Stakeholder Involvement in Coastal Decision-making Processes

This article discusses the current framework of coastal decision making which tends to exclude participation by individuals and those without a strong institutional representation. A distinction is drawn between institutional and local stakeholders to illustrate weaknesses in the existing decision framework. It is argued that particularly in the coastal environment, the relationship between changes in physical form and changes in social welfare is critical to understanding how decision making may engage more fully with local stakeholders and ultimately improve decision outcomes. A reordering of stakeholder engagement in decision systems at the coast is proposed and a framework is outlined which enhances the capacity of local stakeholders to influence decision making.     

Sustainable coasts? Perceptions of change and livelihood vulnerability in Nordland,Norway

ABSTRACT

Northern coastal regions are facing multiple challenges from accelerating global environmental and socioeconomic changes, such as ecosystem degradation, climate change, intensified resource extraction, land use change and declining populations. Based on interviews with 13 farmers, fishers and aquaculture employees from coastal Nordland, northern Norway, this study demonstrates how the local stakeholders’ perceptions of change and experiences of vulnerability are closely linked to their livelihood values and worldviews. What the informants consider a sustainable and meaningful way of coastal living does not coincide with national goals for sustainable, natural resource dependent development of the region. The article demonstrates the importance of attending to local values if policymakers and managers are to ensure successful local mobilisation, reduce vulnerability to ongoing and future processes of change, and ensure legitimacy and consistency in development goals of coastal zone management. Insights from this study are useful for local and regional decision makers with responsibility for natural resource policies and development efforts.     

A critical investigation of evaluation matrices to inform coastal adaptation and planning decisions at the local scale

Local governments are under pressure to tackle an increasing spectrum of complex contemporary problems, such as climate change, while ensuring multiple stakeholder interests are incorporated into decision processes. Multi-criteria decision tools can assist, but challenges remain in creating an enabling environment for incorporating and balancing different stakeholder perspectives. Here, we draw on interview data and a sensitivity analysis to investigate the use of an evaluation matrix to guide local coastal adaptation decision-making in South Africa. We adopt a participatory action research framework and find that decision-making is influenced by individual, departmental and institutional values that are not adequately captured in the matrix approach. Our study reveals the compromise between achieving broad stakeholder representation and utilising technical expertise, and that altering matrix assumptions can imply different decision outcomes. Suggestions are made to improve multi-criteria decision approaches to better facilitate integrated coastal management in responding to local coastal adaptation challenges.     

Developing decision support systems for integrated coastal management in the tropics: is the ICM decision-making environment too complex for the development of a useable and useful DSS?

Integrated coastal management in the tropics requires the conservation of vulnerable and diverse ecosystems such as coral reefs and mangroves as well as the management of land and marine-based human activities. Decision-making for integrated coastal management involves multiple decision-makers and multiple stakeholders often with conflicting needs and interests. Decision support systems can be developed to improve our understanding of the inter-relationships between the natural and socio-economic variables and hence result in improved decision-making. The question is whether this decision making environment is actually too complex for the development of useful and useable decision support systems. This paper describes the components of the decision making environment and the components of a decision support system. It also explores the various techniques available to deal with different modelling needs, the constraints of inadequate data and the multi-objective decision making environment. In addition, different techniques of developing decision support systems can play important roles within integrated coastal management. Three coastal decision support systems are evaluated in terms of their design and role in integrated coastal management and are used to evaluate the potential to develop decision support systems for integrated coastal management.     

Evaluation Criteria for Participatory Research: Insights from Coastal Uruguay

Participatory research in which experts and non-experts are co-researchers in addressing local concerns (also known as participatory action research or community-based research) can be a valuable approach for dealing with the uncertainty of social–ecological systems because it fosters learning among stakeholders and co-production of knowledge. Despite its increased application in the context of natural resources and environmental management, evaluation of participatory research has received little attention. The objectives of this research were to define criteria to evaluate participatory research processes and outcomes, from the literature on participation evaluation, and to apply them in a case study in an artisanal fishery in coastal Uruguay. Process evaluation criteria (e.g., problem to be addressed of key interest to local and additional stakeholders; involvement of interested stakeholder groups in every research stage; collective decision making through deliberation; and adaptability through iterative cycles) should be considered as conditions to promote empowering participatory research. Our research contributes to knowledge on evaluation of participatory research, while also providing evidence of the positive outcomes of this approach, such as co-production of knowledge, learning, strengthened social networks, and conflict resolution.     

