| 1. |
- Bhusal, Jagat K., et al.
(författare)
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Mountains Under Pressure : Evaluating Ecosystem Services and Livelihoods in the Upper Himalayan Region of Nepal
- 2016
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Ingår i: International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences. - 0377-015X .- 2320-5199. ; 42:3, s. 217-226
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Natural resource-based livelihoods in mountainous regions are subject to new types of development as well as climate related pressures and vulnerabilities. On one hand, the integrity of the mountainous landscape is under pressure from the melting of glaciers, changes in water availability, rainfall patterns, and soil degradation. On the other hand, as mountainous environments become increasingly more important in national growth strategies and development priorities, new avenues for livelihoods and vulnerabilities become more pronounced. Climate change effects are expected to be disproportionately higher in mountainous regions. There is therefore a critical urgency to better comprehend these changes shaping mountainous environments and to better assess future direct and indirect impacts on ecosystem services and livelihoods. This article presents the results of an analysis of ecosystem services and livelihoods in the Upper Mustang region of Nepal. The region was selected for its particular trans-Himalayan location, development diversity, and climatic changes that have placed increasing pressure on local ecosystem services. We examine the central role of ecosystem services for remote mountain regions, particularly for the poor, the existing pressures on the key ecosystem services and local ways of adapting to climate-induced effect to ecosystem services and, cogeneration of the knowledge gaps and co-production of knowledge with communities to support local adaptation strategies. We adopted a combination of qualitative and quantitative analytical approaches. We found significant implications for local livelihoods and adaptation strategies with reference to water for farming, pasture productivity and livestock rearing, as well as tourism development. Additionally, we highlight knowledge gaps in assessing ecosystem services and opportunities for local monitoring that may close in on the gaps with an end goal of overcoming poverty.
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| 2. |
- Buytaert, Wouter, et al.
(författare)
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Citizen science in hydrology and water resources : opportunities for knowledge generation , ecosystem service management , and sustainable development
- 2014
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Earth Science. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2296-6463. ; 2:October, s. 1-21
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The participation of the general public in the research design, data collection and interpretation process together with scientists is often referred to as citizen science. While citizen science itself has existed since the start of scientific practice, developments in sensing technology, data processing and visualization, and communication of ideas and results, are creating a wide range of new opportunities for public participation in scientific research. This paper reviews the state of citizen science in a hydrological context and explores the potential of citizen science to complement more traditional ways of scientific data collection and knowledge generation for hydrological sciences and water resources management. Although hydrological data collection often involves advanced technology, the advent of robust, cheap, and low-maintenance sensing equipment provides unprecedented opportunities for data collection in a citizen science context. These data have a significant potential to create new hydrological knowledge, especially in relation to the characterization of process heterogeneity, remote regions, and human impacts on the water cycle. However, the nature and quality of data collected in citizen science experiments is potentially very different from those of traditional monitoring networks. This poses challenges in terms of their processing, interpretation, and use, especially with regard to assimilation of traditional knowledge, the quantification of uncertainties, and their role in decision support. It also requires care in designing citizen science projects such that the generated data complement optimally other available knowledge. Lastly, using 4 case studies from remote mountain regions we reflect on the challenges and opportunities in the integration of hydrologically-oriented citizen science in water resources management, the role of scientific knowledge in the decision-making process, and the potential contestation to established community institutions posed by co-generation of new knowledge.
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| 3. |
- Karpouzoglou, Timon, et al.
(författare)
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Environmental Virtual Observatories (EVOs) : prospects for knowledge co-creation and resilience in the Information Age
- 2016
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Ingår i: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. - : Elsevier. - 1877-3435 .- 1877-3443. ; 18, s. 40-48
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Developments in technologies are shaping information access globally. This presents opportunities and challenges for understanding the role of new technologies in sustainability research. This article focuses on a suite of technologies termed Environmental Virtual Observatories (EVOs) developed for communicating observations and simulation of environmental processes. A strength of EVOs is that they are open and decentralised, thus democratising flow and ownership of information between multiple actors. However, EVOs are discussed rarely beyond their technical aspects. By evaluating the evolution of EVOs, we illustrate why it is timely to engage with policy and societal aspects as well. While first generation EVOs are primed for scientists, second generation EVOs can have broader implications for knowledge co-creation and resilience through their participatory design.
