UC Santa Cruz

This project explores how large-scale hydropower development along the Brahmaputra river in Northeast India’s shapes the resilience of downstream populations to the impacts of climate change on water resources.

Northeast India is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change on the Brahmaputra river. The region is predominantly rural and a majority of the population is engaged in natural resource-based activities. The abundant flows of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries are essential to the local economy and especially the livelihoods of over 30 million rural dwellers in the region. By shrinking Himalayan glaciers and altering the patterns of the Indian monsoon, anthropogenic climate change threatens to reduce river flows and increase flow variability in the long-term, with important implications for communities living in the river basin. Additionally, destructive summer floods along the Brahmaputra and its tributaries are a major challenge for people living in Northeast India and climate change impacts are expected to further intensify the rivers’ flood regime.

At the same time as climate change is altering the flows of the Brahmaputra, a multitude of new dams are under construction along its stretches, in an effort to meet India’s growing energy demands. The impacts of large-scale hydropower development on the Brahmaputra river basin will influence the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of downstream communities to climate change impacts on water resources. This research has three main components: First, I explore how, by modifying river flows, dam-building efforts affect downstream communities’ exposure to variations in river flows as a result of climate change (Chapter 1). Second, I more specifically interrogate how, by altering the river’s flood regimes, hydropower development efforts shape the adaptive capacity of downstream communities to summer floods that are becoming increasingly severe as a result of climate change (Chapter 2). Third, I examine the impacts of dam-based development on the livelihood resilience of downstream rural households to climate change impacts (Chapter 3). This project relies on a case study dam and data from semi-structured household-level interviews, archival research of dam planning documents, and key informant interviews. This research employs theoretical frameworks and concepts from political ecology, hazards and vulnerability studies, climate change adaptation, sustainable livelihoods and resilience theory.

Overall, this project shows that dam-based development along the Brahmaputra is eroding the resilience of downstream communities and their livelihoods to the impacts of climate change on river flows. This research helps us understand how two interacting stressors – climate change and hydropower development – are transforming the riparian landscapes of Northeast India with important implications for local communities and the future of the region. This work also highlights the risks of pursuing renewable energy development and climate change mitigation without taking into consideration local climate change adaptation needs.