Useful myths and intractable truths: the politics of the links between forests and water in Central America
This chapter examines the policy debate related to the links between forests and water in Central America and the approaches that policymakers and others have used to address the perceived problems, with emphasis on the siltation of large reservoirs. It shows how political, institutional, and techni...
| Autor principal: | |
|---|---|
| Formato: | Capítulo de libro |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Cambridge University Press
2004
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/19001 |
| _version_ | 1855529319480164352 |
|---|---|
| author | Kaimowitz, D. |
| author_browse | Kaimowitz, D. |
| author_facet | Kaimowitz, D. |
| author_sort | Kaimowitz, D. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | This chapter examines the policy debate related to the links between forests and water in Central America and the approaches that policymakers and others have used to address the perceived problems, with emphasis on the siltation of large reservoirs. It shows how political, institutional, and technical factors have interacted to produce positive but sub-optimal results and offers suggestions for future initiatives. While the focus is on Central America, many of the arguments presented apply to other tropical regions. The next section provides a brief history of the debates surrounding catchment issues in Central America, followed by a summary of recent scientific literature on the physical and economic links between forests, climate, and water and sediment flows. Case histories of the El Cajon hydroelectric dam in Honduras, the Lempa River basin in El Salvador, the Panama Canal, and Hurricane Mitch, are then presented. These cases have many dimensions but this paper concentrates exclusively on the aspects related to off-farm hydrological effects; there is no attempt to evaluate the projects involved, which may well be justified on the grounds. In addition, the main focus is on forest cover. |
| format | Book Chapter |
| id | CGSpace19001 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2004 |
| publishDateRange | 2004 |
| publishDateSort | 2004 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| publisherStr | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace190012025-01-24T14:19:45Z Useful myths and intractable truths: the politics of the links between forests and water in Central America Kaimowitz, D. forests catchment hydrology watershed management water resources policies deforestation hurricane projects This chapter examines the policy debate related to the links between forests and water in Central America and the approaches that policymakers and others have used to address the perceived problems, with emphasis on the siltation of large reservoirs. It shows how political, institutional, and technical factors have interacted to produce positive but sub-optimal results and offers suggestions for future initiatives. While the focus is on Central America, many of the arguments presented apply to other tropical regions. The next section provides a brief history of the debates surrounding catchment issues in Central America, followed by a summary of recent scientific literature on the physical and economic links between forests, climate, and water and sediment flows. Case histories of the El Cajon hydroelectric dam in Honduras, the Lempa River basin in El Salvador, the Panama Canal, and Hurricane Mitch, are then presented. These cases have many dimensions but this paper concentrates exclusively on the aspects related to off-farm hydrological effects; there is no attempt to evaluate the projects involved, which may well be justified on the grounds. In addition, the main focus is on forest cover. 2004 2012-06-04T09:09:02Z 2012-06-04T09:09:02Z Book Chapter https://hdl.handle.net/10568/19001 en Cambridge University Press Kaimowitz, D. 2004. Useful myths and intractable truths: the politics of the links between forests and water in Central America . In: M. Bonell and L.A. Bruijnzeel (eds.). Forests, water and people in the humid tropics: past, present, and future hydrological research for integrated land and water management. :86-98. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 0-521-82953-4.. |
| spellingShingle | forests catchment hydrology watershed management water resources policies deforestation hurricane projects Kaimowitz, D. Useful myths and intractable truths: the politics of the links between forests and water in Central America |
| title | Useful myths and intractable truths: the politics of the links between forests and water in Central America |
| title_full | Useful myths and intractable truths: the politics of the links between forests and water in Central America |
| title_fullStr | Useful myths and intractable truths: the politics of the links between forests and water in Central America |
| title_full_unstemmed | Useful myths and intractable truths: the politics of the links between forests and water in Central America |
| title_short | Useful myths and intractable truths: the politics of the links between forests and water in Central America |
| title_sort | useful myths and intractable truths the politics of the links between forests and water in central america |
| topic | forests catchment hydrology watershed management water resources policies deforestation hurricane projects |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/19001 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kaimowitzd usefulmythsandintractabletruthsthepoliticsofthelinksbetweenforestsandwaterincentralamerica |