An integrative methodological framework for sustainable environmental planning and management

Sustainable environmental planning and management require effective integration of ecological, socioeconomic, and institutional elements. This paper presents an integrative methodological framework for sustainable environmental planning and management. The development of this integrative framework is accomplished by combining two complementary analytical approaches—Hufschmidt's conceptual framework for watershed planning and management and the ABC resource survey method. The combined methodological framework seeks to delineate and synthesize essential ecological information utilizing an integrative resource survey method. This method generates classifications of environmental significance and constraint. Areas of environmental significance and constraint are then linked to appropriate and acceptable resource management actions, implementation tools (e.g., education, technical assistance), and institutional and organizational arrangements. The integrative methodological framework was developed for application in the Rio Fortuna watershed in Costa Rica's Arenal Conservation Area. The watershed is characterized by a variety of land and resource uses, including biologically diverse and ecologically fragile protected areas, small-parcel agriculture, cattle ranching, and tourism.     

Ecological planning: A review

Beginning with the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act in 1969, the federal government of the United States has enacted numerous pieces of legislation intended to protect or conserve the environment. Other national governments have also enacted environmental legislation during the past two decades. State and local governments have also adopted policies concerned with environmental planning and management. Multiple laws and overlapping governmental agency responsibilities have confused development and resource management efforts. A comprehensive methodology that integrates the legal mandates and the agency missions into a common and unified framework is needed. Ecological planning offers such a method. Application of the method allows planners and resource managers to better understand the nature and character of the land and/or resource and therefore make better decisions about its appropriate use or management. The steps taken in an ecological planning process—1) goal setting, 2) inventory and analysis of data, 3) suitability analysis, 4) developing alternatives, 5) implementation, 6) administration, and 7) evaluation—are outlined and explained. Hand-drawn overlays and computer programs as techniques for handling ecological planning information are compared. Observations and suggestions for further research are offered.     

Feasibility of geographic information systems approach for natural resource management

Geographic information systems (GIS) technology is altering the work environment for planning and decision-making tasks. This article is an account of a resource application that make use of the GIS technology. It provides some cost estimates and reasons for the fairly slow development toward an integrated resource data base for environmental planning and management. It tries to identify some of the constraints of such an integrated data-base approach toward environmental assessment.     

Local government policies toward environmentally sensitive areas in British Columbia,Canada; Washington and Oregon,USA

While there has been sustained debate on the issue of provincial and state versus local government environmental planning, maintaining privately owned natural resources in the public interest is increasingly viewed as beyond the scope of local governments alone. This paper describes and compares province- and state-level mandates and options for local governments (i.e., city, county, or district) to regulate land uses of environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs) in British Columbia in Canada and in Washington and Oregon in the United States. We define ESAs as landscape elements or places that are vital to the long-term maintenance of biological diversity, soil, water, and other natural resources, especially as they relate to human health, safety, and welfare, both on-site and in a regional context. Underlying similarities are that all three jurisdictions legally express the need for land-use planning by local governments in managing ESAs. Although all three jurisdictions exhibit similar problems in their attempt to accomplish this, ESA planning by local governments is an optional process in British Columbia and Washington but mandatory in Oregon. Furthermore, actual processes prescribed by each of the three jurisdictions are quite different. The information base upon which local regulation of privately held ESAs depends is variable, both within and between the province- and statelevel jurisdictions. Other than for some specific water-related resources, standard definitions and inventory methods for ESAs are lacking, as is coordination among local governments or among the province- and state-level governments. This study concludes that there is a need for a regional environmental information system in the Pacific Northwest based upon an integrated and scientific approach toward ESA structures and functions.     

Input- and output-oriented approaches to implementing ecosystem management

Input- and output-oriented approaches to landscape management have distinct roles for resource protection, environmental restoration, and sustainable land management. Implementing recent proposals for ecosystem management in the western United States involves a synthesis of input and output management. Within the broader context of ecosystem management, input management focuses on tailoring land use to the landscape, whereas output management employs assessments of resource condition to trigger modified management activity once resources are degraded to specified threshold conditions. Current approaches to landscape-scale management, however, tend to rely primarily on output-oriented strategies that are most effective for monitoring environmental conditions. Current uses of input management focus on environmental impact assessments, which generally are site- or project-specific analyses. The compeexity and dynamic nature of ecosystems, and the range of scales over which ecological processes operate, imply that development and incorporation of input-oriented approaches into landscape-scale management is necessary to implement ecosystem management as a strategy for sustainable land use.     

