Browsing by Author "Brown, Cate"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Africa�s living rivers: Managing for sustainability
    (MIT Press, 2021) King, Jackie; Brown, Cate
    Africa�s human population is growing rapidly and is set to account for 40 percent of global numbers by 2100. Further development of its inland waters, to enhance water and energy security, is inevitable. Will it follow the development pathway of industrialized countries, often destructive of ecosystems, biodiversity, and riverdependent social structures, or can it chart a new way into the future based on global lessons of equity and sustainability? This essay tracks the global and African growth of the benefits and costs of water resource developments, explores the reasons for the costs, and offers insights on new scientific thinking that can help guide Africa to a more sustainable future.
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    A comparative review of decision support tools routinely used by selected transboundary River Basin Organisations
    (Taylor and Francis, 2021) Brown, Cate; Hassan, Bukhari
    As human pressures on water resources increase, the data and decision support (DS) tools used in the governance, development and management of transboundary rivers are likely to become increasingly important. There are no universal, standardised selection processes or designs for these tools, and so it is up to individual River Basin Organisations (RBOs) to decide what to include in their capacities. This desktop study provides a broad comparative analysis of the suites of DS numerical modelling tools developed and utilised by five intergovernmental transboundary RBOs that advise their member states in the management of their shared water resources: the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission; the Orange-Senqu River Commission; the Nile Basin Initiative; the Zambezi Watercourse Commission; and the Mekong River Commission. These DS tools were reviewed against the information required to enable the kinds of comprehensive assessments of proposed basin management and development plans defined in their respective agreements, which include not only hydrological parameters, but also environmental and social considerations. A review of the model development timelines showed that prior to 2000, little capacity existed in modelling of hydrological, ecosystem, and social components of the river, but that these gaps have been addressed in recent years.
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    Environmental flow assessments are not realizing their potential as an aid to basin planning
    (Frontiers Media, 2018) King, Jackie M.; Brown, Cate
    Multiple planned dams in developing countries, mostly for hydropower, are threatening some of the world’s great river systems. Concern over their social and environmental impacts has led to hydropower being excluded from the sustainability term ‘green energy.’ Better planning, design and operation of hydropower dams could guide where to build and not to build, and how to mitigate some of their negative impacts. Impact assessments presently done for dams include Cumulative Impact Assessments (CIAs) or similar at the basin level, and Environmental Impact Assessments at the project level. These typically do not detail how the river ecosystem could change and the implications for its dependent social structures. A comprehensive Environmental Flows (EFlows) Assessment does provide this information but is almost always not linked to the other impact assessments. When done at all, it is often rudimentary; rarely basin-wide; and almost always done after major development decisions have already been made. A more effective approach for any basin targeted for hydropower or other large damdevelopment would be to formally and automatically embed the requirement for a basin-wide, detailed EFlows Assessment into a CIA. This should be done at the earliest stage of planning, before dam sites are selected and allocated to developers. The EFlows method adopted matters, as it dictates the scope and flexibility of a study. Rapid one-size-fits-all methods do not provide the detail that governments and other stakeholders need to understand the possible future of their river basins, negotiate and make informed decisions.
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    The Pongola Floodplain, South Africa – Part 2: Holistic environmental flows assessment
    (Water Research Commission, 2018) Brown, Cate; Joubert, Alison; Tlou, Toriso; Birkhead, Andrew; Marneweck, Gary; Paxton, Bruce; Singh, Adhishri
    A holistic environmental flows (EFlows) assessment, undertaken as part of Ecological Reserve determination studies for selected surface water, groundwater, estuaries and wetlands in the Usuthu/Mhlatuze Water Management Area, South Africa, led to recommendations for modified releases from the Jozini Dam to support the socially, economically and ecologically important Pongola Floodplain situated downstream of the dam. The EFlows study analysed various permutations of flow releases from the dam based on the recommendations of pre-dam studies, and augmented by more recent observations, inputs from farmers and fishermen who live adjacent to the floodplain and discussion with the operators of Jozini Dam. The EFlows method used, DRIFT, allowed for the incorporation of detailed information, data and recommendations from a decades-old research project on the Pongola Floodplain that was undertaken prior to the construction of the Jozini Dam into a modern-day decision-making framework. This was used to assess the impact of a series of different flow releases on nature and society downstream of the dam. It was concluded that, within historic volumetric allocations to the floodplain, a release regime could be designed that considerably aided traditional fishing and grazing without necessarily prejudicing other uses, such as agriculture.