Rivers for Life: Managing Water For People And Nature

The conventional approach to river protection has focused on water quality and maintaining some "minimum" flow that was thought necessary to ensure the viability of a river. In recent years, however, scientific research has underscored the idea that the ecological health of a river system depends not on a minimum amount of water at any one time but on the naturally variable quantity and timing of flows throughout the year.

In Rivers for Life, leading water experts Sandra Postel and Brian Richter explain why restoring and preserving more natural river flows are key to sustaining freshwater biodiversity and healthy river systems, and describe innovative policies, scientific approaches, and management reforms for achieving those goals. The authors:

explore building blocks for better river governance

They offer case studies of river management from the United States (the San Pedro, Green, and Missouri), Australia (the Brisbane), and South Africa (the Sabie), along with numerous examples of new and innovative policy approaches that are being implemented in those and other countries.

Rivers for Life presents a global perspective on the challenges of managing water for people and nature, with a concise yet comprehensive overview of the relevant science, policy, and management issues. It presents exciting and inspirational information for anyone concerned with water policy, planning and management, river conservation, freshwater biodiversity, or related topics."

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Essential reading for those interested in river and water issues, 2008-06-24
Postel and Richter have produced a well-written book full of interesting insights and statistics on rivers, their use and conservation. Rivers for Life has been very useful for me and my group Prodefensa del Nazas in our struggle to preserve the last remaining ecosystems of the Nazas, one of Mexico's great desert rivers, the largest endorrheic river in Mexico and probably North America.
If you are interested, even mildly, in water issues today, you have to read this book. More importantly, once read, you have to get involved in ensuring that the valuable ecosystem services rendered by your local brook, creek, lake, wetland or river are preserved for future generations.


4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

A Gentle Warrior, 2005-10-26

Sandra Postel writes in a clear and lyrical style which is entertaining to read. Her content is not overly technical nor is it patronisingly simplistic. Postel has a pleasing habit of rejecting jargon and buzz phrases.

I found her assertions, research and conclusions to be creditable. I enjoyed the breadth of the discussion.
She is not strident nor angry in her criticism of individuals or corporations, rather she lets good science do her talking.

Postel enjoys a wide audience and is often represented in university reading lists. She is one of the more enjoyable reads to be found there.


6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

a wisdom runs through it, 2004-03-13
This book, like previous works by Sandra Postel, is a clarion warning call about the dangers in how we have been managing our waters. The message from this book that is of particular importance, is that truly successful, and therefore sustainable, environmental management is really just as much about managing people as it is about managing natural systems. For this reason, I have placed this important book on the reading list for my watershed management course at Harvard. And also, I am grateful that Sandra Postel agreed to write a front-end blurb for my recently published (by Green Frigate Books) book entitled Deep Immersion: The Experience of Water.

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