Rivers belong to the world’s most complex ecosystems but increasing demands for water are degrading rivers worldwide. The increase in human populations and activities has resulted in an intense and difficult conflict between the development of rivers as a natural resource and their function as living ecosystems. It is now widely recognized that a naturally variable flow regime is required to sustain freshwater ecosystems. Many countries that experience river degradation have started to implement environmental flows, i.e. the unallocated flow purposely preserved in a river. The objectives of this thesis are twofold. The first aim is to briefly describe the concept and science of environmental flows and the different methodologies for calculating environmental flows. This was done based on a literature review of the subject. The second aim is to present a case study calculating the environmental flow requirements. The case study was conducted through a field study in the Buzi River basin in Mozambique and the subsequent modeling of the environmental flow requirements. The literature study showed that not only the quantity of water is important; the timing and frequency of floods, droughts, low flows and high flows are very important as well. The literature study also showed that the advances in environmental flow science have been remarkable while the water policy and management has not been equally successful in implementing environmental flow standards. The calculation of environmental flow requirements was done with the Desktop Reserve Model developed in South Africa. The results indicated that to maintain the ecological status in the Buzi River at a largely natural condition (ecological category A) an average allocation of 57 % of mean annual runoff (MAR) is required. The present ecological status was determined in Revue River, which is one of the three major tributaries to Buzi River. To maintain the Revue River at its present ecological state requires an environmental flow between 23-37 % of MAR. The major environmental threats in Revue River are erosion and flow modification. The erosion is a consequence from artisanal gold mining, inadequate farming practices and deforestation. The flow alterations are caused by the large Chicamba Dam constructed for the generation of hydropower. One of the questions this thesis aimed to answer was if it was possible to set the present ecological state with a limited amount of data. This study showed that it could be possible but that the confidence level will be low. The relationships between ecological metrics and flow alterations must be investigated in detail for this region before environmental flow requirements can be successfully calculated and implemented. / Floder hör till jordens mest komplexa och känsliga ekosystem, men ett ökat tryck på våra vattenresurser har försämrat situationen för många av världens floder. Befolkningsökningen och den globala utvecklingen har resulterat i en intensiv och komplicerad konflikt mellan utnyttjandet av floder som en naturresurs och bevarandet av deras funktion som unika ekosystem. Det är nu allmänt accepterat att den naturliga flödesvariabiliteten behövs för att bevara våra sötvattenekosystem. Flera länder där försämringen av floder är ett faktum har börjat införa miljöanpassade flöden, det vill säga vatten som medvetet tilldelas flodens ekosystem. Det finns två syften med det här examensarbetet. Det första är att genom en litteraturstudie beskriva miljöanpassade flöden och de modeller som används för att beräkna detta flöde. Det andra målet är att göra en fallstudie och beräkna det miljöanpassade flödet och bestämma den ekologiska statusen för Buzi floden i Moçambique. Litteraturstudien visade att det inte bara är kvantiteten av vatten som är viktigt; tidpunkt och återkomsten av översvämning, torka, lågflöden och högflöden är mycket viktiga om man vill efterlikna det naturliga flödet. Litteraturstudien visade även att framstegen i kunskapen om miljöanpassade flöden har varit stora medan vattenlagstiftningens anpassning och införandet av miljöanpassade flöden har varit svag i flera avseenden. Modellerandet gjordes med den sydafrikanska Desktop Reserve Model. Resultaten från modellen visade att för att bibehålla den ekologiska statusen för Buzi floden i ett nära naturligt stadium (ekologisk klass A) krävs en tilldelning på 57% av medelårsavrinningen. Den nuvarande ekologiska statusen bestämdes i Revue floden, som är en av tre huvudfloder i Buzi avrinningsområdet. För att behålla Revue floden i sitt nuvarande tillstånd skulle kräva ett miljöanpassat flöde på mellan 23-37% av medelårsavrinningen. De största ekologiska hoten i Revue floden visade studien var erosion och flödesförändringar. Erosionen är en konsekvens av guldutgrävning, jordbruk med fel teknik, och skogs­­avverkning. Flödesförändringarna härrör från den stora vattenkraftsstationen Chicamba Dam. En av frågorna den här studien syftade till att besvara var om det är möjligt att bestämma den nuvarande ekologiska statusen med en begränsad tillgång till data. Studien visade att det är möjligt men att osäkerhetsnivån i resultatet kommer att vara stort. Studien visade även att modellen Desktop Reserve Model kan användas för snabba beräkningar av det miljöanpassade flödet, men att mer utförliga studier som till exempel Building Block Methodology måste genomföras innan resultatet med säkerhet kan verifieras. Relationen mellan ekologiska förändringar och flödesvariationer måste utredas i detalj för studieområdet innan de miljö­anpassade flödesbehoven kan bli implementerade med framgång.

This dissertation investigates the social and cultural contours of citizenship and nationhood of Kahnawake Mohawks. The central question that I seek to answer is "What other narratives of nationhood and citizenship are there than those of membership in the American or Canadian states?" Mohawks and other Iroquois nations have long asserted their ideological, and in the case of some, economic independence from the governments of Canada and the United States. My multi-sited research illustrates that this historical assertion is more than rhetoric; it is also a practice or " praxis," as Mohawks configure citizenship across the imposed borders that separate their reserves from cities and states from states. This dissertation engages contemporary theories of nationhood, historical and contemporary ethnographic literature on the Iroquois, as well as contemporary literature in political theory and policy to examine the gendered and sometimes racialized contours of Indigenous nationhood and citizenship across borders. Kahnawake Mohawk narratives and the choices that they entail have implications for the way that all "post-colonial" nationals attempt to imagine and construct their place and their membership within and beyond the boundaries of their communities and that of the state.

Climatic oscillation during the Quaternary resulted in fragmentation of once more continuous ancient floras and a series of invasions of different floras into the Pondoland Centre in response to climatic change, with some elements invading more than once. This implies both a temporally complex and a floristically complex origin for the extant flora of the Centre. Data derived from analysis of the melange of extant floristic elements in the Pondoland Centre is presented in support of this hypothesis. A synfloristic comparison of Oribi Gorge (OGNR) and Umtamvuna Nature Reserves (UNR) is the basis for this study. A comparison of the species lists generated for OGNR and UNR reveals that 24% of the 1514 angiosperm species are shared. The familial composition of the reserves is similar, with eight of the ten most diverse families contributing a similar proportion of species to the respective floras, with the exception of Acanthaceae. The ten most diverse families comprise a comparatively small proportion of the respective floras; this is indicative of high diversity over long geological periods, i.e. of refugia. Analysis at the generic level revealed similar consistancy between the two gorge floras. Approximately 4% of the UNR species and 2.3% of OGNR species are Pondoland Centre endemics. Approximately 40% of the endemic species are shared by the gorges. Data reveals that both palaeoendemic (predominantly woody, forest taxa) and neoendemic (predominantly herbaceous or suffrutescent, grassland taxa) species occur. The Pondoland Centre is thus a refugium for species trapped on the Msikaba Group sandstones as a result of climatic oscillation during the Quaternary, and a centre of neoendemism. OGNR and UNR floras include Cape, Afromontane and tropical elements (11.3%, 2.8% and 19.1% respectively for OGNR and 16%,3.4% and 15.3% respectively for UNR). Seventy - two percent of Afromontane species are shared, indicating a relatively recent invasion(s) and lor the relative proximity of the gorges to the Afromontane flora. The lower species overlap in the Cape element (39.2%) of the two gorges implies that the invasion of the element is ancient, with subsequent extinction of many of the taxa from OGNR in response to climatic change. It is also possible that this invasion was initally less successful; fewer species found refuge in OGNR. The tropical element comprises the largest proportion of the flora in both gorges and many (ca. 50%) of the species are shared. The degree of species overlap indicates that the invasive flora was either initially more similar or that it is tess prone to extinction. The level of overlap could also suggest that the invasion was more recent than that of the Cape taxa. The tropical element is larger in OGNR and the Cape element is larger in UNR. This is partly due to the gorges' respective proximities to the tropical and Cape floras. This trend is echoed in the endemic data. iv The conservation status of the endemics and of the Pondoland vegetation types is established and recommendations for further research are made. The data support the establishment of a larger UNR, the maintenance of both Umtamvuna and Oribi Gorge as formal nature reserves and the establishment of a new reserve (or reserves) within the Pondoland Centre. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermarizburg, 1998.

This thesis explores whether reviving pre-reserve Nehiyaw forms of power represents a strategy of self-determination. To start, an understanding of colonialism is advanced based on the idea that colonialism is an intersectional process that involves both the actions perpetrated from a settler society unto Indigenous peoples, and the legacy of dysfunction that is left with Indigenous peoples as a result of colonization. Second, an understanding of pre-reserve Nehiyaw forms of power is developed, with a focus on how the interaction of legitimacy and authority can be used to explain pre-reserve Nehiyaw forms of power. Finally, I examine if reviving pre-reserve Nehiyaw forms of power represents a strategy of self-determination that addresses the intersectional nature of colonialism. I argue that it does, but in order to revive pre-reserve forms of power we must displace band councils as the site where we imagine a revival of pre-reserve Nehiyaw forms of power.

This thesis explores processes of self-representation in Indigenous media by analyzing the work of a weekly newspaper, The Eastern Door, of the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, Quebec (Canada). The thesis examines articulations of power in relations between State and Aboriginal communities, demonstrating the importance of such a medium for the conceptualization of Aboriginal Nation and construction of identity in the contemporary context. The Eastern Door is an important vehicle for communicating Mohawk identity and nationhood, a role it consciously plays, as part of its commitment to political autonomy. Its commitment is shown by its discursive explorations: of avenues, themes chosen, concerns expressed and language used. An element of this commitment is an emphasis on collective and individual behaviour, and on "being" as an expression of Mohawk identity, both of which provide powerful bases of action for the community and in relations with the State. If this thesis underlines that State interest and power are an influence on these processes, it also demonstrates that the Mohawk engagement with cultural politics is influential itself, allowing the Mohawks to develop political strategies vis-a-vis the State, and even to impose political agendas that have to be engaged with by the government.

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