Kelly D. Alley

Connecting local environmental knowledge and land use practices: A human ecosystem approach to urbanization in West Georgia

Issues of urban sprawl and migration of exurban residents into the surrounding countryside of metropolitan areas have generated considerable debate across the US. These debates often revolve around the ecological footprint of urban areas and the erosion of quality of life indicators associated with rapid expansion of urban and residential areas. Although there has been much research done on the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of urbanization, little attention has been given to cultural impacts. This paper focuses specifically on the role of local environmental knowledge as an important resource in human ecosystems, and looks at the implications of environmental knowledge loss associated with urbanization and its related demographic changes. We compared environmental knowledge among rural, urban, and developing watersheds in western Georgia, and also look at relationships between local environmental knowledge and variables such as gender, education, income, and participation in outdoor recreational activities. We then explored how variations in environmental knowledge affected land use practices at the household level. The mean knowledge scores of residents in all three classifications of rural watersheds were higher than those living in developing and urban watersheds. We found residents of managed pine watersheds possessed the highest mean scores (p = 0.006), while urban watershed residents were the lowest. We also found that local environmental knowledge was influenced by active participation in outdoor recreation, with active bird-watchers having the highest environmental knowledge scores. However, we found less influence of factors such as education and income on environmental knowledge. We also found a clear connection between local environmental knowledge and land management practices. Timber owners scored higher than non-timber owners (p = 0.099), and landowners who constructed streamside management zones (SMZs) scored higher than those who did not (p = 0.034).

The Paradigm Shift in India’s River Policies: From Sacred to Transferable Waters

The beliefs and practices of Hinduism are directly tied to many public uses of rivers across India and have been central to the reverence for rivers appearing in religious worship for centuries and nationalist movements and rallies over the last 50 years. There are also a multitude of public uses of rivers apart from widespread worship rituals: washing persons, clothes, and animals; general household consumption; fishing; transportation; and small-scale industry. These combined with small- and large-scale Hindu ritual bathing practices constitute public uses of rivers in India and are distinct from industrial or urban uses in that they are unpriced and sometimes essential to subsistence. Citizens are usually not prevented from using river waters, but the times when and places where they can attain access are sometimes regulated. With the development of private water and hydroelectric projects and the supporting state controls, one might expect that these public uses will be threatened or restricted over time.

The Developments, Policies and Assessments of Hydropower in the Ganga River Basin

This article reviews the practices, policies and assessments of hydropower facilities in the upper Ganga basin and explores the main developments in hydropower infrastructure and accompanying land use changes over the past several decades. It introduces the policy framework and also includes a review of the social and political movements for and against hydropower development. It concludes with suggestions for alternative ways to measure energy and externalities that give importance to other water priorities and uses in the basin.