Papers by Nathanial Matthews
THPC Theun Hinboun Power Company THXP Theun Hinboun Expansion Project UNDP United Nations Develop... more THPC Theun Hinboun Power Company THXP Theun Hinboun Expansion Project UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNESCAP UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific USGS United States Geological Survey WB World Bank WCD World Commission on Dams WRCC Water Resources Coordination Committee WREA Water Resource and Environment Administration WWII World War Two Note on Spelling Throughout the thesis, British English is used. Spelling follows the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (12th edition). In case of multiple spelling entries, the first entry is used. Examples of spelling used are 'analyse', 'focused', 'organization' and 'utilize'. Direct quotations maintain their original spelling. Note on Currency All currency is presented in United States Dollars. Peter Oliver, my former boss at the IWC, was a great mentor. I think he would be proud of the study. My fieldwork and conferences have been supported by generous grants from the Department of Geography, the School of Social Science and Public Policy, the University of Saskatchewan and the UNEP. I am grateful to all the people who have provided invaluable data during my fieldwork. In particular, Sean Watson has been a deep well of information. My understanding of hydropower development and environmental impacts has been greatly enhanced by his perspectives. The support of my friends and family has been indispensable. Graham Watts was a great help with editing. My good friend Oskar provided outside perspectives and was there to share a beer or two when needed. In particular, I thank my wife Ay. She has enriched my life. Her patience, understanding and caring have boosted me through the highs and lows. Finally, I am deeply grateful to my mother for her unconditional support and encouragement.
The Nature Conservancy is fortunate to have the support of visionary people and organizations who... more The Nature Conservancy is fortunate to have the support of visionary people and organizations whose generosity allows us to pursue our mission. We are grateful to the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation for supporting our work to explore solutions to some of the world's most significant freshwater challenges.
Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, 2018
This chapter assesses scenarios of future land degradation and restoration in terms of change in:... more This chapter assesses scenarios of future land degradation and restoration in terms of change in: (i) soil properties; (ii) biodiversity; and (iii) ecosystem services as a result of human activities up to 2050. The ecosystem services considered are provisioning services, such as production of food, bioenergy, fibre and timber as well as regulating services, such as water and climate regulation through carbon storage and sequestration. The effects of land degradation and restoration on cultural services are less explored in scenarios. This chapter outlines the different types and roles of scenarios, assesses global and regional scenario outcomes and recommends future scenario developments. Impacts are described at the global and regional scale
Hydropower Development in the Mekong Region, 2014
The Mekong Basin is home to some 70 million people, for whom this great river is a source of live... more The Mekong Basin is home to some 70 million people, for whom this great river is a source of livelihoods, the basis for their ecosystems and a foundation of their economies. But the Mekong is also currently undergoing enormous social, economic and ecological change, of which hydropower development is a significant driver. This book provides a basin-wide analysis of political, socioeconomic and environmental perspectives of hydropower development in the Mekong Basin. It includes chapters from China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Written by regional experts from some of the area's leading research institutions, the book provides a holistic analysis of the shifting socio-political contexts within which hydropower is framed, legitimized and executed. Drawing heavily on political ecologies and political economics to examine the economic, social, political and ecological drivers of hydropower, the book's basin-wide approach illuminates how hydropower development and its benefits and impacts are linked multilaterally across the basin. The research in the book is derived from empirical research conducted in 2012-2013 as part of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food's 'Improving Hydropower Decision-Making Processes in the Mekong' project.
AESS interdisciplinary environmental studies and sciences series, 2020
This chapter identifies core principles of ecology and environmental science applicable to the ne... more This chapter identifies core principles of ecology and environmental science applicable to the nexus and discusses the tightly coupled socio-ecological systems that establish ecosystems services (ES) within the nexus. The chapter begins by outlining key ecological principles and their interdependencies, demonstrating how ecosystem services are provided related to food, energy, and water. It then illustrates how ecosystems and ecosystem services are valued with respect to the nexus. Next, it outlines the relationship of ecosystem services to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (see Sect. 3.7) before concluding with a case study examining the importance of ecosystem services in erosion control services and conservation agriculture.
Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2016
A major opportunity exists in the transition from the disciplinary Millennium Development Goals (... more A major opportunity exists in the transition from the disciplinary Millennium Development Goals (MDG's) to the more interdisciplinary Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) to transform the dialogue around the environment from its current conceptualization as a constraining factor towards its utilization an enabling force for sustainable development. Agricultural ecosystems are the ecosystems closest to human well-being providing 31% of global employment, and the sustenance for the entirety of the global population. Despite this central contribution, agricultural systems or agroecosystems are responsible for driving significant environmental pressures while failing to provide sustainable diets for a world that is increasing either under-or malnourished. Agriculture's dual change is often presented as a trade-off between conservation and development objectives. However, an increasing body of research demonstrates that agricultural systems are both wholly dependent on, and potentially net providers of ecosystem services beyond food production. Recognizing this dual role allows for greater convergence between conservation and development objectives and leverages environmental management of agricultural system as a means to achieving global sustainability goals. We propose a simple framework for ecosystem services and resilience in agricultural landscapes to better capture and operationalize interactions between ecosystem services provided to agriculture, and those provided from agriculture. We discuss how such a perspective influences definitions of production ecosystem services and emphasize the need for greater focus on resilience and regulating services. We argue for better applications of resilience-based approaches and call for refocusing ecosystem service research on human well-being outcomes articulated in the social targets of the SDGs, in addition to the more traditional biophysical and conservation based outcomes. Highlights: The transition towards the interdisciplinary global Sustainable Development Goals calls for a greater recognition of agriculture's contribution to multiple objectives. As the largest ecosystem of the Anthropocene, and the ecosystem most closely tied to human well-being, understanding agricultural ecosystem as complex adaptive socioecological systems is a prerequisite to achieving sustainability. An ecosystem service and resilience approach facilitates this transition by emphasizing environmental contributions to food security, and human well-being in a time of change.
Ảnh hưởng của Trung Quốc đối với phat triển thủy điện ở lưu vực song Lancang va hạ lưu vực song M... more Ảnh hưởng của Trung Quốc đối với phat triển thủy điện ở lưu vực song Lancang va hạ lưu vực song Me Cong
Es imperioso lograr un mayor conocimiento sobre la forma de implementar regimenes de gestion efic... more Es imperioso lograr un mayor conocimiento sobre la forma de implementar regimenes de gestion eficaces para el nexo bosque-agua.
Water Security, 2020
Increasing competition for freshwater underscores the need for scalable solutions to manage and m... more Increasing competition for freshwater underscores the need for scalable solutions to manage and mitigate the impacts of freshwater scarcity. Appropriate rules and incentives can facilitate a shift to more sustainable patterns of water use, including water reallocation to restore rivers and aquifers in regions already experiencing excessive water extractions. Despite their potential, water markets and other incentive-based approaches to manage water have struggled to scale up beyond pilot initiatives due to political resistance, financing shortfalls and data deficits. Recent advances in our understanding of incentives for sustainable water use can help to overcome persistent barriers that have hindered past efforts. We provide a review of two well-established yet disconnected fields of research and practice, and establish an agenda at their intersection: (i) incentive-based approaches to water allocation and management and (ii) theory-of-change approaches to strategic development and impact evaluation. Doing so allows us to situate incentive-based approaches to water allocation in a broader context, identifying the potential synergies and frictions with wider processes of institutional reform and infrastructure development. An explicit focus on theory-of-change approaches can identify the key assumptions and knowledge gaps hindering progress, such as drivers, enabling conditions and sequencing issues for different approaches, and the key factors constraining adoption in different contexts. We identify three areas where interdisciplinary research can support the development, implementation and evaluation of theories of change for water markets and other incentive-based water management: (1) identifying where and when to develop different types of incentives for sustainable water use, (2) designing and testing incentives as part of a broader package of institutional reforms and infrastructure investments and (3) systematically evaluating the impact of incentives using diverse data sources (from satellites to the field), multiple methods and multiple criteria. A global network of water researchers and practitioners, supported by common frameworks and observatories, can enable systematic learning from experiments to strengthen incentives for sustainable water use and scale up their adoption. 1. The challenge of sustainable water use 1.1. Spread of freshwater scarcity Over half of the global population experiences severe water scarcity for at least one month of the year [1]. Urbanisation, rising incomes, changing diets, and growing populations are intensifying competition for water, whilst climate change is decreasing the reliability of available supplies and infrastructure in many areas. Experiences from Cape Town to California are emblematic of these global trends. By 2050, imbalances between supply and demand are projected to involve an urban surface-water deficit of up to 6.75 million m 3 [2] with approximately four billion people expected to live in severely stressed river basins [3]. These pressures are straining rivers and aquifers, leading to hotspots of competition for water between cities, agriculture, hydropower and ecosystems.
