During the last 50 years, construction of dams in the western United States declined. This is partly because of increasing recognition of diverse and unintended social-ecological consequences of dams. Today, resource managers are recognizing the wide array of tradeoffs and are including a more diverse group of stakeholders in decision making for individual dams. Yet decisions at the regional scale maintain a focus on a limited number of resources and objectives, leading to inefficient and inequitable outcomes. Social-ecological changes compounded by climate change challenge this management paradigm. Increasing water demands for humans and the environment and renewed interest in hydropower present opportunities for operations that include climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies while considering tradeoffs and equitable responses at the regional scale.
1.US Geol Survey, Southwest Biol Sci Ctr, Grand Canyon Monitoring & Res Ctr, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 USA 2.Utah State Univ, Dept Watershed Sci, Logan, UT 84322 USA 3.No Arizona Univ, Sch Earth & Sustainabil, Flagstaff, AZ 86011 USA 4.Univ Connecticut, Connecticut Inst Resilience & Climate Adaptat Civ, Storrs, CT 06269 USA 5.Univ Arizona, Dept Soil Water & Environm Sci, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA 6.Univ Arizona, Sch Anthropol, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA
Recommended Citation:
Bair, Lucas S.,Yackulic, Charles B.,Schmidt, John C.,et al. Incorporating social-ecological considerations into basin-wide responses to climate change in the Colorado River Basin[J]. CURRENT OPINION IN ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY,2019-01-01,37:14-19