AN ANALYSIS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES IN THE BHARATHAPUZHA RIVER BASIN, SOUTHERN INDIA

Abstract

Rivers are considered as an open ecological system, which play a major function in integrating and organizing the landscape and moulding the ecological setting of an area. The dynamism of the free-flowing rivers for long have challenged and fascinated humans and are a cradle of human civilization. The economic value of river basins could be in billions of dollars (Schuyt, 2005) if it could be reasonably estimated. However, rivers and streams are among the most human affected ecosystems in the globe and exceedingly exploited (Neilson et al., 2005) for water, energy and transportation by its stake holders. The genesis and development of the modern human civilization is believed to have happened in the banks of various global river systems. The Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Chinese and Indus valley civilizations were developed respectively in the basins of the rivers Nile, Tigris–Euphrates, Yangtze-Yellow, and Indus during different geological time scales. Most of the important and highly populated cities of the present day are also located along river banks.