A participatory decision making framework for artisanal fisheries collaborative governance: Insights from management committees in Chile

Fisheries management is increasingly transitioning towards collaborative governance. Collaborative systems depend on stakeholders’ capacity to design and implement legitimate and scientifically robust management plans within collective action arenas. Here we propose that collaborative governance outcomes, in fisheries management, will benefit from using structured participatory decision making frameworks that enhance deliberative thinking among stakeholders. We tested our approach in the artisanal fishery of Chile, an important producer of marine resources. Recently in 2013, Chile made important changes to fisheries policies by creating multi-sectorial management committees to manage de facto open access fishing areas. We applied a structured decision making framework to inform the restructuring of a management plan within a committee. As a result, we identified goals,objectives and indicators, including social, economic, biological and ecological dimensions; we explored tradeoffs, assessing the relative importance of the objectives; finally, we created scenarios and prioritized alternatives, reflecting on the interplay between self-regulation and government control. Members of the management committee were able to rationalize the different steps of the framework and identify ways forward which highlighted the importance of self-regulation in comparison to central authorities’ control. We concluded that structured decision making promotes spaces for rational analysis of alternatives costs and benefits. Promoting deliberative thinking in fisheries management can improve equity, legitimacy and sustainability of collaborative governance.     

INVOLVING WATERSHED STAKEHOLDERS: AN ISSUE ATTRIBUTE APPROACH TO DETERMINE WILLINGNESS AND NEED1

ABSTRACT: The development of effective solutions for addressing nonpoint source pollution on a watershed basis often involves watershed stakeholders. However, success in engaging stakeholders in collaborative decision making processes varies, as watershed managers are faced with the challenges inherent to finding the right process for the decisions needed and in successfully engaging stakeholders in that process. Two characteristics that may provide guidance for determining the appropriateness of applying a collaborative process to a watershed problem are the need to collaborate and the willingness of stakeholders to engage in a collaborative decision making process. By examining seven attributes of the issues confronted by stakeholders in a collaborative process, the consequences of these attributes on the need for collaboration and stakeholders' willingness to engage can be estimated. The issue attributes include: level of uncertainty, balance of information, risk, time horizon of effects, urgency of decision, distribution of effects, and clarity of problem. The issue attribute model was applied to two collaborative decision making processes conducted by the same watershed stakeholder group in a North Carolina coastal watershed. Need and willingness to engage did not coincide for either issue; that is, stakeholders were more willing to engage on the issue that required less need for their involvement.     

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN WATERSHED MANAGEMENT DECISION MAKING1

ABSTRACT: Watershed management decision making is a complex process. Cooperation and communication among federal, state, and local stakeholders is required while balancing biophysical and socioeconomic concerns. The public is taking part in environmental decisions, and the need for technology transfer from public agencies to stakeholders is increasing. Information technology has had a profound influence on watershed management over the past decade. Advances in data acquisition through remote sensing, data utilization through geographic information systems (GIS), and data sharing through the Internet have provided watershed managers access to more information for management decisions. In the future, applications incorporating hydrologic simulation models, GIS, and decision support systems will be deployed through the Internet. In addition to challenges in making complex modeling technology available to diverse audiences, new information technology issues, such as interoperability, Internet access, and security, are introduced when GIS, simulation models, and decision support systems are integrated in an Internet environment. This paper presents a review of current use of information technology in watershed management decision making and a discussion of issues created when developing Internet based, integrated watershed management decision support systems. A prototype spatial decision support system (SDSS) for rangeland watershed management was developed using web services, which are components that communicate using text based messages, thus eliminating proprietary protocols. This new framework provides an extensible, accessible, and interoperable approach for SDSS.     

