Sonali Senaratna Sellamuttu

Assessing wetland ecosystem services and poverty interlinkages: a general framework and case study

Abstract The wise use of wetlands is expected to contribute to ecological integrity, as well as to secure livelihoods, especially of communities dependent on their ecosystem services for sustenance. This paper provides a conceptual framework capable of examining the goals of wetland management, poverty reduction and sustainable livelihoods. The framework highlights ecological character as a social construct and, with the notion of wetlands as settings for human well-being, builds a concept for assessing the inter-linkages between ecosystem services and livelihoods. The value and broader applicability of our framework is then tested by applying it to a case study from India (Lake Chilika) to evaluate the degree to which the mutual goals of improving both human well-being and the ecological character of wetlands have been achieved. The case study maps changes in human well-being induced in the basin communities due to external vulnerability contexts, institutions and freedoms. It further assesses the response strategies in terms of their impacts on ecological character and poverty status. Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Guest editor M.C. Acreman Citation Kumar, R., Horwitz, P., Milton, R.G., Sellamuttu, S.S., Buckton, S.T., Davidson, N.C., Pattnaik, A.K., Zavagli, M. and Baker, C., 2011. Assessing wetland ecosystem services and poverty interlinkages: a general framework and case study. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 56 (8), 1602–1621.

Exploring relationships between conservation and poverty reduction in wetland ecosystems: lessons from 10 integrated wetland conservation and poverty reduction initiatives

It is well known that whilst wetlands deliver a wide range of services vital for human well-being, they are being rapidly degraded and lost. Losses tend to be higher where human populations are increasing most and demands for economic development are greatest. Multidisciplinary management approaches that integrate conservation and development objectives in wetlands are therefore urgently requested for by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. This paper describes the evaluation of 10 wetland management case studies from Asia, Africa and South America that adopted such an integrated approach. The evaluation assessed the outcomes of these integrated initiatives to identify conditions and processes for linking conservation and poverty reduction objectives in wetlands. The findings are also compared with other assessments of integrated approaches, particularly in terms of their effectiveness in optimizing conservation and poverty reduction outcomes. The results from our studies suggest an ongoing evolution of such integrated interventions, which also implies cycles of learning from past mistakes. Overall, our results highlight the significant variation between wetlands in types and quantities of services they provide and emphasize the need to view many ecological issues as social challenges for equitable solutions to both wetlands and people. The analysis further shows that the positive on-ground results owe much to the interdisciplinary problem analysis, whereby interventions can move from treating symptoms to addressing root causes. while no blueprint emerged on how to successfully integrate conservation and poverty reduction in wetlands, important lessons for future interventions were drawn.

How Access to Irrigation Influences Poverty and Livelihoods: A Case Study from Sri Lanka

Abstract This study combines a livelihoods approach with a regression approach to quantify the effectiveness of irrigation infrastructure investment on improving people’s livelihood strategies. Using a unique dataset based on households in southern Sri Lanka, and a natural experimental setting, we estimate from a two-stage income regression model to show that irrigation access has a positive effect on income through livelihood choices. We also show through qualitative approaches that factors not linked to irrigation infrastructure may contribute to changes in livelihood portfolios. In addition, we highlight factors that result in certain households being unable to move out of poverty despite access to the improved irrigation infrastructure.

A new professionalism for agricultural research for development

ABSTRACT There have been repeated calls for a ‘new professionalism’ for carrying out agricultural research for development since the 1990s. At the centre of these calls is a recognition that for agricultural research to support the capacities required to face global patterns of change and their implications on rural livelihoods, requires a more systemic, learning focused and reflexive practice that bridges epistemologies and methodologies. In this paper, we share learning from efforts to mainstream such an approach through a large, multi-partner CGIAR research program working in aquatic agricultural systems. We reflect on four years of implementing research in development (RinD), the program’s approach to the new professionalism. We highlight successes and challenges and describe the key characteristics that define the approach. We conclude it is possible to build a program on a broader approach that embraces multidisciplinarity and engages with stakeholders in social-ecological systems. Our experience also suggests caution is required to ensure there is the time, space and appropriate evaluation methodologies in place to appreciate outcomes different to those to which conventional agricultural research aspires.

Reservoir Operation for Recession Agriculture in Mekong Basin, Laos

AbstractAs hydropower dam construction in rapidly growing economies dislodges communities, rural development experts must help the displaced make their livelihoods in new lacustrine environments. One question is whether the dam infrastructure can directly benefit those who remain within the vicinity of the reservoir. Integrated water resource management seeks to concurrently consider hydrological, socioeconomic, and ecological factors, yet water managers lack the information needed to include livelihoods in their analyses. The objective of this paper is to develop tools and plans for coordinating hydropower reservoir operation and management for rural livelihoods. Specifically, this study investigates how dam management may accommodate vegetable farming on the banks of a reservoir. The intervention investigated is to lower water levels during the cultivation period in order to expose shoreline gardens. Based on the recession agriculture rule, evaluated through simulation of a dam in Lao People’s Democrati...

