HSD: Collaborative Research: Interdisciplinary Research and Methods for Assessing Dams as Agents of Change in China

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To sustainably meet the simultaneous and growing demands for water, energy, and environmental quality while protecting the welfare and tradition of affected communities, a broader view of dams is needed. To address this need, this interdisciplinary research project will apply a new tool for evaluating the relative costs and benefits of dam construction based on multi-objective planning techniques. The Integrative Dam Assessment Modeling (IDAM) tool is designed to integrate biophysical, socioeconomic, and geopolitical perspectives into a single cost/benefit analysis of dam construction. Each of 27 different impacts of dam construction will be evaluated both objectively (e.g., flood protection) and subjectively (i.e., the valuation of said flood protection) by a team of decision makers. By providing a visual representation of the costs and benefits associated with two or more dams, the IDAM tool will allow decision makers to evaluate alternatives and to articulate priorities associated with a dam project, making the decision process more informed and more transparent. The IDAM tool will be an evolutionary step in dam evaluation. Coupled with event chronologies and hotspot mapping of conflicts, household surveys, public-participatory geographic information systems, and hydrologic modeling, the proposed process will be used to investigate hypotheses regarding the assessment, minimization, and distribution of hydropower impacts across cultural and organizational levels and to engage stakeholders in the design process through a decision theater.Significant intellectual contributions of this project will include the use of a uniquely multidisciplinary, integrative model to understand the effects of dams through a controlled study of a complex social and environmental system in China. The project will make several pragmatic contributions related to policy and decision making through disciplinary and interdisciplinary investigation. The project therefore will increase understanding about the interplay of multiple impacts of dam construction in a variety of geographic contexts. Because this collaborative effort will includes opportunities for research in undergraduate institutions, this project will support high-quality research by faculty members at two undergraduate institutions and encourage the integration of research and education. Substantial coordination and capacity building will occur across organizations, levels of experience, and disciplines. A broad dissemination strategy is aimed at strengthening research, teaching, and public outreach about society environment interactions in the U.S., Asia, and elsewhere. Finally, this decision-support process will yield both new knowledge and accessible tools for improving institutions' ability to manage the social and environmental dynamics associated with dams as agents of change. An award resulting from the FY 2008 NSF-wide competition on Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) supports this project. All NSF directorates and offices are involved in the coordinated management of the HSD competition and the portfolio of HSD awards.