干旱区生态环境知识资源中心(Arid): Sustainable Floodplains: Linking E-Flows to Floodplain Management, Ecosystems, and Livelihoods in the Sahel of North Africa

Arid

DOI	10.3390/su122410578
	Sustainable Floodplains: Linking E-Flows to Floodplain Management, Ecosystems, and Livelihoods in the Sahel of North Africa
	O'Brien, Gordon C.; Dickens, Chris; Baker, Chris; Stassen, Retha; van Weert, Frank
通讯作者	O'Brien, GC (corresponding author), Univ Mpumalanga, Fac Agr & Nat Sci, Sch Biol & Environm Sci, Private Bag X11283, ZA-1200 Nelspruit, South Africa.
来源期刊	SUSTAINABILITY
EISSN	2071-1050
出版年	2020
卷号	12 期号:24
英文摘要	Floodplains are particularly important in the semi-arid region of the Sub-Sahelian Africa. In this region, water governance is still being developed, often without adequate information and technical capacity for good, sustainable water resource management. However, water resources are being allocated for use with minimal sustainability considerations. Environmental flows (e-flows) include the quantity and timing of flows or water levels needed to meet the sustainable requirements of freshwater and estuarine ecosystems. Holistic regional scale e-flows linked to floodplain management can make a noticeable contribution to sustainable floodplain management. The Inner Niger Delta (IND) in Mali is an example of a vulnerable, socio-ecologically important floodplain in the Sahel region of North Africa that is being developed with little understanding of sustainability requirements. Although integrally linked to the Upper Niger River catchment, the IND sustains a million and half people within the region and exports food to surrounding areas. The flooding of the Delta is the engine of the socio-economic development as well as its ecological integrity. This paper aims to demonstrate the contribution that holistic regional e-flow assessment using the PROBFLO approach has to achieving floodplain sustainability. This can be achieved through the determining the e-flow requirements to maintain critical requirements of the ecosystems and associated services used by local vulnerable human communities for subsistence and describing the socio-ecological consequences of altered flows. These outcomes can contribute to the management of the IND. In this study, the socio-ecological consequences of altered flows have been evaluated by assessing the risk of alterations in the volume, duration, and timing of flows, to a number of ecological and social endpoints. Based on the risk posed to these endpoints by each scenario of change, an e-flow of 58% (26,685 million cubic meters (MCM) of water annually) was determined that would protect the ecosystem and maintain indicator components at a sustainable level. These e-flows also provide sustainable services to local communities including products for subsistence and limit any abnormal increases in diseases to the vulnerable African communities who live in the basin. Relative risk outputs for the development scenarios result in low-to-high-risk probabilities for most endpoints. The future development scenarios include insufficient flows to maintain sustainability during dry or low-flow periods with an increase in zero flow possibilities. Although unsuitable during the low-flow or dry periods, sufficient water is available through storage in the basin to meet the e-flows if these scenarios were considered for implementation. The IND is more vulnerable to changes in flows compared to the rivers upstream of the IND. The e-flow outcomes and consequences of altered flow scenarios has contributed to the management of vulnerable IND floodplains and the requirements and trade-off considerations to achieve sustainability.
英文关键词	floodplains sustainability environmental flows Inner Niger Delta social and ecological endpoints PROBFLO
类型	Article
语种	英语
开放获取类型	gold
收录类别	SCI-E ; SSCI
WOS记录号	WOS:000603251500001
WOS关键词	ECOLOGICAL RISK-ASSESSMENT ; ENVIRONMENTAL FLOWS ; HABITAT FRAGMENTATION ; BAYESIAN-APPROACH ; SOUTH RIVER ; EXTINCTION ; FRAMEWORK ; GOVERNANCE ; THREATS ; BASIN
WOS类目	Green & Sustainable Science & Technology ; Environmental Sciences ; Environmental Studies
WOS研究方向	Science & Technology - Other Topics ; Environmental Sciences & Ecology
资源类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/349202
作者单位	[O'Brien, Gordon C.; Stassen, Retha] Univ Mpumalanga, Fac Agr & Nat Sci, Sch Biol & Environm Sci, Private Bag X11283, ZA-1200 Nelspruit, South Africa; [Dickens, Chris] Int Water Management Inst Colombo, 127 Sunil Mawatha, Battaramulla 10120, Colombo, Sri Lanka; [Baker, Chris; van Weert, Frank] Wetlands Int, POB 471, NL-6700 AL Wageningen, Netherlands
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	O'Brien, Gordon C.,Dickens, Chris,Baker, Chris,et al. Sustainable Floodplains: Linking E-Flows to Floodplain Management, Ecosystems, and Livelihoods in the Sahel of North Africa[J],2020,12(24).
APA	O'Brien, Gordon C.,Dickens, Chris,Baker, Chris,Stassen, Retha,&van Weert, Frank.(2020).Sustainable Floodplains: Linking E-Flows to Floodplain Management, Ecosystems, and Livelihoods in the Sahel of North Africa.SUSTAINABILITY,12(24).
MLA	O'Brien, Gordon C.,et al."Sustainable Floodplains: Linking E-Flows to Floodplain Management, Ecosystems, and Livelihoods in the Sahel of North Africa".SUSTAINABILITY 12.24(2020).