Sustaining local values through river basin governance: community-based initiatives in Australia's Murray–Darling basin

Australia's Murray–Darling basin (MDB) water plan is an ambitious attempt to balance ecological, social and economic benefits, where a key aspect of the reform process has been recovery of water for environmental use. This paper focuses on a set of initiatives established by a local non-governmental organisation and an Indigenous community designed to engage with local values and priorities and incorporate them into this complex river basin governance system. Contrary to expectations that local and basin-scale interests and outcomes will diverge, the case studies reveal the ability for local groups to collaboratively manage both land and water resources to achieve locally important outcomes, and contribute to basin-scale outcomes. The analysis also highlights a progressive style of community-based environmental management for water management that utilises multiple institutional arrangements and planning pathways to protect the values that are important to local communities, and to nest those values within the broader effort to sustainably manage the basin's water resources.     

Threshold-Based Resource Management: A Framework for Comprehensive Ecosystem Management

The problems posed by adaptive management for improved ecosystem health are reviewed. Other kinds of science-informed ecosystem management are needed for those regions of conflict between rapid human population growth, increased resource extraction, and the rising demand for better environmental amenities, where large-scale experiments are not feasible. One new framework is threshold-based resource management. Threshold-based resource management guides management choices among four major science and engineering approaches to achieve healthier ecosystems: self-sustaining ecosystem management, adaptive management, case-by-case resource management, and high-reliability management. As resource conflicts increase over a landscape (i.e., as the ecosystems in the landscape move through different thresholds), management options change for the environmental decision-maker in terms of what can and cannot be attained by way of ecosystem health. The major policy and management implication of the framework is that the exclusive use or recommendation of any one management regime, be it self-sustaining, adaptive, case-by-case, or high-reliability management, across all categories of ecosystems within a heterogeneous landscape that is variably populated and extractively used is not only inappropriate, it is fatal to the goals of improved ecosystem health. The article concludes with detailed proposals for environmental decision-makers to undertake “bandwidth management” in ways that blend the best of adaptive management and high-reliability management for improved ecosystem health while at the same time maintaining highly reliable flows of ecosystem services, such as water.     

A WATER RESOURCE PLANNING PROCEDURE FOR RURAL TOWNS1

ABSTRACT: Six new techniques have been developed for lake watershed analysis and water resource management. The techniques are for determining: (1) watershed land use intensity with reference to water quality, (2) lake vulnerability, (3) water quality, (4) watershed carrying capacity, (5) the economic value of the lake, and (6) the potential of undeveloped lake-shore. These analyses are designed for use by rural planning commissions with guidance and assistance from state agencies and the state university. The comprehensive rural watershed land and water use plan developed by this procedure is inexpensive in time and money, understandable by the layman, and scientificially sound. It is based on presently available information. This water resource planning procedure has been demonstrated in several town planning projects. It is suggested that this method, or modification of it, could be adopted in all rural states by action by a few administrators and without any new enabling or appropriations legislation.     

Problems with using overlay mapping for planning and their implications for geographic information systems

As part of the planning process, maps of natural factors are often superimposed in order to identify areas which are suitable or unsuitable for a particular type of resource management. Overlay maps may also be used to identify analysis areas for predictive modeling of resource productivity and ecological response to management. Current interest in applying computer-assisted mapping technology to making overlay maps is drawing attention to geographic information systems for this purpose. The resultant maps, however, may be so inaccurate or unable to capture significant units of productivity and ecological response that they could lead to imperfect or false conclusions. Recommendations are made on how to proceed in light of these problems.     

Energy and other resource conservation within urbanizing areas

The reported research seeks to answer several questions regarding energy conservation within urbanizing areas. As a practical matter, to what extent can dependence upon exhaustible resources be reduced? Can these reductions be achieved without severely impairing social well-being and environmental quality? And, what seem to be the prevailing institutional constraints limiting energy conservation within urbanizing areas? The study area was the proposed “downtown” of The Woodlands, a new town north of Houston, Texas. Two plans were developed for this area. In one, no particular attempt was made to conserve energy (conventional plan), while in the other, energy conservation was a primary consideration (conservation plan). For both plans, estimates were made of energy consumption within buildings, in the transportation sector, and in the actual production of building materials themselves (embodied energy). In addition, economic and environmental analyses were performed, including investigation of other resource issues such as water supply, solid waste disposal, stormwater management, and atmospheric emissions. Alternative on-site power systems were also investigated. Within the bounds of economic feasibility and development practicality, it was found that application of energy-conserving methods could yield annual energy savings of as much as 23%, and reduce dependence on prime fuels by 30%. Adverse economic effects on consumers were found to be minimal and environmental quality could be sustained. The major institutional constraints appeared to be those associated with traditional property ownership and with the use of common property resources. The resistance to change of everyday practices in land development and building industries also seemed to constrain potential applications.     

