Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: . In this paper, we propose a concept that captures the different socio-hydrological patterns that result from different societal choices on how to deal with rivers, floods and erosion: socio-hydrological spaces. Socio-hydrology aims to understand the dynamics and co-evolution of coupled human-water systems. Our proposed concept will help to understand the detailed human-water interactions in a specific location. This paper uses a socio-hydrological approach to describe human-flood interactions in the Jamuna floodplain, Bangladesh. In this vast space (a braided river bed of 6–16 km) the differences between land and water are temporary and shifting. To illustrate how the concept can be used, we first classified and identified socio-hydrological spaces and then validated through the analysis of primary data (household surveys and focus group discussions) and secondary data (statistics, maps etc.) that were collected in 2015 and 2016. The principal set of primary data consists of approx. 900 questionnaires on several themes: flooding, riverbank erosion, social processes of the study area. The concept of SHS draws attention to how historical patterns in the co-evolution of social behaviour, natural processes and technological adoptions give rise to different landscapes, different style of living, and different ways of organizing livelihoods. However, we contend that this concept could be used in other places and for other socio-hydrological systems than floodplains.
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,725
OpenAlex ID: W2782539431