The San Francisco Bay-Delta: A failure of decision-making capacity

The paper reviews the history of Bay-Delta decision-making in California in order to highlight the continuity between what happened with CALFED and what happened in the preceding decades since water project deliveries began in 1949. Throughout this period, there has been intense conflict about whether and how to transfer water from the Bay-Delta to users elsewhere—a conflict marked by a fundamental opposition of interests among stakeholders. We document how the State of California has failed to organize itself effectively to resolve this conflict and make a decision on how to manage the Delta. The strategy consistently adopted by the State was to encourage the main parties – agricultural and urban water diverters, and fisheries and other instream-protection interests – to work out a solution among themselves, rather than imposing one externally. However, economic theory suggests that a bargaining solution is unlikely to exist because of the extreme opposition of interest among the parties. The Bay-Delta history amply confirms this theoretical prediction. Thus, the State's strategy of relying on voluntary agreement to resolve the issue is fundamentally misconceived and is, at some level, an abdication of its responsibility.     

Integrating scientific knowledge into large-scale restoration programs: the CALFED Bay-Delta Program experience

Integrating science into resource management activities is a goal of the CALFED Bay-Delta Program, a multi-agency effort to address water supply reliability, ecological condition, drinking water quality, and levees in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta of northern California. Under CALFED, many different strategies were used to integrate science, including interaction between the research and management communities, public dialogues about scientific work, and peer review. This paper explores ways science was (and was not) integrated into CALFED's management actions and decision systems through three narratives describing different patterns of scientific integration and application in CALFED. Though a collaborative process and certain organizational conditions may be necessary for developing new understandings of the system of interest, we find that those factors are not sufficient for translating that knowledge into management actions and decision systems. We suggest that the application of knowledge may be facilitated or hindered by (1) differences in the objectives, approaches, and cultures of scientists operating in the research community and those operating in the management community and (2) other factors external to the collaborative process and organization.     

Surprising cooperation despite apparently irreconcilable differences: Agricultural water use efficiency and CALFED

Much has been said about the need and benefits of consensus building for resolving disagreements about water and environmental management. Less has been said about how to better convene and facilitate those processes. This paper focuses on the latter, examining the challenges and breakthroughs encountered when decision-makers convene consensus building processes that seek an agreement among stakeholders who believe they have “apparently irreconcilable differences.” The research described here analyzes two multi-stakeholder, collaborative processes convened by the CALFED Bay-Delta Program (CALFED) on the issue of agricultural water use efficiency in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river watersheds of California. The first process made very little progress; however, stakeholder representatives in the second were able to forge an agreement that included significant innovation and surprising risk taking by all sides. Analyzing the two processes, this paper shows that the stakeholders, conveners, and facilitators in these processes had to do much more than make the discrete trades across interests envisioned in consensus building theory or reframing as described in theories about conflict and frames. Looking at the data, this paper shows how several concepts from outside consensus building—including boundary objects and interlanguage—along with less well-known concepts and issues within the consensus building literature—bricolage and representation—can provide insights into how the Steering Committee accomplished what it did. This paper introduces these additional concepts, how they mattered in this CALFED process, and suggests a complex set of interrelated insights into how future collaborative and integrative environmental programs can approach the most difficult environmental policy and management conflicts.     

Collectively engaging complex socio-ecological systems: re-envisioning science, governance, and the California Delta

We address the future of science and governance for the California Delta, focusing on the CALFED Bay-Delta Program, an interagency, multi-stakeholder effort to understand and manage the Delta for multiple purposes. We portray a Delta history as a coevolutionary process between science, governance and ecosystems. Global integrated environmental assessments (IEA) provide insights into understanding complex, dynamic socio-ecological systems. Many of the discursive stakeholder and scientific activities that have arisen under CALFED are similar to IEA and remain essential to the shared learning needed to effectively interact with a dynamic Delta. More deliberately enmeshing environmental monitoring, analysis, and collective learning into Delta governance will improve outcomes.     

Collaborative governance and adaptive management: Lessons from California's CALFED Water Program

Both for its technological and institutional innovations and for its history of conflicts, California's water system has been one of the most observed in the world. This article and this Special Issue on the CALFED Bay-Delta Program continue in this tradition. CALFED is likely the most ambitious experiment in collaborative environmental policy and adaptive management the world has seen to date. This Issue moves beyond the celebratory tone of other analyses of collaborative, adaptive management and looks closer into how collaborative networks work to produce innovation, and more importantly to reflect also on their inherent contradictions, limitations and “dark sides”. While collaborative governance enhances mutual understandings and can be a source of innovation, it appears ill-suited to resolve alone the distributive dilemmas at the core of many water – and other environmental – conflicts. A lacuna in existing research concerns the institutional design of effective boundaries and linkages between democratic politics, legitimate authority, and adaptive governance, i.e. the mix of institutions that can provide sufficient responsibility, accountability and democratic legitimacy, without choking off the self-organizing interaction, shared learning, and communication that is at the heart of collaboration. A painful realization in the Delta is that environmental conservation and further growth may be fundamentally at odds; efficient win–win solutions, institutional or technological, seem insufficient to satisfy the competing demands posed upon the system. Radical decisions and changes might be necessary, but they seem unlikely under current institutional arrangements and political conditions.     