SOUND POLICY OR SMOKE AND MIRRORS: DOES ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT MAKE SENSE?1

ABSTRACT: Protection of ecosystems as entities on the landscape has attracted a wide range of support. Ecosystem-based public policies are claimed to be more effective, efficient, and scientifically sound than other approaches to environmental and natural resource policy. The ecosystem concept was never intended to serve as a public policy guide or to determine landscape units for land management purposes. This paper critically examines the use of the ecosystem concept in public policy and land use management and analyzes the proposed rule to manage the National Forest System according to ecosystem management principles. The concept is found to be unsuitable as a basis for guiding environmental and natural resource public policies in general while the proposed rule to manage the national forests according to ecosystem management principles is shown to be incoherent.     

Harmony Hurts: Participation and Silent Conflict at an Indonesian Fish Pond

Participatory environmental and resource management is premised on open communication to reach consensus. However, deliberate and open communication cannot adequately address silent conflict. This begs two questions. First, how is the existence of covert communication and silent conflict to be recognized and addressed? Second, how are the wider social relations and traditions that encompass communication and conflict to be described and explained? These questions revolve around communicative power. Communication of environmental knowledge is deeply embedded in social power structures, with direct implications for participatory resource planning and implementation. Ethnographic research conducted at a failed community-managed fish farming project in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia shows that a culture of harmony and respect for authority can silence environmental conflict in the hierarchical “community.” Three propositions are offered. First, communication amnesia and exclusion jeopardize participation. Second, cultures of harmony and silent conflict shape planning processes and outcomes. Third, the weak use manipulation and communication strategy to acquire a “voice” while preserving harmony. These propositions address five unresolved issues in participatory resource management: analysis of groups, contextuality, social relationships, nonparticipants, and informal communication. Power, tradition, and social networks affect the valuing of knowledge relative to the power of different individuals and institutions to communicate priorities, values, and needs. These factors are critical to the inclusion of both participants and nonparticipants.     

Preliminary Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Great Western Development Strategy: Safeguarding Ecological Security for a New Western China

The Great Western Development Strategy (GWDS) is a long term national campaign aimed at boosting development of the western area of China and narrowing the economic gap between the western and the eastern parts of China. The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) procedure was employed to assess the environmental challenges brought about by the western development plans. These plans include five key developmental domains (KDDs): water resource exploitation and use, land utilization, energy generation, tourism development, and ecological restoration and conservation. A combination of methods involving matrix assessment, incorporation of expert judgment and trend analysis was employed to analyze and predict the environmental impacts upon eight selected environmental indicators: water resource availability, soil erosion, soil salinization, forest destruction, land desertification, biological diversity, water quality and air quality. Based on the overall results of the assessment, countermeasures for environmental challenges that emerged were raised as key recommendations to ensure ecological security during the implementation of the GWDS. This paper is intended to introduce a consensus-based process for evaluating the complex, long term pressures on the ecological security of large areas, such as western China, that focuses on the use of combined methods applied at the strategic level.     

Conflict on the Coast: Using Geographic Information Systems to Map Potential Environmental Disputes in Matagorda Bay,Texas

The sustainable management of coastal natural resources inevitably involves identifying stakeholder conflicts and developing planning processes that prevent these conflicts from becoming intractable disputes. This study links environmental conflict to specific areas within a large ecological system. Specifically, we use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map potentially competing stakeholder values associated with establishing protected areas in Matagorda Bay, Texas. By overlaying multiple values associated with a range of stakeholders across space, we are able to identify hotspots of potential conflict as well as areas of opportunity for maximizing joint gains. Mapping stakeholder conflict is an approach to proactively locate potential controversy in response to a specific environmental management proposal and guide decision makers in crafting planning processes that mitigate the possibility of intractable disputes and facilitate the implementation of sustainable coastal policies. Results indicate that under different management scenarios, protected area proposals will generate more conflict in specific areas. Most notably, regulated uses would produce the greatest degree of conflict on or near shore, particularly at the mouth of the Colorado River. Additionally, of all the management scenarios evaluated, the prohibition of coastal structural development would generate the overall highest level of conflict within the Bay. Based on the results, we discuss the policy implications for environmental managers and provide guidance for future research on location-based conflict management within the coastal margin.     

