scholarly journals Nation’s body, river’s pulse: Narratives of anti-dam politics in India

Thesis Eleven ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 150 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amita Baviskar
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Hindu Nationalism ◽  
River Health ◽  
Political Field ◽  
Large Dams ◽  
Radical Critique ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable Development ◽  
Indian Rivers

In the 1990s, social movements against large dams in India were celebrated for crafting a powerful challenge to dominant policies of development. These grounded struggles were acclaimed for their critique of capitalist industrialization and their advocacy for an alternative model of socially just and ecologically sustainable development. Twenty years later, as large dams continue to be built, their critics have shifted the battle off the streets to new arenas – to courts and government committees, in particular – and switched to a techno-managerial discourse of maintaining river health. What accounts for this change? This article traces the trajectory of cultural politics around Indian rivers within the larger imagination of the nation, the rise of economic liberalization and Hindu nationalism, and the emergence of environmental bureaucracies. It argues that, alongside being shaped by this context, current anti-dam campaigns also contend with the legacy of earlier social movements, their gains as well as losses. This political field has narrowed the potential for radical critique, large-scale collective mobilization and, ultimately, keeping rivers alive.

Law reform for life: how to unleash the guiding principles of ecologically sustainable development to improve human relationships with (the rest of) urban biodiversity

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-89
Author(s):  
Lachlan Penninkilampi
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Urban Biodiversity ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable Development ◽  
Biodiversity Governance

Urbanization is arguably the most severe and irreversible driver of environmental change, particularly with respect to biodiversity. This is the case even in Australia, a megadiverse country with a sophisticated federal regime of biodiversity governance. Yet, life persists in urban worlds. In the context of global climate and ecological crises, this article endeavours to illustrate how law and policy can grapple with the complexities of urban biodiversity and enable it to flourish. First, the article outlines the current approaches to urban biodiversity: what is it, what is it like, why does it matter and how do humans think of it? Second, the article analyses the current state of biodiversity governance in Australia, focusing particularly on the laws and policies of the Commonwealth, New South Wales, and local governments in Greater Sydney. Finally, the article details a program of reform which revisits the original guiding principles of ecologically sustainable development, illustrating how they could be unleashed for the better governance of urban biodiversity with respect to decision-making, the administration of law, issues at scale, the economy, valuation techniques and community participation. The program includes not only systemic and multi-scalar reforms, but also local-level reforms which have significant yet often overlooked potential to encourage pro-biodiversity behaviours in everyday life. The aim is to reveal just some of the many ways in which hope can be creatively transformed into action for a biodiverse urban future – that is, to reveal the possibilities of law and policy to enable urban biodiversity to be better recognized, understood, valued, protected and enhanced as Australia develops in the twenty-first century.

Ecological Effect of Typical Plants for Releasing Oxygen and Declining Temperature in Anshun City

2013 ◽  
Vol 864-867 ◽  
pp. 328-332
Author(s):  
Lai Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Ecological Effect ◽  
Species Evenness ◽  
Ecological Construction ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable Development

In the urban ecosystems , the greening as a subsystem in the beautiful urban environment , it plays an active role of maintaining urban ecological balance and sustainable development. On the basis of surveying the greening in Anshun city of Guizhou, the ccological effect of 16 typical plants of them, releasing oxygen and declining temperature were studied. The results showed that the species less, structure only, species evenness low; the ability of releasing oxygen is different for different plants in different months, but the similar law is rising in June and August, declining in July and September; in August, the law of declining temperature is consistent with releasing oxygen, but the most obvious were Platanas acerifolia (0.32°C), Ligusttrum quiuoni (0.26°C), Parthenocissus trcuspidata (0.46°C) in arbors, shrubs and climbing plants. The results provide some basis informations and valuable suggestions for Anshun city ecological construction, improving the living environment and ecologically sustainable development.

In-stream turbines for sustainable hydropower development in the Amazon river basin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suyog Chaudhari ◽  
Erik Brown ◽  
Raul Quispe-Abad ◽  
Emilio Moran ◽  
Norbert Mueller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Amazon River ◽  
River Ecology ◽  
Amazon River Basin ◽  
Hydropower Development ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Large Dams ◽  
Hydropower Potential

<p>Given the ongoing and planned hydropower development projects in the Amazon River basin, appalling losses in biodiversity, river ecology and river connectivity are inevitable. These hydropower projects are proposed to be built in exceptionally endemic sites, setting records in environmental losses by impeding fish movement, altering flood pulse, causing large-scale deforestation, and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. With the burgeoning energy demand combined with the aforementioned negative impacts of conventional hydropower technology, there is an imminent need to re-think the design of hydropower to avoid the potentially catastrophic consequences of large dams. It is certain that the Amazon will undergo some major hydrological changes in the near future because of the compounded effects of climate change and proposed dams, if built with the conventional hydropower technology. In this study, we present a transformative hydropower outlook that integrates low-head hydropower technology (e.g., in-stream turbines) and multiple environmental aspects, such as river ecology and protected areas. We employ a high resolution (~2km) continental scale hydrological model called LEAF-Hydro-Flood (LHF) to assess the in-stream hydropower potential in the Amazon River basin. We particularly focus on quantifying the potential and feasibility of employing instream turbines in the Amazon instead of building large dams. We show that a significant portion of the total energy planned to be generated from conventional hydropower in the Brazilian Amazon could be harnessed using in-stream turbines that utilize kinetic energy of water without requiring storage. Further, we also find that implementing in-stream turbines as an alternative to large storage-based dams could prove economically feasible, since most of the environmental and social costs associated with dams are eliminated. Our results open multiple pathways to achieve sustainable hydropower development in the Amazon to meet the ever-increasing energy demands while minimizing hydrological, social, and ecological impacts. It also provides important insight for sustainable hydropower development in other global regions. The results presented are based on a manuscript under revision for Nature Sustainability.</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document