Asian River Basins

SpringerBriefs in Geography
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http://www.springer.com/series/10050
David Higgitt
Editor
Perspectives on
Environmental Management
and Technology in Asian
River Basins
123
David Higgitt
Department of Geography
National University of Singapore
Singapore
e-mail: geodlh@nus.edu.sg
ISSN 2211-4165 e-ISSN 2211-4173

ISBN 978-94-007-2329-0 e-ISBN 978-94-007-2330-6
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-2330-6
Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York
Library of Congress Control Number: 2011937632
Ó The Author(s) 2012

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Contents
1 Environmental Management and Technology

in Asian River Basins: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
David Higgitt
2 Environmental Science and Management in a Changing World . . . 11

Gary Brierley and Carola Cullum
3 River Hardware and Software: Perspectives on National Interest

and Water Governance in the Mekong River Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Philip Hirsch
4 Evolutionary Technologies in Knowledge-Based

Management of Water Resources: Perspectives
from South Asian Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Angela Barbanente, Dino Borri and Laura Grassini
5 Surface Runoff and Sediment Yields from Tropical Volcanic

Upland Watersheds as Influenced by Climatic, Geological
and Land-Use Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Anton Rijsdijk
6 Ecological Protection and Restoration in Sanjiangyuan

National Nature Reserve, Qinghai Province, China . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Xi-lai Li, Gary Brierley, De-jun Shi, Yong-li Xie and Hai-qun Sun
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
v
Chapter 1
Environmental Management
and Technology in Asian River Basins:
Introduction
David Higgitt
Abstract Asian river basins are undergoing rapid transformation. Asian rivers are
cradles of civilization, where interventions with natural river systems for irriga-
tion, navigation improvement and flood control have a long history. It is not a
coincidence that ancient civilizations arose in the lower reaches of large river
basins, from the Nile to the Tigris–Euphrates, the Indus and the Yellow River.
The ability to contain and utilize the waters and sediment-associated nutrients is a
defining feature of ancient societies across many Asian river basins.
1.1 Environmental Challenges and Development in Asian

River Basins
Asian river basins are undergoing rapid transformation. As Biswas and Tortajada
(2011) have recently commented, water management in Asia will likely change
more in the next 20 years than in the last 2000 years. Asian rivers are cradles of
civilization, where interventions with natural river systems for irrigation, navi-
gation improvement and flood control have a long history. It is not a coincidence
that ancient civilizations arose in the lower reaches of large river basins, from the
Nile to the Tigris–Euphrates, the Indus and the Yellow River. Karl Wittfogel’s
classic theory of hydraulic civilizations presented in Oriental Despotism (1957)
charts the development of agricultural systems dependent upon, and subject to,
large scale management of waterworks. The ability to contain and utilize the
D. Higgitt (&)
Department of Geography, National University of Singapore,
1 Arts Link, Singapore 129792, Singapore
e-mail: geodlh@nus.edu.sg
D. Higgitt (ed.), Perspectives on Environmental Management and 1

Technology in Asian River Basins, SpringerBriefs in Geography,
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-2330-6_1, Ó The Author(s) 2012
2 D. Higgitt
waters and sediment-associated nutrients is a defining feature of ancient societies

across many Asian river basins. Nevertheless, the present-day scale of land cover
change and the extent and magnitude of contemporary water engineering is
enormous in comparison to pre-industrial societies. The adaptations which ancient
societies began to understand intrinsically in order to inhabit river valleys in
monsoon regions, still remain as challenges to contemporary science and gover-
nance. And these challenges are amplified by critical environmental trends.
Key environmental trends include decreasing flows of water and sediment due
to dam construction and increased water extraction, land use change (especially
forest removal), encroachment and degradation of floodplain and wetland envi-
ronments, increased water demand and concerns about water security, urban
expansion and associated pollution of rivers and contamination of groundwater
reserves. These challenges are being reframed by new approaches to water
management which represent a transition from engineering-dominated approaches
towards integrated water resource management (IWRM), from technology transfer
to adaptive technologies. This book is concerned with exploring how some aspects
of the reframing of approaches to water management may play out in the context
of Asian river basins, where environmental protection and development goals are
frequently seen in conflict. The Millennium Ecosystem Report (2005) recognizes
that restoring and sustaining functional river ecosystems with high biodiversity is
one of the greatest challenges facing society. On the other hand economic growth
and the potential to transform rural livelihoods drive a perception that the water
resources have been under-exploited. This situation is exemplified in the Mekong
River Basin, where plans for large scale hydropower development have long
been on the agendas of national governments, pushed forward by the World Bank,
Asian Development Bank and a range of bilateral donors and hydropower
companies. Middleton et al. (2009) describe the emerging ‘electricity hunger’ of
riparian states heralded by a period of relative geopolitical stability and rapid
economic growth. But the race to construct dams across a relatively undeveloped
river basin has to be balanced by recognition of the river’s existing value as a
source of natural resources. In the case of the Mekong, the economic value of
fisheries is significant but has often been underplayed in development plans
(Middleton et al. 2009). Hydrological changes relating to dam construction and
reservoir operation have significant negative impacts on fishery productivity and
other riparian activities which, in turn, threaten food security.
Analysis of the driving forces contributing to contemporary environmental
trends should therefore be accompanied by consideration of the coupled social
trends which influence expectations of environmental management. Emerging
expectations include greater accountability of organizations, widening participa-
tion in decision making, enhanced distribution of benefits among communities,
sharing of risk and recognition of vulnerabilities (Lebel 2009). As such the
adjoined environmental change and development challenges in Asian river basins
require objectives of ecological sustainability and social justice to be balanced
with further development of water resources. Some of the dilemmas arising can be
illustrated by a brief consideration of flood management.
1 Environmental Management and Technology in Asian River Basins 3
Evidence points to increasing incidence of floods globally but with particular

significance in Asia. The construction of a Global Flood Inventory (Adhikari
et al. 2010) cataloging the location, scale and impact of floods demonstrates the
vulnerability of Asian cities. In a separate study of disaster impacts, 45% of water-
related disaster fatalities and 90% of flood-displaced people in the period
1980–2006 were found to be in Asia (Adikari and Yoshitani 2009). The summer
monsoon of 2010 inflicted unprecedented flood damage across wide swathes of
Asia, most vividly in Pakistan and southern China. In response to flood hazard, a
command and control strategy is commonly adopted where flood threat requires
control through infrastructure and management from institutions. Reactions in the
aftermath of flood incidents in Asian cities tend to focus on evaluating the per-
formance of engineered systems. For example, a series of flash flood incidents in
2010 and 2011 which impacted the Orchard Road shopping area and Bukit Timah
residential district of Singapore immediately triggered promises of engineering
works to widen drain capacities and raise the level of affected roads. Through
engineering ingenuity and foresight, the inherent problem of flooding in many
urban areas has been controlled to a high degree. However, there are two areas of
discord. The first is to consider how the modernist tendency towards a command
and control approach is at odds with the traditional land use practices which
adapted to monsoon flood regimes across Asia. Settlement patterns and cultural
practices which evolved to accommodate annual flood cycles are disrupted by the
pace of urbanization and environmental changes within hinterland basins.
The second issue confronting the engineering-led approach is the moving target of
flood management. The delivery of flood protection is compounded by several
factors. These include the impact of rapid urbanization increasing runoff and flood
peaks; the problem that the construction of flood protection encourages
encroachment onto floodplains; and the concern that upstream interventions
reallocates risk to other parts of the basin. The topic of how interventions may
increase risk to vulnerable groups has received little attention (Lebel and Sinh
2007). Similarly, strong migration from rural areas to cities resulting in expansion
of slums into flood risk areas is a neglected topic (Adikari et al. 2010). Two further
aspects which make flood management a moving target are limited knowledge
about the range of extreme events and the potential impacts of climate change.
Measurement of water discharge has a limited history in most Asian countries
though documentary records of flood events are impressive in China and Japan.
Ultimately, appraisal of the probability of events exceeding a certain threshold is
based on limited data. The ability to derive longer-term information about past
floods through interpretation of past sedimentary deposits is one possibility to
extend knowledge. Though the past incidence of floods and droughts has been a
feature of life in Asia, there is growing evidence that the range of extremes and
frequency of hazard events has been increasing because of climate change.
The extent to which a command and control management style can keep up with
climate change is also called into question. Finally, as mentioned above, changing
expectations from societies to sustain functional river systems challenge the
reliance on infrastructure.
4 D. Higgitt
Juxtaposed with the increasing concern about flood hazard across several Asian
cities, there are signs of an emerging international movement towards integrated
river basin management. In several Western countries, most notably in USA and
Australia, societal demands for river rehabilitation—the improvement and main-
tenance of functional river ecosystems—have resulted in large-scale initiatives to
recover or restore damaged aquatic ecosystems. In the European Union, the
Water Framework Directive provides a blueprint for maintaining water quality,
protecting high value ecosystems and recognizing the ecosystem services provided
by rivers. These initiatives demand a new approach to river basin management,
where interdisciplinary activity across the water-related earth sciences, particularly
involving engineers, hydrologists, geomorphologists and ecologists, is tied more
effectively to social science perspectives, and these understandings are appropri-
ately framed within an institutional context. There are signs that this new paradigm
is establishing itself in Asia. The Asian River Restoration Network (ARRN) is a
non-governmental organization, established in 2006 to promote the exchange of
knowledge and technology, particularly in relation to the Asian monsoon. National
networks have been established in China, Korea and Japan, the latter providing
secretariat support for the Asian network. ARRN argues for the necessity of
countries in the Asian monsoon region to develop and share strategies for river
restoration given the dense populations, regime of frequent flooding and abundant
rice paddy.
1.2 Integrated Water Resource Management
The accelerated transformation of the physical environment coupled with changing

expectations for environmental management (outlined above) lays the template for a
multitude of regional, national and local challenges facing the water sector in Asia.
Many communities still lack access to a safe source of water and reliable sanitation
systems. Climate change exerts further challenges on the ability of infrastructure to
cope with flood risk, threatens water scarcity in some areas due to reduced precip-
itation or groundwater recharge and accentuates risk of contamination of water
resources. Water scarcity is a major concern though some commentators (e.g.
Biswas 2009) express cautious optimism that present knowledge, experience and
technology will be sufficient to address problems if inefficient management practices
can be improved. In an extended analysis of the Asian Development Bank’s
Asian Water Development Outlook, Biswas and Seetharam (2008) argue that by
concentrating on the tricky issues of capacity building, attaining political will and
appropriate investment the problems of overcoming poor management of water
resources in some parts of Asia can be solved. Thus it is not physical scarcity but poor
water management which lies at the heart of the problem. This requires innovative
approaches and new mindsets.
IWRM represents an attempt to frame water management in such a new
mindset to focus on human well being and environmental sustainability. Snellen
and Schrevel (2004) have traced the history of United Nations involvement in
IWRM back to the late 1950s, taking its precedent from the Tennessee Valley
Authority established in the USA in 1933. Here is explicit recognition that engi-
neering design alone was not sufficient to bring about desired improvements in
livelihoods but needed to be accompanied by consideration of other resource use,
such as access to finance, transport and fertilizer in irrigation schemes. From a
secondary concern to link water planning with other sectoral interests, IWRM has
been propelled forward in the last two decades as a means to promote coordinated
development and management of water, land and other resources addressing the
goals of efficient and economic use of water, equity in allocation and access across
different social groups and environmental sustainability to protect and improve the
ecological value of the environment. Arising from the 1992 International
Conference on Water and the Environment, the so-called Dublin Principles
emphasize that water is a finite and vulnerable resource vital in sustaining life, the
need to base management on a participatory approach involving users, planners
and policy makers at all levels, the important but often neglected role played by
women in managing and safeguarding water and the recognition that water should
be treated as an economic good. This led to the establishment of the Global Water
Partnership (GWP) in 1996 which has adapted and elaborated these principles,
but also recognized that nation states at different stages of development will need
to adapt IWRM principles to local contexts.
1.3 Science and Technology Studies: A Framework
If the understanding and management of water resources has traditionally been

regarded as the realm of scientists and engineers, the emerging debates about
alternative approaches to river basin management call for greater interdisciplinary
engagement. Science and Technology Studies (or Science, Technology and
Society; STS) is an established interdisciplinary field which recognizes the need
for social scientists to investigate the huge influence of science and technology
permeating every aspect of political, social and cultural life. Emerging dilemmas
confronting societies such as climate change or environmental sustainability
require engagement with science and technology, yet mix politics, science and
popular knowledge. Many aspects of water resource management involve concepts
of knowledge transfer where a piece of technology or an example of best practice
is introduced which can be ‘learnt’ and applied to new local situations. Science
and Technology scholars (e.g. Latour 1987) argue that technology is socially
constructed and is made and remade as the dissemination of the technology
evolves into new and unplanned applications. Pahl-Wostl et al. (2011) notes that
the development and application of IWRM has mirrored emerging theories of
knowledge and management, such as notions of extended peer communities and
socially robust science. Thus STS provides a potential framework for examining
how scientific research on hydrological and ecological dynamics of rivers can be
6 D. Higgitt
contributed, engaged and transformed. Recent interest in adaptive management

and social learning provide an illustration.
Concepts of adaptive management arose from interest in non-linear change and
complexity in ecological systems. It can be defined as an iterative process for
improving decision making, policy and practice through learning from outcomes
of previously implemented strategies. Tackling the enormous challenges of sus-
tainability and cross-sectoral planning is more appropriately approached by
regarding the mix of human, technology and environmental components as part of
a complex adaptive system where uncertainty is inevitable (Pahl-Wostl 2007).
In juxtaposing elements of traditional command and control strategies against
elements of IWRM (Zevenbergen et al. 2008) several conceptual features of
adaptive management can be identified. The tendency to focus on reducing
uncertainties by devising technical solutions to narrowly defined problems is a
traditional characteristic of water resource management now challenged by the
notion that co-evolving complex adaptive systems are irreducible and require an
approach that embraces uncertainty as a key feature. Hence the traditional strat-
egies to control change to preserve a status quo or focus on reducing a specific risk
can be challenged by strategies to enhance ability to adapt to uncertainty and a
focus on reducing vulnerability—concepts of adaptiveness and resilience. A linear
approach to sequential planning processes is challenged by a willingness to realign
content and process according to context—recognition of complexity; by an
extension of the typical timeframe for planning towards longer term horizons
framed by concepts of sustainability. The tradition of top-down management by
strong institutions is challenged by the encouragement of bottom-up initiatives
focused by strategic leadership. Participation is a fundamental ingredient.
Despite the growing intellectual debate on adaptive management there is
arguably limited evidence of genuine shifts in practice (Gregory et al. 2011). The
governance frameworks underpinning management practice impose inertia to limit
transition. Thus there is increasing attention to ideas of social learning arising from
literature in sustainability science and organizational management research. Social
learning and adaptive management are linked by the need to develop capacity of
relevant authorities (e.g. planners, policy makers, experts, interest groups) and other
stakeholders to negotiate goals and translate these into actions. Learning is
achieved within the context of the network of actors. Adaptive management
requires a human-technology-environment system (i.e. a network of actors) to adapt
in response to, or in anticipation of changes in the environment (Lebel et al. 2010).
In Australia, where empathy towards new paradigms of river repair and
adaptive management has been generally established, the transition to new
governance frameworks remains challenging. In an empirically based study,
Farrelly and Brown (2011) examined a series of local scale experiments in
Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia. They argue that in order to accom-
modate uncertainty, organizational cultures must be willing to embrace experi-
mentation as a precursor to learning. In practice the rigid regulatory frameworks
within which centralized management systems operate provide an intimidating
regime for practioners to experiment with novel innovations or technologies.
A fear of failure or risk aversion is prevalent as this has implications for financial
considerations, reputation, liabilities and loss of future opportunities (Farrelly and
Brown 2011). Building on the concept of triple-loop learning, the single loop or
technical learning can be regarded as a process of selecting actions within an
existing set of assumptions; the double-loop or conceptual learning revisits
assumptions and perceptions of the defined problem; the triple-loop or social
learning reconsiders underlying values and beliefs providing the potential for
transformation (Pahl-Wostl et al. 2011). Applied to Asia, the openness of orga-
nizational structures to experimentation and innovative approaches, the capacity to
build stakeholder networks and the profile of emerging paradigms of river repair
and ecological sustainability as central pillars of water management may be rather
different from experiences in Australia, North America and Europe. There are
signs that many of these ideas are being picked up, debated, shared and trans-
formed in Asian contexts. But empirical analysis of the effectiveness of learning
processes and the diffusion of innovation in Asian river basins has been quite
limited. Questions about how the interaction of science, technology, policy and
governance plays out to address the multiple challenges of water resource man-
agement, needs further attention. STS may provide theoretical insights for framing
future debate.
1.4 Themes and Case Studies
The volume comprises an introduction and five chapters. In Chap. 2, Gary Brierley
and Carola Callum reframe approaches to river repair within emerging theories of
in ecology and earth science which regard nature as a complex adaptive system
replete with inherent uncertainties. They trace the development of ideas about
complex adaptive systems over the past 50 years which has some resonance with
the gradual evolution of IWRM principles among international agencies. These
ideas are mirrored in the four case study chapters which deal with specific
examples of governance, science or policy issues in Asian river basins. The studies
descend from the alpine meadows of Qinghai province China, the source of three
great Asian rivers—the Yangtze, Yellow and Mekong, to consider governance
issues in the lower Mekong, adaptation of water technologies by local commu-
nities in western India and analysis of the deforestation-erosion debate in the
uplands of Java, Indonesia. Naturally, these case studies provide just a glimpse of
the many problems and challenges confronting Asian river basins but they do cut
across key themes of improving scientific understanding of hydrological systems,
appreciating the making and remaking of technologies transferred from western to
Asian contexts, the emergence of joined-up policy interventions to link nature
conservation within a framework of water management.
Chapter 3 visits the Mekong Basin. Philip Hirsch examines the shift from
‘hardware’ to ‘software’-driven approaches. Hardware refers to the engineering-
based approach of the command and control school with its attendant focus on
8 D. Higgitt
infrastructure. The software dimension is the focus on governance and IWRM.

Hirsch considers the implications of new governance approaches for the imple-
mentation of large scale infrastructure plans. The Mekong holds a special place
in discussions of IWRM in Asia because of its transboundary status and the
comparatively long history of the Mekong River Commission (MRC). In a recent
analysis of social learning, Lebel et al. (2010) charts the development of stake-
holder networks and engagement and the progress of the MRC in learning how to
‘do’ public participation. Hirsch illustrates his chapter with three cases examining
bilateral relations between Vietnam and Cambodia on the Sean tributary, the
much-debated issue of upstream Chinese dams and the sustainability-driven
agenda of the Thai water grid.
In Chap. 4, Angela Barbanente, Dino Borri and Laura Grassini adopt and
approach informed by STS to examine the hybrid adoption of water resource
technologies in India. The first example is from agricultural communities in the
arid areas of Gujarat, where local adaptation of a technology to recharge
groundwater triggered hydrogeological investigation. The second example
examines a slum upgrading project in Ahmedabad where the improvement of
water supply facilities resulted in a range of additional and innovative adaptations
by the local communities. Thus the intended outcomes of technology transfer spin
off into unanticipated innovations as local communities combine indigenous and
external technologies in hybrid forms.
Moving from India to Indonesia, Chap. 5 by Anton Rijsdijk considers the
problem of determining sediment dynamics in an upland catchment in Java.
Ostensibly a geomorphological research project to evaluate sediment yield in
relation to land use, the results throw light onto a controversial but often over-
simplified problem encountered in Indonesia and other steepland environments in
Southeast Asia. This is the blame game where flood disasters are attributed to land
use change (particularly to illegal logging) in upland areas. The logic of associating
deforestation with downstream increases in flood peaks is immediately apparent but
it is surprising how few studies have conclusively demonstrated the magnitude of
hydrological changes. As Meigh and Barlett (2010) have demonstrated from
consultancy projects in Indonesia and the Philippines, there are multiple factors
contributing to flooding in addition to poor land use upstream. Floodplain
encroachment and garbage accumulation and other restrictions in urban channels
are problematic. Rijsdijk uses a long-term paired catchment approach to compute
sediment yields in the upper (forested) and lower (agricultural) parts of the two
catchments. The data indicate that sediment yields is significantly enhanced in areas
where the forest is removed but also that official data are likely to have underes-
timated sediment yields because of inadequate sampling procedures.
The final chapter (Chap. 6) by Xi-Lai Li et al. goes to the roof of the world.
The Sanjiangyuan (Three Source Zone) Natural Reserve in Qinghai Province
nurtures three great rivers: the Yellow, Yantgtze and Mekong. Climate change,
increased human activity and overgrazing have degraded significant areas of
natural grasslands in Qinghai which in turn reduces the carrying capacity and
threatens the livelihoods of local communities dependent of herding. This
degradation has been accompanied by reductions in discharge in the headwaters, at

least in part due to retreating glaciers. Under a national policy to increase the
economic potential and well being of inhabitants in its western provinces, the
protection of biodiversity and the restoration of degraded land are set forth as
important objectives. Li et al. describe the ecological conservation imperatives and
their connection to integrated river basin management.
The collection of papers began life in a session organized for the NUS
Centennial Conference on ‘‘Asian Horizons: Cities, States and Societies’’. It was a
deliberate attempt to bring together academics concerned with rivers and water
resources from either side of the science–social science divide in an attempt to
examine shared interests, concerns and obstacles to engagement. The obstacles
turned out to be mainly logistical as the collected papers destined for a journal
special issue languished with more than one unresponsive editor. I am grateful to
Petra van Steenbergen for rescuing the project and facilitating its presentation in
the SpringerBriefs series in Geography. Each of the contributed chapters has been
through a full peer review and revision process. In this endeavour, I acknowledge
the contributions of Radhan D’Souza (Waikato University, New Zealand); Feng
Yiming (Chinese Academy of Forestry, China); Carl Grundy-Warr (National
University of Singapore); Stuart Harris (University of Calgary, Canada); Louis
Lebel (Chiangmai University, Thailand); Emma Mawdsley (University of
Cambridge, UK); John Rowan (University of Dundee, UK); Michael Stewardson
(Australian National University, Australia); Ross Sutherland (University of
Hawai’i, USA); and Bob Wasson (Charles Darwin University, Australia). Most of
all I am grateful to the authors whose patience has been severely tested through
this process.
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Chapter 2
Environmental Science and Management
in a Changing World
Gary Brierley and Carola Cullum
Abstract Recognition of the pervasive impact of human activities on the natural

world has prompted a reframing of approaches to environmental repair.
Disentangling threads in the evolution of theoretical environmental science and
management practice over the last 50 years enables practitioners to position
contemporary programmes within a coherent conceptual framework. Over the last
50 years, environmental management strategies have moved beyond concern
solely for utilitarian values to recognizing the importance of biodiversity
management and associated ecosystem services. Initially, these programmes
focussed on management of single issues, emphasizing concerns for endangered
species and conservation in designated reserves that retained notionally pristine
areas. The transition to an ecosystem approach to environmental management
marked the recognition that there are too many species to attempt to save them one
at a time and that conservation efforts must focus upon whole ecosystems.
However, the ecosystem approach retained a vision of nature in equilibrium and
management initiatives were framed in terms of environmental reference condi-
tions and adjustments around a mean condition. Emerging theories in both ecology
and earth sciences view nature as a complex adaptive system, often involving
non-linear relationships and stochastic events which lead to outcomes that are
unpredictable in time and space. Explicit recognition of inherent uncertainties in
the character and behaviour of environmental systems has prompted a shift towards
application of adaptive and participatory management principles. Recognizing
directly the imperative to integrate scientific thinking with social-ecological
G. Brierley (&)
School of Environment, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019,
Auckland, New Zealand
e-mail: g.brierley@auckland.ac.nz
C. Cullum
Centre for Water in the Environment, University of Witswatersrand,
Johannesburg, South Africa

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-2330-6_2, The Author(s) 2012
12 G. Brierley and C. Cullum
considerations, post-normal scientific practice embraces a more inclusive approach

to the management of complex adaptive systems, striving to maximise the resil-
ience of any given system. Prospective opportunities for geographers in meeting
the needs of this emerging framework are considered.

Keywords Environmental management Ecosystem management Biodiversity
Post-normal science
2.1 Introduction
The last 50 years have seen a dramatic shift of perspective in our scientific
understanding of the natural world. The traditional view of the ‘balance of nature’
was embedded in conceptual frameworks that built upon equilibrium notions and
related conceptualisations of succession, climax communities and notional ‘end-
points’ of ecosystem trajectories (Botkin 1989; Wu and Loucks 1995). Over the
last decade or so, this view has been supplanted by a vision of nature as a complex
adaptive system, characterised by non-linear relationships, random events and
interactions that generate uncertainties and discontinuities (O’Neill 2001; Perry
2002). It is now recognised that environmental interactions and responses are place
and time specific, so that different catchments will react in different ways to similar
interventions, depending on their climatic and geological context, spatial config-
uration and their history of evolution and land use (Brierley and Fryirs 2005).
As theoretical perspectives have evolved, so too have their applications in
environmental management. For example, as long as natural systems were
understood to be generally stable if unaltered by humankind, then conservation
efforts could aim to preserve or restore a pristine state. Conceptualizations of
nature in terms of mechanical models and linear, causal relationships enabled
indicators to be used to evaluate environmental health and to track progress
towards restoration goals. However, a new, emerging paradigm views the natural
world as a complex system that is not necessarily in equilibrium. Multiple states
are possible within the same boundary conditions, and the same impact may have
very different consequences in different contexts. Such thinking undermines the
use of pristine conditions as reference points and broadly applied indicators.
In response, adaptive and participatory management frameworks provide the most
reliable platform to work with, and plan for, uncertainties (Walters and Holling
1990). They recognise explicitly that our understanding will never be complete,
and that sustainable environmental management is inherently dependent upon
societal engagement and empowerment in the design, implementation and main-
tenance of management activities (Rhoads et al. 1999).
The shift in theoretical perspective not only has far-reaching implications for its
practical application in management, but also for the way environmental science
needs to be conducted in order to usefully inform policy and decision making.
2 Environmental Science and Management in a Changing World 13
As noted by Ravetz (1999, p 649), in such ‘issue-driven’ science ‘‘typically facts

are uncertain, values in dispute, stakes high, and decisions urgent…. the previous
distinction between ‘hard’, objective scientific facts and ‘soft’, subjective value-
judgements is now inverted. All too often, we must make hard policy decisions
where our only scientific inputs are irremediably soft’’. Funtowicz and Ravetz
(1993) argue that ‘normal’ science, based on reductionist theories supported by
experimental evidence and notionally value-free deductive reasoning, needs to be
replaced by ‘post normal science’, characterised by uncertainty analysis and
management, lay participation and the integration of scientific knowledge not only
across disciplines, but also across the lay-expert divide.
The new scientific paradigm of natural systems thus presents significant
challenges to scientists and managers alike. Scientists cannot provide secure pre-
dictions to inform managerial policy and interventions, solutions are not universally
applicable, desired outcomes are negotiable and the involvement of local commu-
nities and stakeholders is essential. In many instances, institutional structures and
practices have only recently been reformed in light of international, national and
local environmental legislation developed during the 1990s such as the 1992 Rio
Convention on Biological Diversity (United Nations Environmental Program 1992).
Although there have been many statements of the principles of adaptive
management and post normal science (e.g. Kay et al. 1999), uptake has been slow in
practice as practitioners are often trapped within the bounds of discipline-bound
academic institutions and legislatively-bound environmental management agencies.
Inevitably, there is a lag between the evolution of scientific thinking and manage-
ment practice. The nature and extent of this dislocation varies markedly from place
to place, as institutions themselves respond to their own histories and associated
cultures (framed in light of prevailing policy imperatives). As in natural systems, the
drivers of change can lead to different responses in different institutional situations.
Context and history are important constraints on potential outcomes. In this changing
world, variability in both natural systems and in the people that use and inhabit them,
present significant challenges to environmental scientists and managers.
In seeking to unravel some of these complexities, it is important to ground the
evolution of conceptual developments and managerial responses, thereby provid-
ing the context with which to position the status and prospects for practitioners and
institutions that work in environmental management. This manuscript endeavours
to disentangle the strands of scientific and managerial practice in environmental
management in the western world over the last 50 years, drawing especially upon
references from the biodiversity and river management arenas. Three phases in the
development of conservation theory and practice are identified. ‘Command and
control’ environmental management and early conservation efforts focussed
around single issues and was informed by ecological theory that stressed the
composition of ecosystems. This gave way to a more holistic ‘ecosystem’
approach, in which functional elements were emphasized. The contemporary view
focuses on system dynamics and complexity. Each paradigm implies quite
different relationships between scientists, managers, society and the natural world,
reflected in distinct styles of conservation practice and environmental management.
It is hoped that this classification of managerial approaches and their theoretical

foundations will help practitioners to critically appraise current and future initiatives.
Post normal science and adaptive management techniques are overviewed as
responses to the uncertainty implicit in complex, adaptive ecosystems. In the
concluding section, we suggest that geographers are well placed to take a leading role
in the uptake of these emerging approaches to environmental management.
2.2 Interplay Between Ecological Theory and Management

