BA, Oberlin College, 2020, Environmental Studies

The Himalaya-Hindu Kush mountain range and the Tibetan Plateau birth ten of Asia's most prominent rivers providing irrigation, energy, and drinking water to over two billion people across several countries today. Therefore, transboundary water sharing is a constant source of conflict for several South Asian countries that rely on rivers to support their primarily agrarian economies.In recent years, climate change has drastically increased global temperatures. As a result, the Indian subcontinent has been plagued with extreme riverine flood and drought events.Climate change-related events like riverine floods and drought, exacerbate the politicization of conflict between nations that share natural resources like water. This politicization is visible in the media coverage of conflict, and the way water-sharing issues are linked with other transboundary conflicts, especially those pertaining to national security. This paper explores the relationship between climate change and water-sharing conflicts in three South Asian nations: India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Through a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the national media coverage of transboundary river systems, Indus and Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna, this honors thesis explores how climate change affects the politicization of water-sharing conflicts between these three nations.

Committee: Swapna Pathak (Committee Member); Md. Rumi Shammin (Committee Member); Laurie Hovell McMillin (Committee Member) Subjects: Environmental Studies; Mass Media

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2018, Environmental Studies (Voinovich)

There are 310 internationally shared water basins in the world (McCracken & Wolf, Forthcoming). The fluid and dynamic properties of water know no human designated borders and make sustainable management difficult given the management, economic demand and capacity disparities between states (Wolf, 2010). Political incentives, limited or abundant resources, differing infrastructure, and knowledge of transboundary water can vary drastically and lead to conflict or poor management. These challenges are exacerbated in developing countries dealing with additional economic, institutional and infrastructure pressures, in addition to unstable foreign relations and policy processes. Given the wide array of challenges to sustainably managing transboundary waters, the international environmental community has in recent decades pushed for accords or agreements between states to collaboratively manage shared water resources. This thesis focused on the Global Environment Facility's effort to integrate management of a shared water basin in the Balkans region of Southeastern Europe. Lake Skadar/Shkoder is situated on the Balkan Peninsula with Montenegro along the north border and Albania to the south. Considered one of the last biodiversity hotspots in Europe and a proposed transboundary Biosphere Reserve given its importance as an ecosystem and refuge for migratory birds, Lake Skadar/Shkoder has been the focus of international conservation efforts in recent years. Human pressures on the lake from industrial activities and unsustainable tourism infrastructure development are drawing concerns. After nearly seven decades of communist rule and a series of violent conflicts in the 1990s associated with the breakup of Yugoslavia, both Albania and Montenegro have fledgling democracies facing extensive challenges with high unemployment, widespread corruption and low institutional capacity. In this context, the Global Environment Facility provided $4.55 million to the federal gover (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Geoffrey D. Dabelko (Committee Chair); Edna Wangui (Committee Member); Natalie Kruse-Daniels (Committee Member) Subjects: Area Planning and Development; Conservation; Cultural Resources Management; East European Studies; Ecology; Environmental Management; Environmental Studies; Water Resource Management

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2016, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Community Planning

Protected areas are critical elements in restoring historical wildlife migration routes, as well as, maintaining historical cultural practices and traditions. The designations created for protected areas represent a cultural and/or natural aspect of the land. However, designations for the protection of these resources fail to include measures to take into account the ecological processes needed to sustain them. Ecological processes are vital elements in sustaining cultural resources, because most cultural resources are the derivatives of the interactions with natural resources. In order to sustain natural resources, especially wildlife, the processes of fluctuating habitat change and migration are pivotal in maintaining genetic diversity to maintain healthy populations with the fittest surviving. The survival of the fittest species allow populations to have greater adaptability in the face of climate change. Currently in the Crown of the Continent (COC), several non-profit organizations are collaborating under an umbrella initiative, the Yellowstone to Yukon Initiative, to restore historical migration routes. The collaborators of this initiative performed ecological planning of the entire Yellowstone to Yukon region to identify impediments that may hinder wildlife movements. They also furthered their efforts by participating in public forums held by land management entities and local communities that may permit activities that can restrain movements. Because of the multitude of jurisdictions within the COC, land management practices drastically vary, reflecting polarized views between state/provincial and federal levels.

Committee: Craig Vogel M.I.D. (Committee Chair); Danilo Palazzo Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning