Communities living near the Yamuna: Understanding their knowledge & perception of the natural environment

The specific river discussed within this paper will be the Yamuna River in India. Unfortunately, due to intensive human intervention, the Yamuna River has also become one of the most degraded rivers in India, imposing significant effects on the socio-economic networks within surrounding villages. This paper aims to understand the knowledge and perception that communities who live near the river and depend on intensive farming have in regards to the natural environment. Contributing to a socio-economic impact assessment this research will serve as a key component to a proposed river restoration project that is being studied by researchers at the University of Guelph and the Jawaharlal Nehru University in India.; Determining the villagers' understanding about the natural environment, this paper tries to determine how their level of knowledge impacts their understanding and appreciation for the proposed restoration project. Research methods that were used to gather data included secondary data analysis, participant observation, focus group interviews, household questionnaires, and semi-structured key informant interviews. The analysis of the study finds that although the majority of respondents from the villages studied appeared to have valuable indigenous knowledge in regards to the natural environment, they appeared to lack in-depth knowledge about environmental processes and concepts which affect their communities. The paper concludes by the identification of appropriate environmental education and awareness initiatives that have the potential to ensure community involvement in water conservation efforts in order to mitigate the negative impacts on the Yamuna River. Based on the findings presented in this study, "next steps" for future research that build upon the current work have also been identified.