Rivers and Society Rivers and Society By Joann Mossa, Department of Geography R ivers are critical to human civilization because they provide fresh water, sediment, and biologic resources, and often constitute corridors of settlement, industry, navigation, and agricultural activity.
Society has an intimate relationship with rivers as resources.
This relationship is a precarious one, however, particularly during floods when rivers and collapsing hillsides destroy lives and property, as in the most recent tragedy in Venezuela. Yet, when each decade seems to bring an ever-increasing number of tragedies of this type, it is hard to ignore the roles of human activity in this hazard. These roles include the changing of land cover from forest to other uses, which increases the magnitude of flood peaks and sediment production, and the human settlement and development of vulnerable areas such as floodplains. To date, our awareness of floods and vulnerable locations has had little effect on our actions. Much of my research uses geomorphic and geographic information to investigate such issues.