Over the Last 50 Years
Over the last half-century, environmental management practices have moved

beyond approaches that treat components of natural systems in isolation towards
more holistic approaches that recognise ecosystem connectivity and the need to
encompass both natural processes and those resulting from human intervention.
Three phases can be differentiated over this era, each characterised by a different
understanding of the concept of biodiversity (Table 2.1). A clear appreciation of
these differences is critical to constructing a coherent conceptual framework that
does not conflate conflicting views of theory and practice.
2.2.1 Single Issue Focus in the era of ‘Command and Control’
The notion of ‘biodiversity’ emerged in the 1960s as a theme linking scientific

study of biological heterogeneity, popular concern with increasingly visible
environmental degradation and the establishment of professional environmental
managers and conservationists (Gaston 1996). Initially, the focus was on ecosys-
tem composition, with scant attention to spatial or functional context. Natural
systems were generally viewed as static, or in dynamic equilibrium once succes-
sion had reached the ‘climax’ stage (Wu and Loucks 1995; O’Neill 2001; Perry
2002, inter alia). Natural phenomena such as flood, fire and earthquakes were seen
as ‘disturbances’ that turned back the clock, resetting the system to an earlier
successional stage, rather than as integral components of the system. Human
intervention was seen in a similar way, such that the aim of conservation efforts
was to preserve pristine landscapes or to restore them to a ‘natural’ state, which it
was assumed would then persist indefinitely (Sprugel 1991). It was believed that
scientific progress would ultimately reveal the mechanisms of natural systems,
such that remedial engineering could reverse adverse human impacts.
In this era, species were considered as the ‘units of biodiversity’ (Claridge et al.
1997). A plethora of quantitative biodiversity indices was developed, designed
either to evaluate the relative conservation value of different areas or to compare
measurements at different times when monitoring the impact of land use changes
or restoration programmes. Most centred on measurements of species richness and
Table 2.1 Developments in ecological theory and their expression in environmental management
Single issue Ecosystem Complex adaptive system
Biodiversity: Collection of individual species Interactions between species and Complexity—non linear relationships,
concepts physical habitat—the field of stochasticity, historical path dependence,
and dreams hypothesis contingency, unpredictability, uncertainty,
emphasis alternative states possible
Structure-composition Function Dynamics-process
Human Control and exploitation of resources Management of ‘natural’ systems Humans viewed as part of social-ecological
relationship Management of risk systems
to nature
Management Command and control; Make nature conform Pressure-State-Response Adaptive management; Place-specific goals
goals to human needs; Uniform, generally Conservation of entire (local) negotiated between stakeholders; System
applicable solutions; Conservation of systems; Reference state—pristine sustainability, maintenance of ecosystem
individual species condition (end points) services
Theoretical Stability Dynamic equilibrium, disrupted by Complexity, self-organisation; Natural variability,
framework disturbance disturbance part of the system
Individual components Web of interactions centred around Nested hierarchies, level characterised by relative
species/area of interest temporal/spatial scales
Dominant Engineering Ecology (with links to other natural Transdisciplinary—human and natural sciences
disciplines sciences)
Methods Single- purpose engineering projects Indicators of system health, Targets Thresholds of probable concern; Targets locally
enshrined in protocols/legislation negotiated
2 Environmental Science and Management in a Changing World
‘‘Normal’’ science Cross-disciplinary, summative ‘‘Post-normal’’ science. Integrative,

approach transdisciplinary, systems-based thinking
about social-ecological interactions
Mechanistic models Process based models with predictive Simulation models suggesting possible outcome
ability to forecast outcome of processes; Spatially explicit models and
GIS; Foresighting of scenarios
Biodiversity indices Keystone/umbrella species System resilience
15
evenness, although some indices also incorporated measures of rarity or endemism

(Ricotta 2005). Thus the assessment of biodiversity involved counting the number
of species present in a particular area and their relative abundance. To circumvent
the need to identify and count the vast number of species present in even a very
small area, surrogate taxa were sought as indicators of the total level of diversity
likely to be present (e.g. Pearson 1994). However, several studies showed that no
single component could consistently indicate overall biodiversity, since the
diversity of different groups can vary independently at almost every biological
scale, from genes through to whole ecosystems (e.g. Prendergast 1997; Heino et al.
2005). Biodiversity indices are now also criticised as gross oversimplifications,
failing to distinguish the relative functional or conservation importance of different
species (Noss 1990; Hooper et al. 2005; Ricotta 2005).
Given the challenge of measuring biodiversity, it is no surprise that early
conservation efforts focussed on the preservation of individual threatened species
(Simberloff 1998). Underpinned by emerging theories of population dynamics,
management initiatives concentrated on large, relatively easily sampled, well-
studied and charismatic organisms. For example, in 1991, 51.5% of all US
government spending on the protection of endangered species was concentrated on
only seven taxa (Losos 1993; Simberloff 1998).
Single-issue thinking also characterised the ‘command and control’ era of river
management that prevailed in the wake of the industrial revolution (Cosgrove and
Petts 1990; Holling and Meffe 1996; Hillman and Brierley 2005). Driven by
political and social concerns for protection against natural hazards and the
development of resources, this engineering-based approach was framed in terms of
deterministic thinking about river stability and natural processes. Grounded in the
reductionist scientific method derived from physics and chemistry, it assumed that
nature can be described in terms of linear causal relationships and mechanistic
models. The ‘command and control’ approach also positioned rivers outside their
landscape context, treating individual components of the system in isolation, such
that ecosystems were often harmed as a result of unanticipated knock-on effects
(Richter and Postel 2004). Strategies applied over relatively short reaches of river
targeted stability, conformity and simplicity, epitomised by the construction of
uniform, homogenous, hydraulically smooth channels, dams, drained wetlands and
fixed flood barriers. The range of natural variability was limited as the system
was forced to conform to human needs, often resulting in a decrease in system
resilience to disturbance and heightening the effect of extreme events (Holling and
Meffe 1996). Many river conservation projects also failed as symptoms were
treated without addressing the root cause (e.g. Hilderbrand et al. 2005).
2.2.2 A Holistic Ecosystem Approach
By the 1990s, the conservation focus on individual species was under attack as
extinction rates continued to soar. It was recognised that there are just too many
species to attempt to save them one at a time and that conservation efforts must be
directed at whole ecosystems. A new view of biodiversity was emerging, in which
the composition, structure (spatial pattern) and function (ecological and evolu-
tionary processes) of an ecosystem both determined and constituted its biological
diversity (Noss 1990; Franklin 1993). Multiple biotic and spatial scales were
considered, from genetic diversity through to the variability of whole ecosystems
(Wegner et al. 2005). Whilst acknowledging the value of a species approach as a
valid ‘emergency-room’ tactic to bring species back from the verge of extinction,
environmental management efforts started to focus on the preservation or
restoration of entire habitats and their ecological ‘integrity’ rather than on indi-
vidual species or the overall number of species present. Such an approach served
to protect the numerous, small and often undescribed species of invertebrates,
fungi and bacteria that carry out critical ecosystem functions such as decompo-
sition or nitrogen fixation (Franklin 1993). In contrast to basic biodiversity indices,
analyses framed in terms of the ecosystem approach recognise that unmeasured
external factors such as invasion by weedy or exotic species may compromise the
ecological functioning and evolutionary potential of an ecosystem (Noss 1990).
Methods of biodiversity assessment changed to reflect the new theoretical
insights. Rather than attempting to enumerate all species present in an area, or to
identify taxa or species whose presence would signal diversity in all other groups
of organisms, indicator taxa or species were sought that could detect and monitor
compositional, structural and functional biodiversity at multiple levels of organi-
sation (Noss 1990). Concepts such as keystone species (Paine 1995), umbrella
species (Launer and Murphy 1994; Lambeck 1997), functional guilds (Severing-
haus 1981; Block et al. 1987) and ecosystem engineers (Jones et al. 1994) were
developed by ecological theorists and used by conservation managers to justify the
selection and establishment of reserves.
Many environmental managers, policy makers and members of the public
welcomed the advent of ecological indicators that enabled complex systems to be
summarised in ways which could be simply communicated. Indicators could be
used to signal progress towards targets based on notions of a pristine system or
high-quality reference sites (Niemi and McDonald 2004). A Pressure-State-
Response framework (OECD 2003) was commonly adopted, assuming cause-
effect relationships between pressures on an environment and its response(s) to
them. Indicators were enshrined in policy and are still widely used to demonstrate
compliance with international, national and regional protocols and legislation.
These frameworks enforced the call to ‘think globally while acting locally’
(United Nations Environmental Program 1992), recognising that without strategic
top-down initiatives, framed at global or regional scales, competing local interests
would likely compromise the capacity to achieve success, as no one would take
responsibility for large-scale, gradual degradation.
Bioindicators were adopted with alacrity in the river management arena, where
concerns for river health focussed on water quality problems, typically point
source industrial pollutants. For example, the US introduced legislation requiring
each state to biannually report the quality of its waters to the US Environmental
Protection Agency, specifying the use of bioindicators as well as other, more direct
measures of contaminants (Niemi and McDonald 2004). Recognising that water
quality concerns cannot be viewed independently from the physical structure of the
river system itself (e.g. Graf 2001), a ‘field of dreams’ approach to river restoration
emerged (Lake 2001). This approach is founded on the belief that biotic
communities would colonise or recover if suitable physical habitat was provided.
It also sought to address the habitat loss caused by interventions such as changes to
channel morphology, the separation of channel and floodplain systems, and the
near-complete removal of riparian vegetation and wood loadings (or their
replacement by exotic species). Eventually it was realized that unless these
applications built upon insights into broader ecosystem or landscape dynamics,
they were doomed to fail (Postel and Richter 2003; Lepori et al. 2005; Palmer et al.
2005; Wohl et al. 2005).
Endeavours to work within an ‘ecosystem’ approach to environmental
management recognized the need to work across disciplines. However, approaches
tended to be summative, piecing together contributions from different fields of
enquiry rather than developing integrated conceptual frameworks and methods
(e.g. Uys 1994). Ecosystems still tended to be viewed independently from each
other, with little appreciation of spatial context and connectivity (e.g. analysis of
interactions among terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems remains in its infancy).
The ‘balance of nature’ paradigm prevailed, suggesting that without human
intervention, natural systems would generally evolve to a state of equilibrium.
The goal of conservationists remained the restoration or preservation of this
pristine state, epitomised in reference sites. The goal of environmental scientists
was to understand the functional mechanics of natural systems, with much
effort devoted to the development of ever more detailed process based models
aiming to predict the impacts of human intervention or environmental change
(e.g. eutrophication models, reviewed in Koelmans et al. 2001).
2.2.3 Chaos and Complexity: Nature as a Complex Adaptive

System
Just as the ecosystem approach was being operationalized in new institutions and
legislation, a dramatic shift in scientific perspective has emerged that challenges or
undermines its theoretical foundation. The new paradigm in both ecology and
earth sciences views natural systems as complex and adaptive, often involving
non-linear relationships and stochastic events that result in effects that can be
unpredictable in time and space (Phillips 1992, 2003; Perry 2002; Wallington et al.
2005; Harris 2007). It is now recognised that stability and equilibrium are merely
illusions of scale (see Bracken and Wainwright 1996). Observed patterns are the
cumulative result of many processes operating at many scales, in which
the sequence of events and spatial configuration may be critical in determining the
outcome. Furthermore, some systems may be subject to ‘catastrophic shifts’ in
response to relatively small trigger events (Scheffer et al. 2001). A given sequence
of events may potentially generate a variety of possible outcomes, such that the
effects of change cannot be reliably predicted (Wallington et al. 2005).
The concept of biodiversity has widened still further. Many would now prefer
the term ‘biocomplexity’, defined as ‘‘the multiplicity of interconnected rela-
tionships and levels’’ (Ascher 2001). The new term reveals its roots in systems
theory, where complexity and chaos theory deal with issues such as non-linearity,
self-organisation and emergence, the contingency of initial conditions and
historical path dependence. Pickett et al. (2005) describe biocomplexity as having
three dimensions, spatial, organizational and temporal. They argue that spatial
analysis must be explicit, taking location and neighbourhood relations into
account, rather than merely focusing on the number and type of entities contrib-
uting to spatial heterogeneity. Organizational complexity encompasses not only
functional units, but also their connectivity, which often constrains or drives their
interactions, in many cases across organizational levels. Temporal complexity
reflects system evolution and legacies of past history, which may continue to
impact through lagged interactions or slowly emerging indirect effects. Landscape
ecology has come to the fore as two-way relationships between pattern and process
are explored (Turner et al. 2001). For example, the theory of patch dynamics
informs studies of the relationships between different landscape units and flows of
the energy and resources vital to ecosystem function are modelled (e.g. Forman
1995; Poole 2002).
The contemporary focus is on the processes responsible for generating and
maintaining observed structures and patterns. Disturbances such as fire and flood
are no longer considered as aberrations, but as an integral part of system dynamics,
often required for its persistence (Turner et al. 1993). The management focus has
moved from conserving static ecosystems and seeking to repair damage by
restoring the (definitive) ‘natural’ landscape, towards strategies that seek to
maximise or conserve ecosystem resilience, so that systems can continue to
function in the face of unexpected disturbances and human impacts (e.g. Holling
1973; Peterson et al. 1998; Gunderson 2000; Carpenter et al. 2001; Folke 2003;
Walker et al. 2004). Emphasis is placed on patch boundaries and the connectivity
between patches, since the maintenance of flow paths is vital to ecosystem
sustainability (Forman 1995). In many systems, heterogeneity and connectivity are
associated with increased system resilience, resistance to exotic invasions and the
maintenance of renewal processes and ecosystem services such as nutrient
recycling, pollination, detoxification and the biological control of parasites and
pathogens (Hooper et al. 2005). In the river management arena, these develop-
ments are exemplified by efforts to allow river systems to self-adjust, such as the
‘space to move’ programmes adopted for various European rivers (Everard and
Powell 2002).
Importantly, contemporary scientific thinking views humans as part of envi-
ronmental systems, recognizing human needs and abandoning unrealistic
assumptions that the ideal or reference state of all ecosystems is one that lacks
human presence (Waltner-Toews and Kay 2005). This introduces a political
dimension to determining an acceptable or desirable ecosystem state before

conservation or rehabilitation goals can be set. In each landscape, contemporary
local interests and cultural values need to be balanced against the sustainability of
ecosystem services for use globally and by future generations (e.g. Rhoads et al.
1999). Explicit recognition of the inherent uncertainties and complexities of
social-ecological systems has highlighted the need for much greater collaboration
among natural and social scientists, the research community and environmental
managers, management processes and the community. This is exemplified by
increased emphasis on links between ecological and societal resilience, in a sense
paralleling earlier relationships between ecosystem and societal health (e.g. Folke
et al. 2002, 2004, 2005; Berkes et al. 2003; Dietz et al. 2003).
These considerations have prompted the emergence of a probabilistic approach
to science and a precautionary, adaptive approach to decision-making and the
prioritisation of issues (Ravetz 1999; Walters and Holling 1990). Realization of
the non-deterministic behaviour of social-ecological systems has prompted more
relaxed approaches to consideration of uncertainty, recognizing the inherent
limitations of the unknown and the unknowable. For example, Palmer et al. (2005)
indicate that contemporary approaches to river management should emphasize
concerns for natural variability, biophysical linkages, ecosystem dynamics,
resilience, uncertainty and inherent complexity, recognizing that short-term, small-
scale practicalities must be framed in the context of large scale, long time scale
processes. The emphasis has moved from generally applicable models designed to
predict specific outcomes towards abstract simulation models and spatially explicit
GIS methods that are used to suggest possible outcomes under different scenarios
(e.g. Montgomery 2001; Perry 2002; Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005).
Integrative, transdisciplinary conceptual frameworks and methods that reach
across both human and physical sciences are slowly replacing the summative
cross-disciplinary approach (Tress et al. 2005). These frameworks reach outside
science, including both managers and stakeholders in their development and
application, challenging conventional approaches to science and its uptake.
2.3 The Emergence of ‘Post-Normal’ Science
The ‘single issue’ and ‘ecosystem’ approaches outlined above involve the use of
the traditional scientific method. This is characterised by reductionist thinking
based on deductive reasoning, in which experimental methods are applied to test
hypotheses that build upon established theories. Statistically rigorous procedures
are used to appraise the outcomes of plot-based experiments, progressively
eliminating potential explanations that are framed in terms of causal mechanisms
(Popper 1959). Deterministic, quantitative relationships build on documented
knowledge and are applied to develop optimum outcomes that address particular
problems. The effectiveness of engineering science is testimony to our success in
these endeavours. While these practices can be extremely effective in addressing
Table 2.2 Principles of normal and post-normal science

Established paradigm (‘normal science’) Novel framework (‘post-normal science’)
Employs recognized methods: Move beyond standard procedures:
• Deterministic • Probabilistic—applies the precautionary
approach
• Steady accumulation of relatively stable and • Moves beyond cause and effect
certain facts experimentation, recognizing multiple
• Experimental, deductive reasoning that (non-linear) causation, using a multiple
focuses on elimination of potential lines of evidence approach
explanations • Recognizes the inherent variability and
complexity of the natural world
Simplifies reality using a summative Integrative, holistic approach involving
approach—works on parts of systems (only systems-based conceptual models that
those deemed relevant to the target include all parameters and interactions of
purpose), identifying core relationships importance (scientific and social)
which can be quantified, later piecing them Merges qualitative and quantitative reasoning,
together and manipulating them in placing due regard on the knowledge
management applications structures of cognate disciplines, and
associated notions of precision, error,
reliability and uncertainty, whilst
acknowledging and incorporating local
‘non-expert’ knowledge
Explicitly emphasizes broader-scale processes
Considers itself to be ‘valueless’ (i.e. notionally Recognizes that knowledge generation and
objective) analytical procedures are value-laden, and
that interpretations vary
concerns for a particular purpose, many unwanted side effects may be experienced.
For example, levee construction and dredging may create a smooth channel with
sufficient flow for navigation purposes, but may compromise the integrity of
aquatic ecosystems.
The emergence of ‘post normal’ science (Ravetz 1999) fundamentally
challenges the values and methods of traditional ‘normal’ science (Table 2.2).
By intent and design, ‘post normal’ enquiry addresses big-picture issues of genuine
societal concern. Its agenda is negotiated through stakeholder consultation, set by
pressing issues and goals, rather than by discipline-bound theories and institutions.
A holistic, integrated approach to enquiry is adopted at the outset, rather than
trying to piece together concepts and tools developed separately within different
disciplines. Conceptual frameworks seek to organise knowledge derived from both
science and experience, accepting inputs from managers and from local commu-
nities and experts alongside those provided by individual disciplines. They
encompass both human and natural sciences, qualitative as well as quantitative
reasoning and are validated by multiple lines of evidence, rather than by scientific
proof (Downes et al. 2002).
In developing and adopting new approaches, scientists are increasingly required
to go beyond their comfort-zone. Many feel uncomfortable addressing questions
posed by others, particularly in situations involving high stakes and contested
values, where facts and understanding are uncertain and scientists are required to
make value-laden judgement calls and to incorporate lay knowledge (Funtowicz
and Ravetz 1993). However, many scientists continue to consider their work
within a societal vacuum. We need to acknowledge prevailing traditions, dogma
and belief systems embedded in our paradigms (Kuhn 1962). The new transdis-
ciplinary approach also challenges individuals and institutions that are accustomed
to working independently, competing against each other for recognition and
funding (Jakobsen et al. 2004).
2.4 Changing Approaches to Environmental Management
Without inferring a causal, linear relationships, the changing approaches to

environmental science are mirrored in different styles of managerial governance
and applications (Table 2.3). Under the ‘command and control’ approach,
politically driven agendas are implemented via top-down management frame-
works. Site-specific projects are framed within a decadal timeframe, using
standardised solutions. They tend to have a technical focus and are typically
contracted to professionally-accredited engineers with short-term commitment and
accountability (e.g. Higgs 2003). Maintenance is divorced from design and con-
struction (e.g. Williams 2001; Hillman and Brierley 2005).
The ‘ecosystem’ approach is also characterised by top-down management,
with agendas set by professionals and little community involvement. However,
the professionals are now the new class of managers established to implement
the legislation and protocols designed to protect the environment (e.g. planning
applications/resource consent). Indicators are widely used to set targets, often
reflecting internationally or regionally set standards of acceptability. Ambitious
and costly monitoring programmes are adopted, implemented by professionals.
Projects still remain site-specific and tend to involve standardised solutions.
Effort is devoted to the development of ‘toolkits’ that can be widely used (e.g.
river erosion/bank stabilisation kits). Unfortunately, they are often applied with
little attention to local context or expertise or the range of secondary conse-
quences that may result. Many institutional arrangements bear the legacy of this
approach, with large investment in the development of indicators and long term
data sets that are difficult to abandon, even when they are no longer convinced
that the measures are useful or appropriate. Even more alarming, however, was
the lack of coherent management processes to clearly articulate the aims and
audit the effectiveness of interventions (e.g. Bernhardt et al. 2005). Unfortu-
nately, even when they are applied, assessment procedures that are used to
appraise environmental health are often unduly prescriptive and rigid, framed
largely in terms of structural measures rather than addressing broader-ranging
concerns for ecosystem functionality and complexity.
Recognizing that our understanding will never be complete, adaptive and
participatory management frameworks provide the most reliable basis with which
Table 2.3 Contrasting styles of environmental management

Governance Management applications
‘Command and Top-down, politically driven Applies ‘average’ or ‘normal’
control’ Short-term commitment (and solutions Site-based projects
management contract) with limited
accountability
Monitoring is internalised or Construction focus—typically
overlooked hard engineering
Maintenance is divorced from
design
Extension science that ‘educates’
people about the environment
‘Ecosystem’ Top-down, driven by standards Projects focus on whole ecosystems,
management enshrined in international and but at reach scale only ‘Toolkit’
local legislation and protocols solutions applied irrespective
Indicators extensively used in of local context or expertise
ambitious monitoring
programmes implemented by
professionals
Institutions reorganised to bring
experts together
Little community involvement or
responsibility
Adaptive Bottom-up, participatory— Catchment based projects and
management inclusive approach to visioning organizations
and prioritisation Emphasize concerns for the rare, unique
Long term (ongoing) commitment or culturally sensitive attributes of any
given system, focussing on elements
of distinctiveness
Monitoring is externalised, placing Continuum of interventions, including ‘do
due regard on pre/post project nothing’, soft engineering or hard
appraisals engineering options
Maintenance is a core activity
Action research that promotes
mutual (adaptive) learning
from outcomes
to work with, and plan for, uncertainties (Walters and Holling 1990). This
approach to environmental management views people as part of nature and ‘works
with’ the diversity and dynamics of ecosystems, aiming to restore sustainable
relationships between nature and culture. Recognising a multiplicity of options, the
first stage in adaptive management is to determine the desired or acceptable
landscape state, balancing human and environmental needs, rather than imposing a
culturally derived vision of a pristine state. This entails negotiation among
conflicting interests, and associated trade-offs between sustainability and devel-
opment. Participatory frameworks engage a range of stakeholders in decision-
making processes. System-wide managerial actions are applied as experiments
(Walters and Holling 1990), with community involvement in achievable long-term
monitoring and maintenance programmes. The results feed back as learning,

informing both scientific enquiry as predictions are tested and managerial practice
as methods are improved. A living information-base, developed and applied within
an appropriate information management system, uses best available knowledge,
identifies gaps, then targets areas of deficient insight (Hillman and Brierley 2002).
2.5 Conclusion: Opportunities for Geographers

in the Management of Complex Adaptive Systems
Uncertainty is a prevalent theme in the new paradigm of environmental science

and management, pervading contemporary insights into ecosystem behaviour, our
understanding of such phenomena, the process of knowledge transfer, and the
political dimension of institutional/social applications. In this situation, scientists
cannot be relied upon by managers to provide mechanistic models of nature.
Outcomes are unpredictable, such that forecasting is replaced by foresighting
based on probable scenarios that are constrained by the boundaries of natural
variability and human actions (e.g. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005).
Targets are negotiable, demanding consensus between stakeholders within the
limits of available tools and resources. Standard indicators cannot be used to
evaluate system health and sustainability, but need to be developed in the context
of local systems and human priorities. Limiting factors that constrain environ-
mental and managerial performance must be sought out, prioritized appropriately,
and addressed. Both scientists and environmental managers need to develop new
ways of working, challenging established methods, norms and institutional
structures (Table 2.4).
Geographers are clearly well-placed to help scientists and managers meet
the challenges presented by environmental management in a changing world.
Ultimately, concerns for environmental futures must build on the relationship
between people and place. A healthy society underpins a healthy environment, and
vice versa. People must be seen as part of nature, emphasizing concerns for the
mutual interdependence of social and environmental sustainability. Opportunities
abound for geographers to help meet the challenges presented in translating the
new theory into sound environmental management practice. Centred on concepts
of place, geographers bring skills and experience in the marriage of human and
physical science that are fundamental to the successful development and imple-
mentation of adaptive management programs. Framed in a landscape context,
emerging practice depends heavily on the use of modelling, GIS and remote
sensing techniques frequently employed by both physical and human geographers.
Human geographers have adopted leading roles in the development and imple-
mentation of the concepts of sustainable development and community participa-
tion in decision-making. Shaping ecosystem futures by working directly with
managers and key decision-makers is a form of post-normal practice that lies very
comfortably within Geographic discourse. Indeed, concerns for the study of
Table 2.4 Challenges to scientific and managerial practices in an uncertain and changing world
(based on Rogers 2003)
Scientists must Managers must
• Accept agendas set by real world issues, tied • Negotiate objectives and measures of success
directly to managerial concerns and agreed between stakeholders, managers and
incorporating social and economic scientists, with collective ownership of
dimensions outcomes
• Express opinions and ‘guestimates’, using • Accept that scientists cannot provide
arguments based on reasonable assumptions objective solutions, predictions or measures
rather than scientific proof of success
• Communicate clearly to managers and • Undertake experiments—no single course of
stakeholders, sharing knowledge to promote action may emerge as ‘correct’. Learning by
informed choices and welcoming the doing turns failures into stepping stones to
contribution of local ‘lay’ experience progress and successes can be reinforced
• Frame recommendations realistically in terms • Be flexible—situations can change as a result
of budgets and tools available (which may of natural variability, evolving theories/
be crude) models, changing stakeholder people/needs/
priorities
• Avoid the ‘tyranny of modelling’, hoping that • Develop plans and policies that can be
more detailed process-based models will tailored to individual locations—lessons are
provide all the answers not easily transferred
• Develop new ways of legitimising theory • Reconcile concern for the long term or
in situations where the traditional scientific widespread impact of small changes with
method is not easily applied—large scale political expediency and short-termism
manipulation of ecosystems is usually
prohibitively costly and impractical,
samples of one are not uncommon. Multiple
lines of evidence can be used to support an
argument.
• Think holistically, avoiding reductionist/ • Cooperate between organizations, avoiding
single purpose approaches, working across duplication of effort and recognising that the
disciplines and breaking down barriers of spatio-temporal domains of ecosystem
language, theories, concepts, methods and processes do not necessarily match those of
institutions the authorities charged with their
management
Together, they need to develop conceptual models of how ecosystems work, based on best
available knowledge, using them as platforms to organise knowledge, develop treatments, pri-
oritise management actions, develop visions and goals, predict treatment responses and review
outcomes
complex socio-ecological systems present an opportunity for convergence of

perspectives among physical and human geographers, building upon our tradi-
tional emphasis upon specialist-generalist syntheses and the application of diver-
gent methodologies (both qualitative and quantitative).
For example, geomorphologists have a critical role in framing ecological
considerations in terms of an appropriate understanding of the physical template
upon which ecosystem processes and forms operate. Significant success has been
gained in the use of conceptual frameworks with a managerial focus that apply
nested-hierarchical principles to examine geomorphic relationships within

catchments (e.g. Petts and Amoros 1996; Rogers and O’Keefe 2003; Brierley and
Fryirs 2005). These coherent, spatially-integrated frameworks identify the distinct
attributes and patterns of any given system. By extension, they can be used to
characterize the key processes and biophysical relationships that maintain the
integrity of the system, identifying thresholds of potential concern that may
compromise the integrity of the system in the light of environmental and land use
changes (Du Toit et al. 2003). When tied to appraisals of environmental history,
such insights are a critical component in the assessment of the potential for
ecological recovery, an essential process in maximising the efficiency and effec-
tiveness of management programs that target environmental repair.
Adjustments to scientific practice are required as researchers are increasingly
drawn into the managerial arena. Emphasis must be placed on asking the right
questions, seeking integrative solutions rather than discipline-bound treatments.
Ultimately, academic institutions have a significant capacity and responsibility to
inform and guide long-term developments through their training of the next
generation of environmental management practitioners. Curriculum reform that
promotes holistic knowledge of environmental systems and management frame-
works is required. Effective management of real-world problems requires a shift in
focus from short-term, local-scale, discipline-bound treatments to regional-scale
analyses that target particular concerns for ecosystem integrity and functionality
on an ongoing basis. These must be set within a coherent framework that can unite
different perspectives and methodologies. These frameworks are place-specific,
recognising the unique combinations of social and biophysical features and
histories that characterise each location. This repository of knowledge must be
owned and shared by scientists, managers and stakeholders alike, demanding
effective management and communication strategies and common, accessible
language and concepts that can facilitate collaboration that moves beyond tradi-
tional silos. A proactive, future-focussed approach is needed, with reflection to
identify potentially weak links that may compromise success. Weaknesses may
arise from limitations in knowledge, cross-disciplinarity, transfer of knowledge
(communication or misapplication), use of knowledge or institutional impedi-
ments, as well as from limitations in the community/social will, political support
(vision) or available budget. However prepared we think we may be, surprising
outcomes (or circumstances) are likely, so flexibility to adapt readily to new
opportunities or learn from mistakes must be retained. Ultimately, prospects for
successful environmental repair are contingent upon effective societal engagement
in the setting of environmental goals and the application of measures to address
them—regardless of the quality of scientific understanding with which we may
aspire to address these issues.
Acknowledgments We thank Susan Owen, Brad Coombes and Mick Hillman for helpful
comments in the development of this manuscript, and David Higgitt for his co-ordination
of support to present an earlier version of this work at the National University of Singapore
Centenary Symposium.
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Chapter 3
River Hardware and Software:
Perspectives on National Interest
and Water Governance in the Mekong
River Basin
Philip Hirsch
Abstract At a global level, river basin development and management has shifted
from a ‘hardware’-driven approach based around engineering river systems in the
form of dams, diversions and other large structures, toward a ‘software’-driven
approach under the broad rubrics of governance and integrated water resource man-
agement. Nevertheless, large-scale water resource development is still being pushed
ahead. There is clearly not an ‘either/or’ scenario in terms of hardware and software
approaches to river management. This chapter examines the implications of new
approaches to river basin governance for the planning and implementation of river
engineering structures in a transboundary river setting. The context for the study is the
Mekong river basin. The Mekong has achieved prominence among the world’s more
than 260 river basins that cross national boundaries, as a river and a basin that is
actively managed across borders. One of the reasons for such prominence is the
established institutional basis for cooperation among the four lower countries of
the basin and the international support for this governance framework. Another is the
longstanding and continuing plans for significant impoundment and diversion of the
river and its tributaries. At present, the Mekong is moving toward something of a crisis
of transboundary water governance. The Mekong River Commission (MRC) is at the
heart of this crisis. At one level, the conundrum is the tension between management of
the river for ecological sustainability and social justice, on the one hand, and the drive
for development of a relatively under-exploited set of water resources on the other.
This tension is exaggerated in a river basin whose population remains economically
poor and heavily dependent on the natural resource base for livelihood. At another
level, the conundrum is one of scale of governance, and this poses both challenges and
opportunities for the MRC as an integrated water resource management agency.
P. Hirsch (&)
Australian Mekong Resource Centre, School of Geosciences (F09),
University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia
e-mail: philip.hirsch@sydney.edu.au

