HighARCS will complete a detailed multidisciplinary situation analysis of
highland aquatic resources, focused on values, livelihoods, conservation issues
and wise-use options at five sites in Asia:
Guangzhou, China
Uttarakhand, India
West Bengal, India
Northern Vietnam
Central Vietnam
Factors assessed will include the following:
- Biodiversity and ecosystem services, including provisioning, regulating,
supporting and cultural services
- Livelihood strategies of households dependent on ecosystem services derived
from highland aquatic resources, in particular poor, food-insecure and vulnerable
people, will be assessed within a sustainable livelihoods framework and opportunities
to enhance such livelihoods assessed
- Institutional features , including local, national and international policy
and legislation, trajectories of change, stakeholder values associated with
highland aquatic resources and areas of conflict will be assessed
Stakeholder participation will be critical to ensure new knowledge is accessible
for collective decision-making and development of policies for the equitable
use and conservation; methods and indicators for participatory monitoring and
evaluation of ecosystem services and biodiversity will be developed.
Action plans will then be formulated with stakeholders to:
- monitor the health of highland aquatic resources,
- develop and promote wise-use, and where necessary livelihoods diversification
- enhance poor livelihoods and conservation,
- integrate sustainable and wise-use, livelihoods diversification and conservation
with watershed management priorities throughout the region
Action plans will be implemented by stakeholders at four sites displaying
high biodiversity in Asia and the ecosystem, livelihoods and institutional
impacts assessed through participatory monitoring and evaluation.
Best practices aimed at conserving biodiversity and sustaining ecosystem services
will be communicated to potential users to promote uptake and enhanced policy
formulation.