Management of Mountain Watersheds

With a focus on the monitoring, research and modelling of interactions between the climate, water cycle, and aquatic ecosystem, this volume takes a multidisciplinary approach in to highlight the environmentally sound management of mountain watersheds.

The book aims to address the interdisciplinary targets of watershed management in mountain regions based on the current knowledge of the subject. The focus of the book is particularly on monitoring, research, and modelling the interactions between the climate, water cycle, and aquatic ecosystem. The issues of watershed management in mountain regions in different parts of Europe, Africa, America and Asia have been the central theme of the book, which is basically divided into five sections: Institutional aspects in control of mountain regions; Stream-flow processes in mountain catchments; Water chemistry and biota in mountain streams and lakes; Effects of forest practices and climate change on hydrological phenomena; and Soil conservation and control of floods and landslides.

The contributions have been peer-reviewed and the interdisciplinary team of authors includes experts from the specialised areas of geography, hydrology, chemistry, biology, forestry, ecology, economy and sociology. The practical applications and management strategies mentioned in the book, deal with the integrated resource management approach, based on the compromise between the development, conservation/ protection of the nature. Finally, the socio-economic and cultural aspects, and ecosystem prevalent in a mountain catchment are discussed in detail.

Highlights the environmentally sound management of mountain watersheds Discusses the multidisciplinary approach in the analysis of a mountain basin Summarizes the experiences of experts from different regions of the world

Contenu

Preface.- 1. Mission and history of the EFC/FAO Working Party on the Management of Mountain Watersheds.- 2. Ecosystem services in mountain watersheds.- 3. Long term hydrological modeling in a Himalayan watershed.- 4. Integrated hydrological model for mountain ecosystem assessment.- 5. Monitoring and management of a lake-watershed system: the Lake Kinneret.- 6. River habitat fragmentation and forestry practices in a mountain catchment.- 7. Carbon and nitrogen fluxes in mountain forests of Sweden.- 8. Impacts of the acid atmospheric deposition and global climate change on water phenomena in a small mountain catchment.- 9. Effects of energy harvesting on hydrological regime of a small headwater basin.- 10. Effects of changes in forest ecosystems on hydrological regime in Polish mountains.- 11. Effects of large-scale windbreak on hydrological processes in the High Tatra.- 12. Role of forests in conservation of the Lake Balaton.- 13. Qualifying soil water contents variation linking with different wetland vegetations in Northeast China.- 14. Impact of Anthropogenic Pressures on Selected Characteristics of a Wetland at Ts'akholo, Lesotho.- 15. Climate change adaptation in mountain watersheds of the Columbia Basin with a focus of water conservation and risk assessment of forest fires.- 16. Flash floods in European alpine basins.- 17. Floods, landslides and forest sanctuaries, Uttarakhand, India.- 18. Control of landslides in mountain watersheds.- Index.