Natural Resource Management at Four Social Scales: Psychological Type Matters

Understanding organisation at different social scales is crucial to learning how social processes play a role in sustainable natural resource management. Research has neglected the potential role that individual personality plays in decision making in natural resource management. In the past two decades natural resource management across rural Australia has increasingly come under the direct influence of voluntary participatory groups, such as Catchment Management Authorities. The greater complexity of relationships among all stakeholders is a serious management challenge when attempting to align their differing aspirations and values at four social institutional scales—local, regional, state and national. This is an exploratory study on the psychological composition of groups of stakeholders at the four social scales in natural resource management in Australia. This article uses the theory of temperaments and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI^®) to investigate the distribution of personality types. The distribution of personality types in decision-making roles in natural resource management was markedly different from the Australian Archive sample. Trends in personality were found across social scales with Stabilizer temperament more common at the local scale and Theorist temperament more common at the national scale. Greater similarity was found at the state and national scales. Two temperaments comprised between 76 and 90% of participants at the local and regional scales, the common temperament type was Stabilizer. The dissimilarity was Improviser (40%) at the local scale and Theorist (29%) at the regional scale. Implications for increasing participation and bridging the gap between community and government are discussed.     

Sustainable Water Resources Management in a Conflict Resolution Framework1

Abstract: A decision support system for sustainable water resources management in a water conflict resolution framework is developed to identify and evaluate a range of acceptable alternatives for the Geum River Basin in Korea and to facilitate strategies that will result in sustainable water resource management. Working with stakeholders in a “shared vision modeling” framework, sustainable management strategies are created to illustrate system tradeoffs as well as long‐term system planning. A multi‐criterion decision‐making (MCDM) approach using subjective scales is utilized to evaluate the complex water resource allocation and management tradeoffs between stakeholders and system objectives. The procedures used in this study include the development of a “shared vision model,” a simulated decision‐making support system (as a tool for sustainable water management strategies associated with water conflicts, management options, and planning criteria), and the application of MCDM techniques for evaluating alternatives provided by the model. The research results demonstrate the utility of the sustainable water resource management model in aid of MCDM techniques in facilitating flexibility during initial stages of alternative identification and evaluation in a basin suffering from severe water conflicts.     

The role of local governments before and during chemical accidents,focusing on changes in hazardous chemical management systems

ABSTRACT

Disaster management spans actions before, during, and after disaster events. Changes in the roles and functions of local governments before a disaster can influence other stages of disaster management. After a chemical spill in 2012, South Korean hazardous chemical management tasks were returned to the central government and local governments’ roles and functions were reduced. To identify associated issues and enhance the hazardous chemical management system, this study analyzed changes in laws and policies and conducted interviews with stakeholders. While the changes helped with centralization, reinforcement, and specification, some loopholes were discovered. The information and human resource capacities of local governments and intra – and intergovernmental relations issues have hindered their active participation before and during chemical disasters. These loopholes can be addressed through institutional enhancements for local governments, such as including them in monitoring hazardous chemical handling facilities, developing codes articulating the division of tasks among departments within them, and providing adequate incentives for them to increase their personnel. This study provides empirical data that informs ongoing debates about the centralization and devolution of disaster management by linking local governments’ ordinary management systems to their disaster management activities.     

Reforming the National Framework for Environmental Policies in Saudi Arabia

The current framework for national environmental policies in Saudi Arabia suffers from overlapping authority, a slow decision-making process, gaps in legislation and implementation difficulties. The paper gives a brief assessment of the existing framework including: political culture; environmental decision making process; environmental institutions; and environmental awareness. This is followed by a proposal for reforming the current framework.The proposalcovers four main sectors: political culture and the public role; environmental decision making; environmental policies and laws; and institutional structure.     