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| 4. |
- Karpouzoglou, Timos, et al.
(författare)
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From present to future development pathways in fragile mountain landscapes
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 1462-9011 .- 1873-6416. ; 114, s. 606-613
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mountains are dynamic landscapes that are home to rich natural and human heritage. However, climatic variability, globalisation and increasing ecomomic integration are making these landscapes more fragile with implications for present and future development. Using a pathways lens, we examine development trajectories in mountains and relate these to environmental and social-economic change currently taking place. We analyse and compare pathways in three case studies in Peru (Andes); Nepal (Himalayas); and Kyrgyzstan (Tien Shan). The paper highlights that development pathways in fragile mountain regions may be shifting in new directions, but because they emerge out of complex socio-environmental and historical contexts, there are also social risks associated with the articulation of future pathways, particularly in terms of social equity and sustainability. Building on different pathway approaches with their various strengths and weaknesses, this study examines the role of human agency and power, the role of historical and present context and feedbacks between social and ecological features in shaping future development pathways of mountain landscapes.
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| 5. |
- Regmi, Santosh Regmi, et al.
(författare)
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Learning to cope with water variability through participatory monitoring : the case study of the mountainous region , Nepal
- 2019
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Ingår i: Meteorology Hydrology and Water Management. - : Institute of Meteorology and Water Management - National Research Institute. - 2299-3835 .- 2353-5652. ; 7:2, s. 49-61
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Participatory monitoring allows communities to understand the use and management of local water resources and at the same time develop a sense of ownership of environmental information. The data generated through participatory monitoring of stream flow and rainfall generate evidences to corroborate local people's experiences with changing water resources patterns. In this study we evaluate the potential of participatory monitoring of hydrological variables to improve scarce water supply utilization in agriculture. The case study site is the Mustang district in Nepal, which is located in the upper Kaligandaki river basin in the Himalayas with unique and complex geographical and climatic features. This region is characterized by a semi-arid climate with total annual precipitation of less than 300 mm. Water supply, agricultural land, and livestock grazing are the key ecosystem services that underpin livelihood security of the local population, particularly socio-economically vulnerable groups. An analysis of the measured stream flow data indicate that annual flow of water in the stream can meet the current crop irrigation water needs for the agricultural land of the research site. The data provide local farmers a new way of understanding local water needs. Participatory monitoring would contribute to an optimization of the use of ecosystem services to support economic development and livelihood improvement.
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| 6. |
- Zulkafli, Zed, et al.
(författare)
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User-driven design of decision support systems for polycentric environmental resources management
- 2017
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Ingår i: Environmental Modelling & Software. - : Elsevier. - 1364-8152 .- 1873-6726. - 9780874216561 ; 88, s. 58-73
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Open and decentralized technologies such as the Internet provide increasing opportunities to create knowledge and deliver computer-based decision support for multiple types of users across scales. However, environmental decision support systems/tools (henceforth EDSS) are often strongly science-driven and assuming single types of decision makers, and hence poorly suited for more decentralized and polycentric decision making contexts. In such contexts, EDSS need to be tailored to meet diverse user requirements to ensure that it provides useful (relevant), usable (intuitive), and exchangeable (institutionally unobstructed) information for decision support for different types of actors. To address these issues, we present a participatory framework for designing EDSS that emphasizes a more complete understanding of the decision making structures and iterative design of the user interface. We illustrate the application of the framework through a case study within the context of water-stressed upstream/downstream communities in Lima, Peru.
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