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-2330-6_3, The Author(s) 2012
32 P. Hirsch

Keywords Water governance Transboundary issues Integrated water resources

management Mekong river commission Scaling issues
3.1 Introduction: River Basin Hardware and Software
River basin development has long been associated with large scale infrastructure,
notably hydropower facilities and irrigation systems. River basin authorities have
been established to develop river basin systems in a coordinated way through the
planning of interconnected complexes of storages, diversions and delivery sys-
tems, initially inspired by the Tennessee Valley Authority (Ekbladh 2002;
Svendsen et al. 2005). Development and subsequent management of water
resources in their river basin context has long been treated as a modernist project
of ‘hardware’ development in the form of concrete structures that impound, divert
and store water for energy, irrigation and flood control purposes.
Problems associated with overdevelopment of river basins have become
increasingly manifest at both project and river basin levels. Large dams have well-
documented environmental and social impacts, and the unequal geographical
distribution of costs, benefits and risks that these impacts impose is recognized at
scientific and societal levels (McCully 1996; World Commission on Dams 2000).
Over-allocation of water in river basins such as the Murray-Darling, and declining
water quality in basins such as the Rhine, have forced a recognition that water
needs to be managed socially and environmentally as well as technologically
(Shah et al. 2003).
Increasingly, the response has been to see river basin management as a regu-
latory function based around allocation of water as a limited, finite good within
interconnected systems. Interconnectivity refers to the physical, ecological and
societal connections that mean that development or abstraction of water resources
in one part of a river system leads to impacts and flow-on effects in other parts. The
significance of interconnectivity increases as basins progressively ‘close’ with
commitment of ever greater proportions of available water to human or recognized
environmental needs and functions. That is, in ‘open’ basins where large amounts
of water remain uncommitted for maintaining key human and ecological functions,
the connections between actions in one part of a basin and impacts in other parts
are not felt so keenly, whereas more complete commitment of water to maintaining
key functions in ‘closed’ basins means that any further subtraction or human-
induced hydrological change has more keenly felt third-party effects elsewhere
within the basin (Molle et al. 2006).
Understanding river basins as integrated natural systems is matched by the
growing role of water in shaping social, political and economic relations, and this
brings questions of rights, values and determining stakeholder preferences around
water under the spotlight. In other words, attention has turned to the governance of
water in river basins, and the technology of management has shifted to the
3 River Hardware and Software 33
‘software’ of social, economic and political means to allocate and use resources
equitably, efficiently and sustainably. By ‘software’ I refer to the range of regu-
latory practices, institutional forms, norms and other aspects of what increasingly
comes under the rubric of ‘water governance’.
Large river basins pose particular governance challenges. The mismatch
between river basin and administrative boundaries immediately poses a trans-
boundary problem. One response has been to establish river basin organizations
with jurisdictions that transcend administrative-political boundaries. Historically,
it has been the exception rather than the rule that international river basins have
been governed by a transnational authority.
Institutional aspects of governance have been accompanied by development of
‘soft’ technologies. Integrated water resources management (IWRM), and its
subset of integrated river basin management (IRBM) has emerged as a holistic
governance response that has become increasingly mainstream and institutional-
ized, yet largely unproven (Biswas et al. 2005). With the adoption of IWRM and
the emergence of a new orthodoxy, or ‘water consensus’, new questions are being
asked and challenges posed to the notion of an all-encompassing framework for
water management (Franks 2004).
In this chapter, I explore the implications of river basin governance in the
Mekong, a transboundary river basin that has seen a shift from hardware to
software approaches as formulated above, and one that has also seen both hard-
ware and software-focused technology transfer from the US and Australia. The
chapter shows that managing transboundary interests is more complex than
negotiating one riparian nation’s allocation against another through a single river
basin authority. Scale issues are fundamental. Just as there are qualitative as well
as quantitative differences between the large scale hardware of mega-dams and
smaller structures, so governance is scaled in a way that has a significant bearing
on outcomes and which poses significant challenges in a transboundary river basin
such as the Mekong.
3.2 Scales of Governance in the Mekong
‘‘If the wars of this century were fought over oil, the wars of the next century will
be fought over water’’ (World Bank Vice President: Ismail Serageldin, 1995).
The prospect that nations might increasingly resort to war in order to secure
access to fresh water has given immediacy to the need for effective mechanisms to
manage rivers that flow across national boundaries. More than 260 of the world’s
rivers drain from territory in more than one country, and about 45% of the world’s
land surface is located in transboundary river basins. Only a small number of
transboundary river basins have institutionalized governance frameworks, and
most of these have been established quite recently.
Not surprisingly, the Mekong attracts interest and international funding support
as a transboundary river that has been ‘governed’ institutionally for the more than
34 P. Hirsch
half a century. Since the establishment of the Mekong Committee in 1957, and its
reincarnation as the Mekong River Commission (MRC) in 1995, the four lower
countries have had a basis for cooperation in the use and management of the
Mekong. Furthermore, this period has seen both geopolitical and ecopolitical shifts
that have effected fundamental changes in the primary concerns and modus ope-
randi if the Committee/Commission. In particular, the influence of the US Army
Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation, which set a leading agenda of
hardware in the form of large dams from the 1950s to 1980s, has given way to a
more holistic and process-oriented river basin management approach under the
rubric of integrated river basin management and integrated water resources
management.
While much has changed with the times in the Mekong transboundary gover-
nance framework, there is continuity in the basic conceptualization of the MRC as
an institution effecting cooperation and compromises between its sovereign
member states. The water wars discourse is never very far away, particularly in a
region that has quite recently emerged from geopolitical conflict embroiling the
four MRC member states of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, and in a set
of regional institutions such as MRC or the Asian Development Bank’s Greater
Mekong Subregion program whose broader development agenda is sometimes
framed in terms of ‘‘reaping the peace dividend’’ (Pante 1996). In other words, the
resolution of potentially conflicting ‘national interests’ of member and non-
member riparian states remains the concern for governing the river basin. The need
for MRC to work within, and subservient to, the national interest dictum and the
national sovereignty paradigm remains under-explored, in part because the notion
of a transboundary framework is sometimes assumed to transcend the parochial
interests of nation states and to foster peace through development.
Critique of the water wars discourse has taken a number of forms. One is to
show that cooperation between countries that share international rivers is much
more common than conflict (Wolf 1999). However, this level of critique retains the
notion of sovereign nation states as the principal level of analysis and of com-
monality of interest. At another level, the critique is a Mekong-specific application
of calls to recognize the limitations of state-centric approaches and monolithic
constructions of interests at country level. The critique is informed by North
American and European experience of increasingly complex arrays of interests
that are less than ever defined and self-identified in national terms (Blatter and
Ingram 1998).
To pare apart the national interest question in transboundary river basin man-
agement, it is worth returning briefly to the ‘water wars’ metaphor. To date, while
there have certainly been instances of international tension and conflict over water
in the Middle East and elsewhere, the dominant axes and scales of tension over
development of water resources have been socially constructed within countries.
To the extent that they have taken a transboundary dimension, water conflicts are
nevertheless often between different sorts of interests in the countries concerned
rather than between sovereign governments. There is a need to rescale our concern
over water conflict toward the more nuanced and socially framed tensions that
shape the ways in which we treat our rivers and compete for their resources—for
example by considering whether the appropriate metaphor is ‘water wars’ or
‘water riots’ (Boesen and Ravnborg 2003). In the Mekong region, the most sig-
nificant conflicts over dams, for example, have been in protests since the 1980s in
Thailand that are largely internal to that country, rather than in open dispute
between riparian governments over claims to the Mekong’s waters. Shiva (2002)
expresses this ideologically as a question of ‘paradigm wars’ rather than water
wars in the conventional security sense.
In the next section, I raise the question of whether the Mekong currently faces
something of a crisis of governance—not because the countries that share the river
are about to start shooting at one another, but rather because the different visions
for the Mekong are less than ever predicated on differences between one national
government and another. Yet the MRC as the main governance body, a decade
since its establishment, still works largely within governance arrangements in
which riparian representation is at a national level and in which development of
the Basin is the shared point of interest. MRC consequently faces some funda-
mental choices in terms of direction and in terms of what sort of river basin
governance arrangements it works within.
3.3 A Crisis of Governance?
The Mekong faces an unprecedented set of development pressures. Hydropower

development on the upper mainstream and tributary rivers has received a new
lease of life. The 2004 go ahead for Nam Theun two dam by the World Bank board
opened the way for many more such projects to be funded after a lull of more than
a decade in Bank funding for large dams. Through its Mekong Water Resources
Assistance Program, the World Bank sought to facilitate a new wave of investment
in water resource infrastructure in the Basin, but packaged within the framework
of IWRM. Increasing scarcity of water in Thailand, caused by increase in demand
as much as by natural conditions, has created calls for water transfers and irri-
gation development, especially in the country’s dry northeastern region.
Meanwhile, non-governmental organizations that have opened spaces for civil
society influence over decisions on how to manage water find themselves in a
relatively weak position. Within the Mekong, Thai NGOs have carved themselves
more space than those in neighbouring countries, but their role has been largely
reactive against large dams. Their influence diminished somewhat under the
Thaksin government. Elsewhere in the region, non-governmental voices have
shown increasing confidence, so that in Cambodia and in China, for example, we
see increased questioning of dams and other river basin development projects. In
Laos and Vietnam, NGOs remain weak, although some alternative civil society
voices have started to make themselves heard in Vietnam. This differential civil
society space results in an unequal expression of concerns and interests within the
basin (Hirsch 2001).
36 P. Hirsch
Bureaucratic governance of water varies from one national context to another.

In Thailand, the establishment of 29 river basin committees in the country’s 25
main river basins can be interpreted as a decentralization of authority, a shift from
administratively to bio-regionally defined boundaries in water management, and
an opportunity for non-governmental representation on the Committees with
authority to secure resources and make decisions. Alternatively, it can be seen as
an extension downward of bureaucratic authority via the recently established
Department of Water Resources in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Envi-
ronment. More realistically, the RBCs contain elements of both centralization and
decentralization, participation and bureaucratization, and are better seen as one of
a number of arenas for negotiation and evolution of governance frameworks
(Thomas 2005). They are another level of river basin ‘software’. RBCs are also
being established in other Mekong countries, partly with the support of the Asian
Development Bank and linked through a Network of Asian River Basin
Organizations.
At the transboundary level, however, the MRC is the primary framework for
river basin governance and it is here that the dilemmas of governance are most
pronounced. The dilemmas are posed in a number of ways. The first is that of
how a transboundary river basin organization operates when it does not include
the upper two riparian states, including the most powerful and the most active in
terms of water resource development (Kliot et al. 2001). China’s ability to act
unilaterally is based on its upstream location, its power vis-à-vis smaller
downstream countries and its non-membership of MRC, hence non-subscription to
the existing procedures or any rules that may eventuate. On the other hand, brakes
are put on China’s river basin development, albeit applied somewhat lightly, by
increasing internal debate and concern over large scale hydropower projects and a
growing environmental movement, by China’s concerns to maintain good relations
with ASEAN and individual Mekong countries, and by its observer status at MRC.
The second dilemma relates to the governance structure and ownership of the
Commission itself. The Mekong Council as the political arm and the Joint
Committee as the bureaucratic governing arm of MRC represent riparian gov-
ernments as the MRC’s decision-making bodies. As such, they articulate each
country’s position via key ministries, most of which have a strong bias toward
water resource development agendas in the respective countries. MRC thus allows
an undifferentiated ‘national interest’ of each riparian member to obfuscate the
complex and contested interests in river basin management and water resource
development that exist within each country and sometimes transcend national
borders. The third arm of MRC, the Secretariat, is a heavily donor-dependant
entity that has made significant progress toward open-ness, understanding the river
ecology through river science, incorporation of local knowledge in fisheries and
other basin-wide programs, the bringing of international experience in holistic
approaches to river basin management and an emphasis on process in development
planning and the setting of procedures based on good river science. Finally, the
National Mekong Committees serve an important governance role as intermedi-
aries between MRC and interests internal to each riparian member state. To date,
however, NMCs remain poorly articulated with civil society or even with minis-
tries and departments beyond those most immediately involved in water resource
development. There is a dislocation between these levels of governance, and a
potential dysfunctionality as a result.
A third dilemma concerns the nature of the river basin institution. What sort of
river basin institution does MRC aspire to be? At least five potential roles can be
identified or postulated (Hirsch et al. 2006). These are:
• MRC as a regulatory agency, responsible for setting rules by which riparian
member states can be held to the spirit and the letter of the 1995 Agreement
• MRC as a multi-stakeholder forum that gives a platform diverse river basin
users and managers to assert and negotiate their interests
• MRC as a scientific agency for decision support, so that decisions to develop
water or other resources in the basin can be taken in cognizance of ecologically
and socially complex transboundary impacts
• MRC as an investment broker, based on the relative underdevelopment of the
Basin’s water resources and the perception that attracting investment for
infrastructure to increase energy, irrigation and navigation potential can improve
the lives of those who live in the Basin
• MRC as a planning body, which takes on all the above roles to provide a
sustainable planning framework based on a model of rational decision-making
and an assumption that MRC is a governing rather than a governed body, able to
implement and enforce plans form Basin to national to local levels
Each of these roles is somewhat different. They are not necessarily mutually
incompatible, but there are clear tensions between them. The leadership of the
Mekong Secretariat until early 2008, for example, placed heavy emphasis on MRC
as an investment broker, potentially short-circuiting the more patient process-
oriented approach to planning, participation and application of good science to
development decisions that has been built up in recent years.
All these governance dilemmas hinge in part on the fact that MRC is predicated
on assimilating the national interests of riparian nation states into basin-wide
developmental interests. Such an approach to transboundary governance misses
key dimensions of commonality and divergence of interest at various scales.
3.4 Three Cases
The challenges for MRC in taking on a governance role are indicated through most
of the principal instances of current and recent water resource development in the
Basin. Each case presented below represents countries pushing ahead with river
hardware for benefits that are largely captured within their own territories,
revealing the limitations of governance as it is conceived in terms of managing
national interests toward a basin-wide common good. The first case shows how
MRC’s requirement to operate through formal national channels blocks the access
38 P. Hirsch
of downstream communities (in Cambodia) affected by upstream hydropower

development (in Vietnam) on a major Mekong tributary. The second case shows
how specific interests of a non-member state (China) are legitimized discursively
by reference to the benefits of downstream countries. The third case shows how
multilateral MRC rules are potentially side-stepped by bilateralism to allow a
major water infrastructure project to go ahead in Thailand that has significant
transboundary components and potential impacts.
3.4.1 Bilateral Relations Along a Tributary: The Sesan

in Vietnam and Cambodia
Hydropower development on the upper Sesan and Srepok Rivers in Vietnam’s

Central Highlands have potentially major impacts on downstream river ecology
and indigenous minority riparian communities in Cambodia. This potential has
been realized in the case of Yali Falls Dam, to date the second-largest hydropower
project in the lower Mekong Basin (i.e. the area within the jurisdiction of MRC).
Flooding and fluctuation in river levels along the Sesan River in Cambodia has
affected up to 50,000 people in 90 communities in Ratanakiri and Stung Treng
provinces and has directly led to drownings, flooding of agricultural land, loss of
boats, nets and river bank gardens among other impacts. Loss of life, livelihoods
and property has not been compensated or even properly enumerated by those
responsible for the dam, yet further dams have been built on the Sesan and Srepok
tributaries in the Central Highland with continuing downstream impacts.
Elsewhere, Hirsch and Wyatt (2004) have documented in more detail and
synthesized more systematically the downstream impacts of Yali Falls dam and
associated hydrological changes, the response of affected communities in trying to
scale up their concerns through MRC as a transboundary institutional channel, and
the ways in which such efforts have been obstructed by the government-to-gov-
ernment framework invoked by MRC that in effect marginalizes indigenous
community voices. MRC is precluded from responding directly to community or
civil society concerns and can only act on the request of national governments.
Those governments are limited in terms of what the relevant ministries do and do
not want to bring to the table, and in their preparedness to represent the interests of
marginalized voices and ecological impacts within their own territories. Riparian
governmental interaction is also embedded within the realpolitik of wider gov-
ernment-to-government relations.
3.4.2 Bearing the Burden: Chinese Dams and Basin Interests
The greatest alteration to Mekong hydrology currently underway is the damming

of the Lancang Jiang (upper Mekong) river in Yunnan Province of southwestern
China (McCormack 2001). Eight dams are being built on the mainstream, of which
four are complete and two under construction, including one that is the equal
tallest dam in the world at nearly 300 m (Xiaowan Dam). Dam construction
impacts are exacerbated downstream by China’s blasting of rapids to provide for
navigation by ever larger boats to enhance trade with Thailand.
He Daming suggests that the Chinese dams on the Lancang Jiang will help
downstream countries in many ways. The hydrological argument is quite a simple
one, and has been articulated clearly in Plinston and He (1999). The Mekong is a
monsoonal river, with pronounced flood peaks and periods of low flow. Storage
dams in Yunnan can reduce the flood peak and enhance dry season flow, assisting
dry season irrigation development downstream in the Delta—and perhaps in
northeastern Thailand if the Khong-Chi-Mun diversion is realized in its entirety—
and mitigating the devastating floods such as those which annually take the lives of
several hundred people in Vietnam.
This argument assumes that seasonal fluctuation in river flows is a ‘problem’. It
fails to take into account the role of floods in supporting the fishery that provides
two to three million tons of animal protein per annum to help feed the Basin’s
poor, or the role of the flood in maintaining the ecology and vital ecosystem
services of the Tonle Sap in Cambodia. However, it is brought to bear to attenuate
the sense that China is acting irresponsibly or selfishly as an upstream country.
More recently, He and Chen (2002) have brought a more sophisticated argument
to bear. The Mekong regional economies are growing. Economic growth means
growth in energy demand. Dams are inevitable. The number of people displaced
from their homes, and the area of land flooded per megawatt of electricity generated
is much greater in flatter areas of the lower basin than in the steep gorges of
Yunnan. Rational planning suggests that it makes more sense to build dams in
China rather than in the lower countries. China is willing to bear that burden and
will resettle displaced people in urban areas to avoid the environmental impacts and
social hardship that result from poorly planned agricultural resettlement schemes.
Framing the argument for the Lancang Jiang dams in such a way employs a
rationality which suggests that there is a basin-wide interest to be served by con-
centrating the response to regional energy demand in China, optimizing socially,
financially and ecologically by invoking a minimal cost per unit of energy. The
question of who bears the burden within China remains a moot point. Increasingly,
however, alternative voices have emerged (Yang 2004), although periodic difficulties
faced by NGOs such as Green Watershed remind us of the limits to official toleration
of the airing of such internal differences beyond the country’s borders (Hirsch 2001).
3.4.3 Sustainably Integrated Water Resources Management:

The Thai Water Grid
In Thailand, recent droughts have reinforced the push for a Water Grid that links
‘water surplus’ river basins with ‘water deficit’ basins. The scheme is predicated
on a series of inter- and intra-basin diversion schemes, framed within the
40 P. Hirsch
governance structures of the Department of Water Resources, most notably the

River Basin Committees that employ basin boundaries as the unit for management.
However, rather than using such basin organizations to manage water as a limited
resource within each of these bioregions, this 200 billion baht (USD$5 billion)
project is predicated on making up shortages by constructing infrastructure that
will allow re-balancing natural water surpluses and deficits through a system of
pumps, pipes, tunnels and canals. In this case, the software-derived discourse of
IWRM is being employed to make the case for hardware development in the form
of a physically-integrated water grid.
The official name of the Water Grid project is the ‘‘Sustainably integrated
water management project (Khroongkaan jadkaan nam baeb buranakaan yaang
yangyeun)’’. Integrated management in this case is interpreted as a means to integrate
water movements much as a national or international energy grid or telephone system
would channel network flows. Of course, such a scheme is not unique to Thailand.
Historically, the Snowy Mountains scheme in Australia, California’s north–south
water carrier system, and more recently proposals for river linkage in India and
China’s South–North diversion from the Yangtze to Yellow River systems all follow a
similar supply-based logic to dealing with water shortage.
While the Water Grid is a Thai-based scheme, it has an important international
component. The project entails importing water from Cambodia (Stung Nam),
Myanmar (Salween tributaries), Thai tributaries that flow into the international
Mekong River (Kok and Ing), and Laos. Importation of water from Laos into Isan
is internal to the Mekong River Basin. However, rather than extracting water from
the Mekong River itself, the water is to be siphoned from the Nam Ngum and Xe
Banghieng tributaries under the Mekong and transported to reservoirs on the Isan
side. The logic of this is that extraction from the Mekong would require multi-
lateral agreement through MRC. Buying water from tributaries located entirely
within Laos makes the scheme a bilateral issue over which the MRC framework
seems to have no jurisdiction. Whether this is indeed the case depends on
interpretation of the 1995 Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable
Development of the Mekong River Basin, but if and when the necessary bilateral
water trading agreement is put in place, it would require one of the other MRC
riparian members to issue a challenge (Hirsch et al. 2006).
3.5 Beyond National Interest in Transboundary River

Basin Management
All three cases described above demonstrate the limits to national interests as a
basis for negotiating and managing water across boundaries in the Mekong and
other transboundary river basins. Most tension and conflict over water is felt
and enacted at intra-societal levels, involving complex interactions between state
and civil society actors, between infrastructure developers and affected peoples,
between public and private interests, between different sectors, and sometimes
between neighbouring households and communities.
Where does this place transboundary governance, the ‘software’ of river
management? Through MRC, it would appear that there are many projects on which
the Mekong Council and Joint Committee can cooperate. Yet representatives of
different countries’ water ministries, for example, may have more in common than
those same representatives versus fishers affected by a dam. With the legacy of MRC
in the Mekong Committee as an agency whose agenda was set in developmentalist
project formulation and whose mediation was between states rather than societies,
‘hardware’ is still high on the political agenda and in the understanding of
some riparian government actors’ priorities for the Commission. This should not
blind us to the very significant challenges raised by the transboundary reality of the
Mekong. However, it may be more useful to see this as a reinforcing challenge
rather than a defining one.
The case studies above reveal the limits to transboundary governance when it
occurs through a not very transparent or representative governance process based
around assumed national interests. The difficulty faced by indigenous Sesan
communities in trying to access dam developers in another national space, for
example, creates an added complexity in managing stakeholder interests within
this tributary basin.
On the other hand, and perhaps more optimistically in looking beyond MRC
at the bigger picture of transboundary governance, such a governance framework
risks missing an increasingly variegated set of relations and commonalities of
interests across borders at other levels. For example, increasingly critical voices
within China are running arguments parallel to civil society groups in Thailand,
suggesting that the main arrays of interests transcend national borders. Numerous
non-governmental, academic and other networks and interactions also provide at
least embryonic transboundary ‘governance from below’. The sidestepping of
multilateral rules over transboundary water sharing so that Thailand and Laos
can make bilateral arrangements, with the same hydrological effect as extracting
water from the Mekong, suggests that the MRC is simply not in a position to
achieve its vision to use its Basin Development Plan as an encompassing
regulatory investment framework. Rather, finer scales of resolution are needed
where water is not simply managed as belonging to one country or another, but is
rather seen as negotiable among different configurations of stakeholders. Only by
engaging at such levels would MRC have a more holistic role in governance
terms.
The governance question—or crisis—in the Mekong is an issue of scale.
Basinwide, national and local interests are mutually constituting, and their inter-
connection is fundamental to an integrated water resource management frame-
work. However, and contrary to the way in which scale issues are often considered
in large scale basin management, it is not an issue that can be conceived of in
terms of nested levels of administration and decision-making, or in terms of
subsidiarity. Rather, the scale issue has to do with the paring apart of the notion of
national interest to looking critically but also creatively at the implications of a
42 P. Hirsch
transboundary governance framework in the Mekong that is based on multiple

networks and diverse societal interests within and across borders.
On a final note, and despite the critical stance of this chapter and a report on
which it draws,1 the aim of this chapter is not to denigrate MRC. On the contrary,
by devoting critical attention to the notion of national interest as an institutional
underpinning and by thinking beyond such a uni-scalar level of cooperation and
conflict analysis, the intention is to explore some of the current impasses that
might be better understood, with an eye to more inclusive and multi-scalar
transboundary governance.
Acknowledgments This chapter is based in part on research carried out with the support of the
Australian Research Council and Danish Overseas Development Assistance. Please note that the
original manuscript was produced in 2006.
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33(1):5–31
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1
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developed and conducted between DANIDA, the largest donor to MRC since 1995, and the
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board in its research on the Mekong. The full report and executive summary are available at
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Chapter 4
Evolutionary Technologies in
Knowledge-Based Management
of Water Resources: Perspectives
from South Asian Case Studies
Angela Barbanente, Dino Borri and Laura Grassini
Abstract Water management technologies and approaches in South Asia can be

considered the result of two opposite forces: on the one hand, the modernist push
for technological advance and reductionist thinking supported by local bureau-
cracies and international competition; on the other, local attempts to develop
adaptive approaches and technologies, increasingly supported by NGOs and more
recent international aid policies. Despite the disproportionate power between the
two, evolutionary patterns of technologies are not the result of linear domination
forces. On the contrary, local technologies and knowledge seem to evolve through
complex interplay between local and global pressures as a result of cognitive and
practical interactions. In the attempt to deal with these issues, our paper analyses
some case studies from India. Our particular concern is with the evolutionary
patterns of water management approaches and technologies with reference to
the changing local–global interaction dynamics. In this context, we discuss the
innovation potential of actual interaction spaces and the role local and global actor
networks play in shaping mechanisms of cognitive interaction and technological
innovation.
Keywords Local–global interplay

