Keywords
bayesian networks, watershed development, sustainable livelihoods
Start Date
1-7-2012 12:00 AM
Abstract
Rural communities in the dryland agricultural regions of Andhra Pradesh, India, have been the focus of watershed development (WSD) programs intended to both improve people’s livelihoods and achieve sustainable use of natural resources. The effectiveness of WSD at achieving these objectives has been questioned in recent decades. Issues of inequitable distribution of benefits between and within villages as well as negative environmental impacts downstream of WSD have been reported in the literature (Reddy et al. [2004], Calder et al. [2008]). The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) has funded a project that is quantifying the socio-economic and environmental outcomes of WSD programs implemented in six villages in Andhra Pradesh to examine societal issues associated with these programs. A component of the project is the development of an integrated model to explore spatial impacts of WSD including upstream-downstream differences between villages and issues of equity and resilience within villages.Bayesian networks (BNs) are being used to implement the sustainable livelihoods approach (Reddy et al. [2004]) within an integrated biophysical-socioeconomic model (Merritt et al. [2011]). This paper focuses on the representation of health in the human capital component of the integrated model. Household health is an important determinant of human capital which affects how a household can use other capitals to improve their livelihood. Analysis of the first round of survey data using BNs found that household health is most sensitive to the adequacy of drinking water – a function of both the quality of and access to common pool drinking water resources. The effect of WSD on drinking water adequacy and household health varies across the study villages with some showing reduced reliance on common pool resources under WSD and/or improved adequacy of drinking water resources both of which correspond to better household health.
Modelling social and environmental impacts of watershed development in Andhra Pradesh, India.
Rural communities in the dryland agricultural regions of Andhra Pradesh, India, have been the focus of watershed development (WSD) programs intended to both improve people’s livelihoods and achieve sustainable use of natural resources. The effectiveness of WSD at achieving these objectives has been questioned in recent decades. Issues of inequitable distribution of benefits between and within villages as well as negative environmental impacts downstream of WSD have been reported in the literature (Reddy et al. [2004], Calder et al. [2008]). The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) has funded a project that is quantifying the socio-economic and environmental outcomes of WSD programs implemented in six villages in Andhra Pradesh to examine societal issues associated with these programs. A component of the project is the development of an integrated model to explore spatial impacts of WSD including upstream-downstream differences between villages and issues of equity and resilience within villages.Bayesian networks (BNs) are being used to implement the sustainable livelihoods approach (Reddy et al. [2004]) within an integrated biophysical-socioeconomic model (Merritt et al. [2011]). This paper focuses on the representation of health in the human capital component of the integrated model. Household health is an important determinant of human capital which affects how a household can use other capitals to improve their livelihood. Analysis of the first round of survey data using BNs found that household health is most sensitive to the adequacy of drinking water – a function of both the quality of and access to common pool drinking water resources. The effect of WSD on drinking water adequacy and household health varies across the study villages with some showing reduced reliance on common pool resources under WSD and/or improved adequacy of drinking water resources both of which correspond to better household health.
