Flowing Upstream

Empowering Society

Do you know your watershed address? We all have one, whether we live high up in a mountain, on an inland prairie or near the coast. A watershed is an area of land that channels rain and snowmelt into streams, rivers and oceans. Our lives are deeply intertwined with land and water and all the connections between them. Day-to-day activities—like brushing our teeth, eating a meal, getting a ride in a car or even using an electronic device—have consequences for our own or someone else's watershed. Over the centuries we've changed the land by farming it, cutting down the trees on it, digging into it and building on it. We've also learned how to control water—where it goes and how much flows. Upstream, Downstream explores the consequences of the pressures people place on watersheds and highlights some of the heroes making a difference for watersheds around world.

In a world fraught with visions of an impending 'water crisis' it is not surprising that the main barrier to achieving the Millennium Goals of Development of water, sanitation and hygiene, for all, is not seen as a lack of willingness to learn from the past, to acknowledge failure and success and respect the diversity of approaches and social actors. this book brings together five in-depth case studies of civil society interventions from different parts of India which have struggled to resolve issues of women's participation, equity and sustainability in community based water management systems. From the water scarce areas of coastal Gujarat where UTTHAN has been promoting decentralized and gender equitable water alternatives to the SEWA campaign on women, water and work, and AKRSP(I)'s attempts to involve women farmers in participatory irrigation management interventions in adivasi dominated South Gujarat, from community lift-irrigation schemes in Jharkhand managed by women's group promoted by PRADAN, to SOPPECOM's efforts in facilitating rights to water and land for women and the landless in Maharashtra, the case studies illustrate that the process of negotiating change of, 'flowing upstream' is indeed messy, complicated and complex. Emerging insights while located in a specific socio-economic, political and cultural context provide a menu of essential but not necessarily sufficient, ingredients towards a strategy for mainstreaming gender and equity rights in water management. Together, the cases raise important questions on the social construction of water policy in India, the gendered structure of facilitating organizations, networking and the role of learning in developing accountable and socially inclusive governance mechanisms for managing our natural resources.

Ideas for fulfilling customer needs can be generated much faster than they can be realized. Upstream Kanban is about marshaling options-having enough choices at the right time, without overburdening the system and the workers who generate those options.

Southeastern Minnesota is a paddlers dream. Throughout the forested bluff land terrain, called the Driftless Area, there are both easy paddling routes as well as challenging, more difficult streams all offering beautifull scenic views and a variety of wildlife. Canoeing The Driftless contains maps and descriptions for over 50 routes covering 600 miles to help you plan your paddling trip. Information such as route length, difficulty, hazards, as well as points of interest, the best put-in and take-out accesses and shuttle routes are included to help in choosing a trip to fit your needs. Also included are River Scenes which have interesting information on history along the routes as well as some personal, sometimes humorous accounts of trips on the rivers. Canoeing The Driftless is written for all levels of paddlers, from the beginner to the most experienced paddler. For the beginner to intermediate paddler there are the main routes on the Cannon, Zumbro, and Root rivers, for the more experienced paddlers the routes on the Bear, Deer, Whitewater, and smaller branches of the Root River and Zumbro River provide more challenging runs.