Technological evolution Innovation

Cognitive interaction Indigenous knowledge Water management Developing
countries
The present chapter is the result of a joint research work carried out by the authors.
Nevertheless, A. Barbanente wrote Sects. 4.1, 4.3, D. Borri wrote Sect. 4.6, L. Grassini wrote
Sects. 4.2, 4.4, 4.5, 4.7.
A. Barbanente D. Borri L. Grassini (&)

Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Polytechnic of Bari, Bari, Italy
e-mail: laugrassini@libero.it

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-2330-6_4, Ó The Author(s) 2012
46 A. Barbanente et al.
4.1 Introduction
International debate and aid policies on water technologies have been long
dominated by the contraposition of two dominant paradigms, one pushing
towards technological modernization and the other strongly resisting it through
the development of alternative grassroot perspectives. The former dynamic is
historically connected with colonization and with ‘developed’ nations, thus with
unequal and unjust international relations. In particular, in India it refers to
the diffusion of large dam projects, which have been considered to drive
transformations of agriculture from subsistence to market, displacement of
indigenous people, loss of cultural and social traditions, production of sig-
nificant environmental damage (e.g. McCully 1996) and of predation of local
ecologies and knowledge (Shiva 2001).
The latter dynamic is associated with the revival of traditional indigenous
approaches to water management, which were developed by local populations
before colonial times. Since these technologies and practices are considered to
be in tune with local ecologies and social dynamics, their revival has become a
corner stone in new global discourses on human and social development and
sustainable resources management in poor countries (Parikh 1998; World Bank
1998). Despite great differences of these two paradigms, the boundary between
the two is more blurred than expected. Strongly prompted by critiques of the
technology transfer paradigm and by the aim to develop different approaches
and technologies for water management, more recent development projects
supported by international organizations entail small-scale schemes, which
greatly rely on community involvement and decentralization in decision-
making.
In this paper, after a critical description of the evolution of the international
debate on water technologies in developing countries, a critique of the inter-
national approach to water management is made in Sect. 4.3. In particular, its
centre-periphery models of innovation are discussed in relation to the capacity
to grasp and favour real processes of innovation and change and effective
learning mechanisms in a ‘glocal’ context. In Sect. 4.4 some examples of
evolving technological systems within rural and urban Indian contexts
are described, with a focus on the process of change and its dynamics.
Their description is used to show how technological and cognitive innovations
can be produced through a dynamic process of adaptation and change nurtured
by the interplay of local and global actions; this is explained in Sect. 4.5.
This analysis is taken a step further in Sect. 4.6 where attention is paid to the
role of mediator-agents in the technical evolutionary processes as well as to the
intertwining of cognitive, political and economic engines of transformation.
Finally, some concluding remarks for challenging perspectives on technological
evolutions in a ‘glocal’ context are reported.
4 Evolutionary Technologies in Knowledge-Based Management of Water Resources 47
4.2 Changing Technologies and Paradigms for Water

Management in India: Local and Global Discourses
During the twentieth century, water discourses and practices in most developing
countries have been largely influenced by the development of two opposite
paradigms. On one hand, the transfer of technology paradigm was strongly
supported by Western countries and by local bureaucracies, which aimed at
strengthening their power as providers of primary services through a supply-
driven approach (Gilbert 1994). In India, in particular, soon after Independence,
the newly constituted country focused its attention on the development of
large infrastructural projects, as a powerful means of eliminating the country’s
colonial past and driving it towards a socialist future of progress and
prosperity.1 Dams themselves became an icon of progress, being described as
temples of modern India, and strong alliances between India and Western donor
countries were drawn up (Hirshmann 1967; Black 1998). As a result, India is
nowadays the third largest builder of dams in the world (Roy 2002). Moreover,
the fast growing pace of resource exploitation associated with these projects,
together with the growing conviction that it was the only way of gaining
progress and success, increasingly put traditional small scale water harvesting
technologies under serious threats.
While these dramatic changes were underway, another paradigm was slowly
developing as a counterbalancing force. With growing international awareness of
the disproportionate ecological and social costs of technological transfer para-
digms based on standardized modern technologies (Escobar 1995; McCully 1996;
Postel 1998; Guha 2000; Roy 2002), activists and researchers started searching for
possible alternative solutions to water problems, based on the revival of traditional
small scale technologies and practices of the poor, which had been used long
before colonial times. Many studies mushroomed in the 1980s and 1990s, which
depicted developing countries as repositories of alternative solutions, whose
functioning in the past had guaranteed the survival of local populations
even during situations of water scarcity and had moreover given them control
over water resources and reduced their dependency on central schemes.
The re-discovery of these systems was paralleled by the growing recognition of the
importance of indigenous knowledge embedded in these technologies and repre-
senting a profound understanding of local ecologies (Chambers et al. 1989; Shiva
and Bandyopadhyay 1990; Gupta 1998). This research, in fact, strongly opposed
the assumption that non-Western reasoning was subjective and based on irrational
1
Soon after independence obtained in 1947, an average of 23% of public funds were given to the
irrigation sector on a nationwide basis.
believes and myths2 (Millar et al. 1999), and tried to demonstrate the intrinsic
value of indigenous knowledge as a system of thought (Agrawal 1995).
In India there was a growing body of literature, devoting special attention to
spectacular forms of water architectures of the past like stepwells, water tanks and
other traditional systems (Mishra 1994; Agarwal et al. 1997; Sridhar 2001), as well
as their potential for revival. At the same time, several small scale initiatives
mushroomed at local level in support of alternative development projects, which
tried to rehabilitate traditional technologies as viable solutions to current water
scarcity problems. In particular, during the 1990s, an increasing number of NGOs
were created, sponsoring these kinds of projects throughout the country in
the name of the voiceless rural people. They then developed from isolated to
networked phenomena. In the Gujarat state, for instance, a special network of
NGOs working on drinking water issues was created at the beginning of 2000, as a
pressure group lobbying for funds at the State level and a counterbalancing force
against the dominant top-down State modernist planning projects.
A vivacious debate nurtured by modern and traditional paradigms for water
technologies produced profound changes in international aid policies during the
second half of the twentieth century. Theoretically speaking, the ‘traditional’
paradigm helped to relativize the widespread modernist rationality by suggesting
that there were equally valid ‘native’ points of view. Politically, it contributed to
the development of a great deal of literature on political ecology (Peet et al. 1996;
Escobar 1996; Braun and Castree 1998), which challenged the assumption that the
rural poor were somebody else’s development strategy and the subjects, instead
of being active originators of their own development patterns. Finally, on the
technical side it supported the discussion on appropriate and low cost technologies
against dominant approaches based on large scale infrastructural projects.
Since the late 1970s the term ‘appropriate technology’ seemed to synthesize the
recipe of success for the creation of hybrid technologies combining modern inputs
with indigenous practices. How far these were really able to answer local needs
and foster sustainable solutions for water management is still unclear, as some
authors underline the risk of constructing an alternative orthodoxy based on an
idealistic picture of indigenous people and new standard techniques,3 while
showing a too simplistic faith in traditional technologies and an exaggerated
critique of technological modernization (Bebbington 1996; Baviskar 1997).
Nevertheless, these efforts in developing hybrid technologies continued in the
2
These critiques developed because of the popular rhetoric on cognitive and epistemological
differences between western and indigenous knowledge. Kloppenburg (1991), for instance, used
paired concepts drawn from a range of sources to highlight differences between the two ways of
knowing (e.g. tacit versus explicit, concrete versus abstract, intuitive versus rational, feminine versus
masculine, craft versus science, relative versus absolute, indigenous versus scientific and so on).
3
One example was the quick popularity of hand pumps in Indian rural villages, since they were
considered an optimum compromise between simplified western technological input and local
desire to manage water resources in a decentralized way (Black 1998).
1980s and 1990s (Grover 1998), when new collaborative bodies4 were interna-
tionally developed in the attempt to produce learning spaces between local and
global practices (WSSCC 1999). In this case, too, a key element for success was
considered to be the definition of best practices, which increasingly became one of
the main cornerstones for the development of aid policies in developing countries
(Emmerij 2002; World Bank 1998, 2001).
Within this changing global context, where different paradigms are being
confronted and where international discourses and practices seem to be oriented by
the definition of good and bad practices as guiding principles, how far are they able
to foster innovations and sustainable solutions for water management?
4.3 Beyond Centre-Periphery Models of Innovation

Diffusion in Water Management
In this section, we outline the essential theoretical and conceptual framework that
we use for analyzing questions of innovation diffusion in water management in the
following case studies from India. The starting point is the awareness of inade-
quacy both of the well-established centre-periphery model for the diffusion of
innovation in the ‘glocal’ economic and cognitive geographies that characterize
contemporary urban-regional spaces (Swyngedouw 1997) and the deterministic
perspective on technology, according to which technology is an autonomous
development force that dominates society (Severino 1998).
The centre-periphery model has been widely used not only as an explanatory
model to account for social differentiation and technological change at the global
level, but also as a normative model to promote diffusion of innovation in
developing countries. This model is at the core of water management technologies
and approaches underlying the transfer of technology paradigm. It is based
on three essential elements: (i) the innovation to be diffused exists prior to its
diffusion; (ii) diffusion is the movement of an innovation from a centre out to its
ultimate users; (iii) directed diffusion is a centrally managed process of dissemi-
nation, training and provision of resources and incentives (Schön 1973, p. 81).
The centre-periphery model has been considered simplistic from different
viewpoints in the light of the complex knowledge relations in contemporary
society. From a phenomenological perspective, Schön noted that the essence of
the core/periphery model fails to capture the complexity of system-wide social
change in which innovations originate from numerous sources and evolve as they
are diffused. On an anthropological base, the notion of a cultural centre dominating
4
Among them, two of the most important are the Global Water Partnership and the Water
Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, both promoting global forums and smaller scale
working groups with the aim to foster a dialogue among governmental and non governmental
bodies, donor organizations, professional and research bodies, and the private sector.
the periphery has been questioned too. Two reasons are worth mentioning here:
firstly the possibility to single out a ‘fixed’ core is inherently limited in an age
characterized by globalized interrelationships, and secondly the implicit postula-
tion that the periphery is unable to resist the cultural domination of the
centre. Appadurai (1996) highlighted the inherently simplistic scope of the centre-
periphery model by emphasizing the multiple non-economic flows between
individuals, groups and states. He focused on a multitude of exchanges and agents
in the economic, political and cultural realms, and analyzed the processes of
globalization with respect to the impact that they have on the individual and other
micro agents both at local and global levels.
Here the concept of ‘glocal’ comes into play. This conceptual move was largely
based upon the observation of empirical practice. The term hints at the relation
between globalism and localism in contemporary society. It expresses both the
need to go beyond the line of thinking that argued in favour of globalization as
homogenization and the need to grasp the possible coexistence of a global
homogenized culture and local cultural traits. The deriving concept of ‘glocal-
ization’ (Swyngedouw 1992) indicates the combined process of globalization and
local-territorial reconfiguration, with an emphasis upon the changing relationships
between local and global. It refers to (i) the contested restructuring of the insti-
tutional level from the national scale both upwards to supra-national or global
scales and downwards to the scale of the individual body, the local, urban or
regional configurations and (ii) the strategies of global localization of key forms of
industrial, service and financial capital.
The concept of glocalization rejects the assumption that globalizing pressures
are in conflict with local cultural identities as it is arduous to conceptualize the
global as if it usually and unavoidably excludes the local. The local is embedded
within, and superimposed upon, the global, while global processes seem to pervade
all expressions of the local (Amin and Thrift 1994). From a cultural anthropo-
logical point of view, the concept of glocalization emphasizes processes of global
creation of the local and localization of the global. It is the intersection of such
directions of flows that brings together the global and the local giving rise to the
formation of new hybrid cultures.
More generally, we face a hybridization process when local traditions become
transformed by the addition of ideas or elements borrowed from elsewhere.
The notion of ‘hybridity’ is clearly connected to the ideology of postnationalism.
If nationalism has all the connotations of fixity and repression, then hybridity,
according to Bhabha (1994), captures the liberation potential of resistant cultures.
Hybridity counters the dominant logic of authoritarian discourse and opens up the
third space, the interstices where meaning is always in-between never stable, never
rigid. As Ritzer (2003) notes the notion of glocalization bears clear parallels to
Appadurai’s (1996) concept of hybridity.
The concepts introduced above induce us, empirically, to consider the
economic and cognitive flows that interconnect local and global spaces, which
are much more intricate than the linear and unidirectional ones postulated in the
centre-periphery model. As far as the evolution of water management approaches
and technologies is concerned, these economic and cognitive flows affect all the
agencies involved: powers of globalization and market competition, supra-national
institutions such as the World Bank, national government institutions operating at
different levels, cross-border cooperative organizations and local government
institutions, specialized authorities carrying out specific functions, private business
enterprises, and local community groups.
As a consequence, water supply and sanitation projects emphasizing community
involvement and decentralization cannot be considered exclusively local and
immune from influences coming from the centre. They have to be analyzed in
the light of the penetration of such notions in supra-national institutions and cross-
border cooperative organizations that were usually confined to the sphere of global
thinking. This implies that water supply and sanitation technologies based on
traditional local practices may be ‘globalized’ through the diffusion of ‘best practices’.
On the other hand, we should take into consideration the dynamically conservative
plenum into which information moves from who knows about the innovation to who is
supposed to get it and ask ourselves how the ponderous bureaucracies of South Asian
water management institutions face problems created by new situations.
A local culture can never be kept in its original form. It should be understood as a
dynamically constituted outside practice. Knowledge is a process of ‘enskillment’ in
the context of practical engagement with the environment, and local knowledge is
‘‘a practical, situated activity, constituted by a past, but changing, history of
practices’’, a set of time and context-specific improvised capacities rather than a
coherent ‘‘indigenous knowledge system’’ (Escobar 1998, p. 62, quoting Hobart
1993, p. 17). Social systems are based on knowledge that can be both formal, codified
(scientific or engineering knowledge) and informal, tacit (embodied in skilled per-
sonal routines or technical practices), and the latter is very important in explaining
skillful performances of human beings (Argyris et al. 1985, p. 49). The empirical
investigation summarized in the following section focuses on changes that happen in
practical, situated processes of water management.
4.4 Local Technologies in Evolution: Some examples

from India
In order to gain further insights on the issue of technological innovation in water

management, a micro-level perspective is adopted in this section, through the
analysis of some case studies of technological evolutions within rural and urban
Indian contexts. They have been analysed through local interviews with a large
number of stakeholders, ranging from local villagers to representatives of NGOs
and of local authorities in charge of water supply.5 Their analysis is aimed at
5
If specific sources of data are not cited, information contained in this section is directly taken
from field observations and interviews.
pointing out innovation patterns within the technological evolutions observed, as

well as the factors really influencing these within changing global–local dynamics.
The first example comes from one of the most arid areas of western India, the
Saurashtra region, in the Gujarat State. Due to scarcity of surface water, in that
region water is traditionally harvested through dug wells. However, the perfor-
mance of this technology reduced during the 1970s and 1980s because of high
groundwater extraction and low soil permeability. This resulted in significant
losses of harvests throughout the region. Driven by this situation, people started
thinking of possible ways to increase groundwater recharge by channelling
monsoon runoffs and diverting it into dug wells, in order to increase groundwater
level. For this purpose, they started constructing small check dams, in association
with some diversion schemes. Check dams themselves were not new in that region,
since they had been traditionally used by local people to harvest runoff into
seasonal reservoirs for agricultural purposes. But in the experiments of the late
1970s that system was used in a different way from the past. Through multiple
trials, villagers realized that if water was not left in the reservoir but channelled
into lower soil strata it could effectively produce groundwater recharge and
increase groundwater availability for the following years. Because of this, they
decided not to harvest water directly from the reservoir, as they had done in the
past, but to divert it under the ground and then use wells to extract it. Personal
communication and some awareness campaigns were organized by different
grassroots movements6; then these technologies and underlying knowledge sys-
tems spread through the region (Shah 2000; Prasad 2001).
Due to this raising of awareness of the positive impact of the use of these water
management systems, the Gujarat State even launched a special funding
programme in 1999––the Sardar Patel Participatory Water Project––with the aim
of funding the construction of 2100 check dams in the region. The availability of
additional funds from the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development
then led to a strong increase in the final number of funded projects, so that, by the
end of the year 2002, 13,000 check dams had been built instead of the planned
2100 (GEC 2002), so making their final number in Saurashtra more than seven
times higher than it was in 1999.7 This probably produced great impacts on the
local ecosystems, although a detailed analysis was never carried out by either the
State or by the several NGOs actively engaged in the process as implementing
organizations. They all seemed much more interested in following a ‘best practice’
approach and channelling as many funds as possible.
In this context of growing attention (and funding) for these experiments, some
Research Institutes, too, became interested in recharge issues in Saurashtra.
Among these, the Indian Space Organization launched a programme for satellite
6
Grassroots movements range from religious groups, acting on the basis of spiritual belief in
conservation practices, to community based associations later developed into the Saurashtra Lok
Manch NGO.
7
In 1999, the total number of check dams in Saurashtra was around 2000.
image interpretation aimed at finding the most effective points of groundwater

recharge, mainly coinciding with intersections of fissured lines. These pieces of
information was then used by some villages to further improve the effectiveness of
their recharge technologies within the catchment area.
As a result of these multiple efforts, ranging from self-made experiments of
local people, to grassroots and spiritual drives, to National and State funding
schemes, to scientific research programmes, something interesting was produced
in the region. Many villages started looking at these initiatives as a source of
unexpected and fruitful resources. These programmes and actions, whatever their
initial aim and rationale had been, were channelling important things to that
forgotten land: funding, technologies and knowledge. It was up to the local people to
find a way to make the best out of this situation in order to produce new solutions to
their problems. They then started combining selective pieces of technologies and
knowledge from different sources in a dynamic local context, thus producing
technological systems which were neither truly traditional nor modern, but a mix.
In this way they also showed their creative and innovation potential.
Another example of this proactive role of local people in the definition of
evolutionary patterns of technologies and knowledge systems for water manage-
ment can be found in the analysis of a slum upgrading process in Ahmedabad city.
Slums are usually the most deprived parts of cities mainly encroaching in
depressed areas and lacking even the most basic infrastructures and public
services, also because of their illegal status. Water availability is a very prob-
lematic issue. In these contexts, not only do people lack connections to urban
pipelines but they cannot even rely on traditional water harvesting technologies,
which seem inapplicable due to overpopulation. Because of this, water resources
mainly come from a few illegal connections to municipal schemes, around which
many conflicts arise within the community.
Despite increasing attention paid by current theories and practices of slum
upgradation to participatory mechanisms and community-based solutions,8 the
need to provide modern––even if low cost––technologies and connections to urban
infrastructures is generally supported. What are the implications of the introduc-
tion of new technologies? While it might be seen as an attempt to introduce key
stereotyped solutions based on modern technologies, the results of these projects
may not necessarily entail the adaptation of local practices to external rules as
local people may give unexpected input to transformation and technological
change, as will be shown in this case study.
In Ahmedabad, the slum upgrading project followed the Slum Networking
approach, which was developed by an Indian engineer, Himanshu Parikh, and
8
While in the 1950s and 1960s the ‘slum clearance’ approach prevailed and led to great
demolition processes and relocation strategies in developing countries, in the 1970 s more
comprehensive upgrading strategies emerged, where house rehabilitation was part of a broader
process of community development (Cohen 1983). More focused sectoral strategies then emerged
around the Nineties, with increasing attention being paid to institutional and participatory
mechanisms (Kessides 1997).
already implemented, with minor modifications, in other two Indian cities between
the end of the 1980s and the end of the 1990s9; this approach was also receiving
increasing international attention and recognition as global best practice10
(Grassini 2007).
From a technical perspective, it was based on the idea to use the improved
infrastructural connection of slums as an opportunity for a quantum change in the
network functioning of the city as a whole.11 This core technical idea was then
supported by a partnership approach among the slum community, a local munic-
ipality and a third party, as a way to ensure resource self-sufficiency and
community control in the planning and management phases of the project.12
The observations on which this paper is based are taken from Sanjay Nagar, a slum
colony in Ahmedabad where the project was piloted before its scale-up at city
level.
Beyond the international rhetoric of a best practice initiative, what is more
interesting for our purpose is a close analysis of the way technologies were
actually implemented and used in practice in this slum. While the project effec-
tively led to the provision, to all dwellers, of individual water connections and
toilets, concrete streets and street lighting, the final features and use of these
technologies were innovated by local people after project completion. Individual
toilets were not only used for sanitation purposes, but also as shower closets,
thanks to the use of baskets of water taken from the nearby water connection.
The concrete streets, although paved and straightened to channel away rain water
and to allow easy placement of underground sewerage networks, became much
more than this. Slum dwellers covered them with branches and transformed them
into ‘verandas’, which became extensions of the houses and socialization places to
cook or rest during the hot summer days and where children could play out of the
dust safely. Finally, thanks to the opportunities offered by this project, traditional
9
The Slum Networking Project was implemented in 183 slums of Indore between 1989 and
1997 and in some pilot schemes in Baroda in 1994. Implementation in Ahmedabad started in
1996 (Tripathi 1998).
10
The Slum Networking Project in Ahmedabad, Indore and Baroda received several
international awards, like the Best Practices award at the Habitat II conference in Istanbul in
1996 and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1998. It was among the best practices list of
Habitat II in 1998 and part of the best practices examples in the Cities Alliance, as a global
partnership among cities launched by the WB-UNCHS in 1999 with the final aim to be freed from
slums and to make a contribution to the improvement of the living conditions of 100 million slum
dwellers by 2020. For further details see Grassini (2007).
11
Since slum areas are usually illegally built along main drainage patterns of the cities, the
improvements of their drainage and sewerage patterns and their connection to the city main
network should result in a general improvement in the gravity based infrastructural network of the
city as a whole (Parikh 1995). From here the project name, ‘Slum Networking’.
12
In Ahmedabad, the partnership envisaged three major groups: the Ahmedabad Municipal
Corporation (AMC), the local community and a private industry, with additional support from a
local NGO and Parikh himself.
communal practices, previously abandoned in the degraded slum environment,

could be recovered in different forms and brought to new life.
The introduction of new technologies from outside thus nurtured a more
profound process of technological change, where old and new practices and
technologies were re-interpreted by local people thanks to their ability to turn
traditional and external inputs into new ones. In this way they proved to be far
from passive recipients of external aid and stereotyped technologies.
4.5 Bricolage as a Mode of Innovation and Change:

Cognitive and Practical Implications
While the international debate is mainly focused on the contraposition between

global scenarios of development and indigenous alternatives, the cases from India
described above show how interesting results may come from a sort of practical
interaction between local and global inputs, where pieces of technologies and
practices join both indigenous and western traditions. This resembles the practices
long observed by anthropologists, where local people could effectively transform
rules superimposed by conquerors, through a sort of bricolage strategy and
piecemeal approach of adaptation and change (de Certeau 1990; Appadurai 1996).
This also points to the concept of ‘cognitive bricolage’ as developed in the studies
on organizations, where the selective use of routine and practices within new
contexts has been observed (Lanzara 1993).
In this perspective, the case studies suggest that modernity and local traditions
are not black boxes which collide, but they can be deconstructed and reshaped in
everyday practices of poor people, who are able to use even insignificant pieces
and materials to invent new and hybrid means for their survival. The analysis of
this kind of practice can give helpful insights for the interpretation of technological
evolutions in the water field.
First of all, unlike international debate on the appropriateness of traditional
versus modern technologies, these practices suggest that innovations and changes
in local patterns of technological use are not strictly pre-determined within
implemented technologies. On the contrary, local people can produce new
evolutionary patterns of technological change through which modern and tradi-
tional pieces are reshaped and combined into new hybrids. In this context, what is
also interesting is that the initial input for transformation can come both from a
traditional technology, as in the Saurashtra case, and from a modern one, as in the
case of the slum upgrading programme.
This integration itself can be considered the essence of what some authors call
‘‘regional modernity’’ (Sivaramakrishnan et al. 2003), as a concept ‘‘where
localities are the ‘places’, both real and figurative (village landscapes and
people’s minds) where modern knowledge systems are continually produced
using information gleaned from local conditions, drawn through the lens of a
larger, regionally-based culture and historically-determined circumstances,
and broadened with information gained from globally circulated sources.’’

