Does anyone know of any examples (past or present) where the riparian ecosystem has suffered from human development? I am mostly interested in cases where poor communication (such as hydropower operators not communicating with environmental groups, or agricultural groups diverting water at rates that did not match fish flows) has led to damaging the environment.
Thanks
The biggest example is the destruction of Mesopotamian Mashes due to water resource management in Iraq. The dam in Turkey and several in Iraq led to near extinction of this 1000s of year old marsh civilization. Steps were taken and it took over a decade to partly restore these marshes.
Hi Jordan - you might want to find out more about the degradation of the Aral sea (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis. Island Press, Washington, DC), and now attempts to repair some of the damage caused to the Aral sea (Pala, C. 2006. “Once a Terminal Case, the Aral Sea Shows New Signs of Life.” Science 312 (5771): 183)
See also: http://www.unep.org/pdf/UNEP_GEAS_JAN_2014.pdf
Hi, i am giving u the latest devastation happened in india.....
go through this link....
http://www.slideshare.net/ynarendra/uttrakhand-disaster-flood-2013
Yes, I am currently working with colleagues at the Federal University of Rondonia, in Porto Velho, Rondonia, in Brazil, on the impacts of two recently constructed hydropower dams (Santo Antonio and Jirau) on the Upper Madeira River, in the southwestern Amazon Basin. There are a number of articles written about impacts foreseen by human and social scientists during the environmental impacts process. Brazil's environmental agency, IBAMA rejected the license to construct the dams, so president Lula removed the former director and all agents associated with the process, and replaced them with people who would "rubberstamp" the licenses. Santo Antonio was completed in 2011, and Jirau was completed in 2012 (I believe).
Although it is early in the process, we are beginning to see some of the foreseen consequences. The recent flood (the largest in recorded history), which is now in its waning stages, has only exacerbated these impacts. See the links below for earlier documentation of impacts. UNIR colleagues are beginning to publish their preliminary findings, and I will be publishing some of my preliminary findings shortly. I also have pdfs of early articles written during the environmental review process.If you are interested, send a request and I'll locate them to share with you.
The links: http://energyblog.nationalgeographic.com/2012/04/18/study-predicts-grim-ecological-effects-for-proposed-amazon-dams/; http://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/muddy-waters-executive-summary-3969
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