As part of the Water Institute's WaterTalks lecture series, Rebecca Tharme, Fellow in Residence at the LE STUDIUM Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies, presents, "Riverscapes and Lifeways - Biocultural Diversity and River Flow Management."
For millennia, people have been part of nature in riverscapes, coevolving with the living river systems that are the hearts of these environments. As well as being biologically diverse and resilient ecosystems, the world’s rivers have been paths for the cultural identity, adaptation, material and spiritual wellbeing, and security of human civilizations. River flows continue to connect people, places, and wildlife today, inspiring and sustaining a myriad beliefs, values, and ways of life.
Tharme will explore interlinkages between nature and culture for rivers, particularly in the context of the global biocultural diversity crisis - in part a consequence of the fragmentation and flow alteration impacts associated with water infrastructure development. She will describe some of the frontiers in the field of environmental flows that are enriching our knowledge of the interrelationships between rivers and dependent peoples, potentially helping advance more sustainably managed riverscapes in the future.