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Accelerated degradation of Lake Inle (Myanmar): A baseline study for environmentalists and developers
Author(s) -
Michalon Martin,
Gunnell Yanni,
Lejot Jérôme,
Mialhe François,
Aung Toe
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
land degradation and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1099-145X
pISSN - 1085-3278
DOI - 10.1002/ldr.3279
Subject(s) - tourism , aggradation , watershed , fishing , geography , sustainability , agriculture , physical geography , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental science , archaeology , geology , fluvial , fishery , ecology , computer science , biology , paleontology , geotechnical engineering , structural basin , machine learning
This study takes stock of the confusion that exists around the environmental state of Lake Inle, a flagship destination for tourism in Myanmar. Reports on the dynamics of its iconic floating gardens and on the evolution of the Lake's dimensions in response to land‐use change in the watershed are inconsistent and provide a poor basis for policymaking. Here, we (a) present a critical overview of the literature concerning land degradation around Lake Inle; (b) provide an independent and quantitative reexamination of the Lake's size; (c) carry out a methodic assessment of the history of floating gardens based on written sources, interviews, and high‐resolution imagery from 1967, 1983, 2002, and 2014; and (d) produce the first comprehensive and biseasonal bathymetric survey of the Lake, thereby providing a baseline water volume estimate fit for future monitoring purposes. Results challenge previous reports and show that floating agriculture boomed in the 1970s (11 km 2 in 1967 and 29 km 2 in 1983), peaked in 2002 (35 km 2 ), then declined slightly (33 km 2 in 2014). Our bathymetric survey reveals that the Lake volume at the peak of the 2015 rainy season was 122.6 × 10 6 m 3 , with maximum water depths having diminished substantially from 6 m (as reported in 1918) to just 3 m today as a combined result of sediment aggradation and waterlevel decline (−1 m in 25 years). Those dynamics have critical implications for the sustainability of floating agriculture, fishing, and the local tourist economy.