Climate Variability and Change—Hydrological Impacts (Proceedings of the Fifth FRIEND World Conference held at Havana, Cuba, November 2006), IAHS Publ. 308, 2006, 569–572.

 

Environmental demands for sustainable regulation schemes in the humid tropics

 

ANNY CHAVES1, IRINA KRASOVSKAIA2 & LARS GOTTSCHALK2

 

1 Centro de Gestión Ambiental, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, PO Box 10032-1000 San José, Costa Rica

achaves@ice.go.cr

2 Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1022 Blindern, N-0315 Oslo, Norway

 

Abstract Water is one of the most important natural resources in many countries of the humid tropics. It supports many socio-economic activities and provides a renewable energy source for economic develop­ment. Sustainability of water projects includes maintenance of biodiversity. Consideration of environmental demands in the basins is an essential component in regulation schemes. This study utilized an Expert Panel Approach to select indicator species for a sustainable runoff in a tropical environment of Costa Rica and to identify their environmental demands. A ranked list of indicator species, chosen based on their sensitivity to changes in river flow caused by regulation, was suggested by experts on tropical flora and fauna at the first expert panel. The second expert panel defined environmental demands of the proposed indicator species in terms of water depth, stream velocity and substrate type. The information obtained provides the necessary background for evaluation of the impact of different regulation schemes on the aquatic environment.

 

Key words indicator species; habitat preference; Expert Panel Approach; environmental demands; sustainable runoff