Water International, Oct 3, 2022
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Papers by Nathanial Matthews
This chapter adopts a political economy approach to examine how private sector investment have shaped the hydropower development process in the Mekong Basin and the approach of government, investors and developers. The chapter examines in particular the emergence and growing role of IPPs and private sector financing in Laos and Cambodia. We show how the divergent political economies of the two countries have resulted in different models of BOT/ PPP in large-scale hydropower development. The chapter argues that the actual distribution of project risk and benefit does not reflect the original rationale of BOT/ PPP, and in particular leaves the state, local communities, the environment, and electricity consumers with a disproportionate share of risk, to the benefit of the private sector developers and financiers. Yet, the governments of Cambodia and Laos also struggle to negotiate deals as they compete to attract international and regional capital. Overall, it is argued that the interests of IPPs are a significant factor driving hydropower development in the Mekong Basin, shaping energy planning in Thailand and Vietnam, and relevant law and policy on hydropower development in Cambodia and Laos.
experiences of economic change in the “transition” economies of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Under the Asian Development Bank’s ambitious multibillion dollar program for regional development, the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) framework, fastpaced economic growth – underpinned by large-scale infrastructure development, economic integration and resource extraction – has been heavily promoted as the solution to entrenched poverty in the region. However, the livelihoods, culture and environment of too many have been seriously compromised by economic change in the Mekong. Although the claimed mandate of development has been to help poor people and improve their livelihoods, difficulties for many, most notably the multitudinous ethnic minorities of the Mekong, have been exacerbated. This is borne out in the literature reviewed for this
report, which includes academic journal articles, research institute studies and reports by donors and non-government organisations published since 2001. In particular, the report draws on a number of key, localised, empirical studies which give detailed accounts of the circumstances,
changes and implications for people living in Laos, Cambodia and the uplands of Vietnam. Specialised studies in aquatic resources, resource governance and health are also referenced which contribute important areas for consideration. The three main sections of this report reflect the
critical themes that feature consistently across the studies. The first documents the changing experience of access to natural resources – gricultural land, forests and rivers – which forms the foundation
of rural livelihoods in the Mekong. Changes in ownership of and access to these resources has been one of the fundamental components of GMS
economic change, and it is in this area which the poor have experienced the greatest vulnerability. The second section examines experiences of the
new economy, in particular those associated with agricultural transformation and new opportunities for commerce and trade, and considers some of the unintended consequences. The third section explores some of the impacts of economic change on cultures and their implications for people’s experience of poverty and wellbeing. Culture is one of the least considered aspects of development and poverty alleviation yet it is central to all that defines our humanity and therefore to
the meaning of a concept such as poverty.
technological approaches to agricultural intensification as the most viable solution to increasing food production, despite its severe and negative impacts on the environment. In our view, an ecosystem service based approach to development and management decisions provide the best opportunity to sustainably and equitably increase food security, and also provide opportunities for income generation for people. It is hoped that this report will shape and drive forward our collective efforts to apply existing, and generate new, research
and activities to facilitate the uptake of ecosystem service-based approaches in regions where CGIAR works.
The CGIAR Research Program (CRP) on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) combines the resources of 11 CGIAR centers, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO), and numerous national, regional and international partners to provide an integrated approach to natural resource
management research. WLE supports an approach to sustainable intensification in which healthy functioning ecosystems are seen as a prerequisite to agricultural development, food security and human well-being. Ecosystem Services and Resilience (ESR) is a crosscutting
core theme within WLE that focuses on the role of ecosystem service based approaches in building community
resilience and helping WLE achieve its development outcomes. This program is led by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a member of the CGIAR Consortium and is
supported by CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. This ESR Framework outlines how WLE, working closely with its partners, intends to shape and drive forward
the integration of ESR concepts into development and resource management decisions in agricultural landscapes.