Placing sediment budgets in the socio-economic context for management of sedimentation in Lake Inle, Myanmar

摘要

In soil erosion and sedimentation research in developing countries, there is a need for scientists to direct increased attention to quantifying mechanisms and rates of sediment movement and objectively demonstrating their impacts. Soil erosion and sedimentation in the approx. 3800 km2 Lake Inle catchment, Myanmar have been of both local and national concern, given the significance of the lake to the economy, environment and culture. Sediment budgets that include a focus on different sedimentation rates in various sink environments around and in the lake were constructed for this lake catchment. The sediment budgets showed that deltas stored more than half of the sediment transported to the lake area, and that, despite the relatively smaller storage mass, the highest specific storage was found at river mouths. Socio-economic assessment identified diverse perspectives on the impacts of sedimentation. Of those perspectives, increasing difficulty in water transportation was recognized as a common, significant problem among stakeholders. Proposals for management of sedimentation therefore emphasize that priority should be given to controlling sedimentation at river mouths.