Lived experiences of ‘peak water’ in the high mountains of Nepal and Peru

ABSTRACT

Peak water describes the hydrological response of glacier-fed rivers to climate change, indicating that warming first drives increasing discharge until a glacier mass loss threshold is surpassed and discharge falls below values observed prior to contemporary climate warming. Although the physical principles of peak water are well understood and accepted, there remains little empirical work evaluating how hydrological dynamics associated with peak water are experienced by residents of high mountain communities at the frontlines of glacial change. In response, this study—drawing on 160 household interviews, 34 key informant interviews, and 4 focus groups—uses a contextual vulnerability approach to characterize lived experiences of peak water in communities of the upper Manaslu region of the Nepal Himalaya and the Cordillera Huayhuash region of the Peruvian Andes. It problematizes characteristics of vulnerability postulated in the glacio-hydrological modelling literature by revealing unanticipated experiences of peak water dynamics on both the rising and falling limb of the peak water profile. The study complements existing glacio-hydrology literature, demonstrates the importance of social theoretical perspectives in the evaluation of human vulnerability to peak water, and provides insights that can help appropriately target scarce adaptation resources.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• peak water
• vulnerability
• adaptation
• Himalayas
• Andes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by International Development Research Centre: [Grant Number IDRC Doctoral Research Award]; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada: [Grant Number Discovery Grant and Canada Research Chair]; Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia; Public Scholars Initiative, University of British Columbia; Institute for Asian Research, University of British Columbia; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada: [Grant Number Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship].

Notes on contributors

Graham McDowell

Graham McDowell is a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Zurich, as well as the Project Leader for the Canadian Mountain Assessment. He specialize in climate change vulnerability and adaptation in high mountain socio-ecological systems, with a focus on lived experiences of changes in glacial hydrology. He has led community-level projects in the Nepal Himalaya, Peruvian Andes, Rocky Mountains, Greenland, and Baffin Island as well as numerous large-scale assessments of the human dimensions of climate change in cold regions.

Michele Koppes

Michele Koppes is an Associate Professor of Geography at the University of British Columbia, where she holds a Canada Research Chair in Landscapes of Climate Change. She works at the intersection of climate science, glaciology, geomorphology, and human adaptation.

Leila Harris

Leila Harris is a Professor at the Institute for Resources Environment, and Sustainability (IRES) and the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice (GRSJ) at the University of British Columbia. Her work examines social, cultural, political-economic, institutional and equity dimensions of environmental and resource issues.

Kai M. A. Chan

Kai M.A. Chan is a Professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability (IRES) at the University of British Columbia. He is an interdisciplinary, problem-oriented sustainability scientist, trained in ecology, policy, and ethics.

Martin F. Price

Martin F. Price is an Emeritus Professor at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), Scotland, where he was Director of the Centre for Mountain Studies (CMS) and Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Mountain Development.

Dhawa G. Lama

Dhawa G. Lama is a guide and research assistant from the Nepal Himalayas. He owns and operates Asia Khamsang Tours & Trekking.

Gladys Jiménez

Gladys Jiménez is a guide and research assistant from the Peruvian Andes. She owns and operates Lost City Treks.