(Brodt 2003, pp. 344–345). In this context, locality is not a unitary, homogenous
entity founded in some perceived idea of indigeneity to which it is possible to
ascribe some specific practices and technologies. It is, indeed, a contingent entity,
historically situated and related to specific dynamics which are not all confined
within the locality itself. Local people themselves are far from static, but curious
and willing to pick up ideas from different sources and even to innovate by
accidental discoveries (Critchley 2000).
Innovation itself is produced by a silent and slow bricolage activity of adap-
tation and change put forward by local people in such a way that what is actually
produced cannot be considered either indigenous or modern, but something
different (Grassini 2002). In so doing, local people prove to be able to think across
different contexts, i.e. to apply routines, practices and technologies to contexts and
purposes different from those traditionally associated with them. They thus seem
to use what is usually called ‘improvisational capability’, i.e. the capacity to foster
change in adaptive and creative ways in between external and internal pressures.
According to this perspective, innovations are the result of neither deliberative nor
adaptive approaches, but they often stem from the capacity to innovate and
change, which lies at the intersection between the two (Weick 1995, 2001;
Brunsson et al. 1998).
This broader understanding of innovation as a social, nonlinear and inter-
active learning process implies a change in the evaluation of the role played by
local socio-cultural structures in technological development, from being looked
upon as mere memories from pre-capitalist societies, to be considered as
necessary fundamentals for innovation in a post-Fordist learning economy
(Asheim 1999, p. 347). When dealing with water management approaches and
technologies in increasingly ‘glocal’ contexts, we should not consider local
solutions as isolated, autonomous localities. The need is for differentiated,
responsive, continually changing, but connected reactions (Schön 1973,
pp. 188–189). In this vein, insisting on the promotion of ‘local solutions’, with
an emphasis on radical decentralism as a response to the forced uniformity and
perceived distortions of centre-periphery systems, can create as many problems
as they solve.
The acknowledgement of these processes of change, thus, poses further issues
in relation to the cognitive implications of such changes. While technologies are
reshaped in practice, how does local knowledge about them evolve? How are
hybrids of knowledge and technologies co-constructed from indigenous and
external inputs? In order to interpret our Indian case studies, we refer to recent
research in the anthropological field, according to which what happens during
these evolutionary processes is a slow process of hybridization of the different
hierarchical levels of abstraction that compose the knowledge system. In partic-
ular, they demonstrate how local hybridization processes between knowledge
of different geographical and socio-political origins can either bring new
primary-level information from an outside source to be subsumed under existing
secondary-level interpretative concepts; or they can lead to the introduction of new
secondary-level concepts, which expand or explain the existing system13

(Brodt 2003).
In the Saurashtra case, for example, new practices––like the diversion schemes
within dug wells––and their cause-effect relationships have been imported within
the traditional interpretative framework of recharge/withdrawal equilibrium.
Instead, lately acquired secondary-level concepts––like the effectiveness of
recharge in relation to the fracturation ratio––were adopted to expand the potential
of existing recharge practices. How these pieces of knowledge will be combined in
a new evolving knowledge system will then also depend on different factors which
influence the usability of information at different hierarchical levels.14
4.6 An Agent-Based Perspective on Technological Change
The inadequacy of binary––hard/soft, traditional/modernist or post-modernist––

descriptions of technological models of exploitation of water resources in our
case studies from India contributes to raising further theory-in-practice issues.
In particular, the intriguing evolution of water technologies as they emerge from
case studies and the frequent appearance of hybrid solutions and processes have
prompted us to focus attention on these relationships and on the agents involved.
In fact, in tune with theoretical and empirical literature, our case studies show
that (i) in most communities water technologies are not naively derived from
purely local tradition but evolve according to a context interaction in order to
better tune community technological behaviours towards endogenous and exoge-
nous needs, as in any other evolutionary process of adaptation, to the dynamics
of the environment, and (ii) hybridization of traditional and modern-standard
technologies in this evolution is a process that often leads to innovative techniques
in intriguing non-linear terms which deserve better consideration (Norton and Bass
1992; Dattée and Birdseye Weil 2007).
The process of technological change (TC) oscillates between transition
(a radical innovation and in-depth movement in technology involving multiple
complex systems) and incremental change (almost imperceptible movement
deriving from small changes often consisting of adapting existing technologies to
13
By primary level we mean the level consisting of pieces of information about the objects and
their cause-and-effect, spatial, and temporal relationships; by secondary level we mean the level
consisting of the overlying ‘concepts’, which are abstracted from the information level and
explain the information pieces in a meaningful whole.
14
In this respect, some studies (Brodt 2001) have demonstrated that a knowledge system as a
whole may survive better in the face of changes if it is organized into relatively independent
subsections which can have their own independent pattern of development. On the other hand, the
erosion of traditional knowledge is also related to the scale of application, the possibility being to
scale-up practices which are likely to be maintained even within changing economic
circumstances. This is particularly relevant given the unequal scale power that modern
technologies can have because of their mode of production and ease of diffusion.
new contexts). The concept of TC transition and of technological trajectory

(Dosi 1982, cited in Elzen and Wieczorek 2005, p. 653), in particular, has recently
become object of widespread research interests because of its appropriateness to
situations where radical technological changes are occurring or are needed in
terms of sustainability processes.
TC transition systems (or ‘regimes’, as some scholars prefer to define them to
stress social implications vis-à-vis the technical ones better) are based on multi-
plicity and co-evolution of actors, factors, and levels. Traditional interpretive
policy-oriented paradigms of TC consider a tripartite model: top-down (authority
based, political), bottom-up (market based, economic), networked (knowledge
based, cognitive).15
Reflections on our Indian case studies confirm what recent complexity system
approaches to TC maintain, that in the real world various dimensions of the
technical change overlap––cognition can derive from a political effort of inno-
vation as much as economic valuations can be influenced by political incentives or
disincentives like in the Saurashtra case, or conversely, political push for technical
innovation can derive from the evidence of economic advantages of some tech-
nical innovations as in the slum case––so that none of the individual dimensions of
the above mentioned hyperspace of technical change is completely meaningful for
the understanding of the evolutions of techniques. The agent-based perspective––
focusing on both the formation of elements and paradigms and the relationships
among elements and paradigms in the technical space––presents an evolving
knowledge-in-action and global–local situation of techniques which appears
adequate to the integral understanding of the phenomena at hand (Dattée and
Birdseye Weil 2007).
Our agent-based perspective tries to overcome another major critique to the
analysis of TC transition systems-regimes, which is the almost exclusive focus on
producers and the ignorance of users’ roles and judgments (Elzen and Wieczorek
2005). Very little literature is devoted to common sense knowledge generation and
evaluation on TC and it often reports in too aggregate forms about actions––more
15
Simplified modelling of technological change is of course trivial, in the light of the high
complexity of situations and dynamics: it can help to understand the structure and functioning of
the technical space under consideration. New techniques replace the old ones according to a
process which evolves in a multidimensional space. When this hyperspace is reduced to a 3D—
cognitive, political, and economic—space, three mechanisms (macro-agents) rule this evolu-
tionary technical space: (i) cognition of a new technique somewhere replacing an old one is
precondition for the adoption of a new technique elsewhere (or in given multi-agent space) and
for building organizational environments around it; (ii) politics—endogenously or exogenously
driven—influences penetration of a new technique into the space of an old one; (iii) economy
allows the replacement of a given technique with a new one on the basis of the economic
convenience or inconvenience of this replacement. This schematic model is, partly, an agent-
based transposition of the well known technology life cycle model (Moore 2002; Rogers 2003).
At the top level of the technological arena macro-agents (institutional, social) continuously
operate technological change within this technological multidimensional space while at the
bottom micro-agents (technique raiders-representatives, individuals) continuously implement and
contribute to the evolution of this technical change (Henderson and Clark 1990).
Contextual global domain Innovator
Conservator Mediator Innovator
Contextual local domain
Fig. 4.1 Conservator-mediator-innovator technological agents
than reflections––from below for pushing or pulling or opposing TC. Even the
intriguing concept of tribal technology (Shiva 2002) seems still to lack empirical
robustness to be able to use it as a sound basis for further investigation on
dilemmas of judgments on TC.
Moreover, agent-based cognitive approaches are spreading generally in the
analysis and modelling of organizational development and planning processes, in
particular when processes of social learning and technological change are
involved. These approaches (O’Hare and Jennings 1996; Ferber 1999; Forester
1999; Borri et al. 2008) being oriented to exploring the behaviour of both the
single-agent and the multi-agent (of a cognitive agency at different scales of
amplitude of the group of agents involved), they fit particularly well to situations
in which organizational and community development continuously stems from a
complex set of individual and social cognitions and actions (Fig. 4.1). Well for-
malized economic research, too, is focusing on the cognitive role and credibility of
agents––in particular experts with different skills and information––in decision-
making in multi-expert environments (Feinberg and Stewart 2008).
The individual-mediator-community distributed agent basic model (Okamoto
et al. 2009) seems to fit particularly well to the analysis of technical changes in
which two different actors––the rational individual agent of the expert standard
techniques (powerful because of its oversimplification), on the one hand, and the
emotional social agent of the commonsense techniques, on the other, confront each
other by the interposition of a mediator-agent in between them, an agent which
masters the typical problems of coordination and conflict resolution that arise in
the theory-in-practice dialogue between One and Two (Shakun 1999). Further
complexity comes from the recognition that individual expert rational agents are
indeed encapsulated in their own social network while groups of commonsense
emotional agents can appear as fragmented in their own constituency of individ-
uals, with the obvious consequence that ‘individual’ and ‘social’ are intriguing
intertwining cognitive categories.
First of all, challenging the idea of techniques as Leviathan agents which
develop and function out of human control (Severino 1998), our case studies show
that local agents are not overwhelmed by techniques as passive objects but have
interesting proactive roles in technological change which requires further
investigation, for instance, in terms of responsibility and creativity. These agents,

in fact, in our case studies can appear (i) responsible in their participating in social
discussions and evaluations about the pro-and-cons of an existing or proposed
technique and (ii) creative in their radically transforming an existing technique.
The combination of this technical insurgency by the local agents for the sake of
their communities and their living environments in situations in which traditional
local or modern global techniques are not applicable or in some way disputable has
prompted us to analyse these technical behaviours through the cognitive agency
paradigm, an extension of the technological paradigm concept proposed by Dosi
(1982).
Transition Management (a learning-by-doing process in which ‘‘different par-
ticipating actors from society work on inducing a specific systems change’’)
(Kemp and Rotmans 2004, cited in van de Kerhof and Wieczorek 2005, p. 734)
implies organizing transition arenas for developing visioning and learning in their
various contexts––social, political, government, organizational, etc.––and hierar-
chy and abstraction levels––first-order, dealing with options that do not require
radical changes in theories and/or practices, second-order––and many other
conceptual and practical aporias (van de Kerhof and Wieczorek 2005).
If structure and evolution of technical systems are conceived from an agent
perspective, agents appear involved in transactions which imply a relational
understanding and change of the alleged basic elements and paradigms of the
technical systems at hand. Located at the peripheries of these, in intermediate
spaces of the system spaces, and garrisoning cognitive and operational relation-
ships among elements and paradigms elaborated by other organizations, these
agents do not uniquely participate nor are they restricted in any of the individual
technical elements and paradigms on which given domains of techniques are
built. On the contrary, potentially they are active transformers and mediators
(for instance between top down technological agents belonging to institutional
technical organizations and bottom up technological agents belonging to com-
munities and grassroots organizations) of relationships and evolutions among
different technical elements and paradigms––that is among different agent
domains––and contribute to build ‘glocal’ knowledge about those technical
domains (Pendharkar 2007). They continuously execute typical mediator tasks,
like understanding positions of different agents in a technical arena, introducing
their own interest into the arena, and also transforming the arena according to their
mission of coordination (Okamoto et al. 2009).
Any set of users of an old technique is differentiated on the terrain of the users’
various degrees of conservation––or innovation––propensity, while those conser-
vation/innovation (behavioural) ratios that are expressed by agents and contexts
define the pace of replacement of the old techniques by the new ones available.16
16
In this perspective, religious and other symbolic attitudes towards science and technology
could be considered as greatly influencing the alternation of scientific and technological visions
and arrangements.
Nonetheless, as mentioned above, in the last few years it has become increasingly
clear that many processes and events17 can bring back the reuse of old techniques,
obviously in ways that fit contexts often profoundly different from the past, thus
denying visions of unidirectional evolutions of techniques. In this circular stream
of technical progress, the reuse of old techniques can mean selecting technical
primitives––as technical ontologies––that are fundamentals and invariants in
the artificial (i.e. implying intentional transformation) relationship between the
environment and its human beings (Antonelli 2007).
While the evolution of techniques in this conceptual hyperspace appears to us
as ruled by either informed decision about feasible alternatives (active change) or
influence of contextual events of selective decline-and-rise in domains of tech-
niques (passive change), in the real world things are fuzzier and less discontinuous.
Replacements of techniques mainly function in a market-like space of techniques,
so that there is usually coexistence of old and new techniques within one given
socio-geographical context as well as within a plurality of socio-geographical
contexts. It is worth noting, this structural inertia of any technical change also
leads to a cognitive vantage, given the possibility of reflecting on the technological
evolution in relation to a given problem and of introducing further dynamism in
the process.
Nevertheless, the coexistence and alternation of traditional and innovative
techniques and in general of different techniques in the course of the evolutionary
multi-agent technical process pose problems of management and co-ordination: as
in any multi-agent process, the role of mediators-agents becomes essential for
managing and co-ordinating the cognitive, political, and economic implications of
the evolutionary process; in fact, mediators-agents are actively located in between
the two original groups of senders and receivers of technical change transactions
and work for continuous re-creation of technical frames. Mediators-agents operate
important proactive roles of technical communication, evaluation, and assistance.
They stay in between the traditional techniques and the innovative ones and
contribute to the cognitive framing of the transaction space of the evolutionary
technical process.18
Mediation and transaction of techniques continuously build an articulated
technical space in which knowledges and organizations shape economic, political,
and environmental interpretations of advantages and disadvantages of technical
situations. Moreover, this supports deep reflections within the ecological debate
in the globalizing era, where discussion between traditional and innovative
techniques highlights important concerns. In this context, in fact, while many
contributions are focusing on the critique of the effects of technical innovations on
17
See the rise and the development of the ecological movement, which has highlighted failures
of, and ecological risks from, new techniques (Worster 1985).
18
The acknowledgement of their substantial role does not mean ignoring the fact that relevant
doubts have been raised about the ability of agents to control the evolution of techniques in their
compulsory and dominating relation with the world (Vattimo 1997; Severino 1998; Galimberti
1999).
the environment with a tendency to technical conservative attitudes,19 a growing

body of research is now trying to combine the attention for the preservation of
nature with that for organizational and technological changes in view of increasing
efficacy and efficiency (Ketelar and Todd 2001; Gifford 2005).
4.7 Concluding Remarks: Challenging Perspectives

on Technological Evolutions in ‘Glocal’ Contexts
In this paper we have tried to show how technologies may undergo a slow evolu-
tionary process of change as a result of active interactions between communities,
techniques and their underlying knowledges and practices. For this purpose we have
selected two cases from India, whose main interest lies in the process which they
point to and not in the specific technological output they produce. Our aim was to
contribute to a rethinking of planning interventions in South Asian countries, which
are often polarized between two opposed normative approaches, the modernist and
the traditional. Although it is almost impossible to derive recommendations for such
a wide and diverse area, some interesting considerations can nevertheless be drawn.
First of all, in contrast with the dominant idea that technologies drive commu-
nities towards a pre-defined pattern of change, which they can at the most try to resist,
this paper demonstrates that technologies themselves may be only the first input in a
local process of innovation and change. Through this process, which often goes
unnoticed, technologies themselves are deconstructed and reinterpreted in innova-
tive ways, thus leading to new patterns of change which are nurtured by the dynamic
relationship between local and global pieces of technologies, knowledge and culture.
The acknowledgement of these innovation potentials ‘in the making’ of the
process throws a different light on current attempts of many international orga-
nizations to define hybrid technologies as a result of a mix between efficiency-led
modern inputs and contextual-based indigenous practices. While these attempts
are driven by the idea that some sort of definition of best practices is possible and
that these practices will be able to spread innovation potential according to well
defined patterns, we have tried to demonstrate how technological inputs are often
only one of the manifold starting points of a slow process of change, where local
and global actors and inputs actively engage in transformation through a dynamic
relationship. In this perspective, any real attempt to foster planning processes that
wish to rely on grassroots potential for the definition of new patterns of change
needs to acknowledge the importance of local people’s agency instead of any
stereotyped output of that agency. This means that an idealistic defence of specific
indigenous technologies is not the right way to go. Instead, we must work for the
19
In this view, globalization is mainly seen as bringing homologation of techniques and
therefore decontextualization and deterritorialization, i.e. dangerous detachment from the
structures and constraints of the local environments.
enhancement of local people’s possibility to actively engage in transformations

through negotiations and context-based interpretations of local and global inputs.
This has very important consequences. First of all, it implies the acknowl-
edgement of the pro-active role of local people in the definition of evolutionary
patterns of technological change. Of course we do not mean that local people
agency needs to overcome all others––this is also inconsistent with the dialectical
relationship between local and global forces and inputs. In our contribution, we
speak of the need for negotiations between local and global agencies instead of
the need to have local people dominate the choice. And this is also why we stress
the importance of mediators-agents, who operate important proactive roles of
technical communication, evaluation, and assistance in between local–global
transaction in a complex knowledge/technological space.
In this perspective, border zones prove to be the most favourable areas for
transformation, where multiple inputs are available for interaction and hybrid-
ization processes, and where these can enrich the range of possibilities for future
actions. Out of the dualistic contraposition of domination and resistance between
traditional and modern technologies, innovations seem to come from a sort of
‘‘border thinking’’ (Mignolo 2000), as a thinking happening in places where
diversities can meet and hybridizations can happen in everyday practices through
piecemeal and silent processes of change instead than of grandiose and deliberate
actions. Actual ‘glocal’ spaces may, thus, become the crucial areas for innovations,
beyond their traditional interpretation as places of domination and resistance
between local and global forces. On the contrary, they can be seen as places where
fruitful processes of evolution and change can take place, nurtured by local and
global inputs (Geschiere and Meyer 1998; Escobar 2001; Borri et al. 2004;
Barbanente et al. 2007). In this context, Asian societies, which often look as a
composite repository of traditional and modern technological systems, can find an
important source of vitality and strengths for future innovations and changes.
Acknowledgments The empirical material on which the paper is based has been developed as part
of the PhD research of Laura Grassini in Urban and Regional Planning at the University La Sapienza,
Rome, with funding from the same University. A first draft of this paper was presented at a special
session on ‘‘Changing Perspectives on Technology in Environmental Transformation and
Management’’ of the conference ‘‘Asian Horizons: Cities, States and Societies’’, held in Singapore
with funding support from the National University of Singapore. Special thanks are due to David
Higgitt for the organization of that session and the opportunity for in-depth discussion.
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Chapter 5
Surface Runoff and Sediment Yields
from Tropical Volcanic Upland
Watersheds as Influenced by Climatic,
Geological and Land-Use Factors
Anton Rijsdijk
Abstract This paper presents discharge, suspended sediment and bedload yields
from a young volcanic catchment (the Konto river catchment) in East Java,
Indonesia. river flow and catchment sediment yields were determined in three
sub-catchments at two locations in each. In general, the upper stations represented
more-or-less natural conditions, while two of the lower stations included
agricultural land and settlements. Two sub-catchments, which had a predominantly
forested upper part, and a lower catchment with settlements and a high percentage
of irrigated or rain-fed agricultural land, showed clear differences in quickflow
percentages and suspended sediment yield. In these sub-catchments, quickflow
(expressed as a percentage of rainfall) at the lower stations was twice as much as
that observed in the forested upper stations, while the annual suspended sediment
load was between three times higher (3.4 vs. 11.2 Mg ha-1) and 26 times higher
(0.35 vs. 9.3 Mg ha-1). By contrast, in another sub-catchment with little agri-
culture and no settlements, there was virtually no difference between the upper and
lower station (both around 1.0 Mg ha-1). The contribution of bedload to the total
sediment load ranged from 0.5% in an upper watershed with consolidated material
to nearly 12% in an upper watershed situated in an unstable lahar valley. In both
developed lower catchments, the bedload component was about 6.5% of the total
load. From erosion-pin measurements and analysis of the grain-size contribution of
both bed material and the riverbank material, the contribution of bank erosion was
estimated to range from 1 to about 36% of the total sediment load. River sediment
yields in Indonesia appear to be underestimated due to incorrect sampling and
calculation methods. Comparison between the conventional method and
Anton Rijsdijk—Formerly With DHV Consulting Engineers, Amersfoort, The Netherlands
A. Rijsdijk (&)
J. van der Borchstraat 24bis, 3515 XE, Utrecht, The Netherlands
e-mail: rijsdijk.1@inter.nl.net

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-2330-6_5, Ó The Author(s) 2012
70 A. Rijsdijk
theoretically more accurate approach yielded an underestimate of up to 47% of the

first method. However, despite the different methods and uncertainties, the results
obtained in this study are comparable with those of other studies on sediment yield
in the humid tropics.

Keywords Humid tropics Sediment yield Water balances Bank erosion

Bedload Sediment measurements
5.1 Introduction
The high sediment content of the rivers in Indonesia and neighbouring countries has
been considered to be a serious problem since the first publication on this subject
nearly a century ago (Rutten 1917). Since then, many more recent studies have been
conducted on hydrology and sediment yield in tropical watersheds, including those
by Van Dijk and Ehrencron (1949), Bruijnzeel (1983) and Van der Linden (1978) on
Java, by Amphlett (1988) in the Philippines, by Balamurugan (1991) in Malaysia,
and by Turkelboom (1999) in Thailand. Nevertheless, many questions about the
scale of the problem and the nature of sediment transport still remain unanswered.
One of the assumptions, which was taken for granted during many years of
erosion research in Indonesia was: ‘‘Deforestation causes surface erosion and loss
of agricultural productivity’’. While this is not entirely untrue, and some studies
show a clear correlation between deforestation and increasing sediment yield [e.g.
in the Cilutung tributary, as cited by Ambar and Wiersum (1980], developments in
research show that the issue is quite complicated and some nuances might be
opportune. As Diemont et al. (1991) point out, low inputs, not surface erosion, are
the causes of low productivity. He argues that if rain-fed agriculture was the single
cause of the high sediment yield in rivers, then all the efforts to reduce erosion in
the last 50 years, should have paid off. Besides the reduction in erosion due to
terracing [estimated by Diemont et al. (1991), to have been implemented in 75% of
all cultivated uplands in Java], the erosion should also have been reduced by the
ongoing conversion of rain-fed agricultural land to irrigated rice fields in Java,
even if the time lag in sediment delivery is taken into account. However, despite
all of this, the river sediment loads remain high and sedimentation continues to be
problematic. Hence, a comprehensive study of all possible sediment sources in a
watershed, linked to the basin sediment output, was therefore essential to under-
stand the influences of deforestation on the river sediment yield at different scales.
The Konto river watershed management project near the East Java town of
Malang in Indonesia, which was implemented in response to the rapid siltation of
the artificial Lake Selorejo (Brabben 1979), provided an opportunity to investigate
the relationship between land use and sediment yield in detail.
This project, which started in 1979, was a joint multidisciplinary study con-
ducted by the governments of the Netherlands and Indonesia. It aimed to develop
the planning procedures needed to establish a management model for the forested
5 Surface Runoff and Sediment Yields 71
land which occurred in densely populated watersheds in Java. Within the frame-
work of this project (Anonymous 1989), attempts were made to quantify the
sediment yield of the contributing rivers, to analyse the hydraulic behaviour of the
watershed, and to evaluate the (often strongly interrelated) sediment sources
(Rijsdijk and Bruijnzeel 1990, 1991). The main erosion research activities were
carried out from 1987 until the end of the project in 1990. The present paper
summarises the main results of a recent re-analysis of the original data on river
flow and sediment yield as collected by the Konto river project.
The main objective of the study presented here was to investigate the effect of
the different sub-catchments’ hydrology (water balance and quickflow) on sedi-
ment yield (suspended load and bedload). The study also aimed to present accurate
data on sediment yield for planning purposes, provide increased insight into the
hydrological behaviour and sediment transport of upland volcanic catchments, and
contribute to the discussion on the ‘true’ sediment yield of rivers. Other studies on
erosion and sediment dynamics of the Konto river basin have considered the runoff
and sediment production from rural roads, trails and settlements (Rijsdijk et al.
2007a), the sediment yield from gullies, riparian mass wasting and bank erosion
(Rijsdijk et al. 2007b), and the evaluation of sediment sources and delivery
(Rijsdijk 2005).
An important issue is the discussion on the ‘true’ sediment yield of the
Indonesian rivers. In Indonesia, the suspended sediment flux is usually calculated
using the classical sediment rating curve–flow duration method (Miller 1951).
In this, samples are lumped together and converted to stream sediment load using a
stage-suspended-sediment load relation curve (Q–S) for each station. This is done
for all seasons and years together, as recommended by Jahani (1992). In addition,
sampling in Indonesia is often only conducted during office hours, although most
floods occur late in the afternoon or evening.
However, several investigators have reported serious underestimation of sedi-
ment loads when the sediment rating curve–flow duration method is applied in
small or medium-sized basins (Walling 1977a, b; Ferguson 1986; Walling et al.
1992), even when data were corrected for the bias caused by log transformation
(Ferguson 1986; Walling and Webb 1988; Thomas 1988). Hence it is relevant to
compare the conventional values with theoretically more correct methods, such as
the event-based method (Guy and Norman 1970; Bruijnzeel 1983).
This problem of under estimating the sediment load is certainly not only an
Indonesian problem, For example, White (1988) found that on the average, the
predicted sedimentation rate was only 39% of the observed rate measured at ten
reservoirs in India, Indonesia, Kenya and the Philippines.
5.2 Study Area
The Konto river is a part of the large Brantas river system (Fig. 5.1) and drains a
young volcanic watershed of 233 km2. The watershed is located 25 km NW of the
East Java town of Malang and had a total population of about 100,000 in 1990.
72 A. Rijsdijk
Fig. 5.1 Location and general geomorphology of the Upper Konto catchment, East Java (after
Nuffic-Unibraw 1984), with locations of study sites added (based on Rijsdijk 2005). CA = Coban
Rondo upper station, CB = Coban Rondo lower station; MA = Manting upper station,
MB = Manting lower station; SA = Sayang upper station, SB = Sayang lower station;
KK = Konto river at the village of Kambal
It comprises intervolcanic plains and plateau’s (25% of the total area), alluvial and
lahar valleys (5%), hilly areas (50%) and volcanic mountain complexes (20%).
Within the Konto watershed, three sub-catchments were investigated in detail.
These catchments comprise about 17% of the total area and include the Coban
Rondo river catchment in the south-eastern part, the Manting sub-catchment in the
north and the Sayang catchment in the north-west corner of the Konto river
watershed. The Coban Rondo catchment (2,162 ha) is situated on the northern
slopes of the Kawi–Butak volcanic massif. The upper part, from 2,600 m down to
about 1,700 m is quite steep and relatively inaccessible while the lower hilly part
slopes gently to 1,100 m at the confluence with the Konto river. The much smaller
Manting sub-catchment (460 ha) is bordered to the north by the inner slopes of the
Anjasmoro volcano range and slopes down from 1,900 to 1,250 m. The upper
Sayang catchment (1,233 ha) is partly located in a lahar valley bordered to the east
by the Anjasmoro mountains at 1,600 m and slopes down to the inflow of the
Sayang river into Lake Selarejo at 700 m ASL. As in the Manting and Coban
Rondo basins, slopes in the upper part of the Sayang basin are steep but gradually
give way to hilly landforms and intervolcanic plains at lower altitudes.
The climate of the study area is classified according to Oldeman (1975) as
agroclimate ‘C2’. This climate, which is typical for higher elevations in a tropical
monsoon climate, has relatively pronounced wet seasons (December–April) and
dry seasons (June–October). The mean annual rainfall is about 2,400 mm (Brantas
1989), based on long-term records (1917–1988) from the rain gauges in and
around the project area. However, great spatial variation in rainfall exists. Intense
rainstorms can also occur: the highest daily rainfall recorded during the study
period was 88 mm in the Coban Rondo sub-catchment, 84 mm in the Manting
sub-catchment and 102 mm in the Sayang sub-catchment (Rijsdijk and Bruijnzeel
1990).
All soils in the upper Konto area have developed from windblown, fine-textured
volcanic ash and are classified (FAO 1990) as Andosols (mountainous parts),
Cambisols (lower slopes and foothills) and Luvisols (lower plains with wetland
rice cultivation). More details on the soil properties in the Konto river basin are
presented in Nuffic-Unibraw (1984).
Table 5.1 presents the land use in the Konto river area. About two-thirds of the
area—in general the part above 1,400 m—is covered with (degraded) natural
forest or tree plantations. At lower altitudes, the degraded natural forests are
gradually turning into shrubland. This economically unproductive shrubland, in
turn, is often replaced by agroforestry (tumpangsari). The lowest parts of the
project area are used for wetland rice cultivation or for rain-fed agriculture with
non-perennial crops or coffee; these areas are often also occupied by human
settlements, roads and trails. More details about the geography of the project area
and the project can be found in RIN (1985) and Rijsdijk and Bruijnzeel (1990).
5.3 Monitoring Programme
5.3.1 Water Balance and Sediment Discharge Measurements
From 1988 to 1990, rainfall data were collected daily and at 15-min intervals using
various types of rain gauges. These ranged from manual daily rain gauges and
mechanical tipping bucket rain gauges (SIAP, Bologna, Italy) in the lower part of
74
Table 5.1 Areas of major types of land use in 1989 in the entire Konto river watershed (East Java, Indonesia), and in the upper (A) and lower (B) parts of
three sub-catchments within the Konto watershed. see Fig. 5.1
CA CB MA MB SA SB Konto
Unit ha % ha % ha % ha % ha % ha % ha %
(Disturbed) natural forest 1,034 88 1,049 49 318 82 318 69 205 60 437 35 5,700 24
Plantation forest 3 0 142 7 4 1 25 6 57 17 149 12 1,200 5
Tumpangsari 0 90 4 1 0 31 7 10 3 11 1 800 3
Scrub 133 11 172 8 65 17 85 19 63 18 292 24 7,000 30
Bamboo 62 3 6 0 500 2
Coffee and mixed garden 9 0 1 0 53 4 800 3
Rainfed agricultural land 333 15 4 1 95 8 4,000 17
Irrigated rice fields (sawah) 166 8 164 13 2,200 9
Settlement 138 6 27 2 800 3
Lake 300 1
Roads 300
Total area (ha) 1,170 100 2,162 100 388 100 460 100 341 100 1,233 100 23,300 100
Altitude of gauging station (m ASL) 1,700 1,100 1,350 1,250 1,050 700 750 (Kambal)
C Coban Rondo, M Manting, S Sayang
A. Rijsdijk
the basins, to electronic long-term recording devices (Obsermet, Ridderkerk,

