Abstract
This paper conducts an assessment on the social-ecological resilience of China’s Dongting Lake (and its three sections – East, West and South Dongting Lake) in relation to the perturbations of the Three Gorges Dam using a set of resilience-based indicators. Expert scoring is applied to identify the different states of the lake and their resilience levels. Based on equal weighting for all indicators and using the technique of ordering preferences according to similarity to the ideal solution, an assessment of the social-ecological resilience of Dongting Lake is generated. The results show that East Dongting has higher ability to absorb perturbations than South and West Dongting which have relatively low resilience to the changes triggered by the impoundment of the Dam. Effective adaptation measures are needed for the lake to be able to better absorb these perturbations and be sustainable in the long run.
Highlights
Human perturbations worldwide are increasingly driving changes in freshwater ecosystems (Gleick et al, 2014)
The results show that East Dongting has higher ability to absorb perturbations than South and West Dongting which have relatively low resilience to the changes triggered by the impoundment of the Dam
Located in Hunan Province, it is conjunct to the Yangtze River (YR) in its middle stream and is a seasonal and shallow lake consisting of three parts: East Dongting (ED), South Dongting (SD) and West Dongting (WD)
Summary
Human perturbations worldwide are increasingly driving changes in freshwater ecosystems (Gleick et al, 2014). Disturbances from people and their activities have triggered numerous problems with contradictory and difficult to resolve requirements creating increasing challenges related to deteriorating environmental conditions of freshwater systems, water scarcity and safety An example of this is climate change with its global impacts but there are many local cases related directly to water use, such as the building of barrages, weirs and dams which change the hydrology of the region. An estimated 68% of the world’s liquid surface freshwater is contained in 189 large lakes (Reid & Beeton, 1992) They provide many important social and ecological services, such as water for drinking, irrigation and industry, habitat for various living species and place for dilution of pollutants. Increasing demand for water, high pollution levels and the declining health of the freshwater ecosystems are continuously threating the availability of freshwater (Biswas, 1991; Johnson Revenga, & Echeverria, 2001)
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