Insight to Ecosystem Based Approach (EBA) at Landscape Level Using a Geospatial Medium

Ecosystem based approach (EBA) for resource management is a concerted, environmentally tuned and an integrated framework that holistically addresses the ecological character of the natural resource, its societal benefit spectrum and its environmental functions. In this paper, the EBA concept is closely linked with the emerging concept of multiple use systems (MUS) while taking account of environmental, economic, and social factors that govern the ecosystems services and benefits. We elucidate a multi-scalar approach and multiple case studies to understand EBA particularly in context of a wetlandscape. At the global scale, Ramsar sites of international importance are geospatially analyzed with reference to their agro-ecology and biodiversity. At regional scale, the agrarian use of inland wetlands in India was re-evaluated taking account of database from a recent inland wetland inventory. At the local scale, drawing on the landscape characterization and the ecological economics for fresh water Lake Kolleru in India and the Muthurajawela Marsh-Negombo Lagoon coastal marsh in Sri Lanka, we illustrate some of the practical challenges in balancing wetland conservation, development needs and the overall well-being of local people. We also discuss how variability in the scale, geophysical characteristics of the site and the data availability confines the ability to simplify a single complete approach to address issues in complex ecosystem such as wetlands. All levels of the study are supported by a variety of earth observation data and the geographical information system (GIS) tools. The site level analysis also draws on socio-economic assessment tools.

Wetlands, Livelihoods and Human Health

In developing countries millions of people live a life of subsistence agriculture, mired in poverty, with limited access to basic human needs, such as food and water. Under such circumstances wetlands, through the provision of a range of direct and indirect ecosystem services, play a vital role in supporting and sustaining peoples’ livelihoods and hence, their health. This chapter discusses the role of wetlands in the context of the sustainable livelihoods framework in which wetlands are viewed as an asset for the rural poor in the form of “natural capital”. The framework is used to illustrate how ecosystem services, livelihoods and health are entwined and how the ecosystem services provided by wetlands can be converted to human health either directly or via other livelihood assets. It highlights the contributions that wetlands make to basic human needs and, either directly or through transformations to other forms of livelihood capital, the support they provide to livelihoods and overall well-being.

The Ramsar Convention's Wise Use Concept in Theory and Practice: An Inter-Disciplinary Investigation of Practice in Kolleru Lake, India

The Ramsar Conventions Wise Use Concept in Theory and Practice: An Inter-Disciplinary Investigation of Practice in Kolleru Lake, India Sonali Senaratna Sellamuttu a , Sanjiv de Silva b , Nidhi Nagabhatla c , C. Max Finlayson d , Chiranjibi Pattanaik e & Narendra Prasad e a International Water Management Institute (IWMI) b Institutional and Policy Analysis, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) c APEC Climate Centre d Institute for Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University e Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON)

Gender and household decision-making in a Lao Village: implications for livelihoods in hydropower development

Abstract Hydropower development with concomitant changes in water and land regimes often results in livelihood transformation of affected people, entailing changes in intra-household decision-making upon which livelihood strategies are based. Economic factors underlying gender dimensions of household decision-making have been studied rigorously since the 1970s. However, empirical data on gender and decision-making within households, needed for evidence-based action, remain scarce. This is more so in hydropower contexts. This article explores gender and livelihood-related decision-making within rural households in the context of hydropower development in Lao PDR. Based on a social well-being conceptual approach with data from a household survey and qualitative interviews, it focuses on household decisions in an ethnic minority resettlement site soon after displacement, from an interpretive perspective. The article, first, aims to assess the extent to which household decision-making is gendered and secondly, to understand the complex reasoning behind household decisions, especially the relevance of material, relational, and subjective factors. It argues that while most household decisions are ostensibly considered as ‘joint’ in the study site, the nuanced nature of gendered values, norms, practices, relations, attitudes, and feelings underlying these decisions are important to assessing why households might or might not adopt livelihood interventions proposed by hydropower developers.

Groundwater Resources in the Dry Zone of Myanmar: A Review of Current Knowledge

Groundwater resources are vital for the well-being and livelihoods of most of the ten million people living in the Dry Zone of central Myanmar. Despite this importance, there is remarkably little known or documented on the nature, extent and use of these resources. This contribution has attempted to address this gap by reviewing the literature, gathering data and stakeholder consultations. The study reveals that utilizable groundwater is present across most of the Dry Zone, most notably in the unconsolidated sedimentary aquifers that are present across large portions of the region. However, rates of replenishment appear to be relatively modest, and use is limited by high levels of salinity and arsenic that are naturally present in some areas. The scope to access groundwater is generally good, and development has steadily increased to provide water supply for domestic, agriculture and industry. In broad terms, is would appear that prospects to expand groundwater use for irrigation and other purposes are good in almost all districts. In more hydrogeologically complex settings in particular, a lack of information creates more risk that may add to drilling costs. More detailed assessments and databases are required to support effective resource management.