The Netherlands) at the top of the mountains. Due to frequent malfunctions of the
long-term rain gauges, the data from higher altitudes are under-represented. All
measured rainfall data were converted to catchment area rainfall using the Thi-
essen polygon method. For comparison, data from the existing meteorological
stations in Pujon and Ngantang were collected (Brantas 1989).
The catchment evapotranspiration (ET) was calculated as a weighted mean of
the evapotranspiration values of the dominant types of landuse. The (Penman)
evaporation (Eo) values were computed from meteorological data at the project’s
meteorological station at lower Manting (Rijsdijk and Bruijnzeel 1990) and
corrected for altitude by equations developed for central Java (Bruijnzeel 1988).
Next, the evapotranspiration rates of the dominant types of landuse were calcu-
lated according (ET = crop factor *Eo). Details on the methodology and crop
factors are in Rijsdijk and Bruijnzeel (1990).
From 1988 to 1990, river discharges and river sediment load (suspended load
and bedload) were measured at two locations within each of the three sub-
catchments: Coban Rondo (C), Manting (M) and Sayang (S). The upper (‘A’)
gauging stations (CA, MA and SA) were located just below the (relatively)
undisturbed and steep parts of the sub-catchments; the lower (‘B’) stations
(CB, MB and SB) were located at the outflow of each sub-catchment (Fig. 5.1).
The suspended sediment yield of the Konto river, at the Kambal station (KK,
Fig. 5.1) was assessed in 1990.1 However, these results are only indicative
(Rijsdijk and Bruijnzeel 1991).
Water levels were recorded using hydraulic measuring devices equipped with
automatic water-level recorders (Ott, Kempten, Germany). Due to mechanical
problems and damage by large floods, the 1990 outflow data from stations CB and
SB are probably somewhat underestimated, while the MA station was completely
destroyed by an extreme flood in January 1990. Stage discharge (Q–H) relations
were established using the area velocity method and data from current meters
(Ott, Kempten, Germany) and converted to daily and annual values. The wet season
started usually in November, with low inter annual variations in the October flow,2
hence the period from November to December was taken as a hydrological year.
5.3.2 Suspended Load Sampling Procedures
At each gauging station, hundreds of grab samples of water and suspended sedi-
ment were taken during the wet season, both in storms and during periods of
baseflow (Table 5.2). During the rising stage of a storm, flow samples were taken
at intervals of a 1- or 2-cm increase in water level or with time intervals of up to
1
Using the sediment rating curve–flow duration method (SRC–FDM).
2
For example, the highest inter annual variation (at station MA between 1988 and 1989) was
less than 8% of the monthly maximum flow in 1989.
76 A. Rijsdijk
Table 5.2 Number of samples and concentrations of suspended sediment in the rivers measured
at the gauging stations of the studied sub-catchments
No. of samples Sediment concentration (g l-1)
Base flow Storm flow Min Max Median
CA 16 94 0.003 0.985 0.068
CB 25 88 0.067 13.792 2.87
MA 33 67 0.002 0.552 0.074
MB 16 60 0.004 0.929 0.031
SA 28 122 0.007 15.198 0.396
SB 35 133 0.103 22.086 1.554
Fig. 5.2 Example of a storm event analysis. Broken line indicates stormflow separation line
according to the method of Hewlett and Hibbert (1967)
15 min. Most sampling sessions lasted at least until the summit of the flood wave
was reached and often included a major part of the falling limb as well (Fig. 5.2).
All samples were taken downstream of the bedload trap at the crest of the weir.
This sampling method can be used as a reasonable substitute for depth integrated
sampling [Ǿstrom (1975), quoted in Bogen (1992)]. The water and sediment
samples were filtered with pre-weighted Melita filters,3 dried for 24 h at 105°C and
weighed to the nearest 0.001 g.
3
This methodology could result in slight under-estimation of the sediment yield in comparison
to filtration through 0.45 lm Millipore filters. Purwanto (1999), in west Java, compared the two
methods and his results suggested ca. 4.5% lower values for the paper filters.
Table 5.3 Statistical parameters of regression equations linking rainfall (P) to quickflow (Qq)
per event at the studied sub-catchments
Site No. of Range R2 SEE F-value P level
observations (mm)
CA 19 7–74 0.27* 19 6.3 \0.1
CB 46 0.3–61 0.27* 13.7 16.4 \0.001
MA 24 4–51 0.63 6.8 38.2 \0.001
MB 19 4–51 0.75 5.7 50.5 \0.001
SA 68 0.14–79 0.55 10.7 81.5 \0.001
SB 55 0.31–70 0.64 9.2 94.8 \0.001
5.3.3 Calculation Procedures
Baseflow and quickflow were separated by drawing a line from the point on the
hydrograph at which the water level started to rise at an angle of 3.76E-05 m3/s.
The area above the line was considered to be quickflow and that below this line
baseflow (Hewlett and Hibbert 1967). Quickflow volumes per storm were
regressed against corresponding rainfall for each station. Daily average rainfall
records for each station were inserted into the regression equation to determine the
annual amount of quickflow.
These relations were in general significant at p \ 0.001, with the exception of
station CA (p \ 0.1). The low coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.27) of the
Coban Rondo stations, (CA and CB) were probably caused by the frequent
malfunctions of the electronic rain gauges at higher altitudes (Table 5.3).
The yield of suspended sediment was calculated using the event-based method
(Guy and Norman 1970; Bruijnzeel 1983). Using this method, the sediment yield per
storm was calculated individually and related to the corresponding amount of
quickflow. When a number of stormflow events were sampled, a power curve linking
log quickflow volume and log sediment yield was established. These relations were
significant with a p \ 0.001, except CA (p \ 0.01 and CB (p \ 0.1) (see Table 5.4
and Fig. 5.2). Using this relationship, the total sediment yield was estimated by
calculating the quickflow volume of each event from the runoff hydrograph and
adding the sediment volume of the baseflow to this (details in Kaatee 1989).
5.3.4 Bedload Measurements
Bedload was measured using large concrete slot traps.4 Although this method
avoided the problems in measurement created by portable samplers (Emmett 1981;
4
In rivers with low bedload yield the traps were placed perpendicular to the river flow and
covered 100% of the river bed, while in high yielding rivers multiple traps were placed parallel
and covered 40–75% of the river bed. The total volume ranged from 0.75 M3 (MA) to 5.25 M3
(SB).
78 A. Rijsdijk
Table 5.4 Statistical parameters of regression equations linking log transformed quickflow (log
QF) to log transformed sediment yield (log SY) per event at the studied sub-catchments
Station Number of storms log QF vs. log SY
R2 SEE F-value P level
CA 9 0.79 0.28 25.6 \0.01
CB 18 0.84 0.19 86.1 \0.001
MA 6 0.8 0.36 20.9 \0.1
MB 7 0.92 0.14 60.2 \0.001
SA 14 0.82 0.46 54.4 \0.001
SB 13 0.89 0.25 95.6 \0.001
Ward 1984b), slot traps introduced errors of their own. All traps were measured
and cleaned daily, but some bedload traps (at the SB station and to a lesser extent
at the CB station) overflowed occasionally during large storms, causing the bed-
load volume to be underestimated. On the other hand, when observers failed to
clean the traps thoroughly, the residue in the traps was added to the results of the
following day, causing overestimation of the amount of bedload. The volume was
converted to weight using a conversion factor of 1.1 (Rijsdijk and Bruijnzeel
1990).
5.3.5 Bank Retreat
In the wet season of 1988/1989, bank retreat rates were measured by means of
erosion pins driven into the riverbank both at actively eroding bends and at straight
sections of the riverbanks of the Sayang (four sites) and at three sites at the Coban
Rondo rivers (for full details of methods see Rijsdijk and Bruijnzeel 1990). The
results of the measurements are only indicative (error margins at least 50%), as
bank erosion is very irregular, while pins may alter the streamflow along the bank
or could influence the stability of the riverbank (Thorne 1981; Kaatee 1989).
In addition to this method, grain-size analyses of both bed material and river-
bank material were used to correlate the volume lost through bank erosion with the
amount of sediment caught in the bedload traps. Representative soil samples (eight
in Coban Rondo, six in Manting and eight in Sayang) were taken from the
riverbank, and samples were also taken of the material in the bedload traps and of
the accumulated bed sediment in the river channels. Grain size was analysed and
the ratio of gravel (fraction [ 2 mm) in the bank and bed material was derived.
From this, assuming that all gravel originated from the banks, and not from sheet
erosion,5 the amount of bank erosion was estimated. Again, results should only be
considered indicative, with estimated error margins at least 50%.
5
The values of CB and SB have been corrected for the contribution of roads (Rijsdijk and
Bruijnzeel 1990).
Table 5.5 Water balances of the upper (A) and lower (B) parts of three sub-catchments within
the Konto watershed
Yeara CA CB MA MB SA SB Pujon Ngantang
Annual rainfall (mm) 1988 2,201 1,968 2,347 2,292 2,135 2,195 1,947 2,001
1989 2,545 2,267 3,091 3,227 2,290 2,351 1,989 2,487
1990 2,110 2,416 4,478 4,349 2,961 3,264
Averageb 2,373 2,118 2,719 2,760 2,213 2,273 1,968 2,244
Averagec 2,285 2,217 3,305 3,289 2,462 2,603 2113d 2547d
Annual Average 700 740 825 820 935 975
evapotranspiration
(mm)
Annual runoff (mm) 1988 783 612 2,259 2,009 1,079 1,170
1989 1,023 926 2,300 2,209 1,401 1,295
1990 970 435e f
2400g 1,550 975
Averageb 903 769 2,280 2,109 1,240 1,233
Average annual water 770 609 -386 -170 38 66
balance (mm)
a
1988 = November 1987–October 1988; 1989 = November 1988–October 1989;
1990 = November 1989–April 1990
b
2-year average (1988–1989)
c
d
1950–1985 (Pujon) and 1954–1985 (Ngantang)
e
Values probably underestimated
f
Station destroyed by large flood
g
Data unreliable or estimated
5.4 Results
5.4.1 Hydrology
Table 5.5 presents the 3-year annual6 areal rainfall, evaporation, runoff and water
balance for the six sub-catchments during the period November 1987–April 1990.
A comparison of annual rainfall data of each sub-catchment with the long-term
averages of data recorded at the meteorological stations at Pujon (2,113 mm) and
Ngantang (2,547 mm) (Brantas 1989), reveals that the hydrological year 1987/
1988 was relatively dry (2,152 mm rainfall), 1988–1989 was more or less normal
(2,615 mm) and 1989–1990 was relatively wet (3,343 mm). Rainfall averages for
the three catchments yielded clear differences Manting 3,289 mm, Coban Rondo
2,217 mm and 2,603 for Sayang (Table 5.5). In January 1990, extreme events
occurred in Manting: in that month 1,594 mm rain fell, resulting in a minimum
outflow of 770 mm.7 Unfortunately, due to the malfunction of equipment, daily
6
Hydrological year (November–October) for 1987–1988 and 1988–1989 (November–April for
1989–1990).
7
Probably underestimated due to damage to the equipment.
80 A. Rijsdijk
Table 5.6 Runoff coefficients (%), quickflow (as a proportion of rainfall and total flow) and
contributing areas of the upper (A) and lower (B) parts of three sub-catchments within the Konto
watershed
Yeara CA CB MA MB SA SB
RC % (1988) 36 31 96 88 51 53
RC % (1989) 40 41 74 68 61 55
b
RC % (1990) 46 18 55 52 30
RC Averagec 38 36 85 78 56 54
Qq/P % 1.6 3.3 5.9 5.7 4.9 9.8
Qq/Qt% 4.2 9.0 7.0 7.5 8.8 18.0
MCA 19 71 22 26 17 121
HOF/SOF contributing aread 2 308 1 2 5 195
MCA = Minimum contributing area
HOF = Horton Overland Flow
SOF = Saturated Overland Flow
a
1988 = November 1987–October 1988; 1989 = November 1988–October 1989; 1990 =
November 1989–April 1990
b
c
d
Estimate from land use, see text
rainfall records are not available for this period. No data are available for MA as
this station was completely washed away during the first flood.
As explained in Sect. 3.1, the annual water yields recorded for 1989–1990 for the
MB, MA and SA station are less reliable, hence all water balance calculations are
derived from the 1987–1988 to 1988–1989 data. The overview of water balances
(Table 5.5) shows remarkable differences between the three sub-catchments.
The upper and lower stations in Coban Rondo (CA and CB) indicate a net loss of 770
and 609 mm, respectively, while the Manting stations (MA and MB) show net gains
of 386 and 170 mm, respectively; Sayang (SA and SB), appears to be more or less in
equilibrium (loss of 36 and 66 mm, respectively). The results on quickflow
(Qq/Qt%) compare very well with those of other investigators in similar watersheds
with deep and permeable soils in SE Asia (Sect. 5.2 and Tables 5.6 and 5.7)
5.4.2 Sediment Yields
The suspended sediment yields of all catchments, calculated using the event-based
method (Sect. 3.3), are shown in Table 5.8. The sediment values from 1990 were
not used to calculate the averages as they are considered less reliable. The high
suspended sediment yield obtained for Manting for 1989–1990 (5.48 Mg ha-1) is
not an error, but is the result of extremely heavy rainfall in January 1990.
For example, on January 25 and 26, the yield was as high as 1 Mg ha-1 each day.
Table 5.7 Runoff coefficient (Qq/Qt%) for selected tropical rainforest catchments in SE Asia
Catchment Country Size Qq/Qt Separation Source
(km2) % technique
W8S5 Malaysia 1–7 51 N-days Forest Shallow Biden and
after soil Greer
peak (1977)
W8S5 Malaysia 1–7 41 Inclined Forest Shallow Biden and
line soil Greer
(1977)
Skudai Malaysia 0.2 22 Inclined Plantation Sandy clay Chong et al
River, line forest (2006)
Sg Air Malaysia 4.8 15 Unknown Forest ? Ismail
Terjun (Pinang (1997)
Island)
Sg Relau Malaysia 11.2 22 Unknown Developed ? Ismail
(Pinang (1997)
Island)
Kali Indonesia 0–19 5–7 Chemical Mainly forest Deep Bruijnzeel
Mondo tracer and shrub volcanic (1982)
Cikumutuk Indonesia 1 14–16 Inclined 70% forest Deep Purwanto
line and shrub volcanic (1999)
Kali Konto Indonesia 3–22 4–18 Inclined 64–100% Deep This study
(East line forest and volcanic
Java) shrub
Separation techniques:
Inclined line (Hewlett and Hibbert 1967) N-days after peak (Linsley et al 1975) Chemical tracer
(Bruijnzeel 1982)
In addition, Table 5.8 presents the annual bedload volumes which, like the
suspended sediment values, are highly variable. The bedload values at the SB
station for 1987–1988 are probably an underestimate as the bedload traps over-
flowed frequently that year.
Estimates obtained through the riverbank erosion-pin study revealed that, in
1988–1989, the lower Sayang river widened by approximately 8 cm and the Coban
Rondo lower river widened by approximately 4 cm. A comparison of the grain-
size distribution of the riverbank material, the material in the traps and loose
sediment on the riverbed, revealed that 30% of the bank material from Coban
Rondo and Sayang ends up as bedload, while 50% of that from Manting ends up as
bedload. Using the grain-size distribution method, the following channel erosion
retreat rates were estimated: Coban Rondo upper river 0.2 cm (0.02 Mg ha-1 or
5% of the total load); Coban Rondo lower river 6 cm (1.8 Mg ha-1 or 18% of the
total load); Manting upper river 0.01 cm (0.01 Mg ha-1 or 1% of the total load);
Manting lower river 0.3 cm (0.08 Mg ha-1 or 7% of the total load); Sayang upper
river 11 cm (1.4 Mg ha-1 or 36% of the total load); Sayang lower river 7 cm
(2.0 Mg ha-1 or 17% of the total load). Again these results are only indicative.
82 A. Rijsdijk
Table 5.8 Annual sediment load (Mg/ha) of the upper (A) and lower (B) parts of three sub-
catchments within the Konto watershed
Yeara CA CB MA MB SA SB
Suspended sediment 1988 0.23 5.23 0.77 0.81 3.41 11.79
1989 0.48 13.32 1.13 1.25 3.40 10.50
1990 0.41b 6.97c –d 5.48e 7.15b 6.21c
Average 0.35 9.27 0.95 1.03 3.40 11.15
(1988–1989)
Bedload 1988 0.009 0.54 0.005 0.04 0.49 0.35c
1989 0.004 0.78f 0.004 0.04 0.43 0.74
Average 0.01 0.66 0.005 0.04 0.46 0.74g
(1988–1989)
Bedload as % of total load Average 1.8 6.7 0.5 3.6 11.9 6.3g
(1988–1989)
Total sediment load 1988 0.24 5.77 0.77 0.85 3.90 12.14c
1989 0.48 14.10 1.13 1.29 3.83 11.24
Average 0.4 9.9 1.0 1.1 3.9 11.7
(1988–1989)
a
1988 = November 1987–October 1988; 1989 = November 1988–October 1989; 1990 =
November 1989–April 1990
b
Dry season not included
c
Values probably underestimated
d
e
Data unreliable or estimated values
f
Values probably overestimated
g
Calculated from 1989 only
5.5 Discussion
5.5.1 Water Balance
Orographic and exposure effects could explain the higher rainfall totals obtained
for the Manting sub-catchment (the average for Manting was 3,289 mm vs.
2,217 mm for Coban Rondo and 2,603 mm for Sayang). However, the frequent
breakdowns of the electronic raingauges on top of the mountains excluded any
analysis of the influence of altitude on rainfall. A comparison of probabilities of
exceedence of maximum rainfall intensities for each sub-catchment yielded no
clear difference in rainfall intensities between the catchments (Rijsdijk and
Bruijnzeel 1990).
The differences in water balances (Table 5.5) and runoff coefficients
(Table 5.6) between the three sub-catchments are remarkable, as watertight
(forested) catchments under similar climatic and geological circumstances typi-
cally exhibit runoff ratios of about 50% (Grobbe 1989). As such, it is clear that the
Manting sub-basin receives large amounts of external groundwater flow whilst the
Coban Rondo sub-basin loses substantial amounts via underground leakage. The
Sayang sub-basin, on the other hand, does not seem to gain or lose water.
This situation could be explained by the geological and topographic situation of
the Konto river basin (Fig. 5.1). The Coban Rondo sub-catchment is situated on
the outer rim of a collapsed volcanic cone, while the Manting basin is part of the
inner cone of a volcano. Since, in both cases, the slope of the inner cone is much
steeper and longer than the slope on the outside, flow from the outer rim towards
the inner cone is plausible. A similar case has been described in Purwanto (1999).
In the Coban Rondo sub-catchment, the measured volumes of areal runoff were
actually higher in the upper part than in the lower part. This can probably be
explained by water use for irrigation in the lower part or leakage through the
highly permeable debris in the lower part of the basin, a phenomenon which also
has been described by Meijerink (1976) in the Serayu river basin (Java, Indonesia).
5.5.2 Quickflow
The variations in quickflow (Table 5.6) illustrate the different hydrological

behaviour of the upper and lower parts of the three sub-catchments Since land use
in the upper parts of the three sub-basins is comparable (see Table 5.1), factors
other than land use should account for the differences in quickflow volumes. It is
evident that the high infiltration capacity of the deep and permeable soils in the
natural forest, shrubland and plantation forest of the upper basins (Rijsdijk and
Bruijnzeel 1990) virtually impedes any Horton overland flow (HOF), even in
response to an extreme extent (Bruijnzeel 1983). Only in the upper Sayang, which
contains some rain-fed agriculture (4 ha) and a few trails in agroforestry fields
(2.6 ha), could a limited amount of HOF be generated. In addition to this, direct
channel precipitation would also contribute to quickflow. This, however, would be
limited in view of the small area occupied by the channels (upper Coban Rondo,
maximum 2 ha and upper Manting and Sayang, maximum 1 ha). Other mecha-
nisms such as saturated overland flow (SOF) have never been observed on a large
scale in the upper parts of the catchments (Rijsdijk and Bruijnzeel 1990).
More likely could be the generation of stormflow in the upper basins through
subsurface stormflow (SSSF), which is common on well-drained soils on deep
slopes (Dunne 1978). Such stormflow could eventually be boosted by the push-
through mechanism (Hewlett and Hibbert 1967), or by pipe flow, which is possible
in humid areas with a long rainy season (Hadley et al. 1985; Bruijnzeel 1983).
Additionally, the generation of temporary groundwater ridges might play a role
(Ward 1984a). This mechanism could well explain the higher relative volume of
quickflow and maximum daily flows found in the Manting upper basin8 than in the
8
When the quickflow is expressed as fraction of streamflow the value for Manting might have
been somewhat surpressed by the relatively high groundwater contribution (Sect. 5.1).
84 A. Rijsdijk
Sayang and, to an even more pronounced extent, the Coban Rondo basin. The
respective gain and leakage in Manting and Coban Rondo, from and to catchments
out of the project area, will raise and lower the groundwater table in these
sub-catchments, and, consequently, will raise and lower the volume of the
quickflow, respectively. The hydrology of the lower part of the sub-catchments is
strongly related to land use. At the lower stations at Coban Rondo (CB) and
Sayang (SB), which have many impermeable surfaces such as settlements, roads
and also inundated rice fields (Table 5.1), the amount of quickflow is double that
observed in the upper parts of these catchments. By contrast, in lower Manting,
where there are virtually no impermeable surfaces, quickflow hardly increased
relative to that in upper Manting. The influence of development on quickflow is
clearly showing in the study of Ismail (1997). An undisturbed catchment had a
mean monthly quickflow contribution of 15% in contrast to a nearby developed
catchment with a quickflow contribution of 22% (Table 5.7) The same table makes
also visible the influence of the soil on quickflow, forested watersheds with
shallow or clayey soils show much higher quickflow contributions (22–51%) than
watersheds with deep volcanic soils (4–22%). The vegetation at the Skudai river
catchment was oil palm, but according to Chong et al. (2006), the response of oil
palm catchment did not differ much from forest.
The nature of the runoff can also be illustrated with the use of the minimum
contributing area (MCA) concept (Dickinson and Whiteley 1970). The MCA has
been defined as the minimum area which, contributing 100% of the effective
rainfall, would yield the measured storm runoff. When comparing the estimated
surface area of the locations that may possibly contribute HOF and SOF (e.g.
channels, settlements and inundated rice fields; Table 5.1), with the calculated
MCA values (Table 5.6), it is clear that the relationship between quickflow and
HOF plus SOF is weak.
For the upper stations, the calculated MCAs were larger than the areas which
potentially could produce HOF and SOF. This may be explained by the above-
mentioned contribution of SSSF. For the lower stations of Sayang and Coban
Rondo, the calculated MCAs were smaller than the areas producing HOF and SOF.
This could probably be explained by the hydraulic behaviour of rice fields; these
delay quickflow during low-rainfall events and enhance quickflow during high-
rainfall events (Godefroy 1931; Purwanto 1999). Other factors are the fact that rice
fields are not always inundated and some runoff from settlements is often diverted
to agricultural fields instead of running straight to the rivers (Rijsdijk, personal
observation).
5.5.3 Sediment Yields
The suspended sediment yield for the sub-catchments shows large variations, both
between catchments as well as between the upper and lower stations (Table 5.8).
In particular, the high suspended sediment yield in the upper Sayang catchment
(SA) is remarkable when compared with that in the other upper catchments
(average values of suspended sediment in Mg ha-1 for the hydrological years 1988
to 1989: CA 0.35; MA 0.95; and SA 3.4). Causes such as differences in quickflow
(Table 5.6) might partly be responsible for the differences in suspended sediment
between CA and SA, but cannot explain the difference between the MA and the
SA station. Lower soil stability or higher rainfall erosivity (Rijsdijk and Bruijnzeel
1990) can be ruled out.9 Some of the load is likely to have been contributed by
plantation forest, agroforestry fields, and trails (Rijsdijk 2005; Rijsdijk et al.
2007a, b). However, from the equally high amount of bedload (0.46 Mg ha-1 or
11.9% of the total load at SA), it was estimated (Sect. 4.2) that around
1.4 Mg ha-1 or 36% of the total sediment load originates from (riparian) mass
wasting and bank or channel erosion. The upper Coban Rondo and Manting
streams in particular carried very little bedload (CA 1.8 vs. MA 0.5% of the total
load). This reflects the resistance to erosion of their riparian zones (consisting of
lava flows and andesite boulders, respectively), in contrast to the less-resistant
lahar flows found in the upper Sayang sub-catchment.
The much higher suspended sediment yields of the lower parts of the Coban
Rondo (CB) and Sayang sub-catchment (SB) (9.27 vs. 11.15 Mg ha-1) reflect the
influence of other sediment sources such as unpaved roads, dry agricultural land,
and settlements (Table 5.1, Rijsdijk et al. 2007a; Rijsdijk 2005). This is in contrast
to low values at MB (0.95 Mg ha-1), which has no settlements or agricultural
activities in the lower part. The somewhat higher sediment yield of SB as
compared to CB can be explained by the higher percentages of quickflow
(Table 5.6), or by hidden sediment sources (landslides or scour from channels
draining the rice terraces) as the surface erosion in the Coban Rondo is actually
higher than in Sayang (average CB 13.3 vs. SB 9.6 Mg ha-1, see Rijsdijk 2005).
The amount of bedload is comparable for the two sub-catchments (both about
6.5% of the total load). The higher amount of bedload at MB as compared to MA
is probably the result of damage to the riverbank caused by the clearing of the
shrubs along the river.
The high sediment yield at the MB station in 1990, at least 5.510 Mg ha-1 or
more than five times the annual average, were caused by a number of extreme
events. In January 1990 several storms amounting to 1,594 mm or nearly half of
the average annual rainfall, resulted in at least 770 (see footnote 10) mm outflow.
This high sediment yield, caused by an extreme event is not unusual, as other
studies in the region demonstrate. For example, Loughran (1989), showed that in a
partially cultivated catchment in Australia, 79% of 3 year sediment yield was
transported by only three events.
As described in (Rijsdijk 2005), the average sediment yields of the three sub-
catchments are consistent with the estimated siltation rates of Lake Selorejo
9
Experiments using Wischmeier and Smith (1978) erosion plots showed that soil losses were not
consistently higher in Sayang than in the other sub-catchments (Rijsdijk and Bruijnzeel 1990).
10
Probably underestimated due to damage to the equipment.
86 A. Rijsdijk
Fig. 5.3 Ranges in reported catchment sediment yields in southeast Asia as a function of
geological substrate and land use (adapted from Bruijnzeel 2004). Categories: I, forest, granite; II,
forest, sandstones/shales; III, forest, volcanics; IV, forest, marls; V, logged (RIL: reduced impact
logging); VI, cleared, sedimentary rocks (lower bar: micro-catchments); VII, cleared, volcanics;
VIII, cleared, marls; IX, medium-large basins, mixed land use, granite; X, idem, volcanics; XI,
idem, volcanics plus marls; XII, urbanised (lower bar), mining and road building (upper bar).
Catchment sediment yields from this study (in Mg ha-1): a = sediment yield at station CA (0.4),
b = sediment yield at station CB (9.9), c = sediment yield at station MA (1.0), d = sediment
yield at station MB (1.1), e = sediment yield at station SA (3.9), f = sediment yield at station SB
(11.7), g = sediment yield of the Konto river catchment (low estimate*) (11), h = sediment yield
of the Konto river catchment (high estimate*) (16)
(11–16 Mg ha-1) (Fisch 1983; Brantas 1989), taking into account the sediment
delivery ratio, the contribution of an additional catchment containing many gullies,
and the influence of the high sediment yield of the Konto river11 [22 Mg ha-1
during the very wet (3,433 mm) year of 1990 when many landslides occurred
(Rijsdijk et al. 2007b)]. In Fig. 5.3 (from Bruijnzeel 2004) the sediment yields of
this study have been compared with the results from more than 60 studies of
11
Measured at Kambal station, Fig. 5.1.
catchment sediment yields in south-east Asia as a function of geological substrate,

landcover and the degree of disturbance (Bruijnzeel 2004). From this comparison
one can conclude that all values from this study are within the range of comparable
studies.
As expected in these narrow valleys the possibilities for sediment storage are
low and hence the sediment delivery ratios (SDR) are rather high (Rijsdijk 2005).
The highest values occur in the upper stations CA (1.1), MA (2.4) and SA (1.1)
where the possibility for storage in the deeply incised valleys is virtually zero.
The SDRs of the lower stations CB (0.7) MB (0.7) which have more space for
sediment deposition are in line with the values (0.4–0.07) reported by Purwanto
(1999) for a 105 ha catchment. The relatively high SDR of the Sayang lower
station SB (1.2) might be caused by quick removal of sediment by the relatively
high amount of quickflow, or by overlooked sediment sources such as landslides
and channels from the rice fields (see Rijsdijk 2005).
5.5.4 Influence of Different Calculation Methods