THE MISUSE OF HYDROLOGIC UNIT MAPS FOR EXTRAPOLATION,REPORTING, AND ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT: The use of watersheds to conduct research on land/water relationships has expanded recently to include both extrapolation and reporting of water resource information and ecosystem management. More often than not, hydrologic units (HUs) are used for these purposes, with the implication that hydrologic units are synonymous with watersheds. Whereas true topographic watersheds are areas within which apparent surface water drains to a particular point, generally only 45 percent of all hydrologic units, regardless of their hierarchical level, meet this definition. Because the area contributing to the downstream point in many hydrologic units extends far beyond the unit boundaries, use of the hydrologic unit framework to show regional and national patterns of water quality and other environmental resources can result in incorrect and misleading illustrations. In this paper, the implications of this misuse are demonstrated using four adjacent HUs in central Texas. A more effective way of showing regional patterns in environmental resources is by using data from true watersheds representative of different ecological regions containing particular mosaics of geographical characteristics affecting differences in ecosystems and water quality.     

城市环境总体规划中的布局问题研究——以北京市丰台区为例

城市环境总体规划是对城市中长期环境管理的综合安排,是环境保护基础性的规划,其核心问题在于规模、结构和布局,即从城市环境、资源与生态约束角度为社会经济发展规划、城市总体规划与土地利用规划提出限制(环境、资源与生态红线),从环境承载力与发展生态适宜性分区角度为城市发展规划提出发展适度规模、结构与布局。在城市"多规融合"的实践过程中,城市环境总体规划,作为政府综合决策的重要支撑之一,可以为其他的规划编制提供约束条件以及土地供给能力测算值,使得各规划间能够相互支撑、相互融合,因此有必要先行。本文以北京市丰台区环境总体规划为例,从布局角度出发,基于区域土地资源供给能力对丰台区进行土地生态适宜性评价,并得到土地生态适宜性区划图,从而提出丰台区城市总体规划与土地利用规划的限制条件,为城市环境总体规划先行提供科学依据。     

Integrating fire management into land-use planning: A multiple-use management research,development, and applications program

The traditional view of fire as a destructive agent requiring immediate suppression is giving way to the view that fire can and should be used to meet land management goals. Thus,fire control is being replaced by the more general concept offire management, which is based on the need to integrate fire policy with land management objectives. The social, economic, and ecologic effects of fire must be evaluated in the selection of land management alternatives.The activities of fire management organizations—fire prevention, control, and use of fire—must respond to needs of land management. Many agencies have developed fire organizations as separate entities that set their own objectives. The many land and resource managers who have recognized the need to incorporate fire considerations into land-use planning have so far lacked the techniques to do so.As a natural process, fire has an important function in forest and range ecosystems. Fire can greatly influence the quantity and quality of resource outputs; it is a two-edged sword that can either harm or benefit our goals, depending upon the complex effects of fire and the nature of our wants.The Fire in Multiple-Use Management Research, Development, and Applications (RD&A) Program was initiated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, at the Northern Forest Fire Lab in Missoula to assist land managers. This profile explains what an RD&A program is; discusses its mission, goals, and approach to the problem; and tells why the approach involves federal laboratories, universities, and private research foundations.     

厘清“三线一单”制度与技术逻辑支撑国家生态环境治理体系现代化

“三线一单”编制工作持续推进，长江经济带11省（市）和青海省等大部分省份“三线一单”编制成果已经发布，其余19省（区、市）及新疆生产建设兵团“三线一单”工作也进入成果审核阶段，预期2020年底发布完成。本文在成果表达和地方实践的基础上梳理了“三线一单”的作用和功能定位，认为“三线一单”实现了生态环境空间管控落地，是适应“放管服”改革背景下发挥源头预防作用的重要举措。“三线一单”编制工作凝结了源头预防生态环境风险的空间管控思路，技术逻辑从问题和目标导向出发，形成区域开发的“框子”和“规矩”，确保生态系统结构完整性、功能健康性和过程持续性。基于技术逻辑和已发布成果的案例分析可知，“三线一单”实施能够提升国土空间规划、区域国民经济发展规划和地方立法等领域的绿色化发展水平，支撑生态环境体系和治理能力现代化。