Reference no: EM133190786 , Length: Word count: 3 Pages

Assignment Problem: Please review the following book and answer the following questions.

How do healthy rivers benefit society? - A review of the evidence by Helen Parker and Naomi Oates

Requirements: Please answer the questions in complete and coherent sentences, and elaborate on your reasoning and thinking. Make sure to give specific examples of case studies or projects.

Question 1: Write a summary about 300 words for this article.

Question 2: The authors argue in this paper that in order to maintain 'healthy rivers' and 'healthy river management practices', we must be engaged in policy discussions around river health in social, economic and strategic terms. Can you develop an effective discussion to this end, based on your understanding of the concepts and arguments presented in the paper?

Question 3: The authors use the classification of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) for a river's health condition, ranging from Natural (High) through Good to Poor (or Fair). Based on the criteria used for this classification, can you identify one Natural and one Poor river around the world? Provide some available information that you have used in support of your assessment. What would be status of the Ohio River at present time?

Question 4: Discuss briefly as to how most modern river management practices favour a limited range of societal benefits, while they are detrimental to river health. Give some examples of such management practices.

Question 5: In both developing and developed countries almost all river systems currently experience over-extraction of water, infrastructure development, pollution, and spread of invasive species, which collectively put enormous pressure on the rivers and river basins. Now, consider a significant increase in global surface temperatures and a global population explosion within the next 50 years. What would happen to these pressure sources and how they would potentially affect the current river systems and hence the societies? Explain your reasoning.