on Sediment Yields
In Indonesia, river sediment is usually sampled during office hours, while daily
streamflow is computed by inserting the average water level of the day into the
stage discharge relationship (Anonymous 1989). This average discharge is then
inserted into the sediment-rating curve to obtain the average sediment discharge
for the day. This methodology could cause serious underestimation of the sediment
yield for two reasons.
First, sampling only during office hours will miss most high floods as, in general,
they occur late in the afternoon or in the evening. This seriously underestimates the
sediment load, as the bulk of sediment transport takes place during high flows
(Turvey 1974; Amphlett 1988; Rijsdijk and Bruijnzeel 1990). Correct procedures
should include both the rising stage and the falling stage, as sediment curves are
often skewed (Williams 1989; Rijsdijk and Bruijnzeel 1990). To evaluate the effect
of this practice and to be able to compare the project results with sediment yields
computed for other catchments in Java, the sediment data that were collected
between December 1988 and February 1989 at the upper Sayang12 station were
processed in two ways. Sediment rating curves were derived for the entire data set
and for the samples taken during office hours only. The result was an under-
estimation of suspended sediment yield of about 33% (0.76 vs. 1.13 Mg ha-1) due
to sampling in office hours only.
12
From 1 November 1988 to 15 February 1989 comprising 1150 mm rain (50% of the total
rainfall in 1988–1989).
88 A. Rijsdijk
The second reason that sediment yields could have been underestimated is the use
of average discharge values for the sediment rating curve. This is likely to result in a
large underestimate of the true mean, depending on the peak of that day’s
hydrograph, as both discharge and sediment rating curves are power curves.
Re-calculation of the sediment yield using the above-mentioned data in the
conventional way resulted in a yield of 0.65 Mg ha-1. This implies an underesti-
mate of 47% overall, when compared to the sediment yield (1.20 Mg ha-1) cal-
culated using the event-based method with the full data set (details in Kaatee 1989).
5.6 Conclusions
The hydrological behaviour of the three upper catchments can mainly be explained
by the geomorphology and, to a minor extent, also by land use. The most important
contributor to quickflow is the subsurface stormflow, although Horton overland
flow also played a role in the Sayang upper catchment containing some agrofor-
estry. The hydrology of the lower part of the sub-catchments is strongly related to
land use, where the influence of impermeable areas like settlements and roads, and
also the specific hydrologic behaviour of inundated rice fields, is clearly visible.
The amount of suspended load ranges from 0.35 Mg ha-1 in upper Coban
Rondo up to 11.15 Mg ha-1 in lower Sayang. The relative amount of bedload in
the rivers ranges from nearly 0.5% (MA) to about 12% (SA). This is the equivalent
of 1–36% of the total load (estimated values). This relatively high volume of
bedload in the Sayang upper catchment can mainly be attributed to the less
resistant riverbanks of the lahar zone. These results stress the need to include the
bedload component in assessments of the sediment yield of rivers.
Both the amount of suspended load and the bedload in the lower catchments are
clearly related to land use (Table 5.1). The amount of bedload for the two
catchments is comparable (about 6.5%), but the amount of suspended load for the
Sayang lower station is somewhat higher; this was probably caused by unmeasured
sediment sources or more efficient transport due to higher amount of quickflow,
and not due to differences in land use (Rijsdijk 2005).
The official data on sediment yields in rivers in Indonesia are likely to be
seriously underestimated due to incorrect sampling procedures and calculation
methods. In addition, the amount of bedload is seldom measured and it is likely
that the sediment levels of extreme events are often underestimated.
Acknowledgments The author gratefully acknowledges the support of his colleagues within the
Konto river project, notably the team leaders Sjaak Beerens, M.Sc. (DHV Consultants) and
Bapak Bambang Moerdiyono, M.Sc. (DGRRL); Dr. Sampurno Bruijnzeel (Free University)
(scientific supervision); Edi Hertanto, Jumali, Suparno, and the M.Sc. students Evert Kaatee,
Chris Bremmer and Theo Prins (data collection and processing, laboratory analyses); Ahmad
Zaeni (supervision of construction work); and the numerous temporary field assistants that helped
out during the intensive campaigns that generated the results described in this paper. The Konto
river project was financed by the Directorate General of International Co-operation (DGIS) of the
Netherlands under project no. ATA 206.
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Chapter 6
Ecological Protection and Restoration
in Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve,
Qinghai Province, China
Xi-lai Li, Gary Brierley, De-jun Shi, Yong-li Xie and Hai-qun Sun
Abstract Historical data and published results are reviewed to assess the rationale
and design criteria used to establish the Sanjiangyuan (Three Source Region)
National Nature Reserve in Qinghai Province, China. This area, which comprises
the headwaters of the Yellow, Yangtze and Mekong Rivers, has been described as
the ‘Third Pole’ or the ‘Roof of the Earth’. Key drivers for the designation of this
ecological reserve include concerns for sustainable water resources management
and biodiversity management, especially the protection of endangered flora and
fauna. These issues are placed in context of prevailing and prospective threats,
namely climate change, environmental degradation associated with overgrazing
and burrowing mammals, and human-induced pressures (population growth and
various land use practices). Ecological protection and restoration measures being
applied in the Sanjiangyuan region are reviewed. The approach to environmental
conservation and management parallels initiatives applied in many other parts of
the world, with 18 core areas, connected and/or surrounded by buffer areas, with
experimental areas beyond. Adopted measures are framed primarily in relation to
wetland functions, striving to protect water resources and the precious but fragile
ecosystems in this region. Water resources planning strategies and landscape
ecology programmes link lake and river ecosystems to grassland, forest and
wetland management strategies at the landscape scale.
X. Li Y. Xie H. Sun
Agricultural and Animal Husbandry College, Qinghai University, Xining, China
G. Brierley (&)
School of Environment, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019,
Auckland, New Zealand
e-mail: g.brierley@auckland.ac.nz
D. Shi
Qinghai Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau, Xining, China

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-2330-6_6, The Author(s) 2012
94 X. Li et al.
Keywords Conservation
Rehabilitation Ecological reserve Grassland

Mountain region Ecosystem management
The preservation of the full range of biodiversity and of physical features is an essential
element in the selection of mountain protected areas. As an integral part of planning,
provision should be made for the protection of large examples of natural ecosystems and
of populations of plant and animal species, together with sites illustrating the principal
geological and physiographic features and the processes at work in the landscape.
These should be supplemented by the protection of a larger number of small areas
representing the full local variety of species and ecosystems, including intra-specific
genotypic variation (Hamilton and Macmillan 2004, p. 14).
6.1 Introduction
Ecosystems provide essential goods and services, contributing substantially to social

and economic development. Societal wellbeing is dependent upon the maintenance
of biodiversity and the capacity of species and ecosystems to survive, evolve and
adapt to environmental change. The extent and impact of human disturbance upon
‘natural’ ecosystems across the world is no longer in dispute (Millennium Ecosys-
tem Assessment 2005). Environmental damage brought about by population
pressure, land use intensification and climate change, among many factors, has been
accompanied by progressive depletion of natural resources. In response to these
concerns, genuine commitment to environmental protection has become a core
element of sustainable management programmes. Although protected areas now
cover over 12% of the Earth’s land surface (Chape et al. 2005), conservation
activities in their own right are unable to maintain the inherent diversity of genes and
ecosystems. An ecosystem approach to environmental management promotes
recovery and enhancement of the self-sustaining properties of ‘natural’ systems,
recognizing implicitly that there are too many species to save them one at a time.
Because of their history, isolation, and great variability of habitat, mountain
regions are treasures of high biodiversity and are rich in endemic species
(Hamilton and Macmillan 2004). These reservoirs of biodiversity contain rich
assemblages of species (and their genotypes). Distinctive ecosystems have
developed in response to the pronounced altitudinal belts and local variability in
physical conditions in these areas. However, these steep, high altitude terrains are
especially susceptible to human-induced damage, and many elements of these
fragile environments are vulnerable to accelerated rates of climate change.
In global terms, concerns for environmental conditions in the face of population
pressures and the demands for economic development are nowhere more evident
than in China. In the 11th Five Year Plan, explicit recognition is given to the need
to enhance and expand approaches to environmental protection (Xiao 2006). One
of the most important initiatives is efforts to protect the headwater zone of the
Yellow, Yangtze and Mekong Rivers in the high altitude country of the Qinghai-
Tibetan Plateau (see Fig. 6.1). This area in Qinghai Province is known as the
6 Ecological Protection and Restoration 95
Fig. 6.1 Qinghai province, western China. The headwater zone of the Yellow, Yangtze and
Mekong rivers lies in the high altitude country of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
Sanjiangyuan (the source zone of the Three Rivers), and is often referred to as
‘The Third Pole’ or ‘The Roof of the World’. The Sanjiangyuan region is the highest
(average elevation above 4000 m) and largest wetland ecosystem in the world
(Li 2007). Indeed, this region is also known as the ‘kidney of the earth’, the ‘cradle of
living forms’ and ‘the water tower of China’. Key functions of these fragile and
complex wetland ecosystems include their capacity to retain water, reduce surface
runoff, store flood-water to mitigate flood events, reduce pollution, maintain bio-
diversity, supply water for human services, regulate climate, etc. Annual water
supply from these three rivers to downstream areas is as much as 60 billion m3,
supplying 49% of total water to the Yellow River, 25% to the Yangtze and 15% to
the Mekong (Li 2007; Ma 2007; Zhou and Yie 2007). Although the drainage areas of
the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers make up 24% of the total land area of the country,
they comprise 50% of the total population of the country and make up 50% of the
total Gross Domestic Product (Chen et al. 2002). Protection of water resources is
integral to China’s economic and environmental security (see Cannon 2006).
The high elevation and dry, cold climate of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau foster the
unique fauna and flora (alpine germplasm) of the Sanjiangyuan region (see Fig. 6.2).
Spatial distributions of many living forms have been marginalized in this area. The
fragility of ecosystems is locally threatened by increases in human population and
uncontrolled production activities (Ma et al. 2000; Zhou et al. 2003b; Du et al. 2004;
cf., Harris 2010). Removal of natural vegetation has reduced the water-retention
capacity of the region and lowered the capacity of the environment to cope and
recover in periods of stress (Li 2007). Natural disasters such as floods, droughts and
96 X. Li et al.
Fig. 6.2 Distinctive topographic, faunal and floral attributes of the Sanjiangyuan region
dust storms occur more frequently, and erosion has become more serious.
Overgrazing has caused the degradation of grassland, seriously affecting living
condition of herders (Ma et al. 2001, 2002; Zhou et al. 2003a, b; Wang et al. 2004;
Shi et al. 2005). Desertification is growing as uncontrolled harvesting of wood,
gathering of materials for herbal medicines (especially caterpillar fungus (Cordyceps
sinensis); see Winkler 2009)) and mining activities degrade grassland and forest
vegetation (Chen et al. 2002). Deterioration and fragmentation of habitat is
decreasing the regional biodiversity (Chen et al. 2007).
Implementing the policy of ‘the Great Development of the West’ is an important
strategy laid out by the Chinese Government (see Economy 1999, Goodman 2004,
Xin 2008). An inspection team was sent by the ‘Jiu San Society’ to examine the
eco-environment of the Sanjiangyuan region (Chen et al. 2007). With support from
Fig. 6.3 The Sanjiangyuan region makes up the southern half of Qinghai province in western
China. The region is divided into 17 administrative districts
relevant departments of central government, the People’s Government of Qinghai

province has prepared a programme for ecology-based protection and construction
in the area, including the formation of the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve.
A comprehensive, integrated and balanced approach to protection and construction
strives to ensure that economic development continuously enhances the living
standards of local people (Chen et al. 2007). To achieve this, the distribution and
livelihood of human beings is being adjusted, encouraging herders to develop more
advanced approaches to livestock production within an ecology-oriented economy.
Alternatively, many are being asked to abandon livestock production.
In this manuscript we review the natural features and ecological values of
the Sanjiangyuan region, appraise the pressures and stressors that bring about
ecological degradation, and highlight measures that are being taken to address
these issues through the creation of the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve.
The design criteria applied in the derivation of the reserve and suggested measures
for ecological protection and restoration are discussed in relation to large scale
conservation initiatives elsewhere in the world.
6.2 Regional Features and Ecological Conditions

of the Sanjiangyuan Region
The Sanjiangyuan region lies at the heart of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in the
southern part of Qinghai province (latitude 31390 –36120 N, longitude 89450 –
102230 E) (see Figs. 6.1 and 6.3). It covers a total area of 363,000 km2,
98 X. Li et al.
Fig. 6.4 Vegetation map of Qinghai province (Liu et al. 2004)
accounting for 50.4% of the total area of Qinghai province. The major moun-
tainous areas such as the eastern Kunlun, Arnimaqin, Bayankala and Tanggula
Mountains range in elevation from 3335 to 6564 m, typically between 4000 and
5800 m (see Fig. 6.4; Sun and Zheng 1996; Chen et al. 2002). Snow-covered
mountains cover a total area of 2,400 km2, with 1,812 km2 covered by continental
mountain glaciers. Glaciers are retreating at a rate of 30–50 m/year (Zheng 1996;
Chen et al. 2002). Wetlands account for 20.3% of the total land area (73,300 km2)
(Zhou and Yie 2007). The Sanjiangyuan region has more than 16,500 lakes, of
which around 190 have an area [ 0.5 km2, and there are extensive groundwater
reserves (Chen et al. 2002; Zhou and Yie 2007). Numerous lakes and swamps are
included on the List of Important Wetlands in China.
The alpine continental climate is characterized by clear separation of dry and wet
seasons but small annual temperature differences, large diurnal and seasonal tem-
perature differences, long sunshine hours and strong radiation (Zhang et al. 1999).
Mean annual temperature across the region ranges from -5.6 to 3.8C while mean
annual precipitation ranges from 262 to 773 mm. The cold season, which lasts for
7 months, is controlled by high pressure systems. Given the high altitude and very
thin air, the growing period is short and there is no absolute frost-free period.
Primary vegetation classes in the region include coniferous forest, broad-leaf
forest, needle-leaf and broad-leaf mixed forest, shrub, meadow, steppe, swamp and
aquatic vegetation, cushion plants, and zones of sparse vegetation (Table 6.1).
Forests comprise 1.22 million ha in the Sanjiangyuan region (3.27% of the land
area). Grasslands account for 59% of the total land area (21.4 million ha, of which
19.27 million ha is utilizable grassland). Alpine meadow (82.6%) and alpine
steppe (12.1%) are the main grassland types (see Fig. 6.4). Alpine meadow is
Table 6.1 Land utilization in the Sanjiangyuan region (Statistical Bureau of Qinghai Province 2003)
Prefecture Total land Grassland Woodland Of total woodland Tilled and Water area Others
area area (104 ha) ploughed (104 ha) (104 ha)
Grassland Acceptable Wood Shrub 4
(104 km2) land (10 ha)
area (104 ha) grassland area forest area
area (104 ha) (104 ha) (104 ha)
Total 36.31 2141.80 1926.60 122.40 11.33 107.40 4.81 106.34 1255.65
6 Ecological Protection and Restoration
Yushu (all counties) 19.79 1084.80 956.98 41.40 4.67 35.33 1.64 79.05
Guoluo (all counties) 7.63 675.40 625.52 57.47 3.60 53.20 0.29 25.32
Hainan (only Xinghai 1.69 145.73 139.16 14.13 2.00 11.13 2.44 0.86
and Tongde county)
Huangnan (only Zeku 1.31 125.69 119.92 9.40 1.07 7.73 0.44 1.11
and Henan county)
Haixi (only Tanggula 5.87 110.19 110.19
town)
Note Qumalai, Zhidou, Zhadou, Nangqian, Yushu and Chengdou counties are in Yushu prefecture and Madou, Dari, Gande, Maqin, Jiuzhi and Banma
counties are in Guoluo prefecture
99
100 X. Li et al.
mainly distributed on mountain slopes, or on top of mountains, terraces, or valley

benches at elevations between 3200 and 4700 m. The vegetation comprises cold-
tolerant perennial plants. The main grassland species include sedge (Carex spp.,
especially Kobresia spp.), needlegrass (Stipa spp.), saussure (Saussurea spp.),
roegneria (Roegneria spp.), bluegrass (Poa spp.), wild ryegrass (Elymus spp.) and
speargrass (Achnatherum spp.) (see Fig. 6.2c). The height of forage is low, ranging
between 5 and 30 cm. Productivity is very low. Around 12.47 million ha (58.3%
of the total grassland area) has been subjected to moderate to severe degradation
(Chen et al. 2002; Wang et al. 2005; cf., Harris 2010; Li et al. 2011).
Fauna in the Sanjiangyuan region comprise 93 species of mammals belonging
to 22 families of 8 classes; 255 species of birds belonging to 41 families of 16
classes; and 18 species of amphibians and reptiles belonging to 10 families (Chen
et al. 2007). Among the mammals and birds, 69 species are on the list of ‘‘pro-
tected wildlife of national importance’’, of which 16 animals are ‘first class’
protected species (e.g. Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsoni), wild yak (Bos
grunniens) and snow leopard (Uncia uncia)) and 53 animals are ‘second class’
protected species (e.g. blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur) and Tibetan gazelle
(Procapra picticaudata)).
The Sanjiangyuan region is a vast area with very low population density. Of the
total regional population of 590,000, 408,900 are herders (69.3%) (Table 6.2).
Tibetan families account for 90% of the herding families, with small number of
other nationalities such as Mongolian. Livestock grazing is the main component of
the regional economy, with over 22 million sheep in the region. Since 1990,
herders have rented land from the local government over 50–100 year lease
periods. Under this arrangement, herders can use and manage the land tax free
under laws such as the grassland law and the land utilization law, in programmes
co-ordinated by the grassland supervision station.
6.3 Key Mechanisms and Stressors that Bring About

Environmental Damage
Establishment of the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve is a coordinated

response to many social and environmental pressures in this fragile region. Prior to
assessing criteria used in the design and implementation of the ecological reserve,
the primary stressors that induce environmental damage in the region are outlined.
6.3.1 Climate Change
Global climate change is the fundamental natural factor causing the deterioration of
ecological environments in the Sanjiangyuan region (Zhang et al. 1998, 1999). Fragile
ecosystems have been destabilized, reducing their capacity for self-restoration.
Table 6.2 Socio-economic statistics for the Sanjiangyuan region (Statistical Bureau of Qinghai Province 2003)
Prefecture Total population Population of Households of Annual Livestock number Equivalent
(104 persons) pastoral area pastoral area income (104 Cattle/sheep) sheep units
(104 persons) per capita (104 sheep units)
(Yuan)
Total 59 40.89 83,531 1549.69 1038.93 2224.03
Yushu(all counties) 26.3 17.04 34,664 1432.5 278 748.81
Guoluo(all counties) 13.54 9.20 20,732 1588.97 232.2 759.90
Hainan (only Xinghai and Tongde county) 10.67 6.54 13,476 2043.83 316.4 291.52
Huangnan (only Zeku and Henan county) 8.40 8.01 16,165 1355.49 201.4 409.07
Haixi (Only Tanggula town) 0.10 0.10 314 1730.23 10.63 14.73
101
102 X. Li et al.
Global warming and intensified evaporation have promoted reverse succession. Wang
et al. (2000, 2001) attribute the large-scale degradation of alpine meadow and steppe
vegetation to the warming of the regional climate over the last 40 years, largely
associated with the degradation of previously frozen land. Similarly, Chen et al.
(1998) suggest that global warming has induced desertification that has degraded
grassland areas. This warming trend has impacted upon plant growth, yield and
community structure in alpine meadow ecosystems (Li et al. 2004). Extreme weather
and climate disasters in the 1990s intensified grassland degradation.
Figure 6.5a shows significant increases in average annual temperature in the
Sanjiangyuan region from 1961 to 2004 (Li et al. 2006; Wang 2007). This increase
was especially marked in the 1980s and 1990s. Mean annual temperature was
-2.36C in the 1960s, -2.19C in the 1970s, -2.04C in the 1980s, and -1.78C
in the 1990s. Mean annual temperature in 2003 was the highest on record, 1.4C
higher than the average for the previous 30 years. As temperature adjustments are
most marked in autumn and winter, the annual variation of temperature has
decreased year by year (Li et al. 2006; Fu et al. 2007b; Chen et al. 2007). This has
induced glacier retreat, ascending snow lines, drying up of wetlands, and degra-
dation of alpine permafrost.
Mean annual precipitation in the Sanjiangyuan region from 1961 to 2004 is
shown in Fig. 6.5b (Li et al. 2006; Wang 2007). While the 1980s were charac-
terized by slightly above average precipitation, this trend was reversed in the
1990s. Seasonal changes have varied across the region (Chen et al. 2007). Major
snowstorms occurred in the Sanjiangyuan region during winters of the late 1990s
and in the spring early in the twenty first century.
Mean annual evaporation in the Sanjiangyuan region increased slightly from
1961 to 2004, with an average increase of 0.13 mm a-1 (Fig. 6.5c). Mean annual
evaporation was notably lower through the 1980s, but increased in the 1990s
(Wang 2007; Chen et al. 2007). To some degree, climate warming has reduced the
inhibiting effect of low temperatures upon plant growth in alpine meadows, but
evaporation of ground surface and evapotranspiration from vegetation has
increased faster than precipitation, such that water availability is the primary
limiting factor for plant growth (Li et al. 2000). Intriguing debates are emerging
about the relative impacts of climate change and human impacts on the vegetation
structure and function atop the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (cf., Klein et al. 2007;
Miehe et al. 2008, 2011).
6.3.2 Grassland Degradation and Desertification
The influence of global warming, intensified human activity, overgrazing, and

frequent natural disasters have degraded almost 90% of natural grassland areas in
Qinghai province in recent decades (Department of Animal Husbandry and
Veterinary 1996; Fu et al. 2007a; cf., Harris 2010, Li et al. 2011). This has
markedly decreased the primary productivity associated with animal husbandry in
Fig. 6.5 Variability in mean annual temperature (a, upper graph), precipitation (b, middle
graph) and evaporation (c, lower graph) in the Sanjiangyuan region (1961–2004; data from
Li et al. 2006; Fu et al. 2007a, b; Chen et al. 2007; Wang 2007)
these areas, threatening people’s livelihood. Remote sensing analysis indicates that
the area of degraded grassland increased from 764 9 104 ha in the late 1970s—
early 1990s (32.8% of the total region) to 841 9 104 ha in the period 1990s—2004
(36.11% of the total region) (Table 6.3, Liu 2008). Moderately degraded grass-
lands now extend across around 6.9 million ha, which is 36% of the total utilizable
grassland (Chen et al. 2007). Compared to 1950, the yield per unit area of grass-
land has decreased by 33%, the percentage of elite forage species has decreased by
25% and vegetation cover has decreased by 20%, while the percentage of toxic
plants has increased by 75%, the height of dominant plants has decreased by 40%,
and the height of grasses has decreased by 20% (Fu et al. 2007a). Ecological
104 X. Li et al.
Table 6.3 Changing extent of grassland degradation in the Sanjiangyuan region (Liu et al. 2008)
Grassland degree Late 1970s–early 1990s Early 1990s–2004
Area Proportion Area Proportion
(ha) (%) (ha) (%)
Slight 5,328,317 22.88 5,572,405 23.93
Middle 2,212,216 9.50 2,734,779 11.74
Severe 103,957 0.45 103,082 0.44
Total 7,644,490 32.83 8,410,266 36.11
landscapes associated with alpine meadow and alpine steppe are progressively
being destroyed and fragmented. Many grassland areas are characterized by
reverse succession from alpine meadow to degraded alpine meadow to desert
(Table 6.4; Fu et al. 2007b; cf., Miehe et al. 2008, 2011). Disruption of the
ecological balance of alpine eco-systems has also seriously affected production
and living conditions of herders in the region.
6.3.3 Soil Erosion
Given its harsh natural conditions and fragile ecological environment, the
Sanjiangyuan region has serious problems of wind erosion, water erosion and
freeze–thaw processes. A remote sensing survey in 2000 indicated that areas with
moderate extent of erosion extend over 95,000 km2, making up 26.2% of the
region (Chen et al. 2007). Intensified soil erosion, along with frequent drought and
flood conditions, seriously restricts prospects for industrial and agricultural
development, and threatens the ecological safety of the area.
6.3.4 Rodent Damage to Grassland
Although the plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae), plateau zokor (Myospalax baileyi)
and plateau vole (Pitymys irene) are native mammals, they are referred to as
‘rodents’ of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. Grasslands are severely impacted by their
burrowing and gnawing behavior (Zhou et al. 2003a, b, 2005). Their activities
accelerate erosion and degradation rates by loosening the Kobresia sod and killing
its roots (Limbach et al. 2000; Zhou et al. 2005). The area affected by these
burrowing animals in the Sanjiangyuan region is 6.4 million ha (Chen et al. 2007).
This makes up 17% of the total area of the region, and 33% of the total utilizable
grassland. As many as 374 pikas/ha have been recorded in some areas (Ma et al.
2000), with up to 1335 burrows/ha (Zhou et al. 2005). Natural enemies for bur-
rowing animals have been greatly reduced since the 1980s because of illegal hunting
(especially eagles), impacting greatly upon the food chain. The ‘degradational’ role
of these burrowing mammals remains contentious. Indeed, some argue that some of
Table 6.4 Increase in desertification area in the Sanjiangyuan region (1949–1998) (Fu et al. 2007a)
Year Yellow river (km2) Yangtze river (km2) Data source
Area Increased Annual average Area Increased Annual average
area increased area area increased area
1949 1961.00 7430.60
1959 2208.90 247.90 24.79 8369.94 939.34 93.93 Aerial photographs supplied by
the Sand control team of
Qinghai
1977 2923.00 714.10 39.67 11075.80 2705.86 150.33 Aerial photographs supplied by
the Forest investigative team
of Qinghai
1986 3540.90 617.90 68.66 13417.14 2341.34 260.15 Fu et al. 2007a
1994 4636.10 1095.20 136.90 17567.06 4149.92 518.74 Satellite data
1998 5357.60 721.50 180.38 20300.96 2733.90 683.48 Satellite data
105
106 X. Li et al.
Table 6.5 Average annual Region 1956–2000 1991–2000

river runoff in the
Sanjiangyuan region the late Yellow source 204.9 174.8
twentieth century (9 108 m3; Yangtze source 122.1 112.0
Han 2004) Mekong source 43.5 42.9
Sanjiangyuan region 370.2 329.7
these species, especially plateau pika, are critical ecosystem engineers in this region
(see Smith and Foggin 1999).
6.3.5 Declining Water Supply From Headwater Areas
Water production in headwater areas of Qinghai province has declined in recent

years. Upper reaches of the Yellow River stopped flowing for the first time in
recorded history in 1997 (Han 2004). Since 1990, water levels of Zhaling Lake and
Eling Lake have declined by 2 m, and under extreme conditions flow between the
lakes ceased. Around 1070 lakes in the Sanjiangyuan region have dried up in the
last 20 years, of which 1040 were in the Yellow River source zone (Chen et al.
2007). From 1956 to 2000 average annual river runoff in Sanjiangyuan was
370.20 9 l08 m3, but it decreased to 329.70 9 l08 m3 in 1991–2000, a reduction of
10.90% (Table 6.5). The prolonged decline in discharge in the upper reaches not
only constrains the sustainable development of herders living in the region itself, it
also influences the livelihood of people downstream. The retreat of glaciers and
shrinkage of lakes has caused a decrease in water level and degradation of wetlands
in the region. Reduced runoff has brought about a water supply crisis in some
settlements and towns. Herders have been forced into other areas in efforts to
enhance their living standards, increasing grazing pressure and further degrading
grassland areas (Chen et al. 2007).
6.3.6 Biodiversity Losses
Habitat fragmentation and isolation have brought about biodiversity losses in the
region. Threatened species make up 18% of the total number of species, much
higher than the world average of 13% (Chen et al. 2007). As many living forms on
the plateau have special germplasm, the prospective disappearance of these species
would reduce the gene pool that has adapted to the frigid alpine conditions. Habitat
fragmentation and illegal hunting have reduced numbers of protected wildlife
such as Tibetan antelope from a population of 109l04 in 1985 to 39l04 in 2002
(subsequent increases reflect tightening of regulations and anti-poaching efforts).
Alpine musk deer (Moschus sifanicus) are almost extinct (Chen et al. 2007); these
animals are highly sought for musk – a traditional medicine. There have also been
declines in national first class protection animals such as white-lipped deer (Cervus
albirostris), red deer (Cervus elaphus) and snow leopard.
Table 6.6 Population, livestock and pasture changes in Qinghai province (1949–2003) (Fu et al.
2007b)
Year Population of Livestock Livestock Grassland Grassland
pastoral area number number per area per area per
(104 persons) (104 Cattle/sheep) capita (Cattle/sheep) capita (ha) livestock (ha)
1949 21.96 748.73 34.10 143.87 4.20
2003 70.00 2217.65 31.68 45.13 1.40
6.3.7 Human Induced Factors that Promote Ecological

