |
| author_facet | Sharma, Akriti Karki, Emma Eriyagama, Nishadi Shrestha, Gitta Jeuland, Marc Bharati, Luna |
| author_sort | Sharma, Akriti |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | The term “environmental flows” refers to a combination of features, including quantity, quality, and timing of water flows required to sustainably maintain a river’s health, balancing both ecological and societal needs. Incorporating basic human livelihood and sociocultural aspects in environmental flow assessments alongside ecological concerns provides a more holistic perspective on water flow management. Here, we provide an assessment that complements an ecosystem functioning lens by focusing solely on quantifying the flows associated with livelihood activities and spiritual water requirements of local riparian communities in the Karnali basin in Western Nepal. This assessment is based on the first social survey related to environmental flows conducted in the Karnali basin. We collected data using mixed methods, including social surveys, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions, across six locations in the Karnali basin that provide us with a rich and dynamic perspective on the relationship between rivers and their surrounding communities, and the challenges faced by those communities. Among the subsistence and spiritual requirements of local communities are uses for activities that include drinking, small-scale irrigation, domestic needs, fishing, and ceremonial usage. All communities we visited most strongly associated the following activities with water flow variation: small-scale irrigation, fishing, ceremonial usage, domestic needs, and tourism. The water flows required for these key activities were quantified, and results from the six sites are presented in the form of a qualitative scale of minimum water levels (ranging across poor, acceptable, and ideal) required to meet vital local needs. The minimum acceptable water flow requirement to satisfy social criteria is just > 20% of the mean annual runoff at the visited locations. These requirements are particularly vital to consider, given ongoing efforts to tap the vast hydropower potential in Nepal through construction of major storage projects. Such projects would change the flow regime of affected rivers and potentially raise concerns that existing demands might be compromised. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace109856 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publishDateRange | 2020 |
| publishDateSort | 2020 |
| publisher | Resilience Alliance, Inc. |
| publisherStr | Resilience Alliance, Inc. |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1098562025-03-11T09:50:20Z Whose river is it?: an assessment of livelihood and cultural water flow requirements for the Karnali Basin Sharma, Akriti Karki, Emma Eriyagama, Nishadi Shrestha, Gitta Jeuland, Marc Bharati, Luna environmental flows river basins livelihoods sociocultural environment water management flow discharge water levels ecosystems biodiversity water pollution water use fisheries irrigation household consumption tourism riparian zones local communities women sustainable development socioeconomic aspects The term “environmental flows” refers to a combination of features, including quantity, quality, and timing of water flows required to sustainably maintain a river’s health, balancing both ecological and societal needs. Incorporating basic human livelihood and sociocultural aspects in environmental flow assessments alongside ecological concerns provides a more holistic perspective on water flow management. Here, we provide an assessment that complements an ecosystem functioning lens by focusing solely on quantifying the flows associated with livelihood activities and spiritual water requirements of local riparian communities in the Karnali basin in Western Nepal. This assessment is based on the first social survey related to environmental flows conducted in the Karnali basin. We collected data using mixed methods, including social surveys, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions, across six locations in the Karnali basin that provide us with a rich and dynamic perspective on the relationship between rivers and their surrounding communities, and the challenges faced by those communities. Among the subsistence and spiritual requirements of local communities are uses for activities that include drinking, small-scale irrigation, domestic needs, fishing, and ceremonial usage. All communities we visited most strongly associated the following activities with water flow variation: small-scale irrigation, fishing, ceremonial usage, domestic needs, and tourism. The water flows required for these key activities were quantified, and results from the six sites are presented in the form of a qualitative scale of minimum water levels (ranging across poor, acceptable, and ideal) required to meet vital local needs. The minimum acceptable water flow requirement to satisfy social criteria is just > 20% of the mean annual runoff at the visited locations. These requirements are particularly vital to consider, given ongoing efforts to tap the vast hydropower potential in Nepal through construction of major storage projects. Such projects would change the flow regime of affected rivers and potentially raise concerns that existing demands might be compromised. 2020-10-01 2020-10-15T14:08:15Z 2020-10-15T14:08:15Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/109856 en Open Access Resilience Alliance, Inc. Sharma, Akriti; Karki, Emma; Eriyagama, Nishadi; Shrestha, Gitta; Jeuland, M.; Bharati, Luna. 2020. Whose river is it?: an assessment of livelihood and cultural water flow requirements for the Karnali Basin. Ecology and Society, 25(3):22. [doi: 10.5751/ES-11763-250322] https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol25/iss3/art22/ES-2020-11763.pdf |
| spellingShingle | environmental flows river basins livelihoods sociocultural environment water management flow discharge water levels ecosystems biodiversity water pollution water use fisheries irrigation household consumption tourism riparian zones local communities women sustainable development socioeconomic aspects Sharma, Akriti Karki, Emma Eriyagama, Nishadi Shrestha, Gitta Jeuland, Marc Bharati, Luna Whose river is it?: an assessment of livelihood and cultural water flow requirements for the Karnali Basin |
| title | Whose river is it?: an assessment of livelihood and cultural water flow requirements for the Karnali Basin |
| title_full | Whose river is it?: an assessment of livelihood and cultural water flow requirements for the Karnali Basin |
| title_fullStr | Whose river is it?: an assessment of livelihood and cultural water flow requirements for the Karnali Basin |
| title_full_unstemmed | Whose river is it?: an assessment of livelihood and cultural water flow requirements for the Karnali Basin |
| title_short | Whose river is it?: an assessment of livelihood and cultural water flow requirements for the Karnali Basin |
| title_sort | whose river is it an assessment of livelihood and cultural water flow requirements for the karnali basin |
| topic | environmental flows river basins livelihoods sociocultural environment water management flow discharge water levels ecosystems biodiversity water pollution water use fisheries irrigation household consumption tourism riparian zones local communities women sustainable development socioeconomic aspects |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/109856 |
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