How dams and wildlife can coexist: natural habitats, agriculture, and major water resource development projects in tropical Asia

• Published in: Conservation biology 1987-10, Vol.1 (3), p.228-238
• Main Author: McNeely, J.A. (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Gland, Switzerland)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ADMINISTRACION DE RECURSOS; Agricultural development. Rural area planning; AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; ASIA TROPICAL; ASIE TROPICALE; Biological and medical sciences; CONSERVACION DE LA NATURALEZA; Conservation biology; CONSERVATION DE LA NATURE; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Dams; Ecological sustainability; Ecology; Freshwater; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agroecology. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development. Rural area planning. Landscaping; General agronomy. Plant production; Generalities. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development; GESTION DES RESSOURCES; HABITAT; HABITATS; IRRIGATION; National parks; NATURE CONSERVATION; NATURE RESERVES; PRODUCCION; PRODUCTION; Protected areas; RECURSOS HIDRICOS; RESERVAS NATURALES; RESERVE NATURELLE; RESOURCE MANAGEMENT; RESSOURCE EN EAU; RIEGO; Special Section: Internationally Funded Development in Tropical Countries; Sustainable agriculture; Synecology; Terrestrial ecosystems; TROPICAL ASIA; WATER RESOURCES; WILDLIFE CONSERVATION; Wildlife ecology
• ISSN: 0888-8892; 1523-1739
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.1987.tb00037.x

Tropical Asia is densely populated, yet is self-sufficient in food (at least in the good years). Major investments have been made in water resources development, aimed at expanding the area of land under irrigated agriculture and thereby increasing agricultural production. Such investments are often considered highly destructive of natural habitats, but destruction is not always a necessary companion of dam construction. This paper examines three examples--at international, national, and local levels--where governments and various development agencies have determined that the success of their investments depended on controlling deforestation in the watershed areas of major water resources development projects: the massive Mekong development program in Indochina, Sri Lanka's Mahaweli scheme, and Indonesia's Dumoga project in northern Sulawesi. In each situation, national parks and other sorts of reserves were found essential to the success of the overall effort, with different sorts of land-use problems requiring different sorts of solutions. Each case has experienced, for different reasons, some difficulty in converting ecological science to on-the-ground solutions to development problems. Suggestions are made on how ecological science can help water resources development projects yield maximum benefits, within the limits imposed by politics and economics, for the conservation of biological diversity. Watershed protection can be used to justify reserves that otherwise might not be established, and irrigation agencies can make powerful potentialallies for protected areas that protect watersheds. In many cases, the total costs of establishing and managing reserves that protect catchment areas can be met and justified as part of the hydrological investment.