Federal Decentralization and Adaptive Management of Water Resources: Reservoir Reallocation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Reservoir operations must respond to changing conditions, such as climate, water demand, regulations, and sedimentation. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) can reallocate reservoir storage to respond to such changes. We assembled and analyzed a database of reservoir reallocations implemented and proposed by the Corps. While only a small portion of total reservoir storage nationwide has been reallocated, there are substantial differences in reallocation frequency and magnitude across the nation: some Corps Districts and Divisions use reallocation while others do not, relying more on discretion and small‐scale adaptation of operations. This difference illustrates how water resource agencies like the Corps decentralize management decisions to allow responding to disparate conditions. Decentralized decision‐making provides a responsive approach to water management, while centralized and hierarchical decision‐making is a slower, more deliberative approach. Decentralized decision‐making may lead to the accumulation of short‐term, local decisions over time to the point that the system is managed differently than anticipated. Reallocation, which is a form of planned adaptive management, can be accommodating of multiple competing demands and different stakeholders, yet expensive and less temporally responsive. The challenge for any large water resource management agency is to balance between local‐level, responsive discretion vs. centralized, planned decision‐making.     

Using Collaborative Technology in Environmental Strategy Development

This viewpoint explores, through a case study in Malawi, the application of collaborative technology tools to support National Environmental Strategy Development initiatives with the public and private sectors in Africa. A particular type of groupware, Group Support Systems, is introduced as a technology and approach that enables large groups of stakeholders to be involved in efficient and effective decision making. It helped the different ministries, community leaders, the private sector, NGOs, and different donors to find new and challenging opportunities for collaboration. The results of the case study show how an environmental strategy, including a prioritised plan of action, was developed and presented to the Ministry within three days. The most important lessons are identified. Participants to the presentation of the paper will be given hands-on experience using these tools.     

Public engagement and climate adaptation: insights from three local governments in Australia

Public participation in decision making is a central component of the planning process; however, implementing effective engagement initiatives to resolve complex planning and policy problems, such as climate change, is challenging for planners. These challenges are particularly acute in coastal communities throughout Australia, where many settlements are at risk of future climate perturbations. Using the International Association for Public Participation framework for public participation, we analyse three local government led public participation initiatives in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, Australia. Our analysis suggests there are three critical factors that can influence the level of public participation in the context of climate change adaptation: the technocratic approach to decision making; absent high order government support; and the lack of evaluation mechanisms for public participation.     

EIA Training for Urban Local Authorities in Africa

This paper reports on the participation of the International Council for Local Initiatives (ICLEI) in EIA training in sub-Saharan Africa. It draws from the experiences of an EIA training project in which 365 participants from 17 African cities in six sub-Saharan African countries participated. A total of 27 resource persons from six African countries were hired and gained experience as EIA trainers for local authorities. A number of participating local authorities are already implementing and competently evaluating EIAs as a result of the training workshops. The successful implementation of EIA at the local level greatly depends on the awareness and understanding, by all the stakeholders, of the relevant legislative framework in which the EIA programme is applied. The participants were asked to identify impacts of specific projects, determine mitigation measures and recommend a suitable monitoring programme. The field exercises proved extremely valuable in that they provided a practical opportunity for workshop participants to build essential EIA skills while at the same time providing input into the actual development process in some cases. After the training workshop, participants opined that they were able to understand the value of EIA and the need for its incorporation into the decision-making process.     

A conceptual model of the role of complex science in local authority consultations about air quality management

Abstract

There exists a clear imperative across the EU and within the UK towards the enhanced integration of community knowledge in environmental and health decision-making processes. The underlying social force that underpins this dynamic is the drive for a more accountable, transparent and publicly acceptable decision-making arena. However, relatively little research has been undertaken on the evaluation of local air quality management consultation in particular. In this context, the paper presents an evaluation of evidence resulting from questionnaire survey and case study research undertaken in the first round of the statutory process of local air quality management (LAQM), in which local authorities are required to consult on their air quality findings and intentions. We suggest that local authority perceptions of the relative abilities of differing stakeholders' grasp of air quality science, the process that translates that science into policy, and the institutional and organizational status of stakeholders (i.e. whether they are statutory or non-statutory stakeholders) may tend to transitively determine the choice of consultation methods used, the communication strategies chosen and the relative integration of stakeholder feedback into the LAQM decision-making process. In order to interrogate this potentially problematic chain of risk communication events, a preliminary conceptual model has been developed to enable the interrogation of the pathways through, and the obstacles to, the translation of air quality knowledge. The task is to unveil the sequential chains of association that comprise the LAQM risk communication process.     

A Framework for Understanding and Improving Environmental Decision Making

This paper presents a framework for understanding and improving public sector environmental decision making. Within the framework, four interrelated components are discussed: (1) the environmental and cultural context-understanding this context includes understanding what people consider to be environmental problems, the goals and values that they bring to environmental problems and decision processes, specialized and common knowledge about environmental problems, and the institutional settings within which problems are addressed; (2) planning and appraisal activitiesthese activities include forecasting and monitoring exercises, evaluations of past decisions, and decisions that processes ought to be launched to solve specific environmental problems; (3) decision-making modes-these include six typical ways of conducting an environmental problem-solving process, modes which, in the framework, are called emergency action, routine procedures, analysis-centred, elite corps, conflict management and collaborative learning; (4) decision actions-these include five generic steps that are undertaken, formally or intuitively, in virtually any decision-making situation: issue familiarization; criteria setting; option construction; option assessment; and reaching a decision. In the course of describing the framework, we show a decision-making process can be adapted to incorporate sustainability concerns, including fostering sustainable environmental and social systems, meeting obligations to future generations, and searching for robust and reasonable (rather than rigidly optimal) decisions. The framework also helps to illuminate intriguing questions regarding institutional responsibility, decision process complexity and paradigms for environmental decision making.     

A Systemic Approach to Scoping of Factors Influencing More Sustainable Land Use in Herefordshire

Abstract

Defining and putting into practice sustainable land use is a complex, systemic problem. Systems models and techniques were used in a study of Herefordshire to clarify the situation and identify the potential for a more locally focused, learning-based approach to land use. Issues included: (i) uncertainty about the boundary of a ‘system of sustainable Herefordshire land use’; (ii) the complexity of economic flows in the county and the absence of some critical data; (iii) the importance of the Herefordshire landscape to tourism and the role of agriculture as a determinant of the state of that landscape; (iv) weakness of the institutional linkage between tourism and agriculture; (v) the current lack of inclusion of many relevant stakeholders in concerted action. Factors favouring a learning approach included a strong local identity, local food-related developments, and educational initiatives. Barriers to such an approach included questions of power and landholding, government policies, and attitudes and skills within organizations. These findings are considered in relation to the wider debate over approaches to sustainability.     

A Regional Cadmium Inventory: Interpretation and management

Local authorities in Sweden are responsible for the management of sewage treatment and municipal solid waste. Due to this, they handle large flows and stocks of materials and substances that may be harmful for the environment. However, knowledge about these flows is sometimes deficient. In addition, the capacity to influence the composition of these flows is mainly beyond the jurisdiction of the local authorities. Flow-oriented studies, such as substance flow analysis (SFA), have proven to be a useful tool in order to understand and quantify these flows. Furthermore, SFA is sometimes claimed to be beneficial to the process of decision making, since it generates comprehensive overviews of the substance in focus. However, quantification of stocks and flows of a certain substance does not necessarily provide sufficient information for environmental management on the local level. Hence, for SFA to further contribute to the environmental management process, there is also a need for development in the interpretation of the results. The main objective of this paper is to contribute to the discussion about (1) how to interpret the results from SFA and (2) how the results from an SFA can be used in environmental management by local authorities. A tentative framework for interpretation is discussed in the paper, focusing on five aspects: total material quantities, exposure to humans and the environment, resource economy, function and capacity to influence the substance flows. Furthermore, the paper discusses the suggested framework applied to results of a regional cadmium inventory.