Presentation
Damming the Brahmaputra: Impacts on the resilience of local communities to floods and climate change
American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting
(2016)
Abstract
Recurrent destructive floods along the Brahmaputra river basin are a major challenge for the people and state governments of Northeast India. Climate change is expected to further exacerbate this challenge, as melting Himalayan glaciers and changes in the South Asian monsoon lead to an increase in the frequency of severe floods. At the same time, the Brahmaputra has become the focus of India’s hydropower development efforts, with 140 new dams planned along its main stem and tributaries. Though these dams could provide flood protection for downstream communities, political and economic factors have led dam builders to prioritize hydroelectricity generation over flood control. Using the Ranganadi Hydroelectric Project in Arunachal Pradesh as a case study, this research investigates the effects of dam building on the resilience of downstream communities to floods that are becoming increasingly severe as a result of climate change. Findings suggest that dams in Northeast are eroding downstream communities’ resilience to floods by increasing their vulnerability and reducing their adaptive capacity to these natural hazards. The risk is that, as dams and climate change jointly make the floodplains of Northeast India increasingly hazardous, uninhabitable and unproductive, they will push local communities away from these landscapes and agricultural livelihoods and towards more carbon-intensive livelihoods. More broadly this research highlights the danger of pursuing climate change mitigation and renewable energy development projects without considering their impacts on the vulnerability and adaptability of affected communities to climate change.
Disciplines
Publication Date
December 13, 2016
Location
San Francisco, CA
Comments
Poster presentation.
Citation Information
Costanza Rampini. "Damming the Brahmaputra: Impacts on the resilience of local communities to floods and climate change" American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting (2016) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/costanza-rampini/16/