Degradation in the Sanjiangyuan Region
Socio-economic development in the Sanjiangyuan region relies largely upon

grazing livestock, supplemented by activities such as illegal hunting, uncontrolled
gathering and digging of herbal medicine, and mining. These harmful practices and
ineffective management of resources have brought about numerous environmental
problems. Population growth has increased the demands for animal husbandry in
Qinghai, indirectly affecting grassland areas. Alongside climate warming and
economic activities, severe ecological degradation in the region has resulted, in part,
because of grassland property-rights, law regulation and cultural transformations
(Ma 2007). Grassland property-rights in the Sanjiangyuan region have been trans-
formed from an early tribe and temple (or monastery) possession system through a
mutual cooperation system from 1949 to 1958, a community possession system from
1958 to 1978, and a family contract management responsibility system from 1978.
Bai et al. (2002) consider overgrazing to be the key reason for grassland degra-
dation in Maduo County. Since the 1950s the human population of pastoral areas of
Qinghai province has increased by 3 times, and the number of livestock has more than
doubled (Table 6.6; Fu et al. 2007a). In response, grassland area per sheep unit has
decreased from 4.20 ha in 1949 to 1.40 ha in 2000. This doubling of the stocking rate
has forced herders to graze their livestock at even higher elevations, expanding the
impact and damage of these activities (Wang and Cheng 2001; Zhou et al. 2003b,
2005). As shown on Fig. 6.6, stocking rates increased notably in the 1990s, reaching
a peak in 1992 (Fu et al. 2007a). The theoretical capacity of stocking on natural
grassland in Qinghai was 36,254,500 sheep units in the early 1980s (Fu et al. 2007a).
Grassland degradation has reduced the current carrying capacity of grassland to 75%
of that experienced in the 1980s (around 27,200,000 sheep units; Agricultural
Resources Section Office of Qinghai Province 1999). Based on these numbers, the
region was overstocked by about 6,330,000 sheep units from 1980 to 2003. This
effect was most pronounced from 1990 to 1996, when the average rate of overload
was 33.6% (Fig. 6.6). This is consistent with the accelerated rate of grassland
degradation at this time (Fu et al. 2007a). Grassland overgrazing is most pronounced
in winter and spring. It has brought about sparse, low and degraded cover and
enhanced growth of poisonous plants, reducing the capacity for self-restoration.
These consequences, in turn, provide good conditions for burrowing animals. Areas
of alpine meadow have become extremely degraded as the vegetation community
108 X. Li et al.
Fig. 6.6 Trend in sheep units (9 l04) in the Sanjiangyuan region (1949–2004), showing the
excess stocking rate since the 1970s (Fu et al. 2007b)
structure has been altered and soil fertility has been depleted. A vicious circle has
been generated, characterized by overgrazing—vegetation degradation—harm by
rodents and pests—grassland degradation—intensified mismatches between animal
husbandry and management of grasslands.
Qinghai is a province rich in wildlife resources, with numerous unique wildlife of
high economic value. Since the 1980s, illegal hunting has become a more and more
serious problem (Wang et al. 2000; Zhou et al. 2005). More than 100,000 musk deer
were killed in the 1980s, reducing their population by 90%. Snow leopards are
increasingly rare. Illegal hunting resulted in the loss of 32,000 Tibetan antelope at the
end of 1990s (Chen et al. 2007). The on-going illegal hunting of wild yak and wild ass
(Equus kiang) has resulted in the rapid reduction of this rare and valuable wildlife.
Economic interests have encouraged more than 200,000 outsiders to move into
the Sanjiangyuan region seasonally for gold mining or gathering of herbal medicines.
This has resulted in serious damage to vegetation. In Autumn–Spring 2000, around
200 ha/day of shrub grassland was damaged and 7–8 m2/day of grassland sod was
destroyed adjacent to herders dwellings (Chen et al. 2002). Local herders use live-
stock manure and roots and stems of plants as a fuel, damaging grassland. In addition,
gold mining disturbed 1.07 million ha of grassland in the 1980s, of which 33,000 ha
was thoroughly destroyed (Zhou et al. 2005). Similar rangeland management
issues are being addressed in the North-West of China (Squires et al. 2010).
6.4 Programme to Protect and Restore Socio-Economic

and Environmental Values in the Sanjiangyuan
National Nature Reserve
Efforts to protect biodiversity while enhancing the regional economy and prospects
for development prompted the establishment of the Sanjiangyuan National Nature
Reserve. The reserve comprises an area of 152,300 km2, making up 21% of the
Fig. 6.7 Distribution of core (dark tone), buffer (middle tone) and experimental (light tone) areas
in the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve
total land area of Qinghai province and 42% of the Sanjiangyuan region (Chen
et al. 2007). Protection and restoration of high altitude plateau ecosystems is a
critical step in efforts to provide abundant, high quality water resources for the
Yellow, Yangtze and Mekong Rivers. Large scale planning and design are
required to reverse degradation trends in the region. This entails both protection on
the one hand, and restoration of forest, grassland and wetland ecosystems on the
other. The main protection targets are:
• Alpine wetland ecosystems, including glaciers and snow-covered mountains,
swamps, and lakes;
• Protected wildlife and other species of national and provincial importance,
including Tibetan antelope, wild yak, snow leopard, blue sheep, Tibetan gazelle,
caterpillar fungus and orchids (Orchidaceae spp.);
• Sparse alpine forest ecosystems, such as Balffour spruce (Picea likiangensis
var.) forest and Qilian savin (Sabina przewalskii) forest.
The functional area of the Sangjiangyuan Natural Reserve is divided into core,
buffer and experimental areas (Fig. 6.7). Core areas are strictly protected areas;
buffer areas are important protected areas; experimental areas are normal protected
areas in which consideration is given to both protection and utilization. The 18
core areas take up 31,218 km2, equivalent to 20.5% of the total land area of the
reserve (Chen et al. 2007). The present human population within core areas is
43,566 people. Criteria used to design the core areas include:
110 X. Li et al.
• To protect typical natural ecosystems in the area, fostering growth and repro-
duction of targeted wildlife, plants and organisms and their habitats.
• To separate areas of environmental protection and restoration from human
activities.
Landscape planning and GIS analysis used population viability analyses to
designate the network of core zones and associated corridors (Tang 2003;
Table 6.7). Three core areas, Suojia-Quma River, Jiangxi and Baizha, which take
up 37% of the total core area, have been designated to protect wildlife. Seven core
areas, Tongtianheyan, Dongzhong, Angsai, Zhongtie-Jungong, Duoke River,
Maixiu and Make River, taking up 15% of the total core area, protect typical forest
and shrubland. Finally, eight core areas, Animaqin, Xingxingha, Nianbaoyuze,
Dangqu, Geladandong, Yueguzonglie, Erlin-Zalin Lake and Gouzongmucha,
taking up 48% of the total core area, are used to protect wetland ecosystems (Chen
et al. 2007). Core areas in the west typically focus on wildlife, core areas in the
east focus on forest and shrubbery, and core areas in headwater areas and around
lakes focus on wetland ecosystems. Protection measures include closing the area
for strict protection, forbidding hunting, suspending grazing, stopping deforesta-
tion, and forbidding resource development activities.
Buffer areas surround core areas, or they connect core areas to assist in
protecting targets (i.e. they address concerns for fragmentation; see Fig. 6.7).
The principle tasks of the buffer areas are to control the impact of threatening
factors/processes, and to restore and harness slightly degraded ecosystems. Buffer
areas take up 39,242 km2 (25.8% of the total land area of the reserve). The present
human population in buffer areas is 54,254 people (Chen et al. 2007). Criteria used
to design buffer areas include:
• To buffer main protection targets from influences outside the natural reserve.
• To link core areas to assist in the protection of wildlife.
• Separation from towns, factories and mining sites.
Measures taken in the buffer areas include reducing grazing livestock numbers
to sustainable forage, controlling grazing intensity through rotational grazing, and
closing some areas for restoration of forest and grassland vegetation.
Experimental areas outside core and buffer areas take up 81,882 km2 (53.7% of
the total land area of the reserve; Fig. 6.7). The present human population in
experimental areas is 125,270 people (Chen et al. 2007). Criteria used to design
experimental areas include:
• To aid the development and improvement of socio-economic conditions, pro-
duction and living standards of herders, while promoting societal progress by
adjusting industrial structures to optimize the disposition of resources and
promote regional opportunities (e.g. eco-tourism).
• To assist the restoration and rebuilding of degraded ecosystems.
• To enhance the management of fragmented protection targets by providing a
natural defence for core and buffer areas.
Table 6.7 Protection aims in the 18 core areas of Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve (Tang 2003)
Core name Protection targets Location Area (km2)
Animaqin Snow mountains and glaciers North–West of Maqin county 507
Xingxinghai Lakes and wetlands In Madou county 984
Nianbaoyuze Snow mountains, glaciers and lakes below In Jiuzhi county 262
Dangqu Wetlands and swamps West of Zadou county 5,843
Geladandong Glaciers and vegetation around Tanggulashan town in Geermu city 1,952
Yueguzonglie River, lakes and swamps In Madou town of Qumalai county 963
Erlin–Zalin Lake Lakes and swamps around In Madou county 1,818
Gouzongmucha Snow mountains river lakes and swamps Between Zadou and Zhidou county 2,883
Soujia-Quma River Tibetan antelopes wild yaks, monkeys etc. and swamps Between Qumalai and Zhidou county 10,684
Jiangxi Macaques etc. wild animals and their habitat In Nangqian and Yushu county 337
Baizha Golden leopards, snow leopards and clouded Leopards In Nangqian county 419
Tongtianheyan Cypress and shrub forests In Yushu and Chendou county 1,355
Dongzhong Spruce forests In Yushu county 493
Angsai Forests and shrubs In Zadou county 356
Zhongtie–Jungong Spruce forests Between Maqin, Tongde and Xinghai county 1,341
Duoke River Conifers In Banma county 110
Maixiu Forests In Zeku county 544
Make River Defoliate broadleaf, conifers and shrubs In Banma county 367
Total 31,218
111
112 X. Li et al.
Projects planned for experimental areas include:

• In areas where human population is greater than the carrying capacity, herders
will be resettled in aggregated locations. Prospectively, this ecological
immigration policy will minimize pressure on the natural grassland, enhancing
restoration efforts.
• To determine sustainable grazing livestock numbers given the quantity of
available forage in the area, suspending grazing in some areas in efforts to
restore grassland vegetation.
• To protect and rehabilitate forest and grassland vegetation, wetlands and wildlife.
• To construct water supply facilities and develop new energy for household needs.
• To set up research and monitoring bases.
Planning of the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve considers ecology-based
protection and construction in relation to herders production and lifestyle values
while accelerating the development of the local economy. Proactive, preventative
measures taken to improve ecological conditions include suspension of grazing to
improve grassland vegetation, reverting crop land back to forest or grassland
cover, and fencing off areas for restoration of grassland vegetation. This is
accompanied by resettlement of ecological immigrants into small towns, rodent-
disaster programmes and small-scale water and soil erosion measures in efforts to
enhance livestock production and control the spread of desert and areas of
degraded grassland (see Foggin 2008). These initiatives will assist efforts to
promote water conservancy (Zhou and Yie 2007). However, experience shows that
such programmes are not always effective (see Agrawal and Redford 2009; Dowie
2009; Blue 2010; Foggin 2011).
Measures taken to improve wetland conditions will include:
• enclosing wetland areas to promote self-regeneration of natural vegetation
• re-sowing wetlands that have been subjected to severe degradation
• reducing livestock numbers or stopping grazing adjacent to wetlands
• application of biological and ecological techniques to control rodents in areas
where they have brought about severe damage.
Bans on fishing and wildlife management programmes protect animal resources
in the region. Marked improvements in energy sources will improve herders’
income and reduce dependencies upon remaining areas of forest and natural
grassland. New technologies will be developed and trialed, such as rainfall gen-
eration (especially in the Yellow River source area) and engineering practices that
will reduce the threat of desertification. International experience guards against
undue expectations from such ‘technofixes’ (e.g. Higgs 2003). Hazard reduction
management will include attempts to fire proof areas of forest and grassland.
Ecological compensation mechanisms will be put into effect for those people
affected by these environmental protection and restoration programmes (Li 2007).
Prospects for ecologically-linked industrial and societal developments in the
Sanjiangyuan region are contingent upon protection of ecological values in the first
instance. The main conflict between human and ecological values in the region
relates to the protection/repair of ecosystem attributes in the face of increasing

demands for land and water use brought about by population growth (Wang and
Wang 2004). Of the 651,000 people in the region, 90% are Tibetan (Sheng 2006).
Survival of herding traditions requires utilization and income generation from
local resources in a manner that minimizes harm to the environment through
overgrazing, soil erosion, desertification, and reduced water availability. Migration
policies have been applied in light of these population pressures. These measures
have been supplemented by assistance to develop more intensive industries, along
with training programmes to improve labour skills (Sheng 2006). Steps taken
include: modernization of the animal husbandry industry (including enhanced
livestock processing; Zhang et al. 2005), development of regional grassland
industries, production of new Chinese and Tibetan medicines, and promotion of
ecotourism opportunities (Fang and Liu 2006; Wang et al. 2007). Animal
husbandry production is a main component of economic development in the
Sanjiangyuan region. As traditional practices applied in the farming of yak and
Tibetan-sheep use no fertilizer, pesticide or other chemically synthesized materi-
als, the Sanjiangyuan region is an ideal area to develop organic agriculture (Guo
2005; Shi 2006). These prospects promote a win–win ‘green economy’ for the
plateau, protecting the environment while improving farmer’s income. To assist
these developments, adjustments to the service sector are underway, including
infrastructure and governance arrangements, transportation, education and moni-
toring programmes (Chen et al. 2007).
The total investment for the Program on Ecology-based Protection and
Construction of the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve in Qinghai is estimated
at 7.5 billion Yuan (RMB) (Chen et al. 2007). This includes:
• 4.92 billion Yuan for ecology-based protection and construction.
• 2.22 billion Yuan for construction of infrastructure to enhance living standards
for herders.
• 0.36 billion Yuan for measures to support ecological protection.
6.5 Discussion
Efforts to address the ‘big’ questions, rather than becoming overwhelmed by the
tyranny of small-scale thinking and approaches, have prompted the development
of numerous large-scale conservation initiatives in differing parts of the world.
These landscape-scale applications recognize that extensive reserves and/or
protected areas are required to maintain and/or enhance the resilience of ecosys-
tems. Reserve systems across the world comprise a biased sample of biodiversity
as they are typically located in remote places and in areas that are relatively
unsuitable for commercial activities (Pressey 1994). Having said this, mountain
regions are not only treasures of high biodiversity that are rich in endemic species,
they also provide a fundamental source of high quality water, other products (wood,
114 X. Li et al.
minerals, game, food, traditional medicines, etc.), and recreational opportunities

(Hamilton and Macmillan 2004). Unless these areas are protected as reserves,
human exploitation of resources is likely to occur, and degradation will ensue.
Reserves are required to support long-term survival of species (e.g. Soulé 1987).
In most cases, conservation goals will not be met unless the ecological integrity of
conservation targets is restored (Hargrove et al. 2002). Ecological restoration is
expensive, costing an estimated 2–5 times more than conserving intact and viable
examples of natural communities (The Nature Conservancy 2000). Conservation
planning, as such, is a fundamental and cost-effective component of biodiversity
management and sustainable development.
Biological diversity is inextricably linked to the variety of landscapes in any
ecoregion. Healthy ecosystems are self-sustaining and resilient–evolving systems
that adapt and change over time. In fragmented landscapes populations can be
prevented from reaching migration and dispersal destinations such that they are
forced to live in habitats that are not large enough for their survival as they
are unable to achieve genetic exchange. The steep environmental gradients and
proximity of different altitudinal zones in mountainous regions present significant
opportunities for biotic adaptation to environmental changes. Hence, large areas
must be conserved to protect the adaptive capacity of these systems, giving species
the opportunity to migrate to new habitats. The Sanjiangyuan National Nature
Reserve is among the largest nature reserves in the world, with the highest and
most extensive wetland protected area. The total area of the reserve is marginally
greater than the land mass of England and Wales.
Water resources planning strategies and landscape ecology programmes in the
Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve link lake and river ecosystems to grassland,
forest and wetland management programmes at the landscape scale. The 18 core
areas of the reserve have been framed in relation to water management strategies
in wetlands, lakes and forests (Tang 2003; Chen et al. 2007; see Table 6.7). In this
era of environmental repair, it is recognized explicitly that conservation pro-
grammes alone are not enough, and major efforts have been put in place to
facilitate rehabilitation, promoting self-recovery mechanisms wherever possible
(Brierley and Fryirs 2008). An ecosystem approach to environmental management
has been adopted, wherein these applications strive to ‘work with nature’,
emphasizing big-picture relationships at the ‘whole of system’ scale.
The approach to conservation planning adopted in the Sanjiangyuan National
Nature Reserve mimics developments elsewhere in the world, emphasizing con-
cerns for targeted species within process-based conservation and restoration plans.
An umbrella species approach to conservation focuses upon keystone species,
thereby facilitating the conservation of many other species with coincident, or a
smaller range of, habitat needs. The approach to ecological protection and restora-
tion in the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve closely parallels the aspirations
of the Pan-European Ecological Network (STRA-REP 2006) in that it aims to:
• Conserve a full range of ecosystems, habitats, species and landscapes in efforts
to ensure the existence of healthy, intact and connected wildlife habitat.
• Ensure landscapes are large enough to conserve viable populations of keystone

species.
• Reduce the impacts of fragmentation, providing sufficient opportunities for the
dispersal and migration of species. This enables genetic exchange between
different local populations and allows local populations to move away from
degraded habitats.
• Restore damaged parts of key environmental systems, while securing the
integrity of vital environmental processes.
• Buffer key environmental systems from potential threats.
Linked networks of core areas, corridors and buffer zones enhance resilience and
mitigate against biodiversity loss and impairment of ecosystem services, promoting
flexibility and adaptivity in light of environmental changes. Core areas with a variety
of linkage zones are required to fulfill the vision of contiguous wildlife habitat
(Bouwma et al. 2002). These areas act as reservoirs for biodiversity where evolution
and reproductive processes can take place. A physical network of core areas, linked
by corridors and supported by buffer zones, enables the dispersal and migration of
species. Linkage zones are more than simple corridors: they are habitats with suffi-
cient food and resources to support minimal wildlife populations and to accommo-
date the continual residence and movement of species between core areas (Bouwma
et al. 2002). Corridors facilitate ecological connectivity and coherence, thereby
enhancing the self-regulating capacity of ecosystems as species are able to disperse,
migrate, forage and reproduce. Buffer zones provide protection from adverse
external damages and disturbance, increasing the flexibility and adaptive capacity of
core areas to respond to environmental changes. These areas may perform a corridor
function or in themselves harbour valuable biodiversity, such as species populations
that are dependent on traditional forms of agriculture (Bouwma et al. 2002). Sound
management of human activities in these areas decreases the potential impacts
and probability of isolation. Buffer areas that allow for approved manipulative
research and low impact uses by residents surround well-protected core areas in the
Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve.
Effective conservation programmes do not view ecological reserves as isolated
landscape fragments. Rather, protected areas are linked to the wider region,
providing a basis for the sustainable use of landscapes and natural resources.
Precautionary measures provide sufficient ecological and landscape quality over as
wide a range of territory as possible. This enhances the adaptive capacity of the
system, enabling appropriate adjustments to be made in response to social and
environmental changes. Many species within protected areas depend upon
resources outside them. The transitional zone (experimental area) beyond the
core/buffer areas in Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve has been established to
promote collaboration and engagement with local residents in efforts to meet the
conservation goals of the reserve (c.f., Smardon and Faust 2006).
Monitoring networks have been set up in the Sanjiangyuan region to support
decision-making for further utilization and conservation and to adjust policies on
the reserve are required. For example, GIS, remote sensing and modeling
116 X. Li et al.
applications are being used to assess the rate and extent of damage by burrowing
mammals, grassland degradation, desertification and the pattern/rate of erosion.
Various experimental programmes have been established to trial new approaches to
improve the management of wetlands, desertification, fish stocks in lakes, regener-
ation of grasslands, etc. Recent research has highlighted the success of these
measures. There are increased numbers of wild animals such as blue sheep, wild ass,
wolves (Canis lupus), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), Tibetan antelopes and
snowcocks (Tetraogallua tibetanus) (Ren 2008). Lakes that had dried up have water
once more (Zhu and Dai 2008). Vegetation cover has reestablished in many areas of
bare land (Zhu and Dai 2008). Critically, these elements work together to enhance
ecosystem health. For example, recovered wild animals help to re-establish the food
chain structure of the plateau ecosystem, as eagles and weasels limit undue degra-
dational influences of burrowing mammals upon grassland (recognizing, in turn, that
plateau pika are themselves key ecosystem engineers (see Smith and Foggin 1999)).
Results from environmental monitoring programmes will be utilized to assess trends
in ecosystem performance, identifying threatening processes that may compromise
the integrity of ecosystems (cf. Margules and Pressey 2000).
Visions for an ecologically sustainable future integrate proactive biodiversity
management programmes with coherent strategies that promote regional devel-
opment and natural resource management. The quest for sustainability frames
environmental condition in relation to socio-economic and cultural consider-
ations—both now and into the future. Ecological degradation and biodiversity
losses in the Sanjiangyuan region will continue unless human developments are
managed appropriately (Foggin et al. 2006). Community engagement and educa-
tion are required to unite conservation goals with sustainable development
initiatives. Available resources in the Sanjiangyuan region are unable to meet
the needs of the growing population, creating an imbalance between human
development and environmental resources. Measures adopted to address this
problem include migration policies (Sheng 2006; Chen et al. 2007), increasing
local economies by developing ecotourism opportunities (Fang and Liu 2006;
Wang et al. 2007), enhanced production of organic foods (Guo 2005; Shi 2006)
and increasing high technology applications (Chen et al. 2007; Li 2007a, Zhang
et al. 2005). Importantly, benefits from environmental conservation and rehabili-
tation measures extend well beyond the Sanjiangyuan region. Coherent approaches
to management of water resources in headwater areas assist prospects for stable
and sustained economic development downstream. Programmes that facilitate
environmental protection and restoration in the Sanjiangyuan region promote
ecological security for half of China.
Acknowledgments This research was supported by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of
China (30760160), MOE (2010-1595) and MOST 2011DFA20820. The authors thank Chen
Gang, Jiang Lu-Jia, Qiao You-ming, Li Ji-lan, Pei Hai-kun, Lu Guang-xin, Wang Chun-qing,
Fu Yang and Zhang Jing for their help in collecting information for the manuscript, and Igor
Drecki for drafting the figures. Helpful guidance by the editor of this special issue, David Higgitt,
and two anonymous reviewers is gratefully acknowledged. Critical appraisal and constructive
guidance by Marc Foggin is particularly appreciated.
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Index
A D
Adaptive management, 6, 11 Dams, 32, 47
Agent-based models, 57 Deforestation, 70
Agroforestry, 73 Desertifcation, 96
Alpine ecosystem, 95 Developing countries, 49
Appropriate Disturbance, 14
technology, 48
Asian development
bank, 4, 34 E
Asian river restoration Ecological reserve, 93
network, 4 Ecosystem management, 13–17
Australia, 4, 6 Ecosystem services, 94
Environmental management, 14
B
Bank erosion, 78 F
Bedload, 77 Flooding, 3, 14, 32, 38, 71, 95
Biocomplexity, 19 Floodplain encroachment, 8
Biodiversity, 14–18, 114
Bioindicators, 17
Bricolage, 55 G
Buffer zones, 110 Geographical information
systems, 20, 110, 115
Global water partnership, 5
C Governance, 21–22
Cambodia, 8, 34, 38–40 Grassland, 94
China, 7, 35–41, 93 Gujarat, 52
Climate change, 4, 100
Cognitive interaction, 45
Command and control, 14 H
Communities, 23 Habitat fragmentation, 106
Complexity, 12, 18, 41 Humid tropics, 70
Contributing area, 84 Hydrological change, 79, 106
Corridors, 115 Hydropower, 35

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-2330-6, Ó The Author(s) 2012
122 Index
I Q
India, 45 Qinghai, 94
Indigenous knowledge, 46
Indonesia, 69
Innovation diffusion, 49 R
Integrated water resource River rehabilitation, 4
management, 2–5, 33
S
J Scaling issues, 32
Japan, 3 Science and technology studies, 5
Sediment measurement, 76
Sediment yield, 80–88
K Sesan river, 38
Konto river, 70 Singapore, 3
Slum community, 53
Social learning, 7
L Soil erosion, 104
Lahar, 72 Suspended sediment, 69
Land cover change, 2
Land degradation, 14, 102
Laos, 34, 40–41 T
Local-global interplay, 49–50 Technological change, 57
Technological evolution, 51
Thai water grid, 39–40
M Thailand, 34–41, 70
Malaysia, 70 Tonle sap, 39
Mekong river commission, 31–42 Transboudary issues, 33
Mekong River, 2, 31–42, 93–95 Transition management, 60
Millennium ecosystem
report, 2
Myanmar, 40 V
Vietnam, 8, 34–39
O
Overgrazing, 102 W
Water balance, 73, 82
Water framework directive, 4
P Water governance, 6, 31
Pakistan, 3 Water management, 33, 45, 115
Participatory Water wars, 34–35
management, 11 World bank, 33, 51
Philippines, 70 Yangtze river, 40, 93–95
Post-normal science, 20–22 Yellow river, 1, 40, 93–95
Property rights, 107 Yunnan, 38

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1 Environmental Management and Technology

2 Environmental Science and Management in a Changing World . . . 11

3 River Hardware and Software: Perspectives on National Interest

4 Evolutionary Technologies in Knowledge-Based

5 Surface Runoff and Sediment Yields from Tropical Volcanic

6 Ecological Protection and Restoration in Sanjiangyuan

1.1 Environmental Challenges and Development in Asian

D. Higgitt (ed.), Perspectives on Environmental Management and 1

waters and sediment-associated nutrients is a defining feature of ancient societies

Evidence points to increasing incidence of floods globally but with particular

1.2 Integrated Water Resource Management

The accelerated transformation of the physical environment coupled with changing

1.3 Science and Technology Studies: A Framework

If the understanding and management of water resources has traditionally been

contributed, engaged and transformed. Recent interest in adaptive management

1.4 Themes and Case Studies

infrastructure. The software dimension is the focus on governance and IWRM.

degradation has been accompanied by reductions in discharge in the headwaters, at

Gary Brierley and Carola Cullum

Abstract Recognition of the pervasive impact of human activities on the natural

D. Higgitt (ed.), Perspectives on Environmental Management and 11

considerations, post-normal scientific practice embraces a more inclusive approach

As noted by Ravetz (1999, p 649), in such ‘issue-driven’ science ‘‘typically facts

It is hoped that this classification of managerial approaches and their theoretical

2.2 Interplay Between Ecological Theory and Management

Over the last half-century, environmental management practices have moved

2.2.1 Single Issue Focus in the era of ‘Command and Control’

The notion of ‘biodiversity’ emerged in the 1960s as a theme linking scientific

‘‘Normal’’ science Cross-disciplinary, summative ‘‘Post-normal’’ science. Integrative,

evenness, although some indices also incorporated measures of rarity or endemism

2.2.2 A Holistic Ecosystem Approach

2.2.3 Chaos and Complexity: Nature as a Complex Adaptive

dimension to determining an acceptable or desirable ecosystem state before

2.3 The Emergence of ‘Post-Normal’ Science

Table 2.2 Principles of normal and post-normal science

2.4 Changing Approaches to Environmental Management

Without inferring a causal, linear relationships, the changing approaches to

Table 2.3 Contrasting styles of environmental management

monitoring and maintenance programmes. The results feed back as learning,

2.5 Conclusion: Opportunities for Geographers

Uncertainty is a prevalent theme in the new paradigm of environmental science

complex socio-ecological systems present an opportunity for convergence of

nested-hierarchical principles to examine geomorphic relationships within

D. Higgitt (ed.), Perspectives on Environmental Management and 31

3.1 Introduction: River Basin Hardware and Software

3.2 Scales of Governance in the Mekong

3.3 A Crisis of Governance?

The Mekong faces an unprecedented set of development pressures. Hydropower

Bureaucratic governance of water varies from one national context to another.

3.4 Three Cases

of downstream communities (in Cambodia) affected by upstream hydropower

3.4.1 Bilateral Relations Along a Tributary: The Sesan