BOOK REVIEW by www.watermagazine.com
Rivers for Life
Managing Water for People and Nature
Three of its chapter headings give the best indication as to what this book is about and who it is for: Where Have All The Rivers Gone? How Much Water Does A River Need? Building Blocks For Better River Governance.... Published by Island Press it is a passionate contribution (copyright June 2003) to fresh thinking and new ideas about Rivers and River Eco systems. As another reviewer has written - "...at last a book about flow , not just pollutants...." It is a collaboration between Sandra Postel and Brian Richter.
This book describes its objective: "...to enhance the important work The Nature Conservancy is doing to preserve the planet's freshwater biodiversity and ecosystems..." Its Epilogue: Can We Save The Earth's Rivers? is a question that is increasingly being asked by this generation of the earth's people. The case studies in this book are drawn from United States, South Africa and Australia. The writing style is a mix of facts, science, geography, advocacy and vision. Sandra Postel is director of the Global Water Policy Project in Amerhurst, Massachusetts. Brian Richter is director of the Freshwater Initiative of The Nature Conservancy and is based in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The book is organised broadly into the following topic areas:
- Where Have All The Rivers Gone? - why we need healthy rivers; disruption of natural flows; freshwater life at risk; conceptual view for balancing human and ecosystem needs;
- How Much Water Does a River Need? - evolution of new river management paradigm; flow prescriptions aimed at ecological health; setting ecological goals; learning by doing; rebuilding a river's natural flow patterns - low flows & floods; lessons from the Colorado PikeMinnow;
- The Policy Tool Box - allocating water for ecosystem support; South Africa pioneers the water "reserve"; Australia overhauls water policy and tries a "cap"; US policy lacks focus on ecological health - power; economic tools for securing river flows; ethics in water policy;
- Down to the River - a comeback chance for the Missouri?; restoring the Brisbane River of Australia's Gold Coast; groundwater pumping and the future of the San Pedro; flows for shrimp in the tropical Rio Espiritu Santo; reducing impacts of federal dams on Kentucky's Green River; sharing the waters of South Africa's Sabie River;
- Building Blocks for Better Governance - capturing the value of ecosystem services; lessons from the World Commission on Dams; bottom up governance gets a try; River Basin Commissions work outside the box; leadership;
The book is completed by an extension Notes section with hundreds of references - organised by chapter. The Bibliography is extensive - with over 100 entries, and there is a detailed index. The paperback book runs to 250 pages.
The text is liberally illustrated with useful hydrographs, ecological health tabulations, other tables, boxed explanations & casestudies, maps and some black and white photographs.
This is a text for policy makers, geographers and activists coming to grips with the challenge of river management. It does advocate: "...rather than flowing to the natural rhythms of the hydrologic cycle, rivers are turning on and off like elaborate plumbing networks..." reads the accompanying media release. But it informs as well: "...by disrupting natural flow patterns through the construction of dams, reservoirs, and diversion projects, human societies have unwittingly destroyed many of the habitat and life-support conditions that our earthly companions - and the ecological services they provide for us - require. Over the millenia species have become adapted to natural flow cycles, including floods and droughts. They migrate, spawn, nest, and feed when nature cues them to do so. The decline in river health has put at least 20 percent of the earth's 10,000 freshwater fish species at risk of extinction, or has already made them extinct...."
I found reading and using this book an enriching experience.
Rivers for Life was published in 2003 by Island Press.
The isbn is 1-55963-444-8 (paperback); 1-55963-443-x (hard cover).
Island Press is a trademark of The Centre for Resource Economics
If you would like a book or paper reviewed by watermagazine Click: REVIEW
If you need further assistance, please email watermagazine editor.
Joel Cayford
Editor
www.watermagazine.com