Applying ecosystem concepts to the planning of industrial areas: a case study of Singapore’s Jurong Island

The application of ecological concepts to the industrial setting has been touched upon by literature across several disciplines. Two emerging ecological planning approaches, landscape ecology and industrial ecology, are applied here to look at alternative ways of planning industrial parks. As an emerging field, landscape ecology provides different viewpoints from the traditional approach of natural conservation, which mainly focuses on the protection of nature. The approach of landscape ecology regards the environment as a land mosaic, a mixture of natural and urban environment, which concerns a manageable human-scale environment across one or two human generations. Industrial ecology, on the other hand, goes beyond the traditional “end of pipe” idea of pollution control and learns from the ecosystem concept. The current paper is an attempt to reconcile these two fields as an integrated approach to the planning of industrial areas. Using a case study of Singapore’s Jurong Island industrial park, two fundamental issues behind the idea of landscape ecology and industrial ecology are raised. If raw materials, energy and by-products are more easily replaced or reused by technology and management, then research on industrial ecology and related knowledge will be crucial for developing natural resource substitution by innovative technology and new ways of environmental management. Where it is difficult to substitute natural resources, the skills of planning and managing natural resources will take priority over other strategies. In this situation, the knowledge of landscape ecology needs to be applied to the prediction, design and evaluation of ecologically optimum resource uses, patterns and processes in the mixture of natural, urban and industrial environment. A new concept, “nurtured landscape”, is proposed for mediating between the natural ecosystem and the urban/industrial environment. The nurtured landscape provides a basis for the development of new ecological technology using landscape to ameliorate the polluting effects of the urban/industrial neighbourhood. The planning of Singapore’s Jurong Island industrial park provides a test of applying the principles of landscape ecology and industrial ecology to the possible transformation of an industrial area.     

The means do not justify the ends: A comment on CALFED

The state-federal CALFED process was more successful in transforming the means of thinking about decisions regarding California Bay-Delta resource management than in achieving the desired policy ends. Case studies in this special issue document how CALFED helped change the dynamics between stakeholders and agency managers; between scientists and implementers; and between endangered species managers and water project operators. In most cases, however, the new relationships and agreements failed to achieve the desired policy outcomes. The new tools and approaches that CALFED fostered can complement and support – but not substitute for – the obligation of policy makers to honestly confront and resolve fundamental oppositions of interest over resource management issues.     

Conceptualizing and operationalizing human wellbeing for ecosystem assessment and management

There is growing interest in assessing the effects of changing environmental conditions and management actions on human wellbeing. A challenge is to translate social science expertise regarding these relationships into terms usable by environmental scientists, policymakers, and managers. Here, we present a comprehensive, structured, and transparent conceptual framework of human wellbeing designed to guide the development of indicators and a complementary social science research agenda for ecosystem-based management. Our framework grew out of an effort to develop social indicators for an integrated ecosystem assessment (IEA) of the California Current large marine ecosystem. Drawing from scholarship in international development, anthropology, geography, and political science, we define human wellbeing as a state of being with others and the environment, which arises when human needs are met, when individuals and communities can act meaningfully to pursue their goals, and when individuals and communities enjoy a satisfactory quality of life. We propose four major social science-based constituents of wellbeing: connections, capabilities, conditions, and cross-cutting domains. The latter includes the domains of equity and justice, security, resilience, and sustainability, which may be assessed through cross-cutting analyses of other constituents. We outline a process for identifying policy-relevant attributes of wellbeing that can guide ecosystem assessments. To operationalize the framework, we provide a detailed table of attributes and a large database of available indicators, which may be used to develop measures suited to a variety of management needs and social goals. Finally, we discuss four guidelines for operationalizing human wellbeing measures in ecosystem assessments, including considerations for context, feasibility, indicators and research, and social difference. Developed for the U.S. west coast, the framework may be adapted for other regions, management needs, and scales with appropriate modifications.     

长江流域生态系统可持续管理策略

长江流域涉及长江经济带发展和长三角一体化发展两大国家区域协调发展战略,但生态环境问题仍然是长江流域可持续发展面临的严峻挑战,加强长江流域生态系统可持续管理策略研究具有重大意义.长江流域的环境管理策略大致经历了以水量管理、污染物排放总量管理和水质目标管理三个阶段.在统一生态环境监管职能、实现五个“打通”的新形势下,长江流域生态环境管理策略必将由水质目标管理快速向生态系统可持续管理转变.在分析长江流域生态系统保护修复取得的积极进展和面临的严峻形势的基础上,提出了长江流域生态系统可持续管理策略:①规划和建设服务于应急预警和管理决策的长江生态系统观测网络,推动不同层级、不同职能部门、空天地一体化的多源数据融合,提高生态环境监测网络的数据时空精度和反应速度,开展水陆统筹、“山水林田湖草”生命共同体综合观测;②加强长江生态系统结构、过程、功能和服务的综合性、整体性研究,主要开展长江流域生态系统综合研究、重点区域生态系统研究和突出生态问题专题研究,不断创新科研与管理深度融合的科研模式,把论文写在祖国大地上;③制定长江社会-经济-自然复合生态系统保护修复可持续发展目标及分阶段分区域目标,促进水资源、水环境、水生态、陆域生态和水陆交错带的持续改善以及生态环境系统与社会经济系统的持续协同;④提出长江生态系统保护修复的整体性、综合性和针对性、差异化的解决方案,推动长江流域生态系统健康可持续发展目标的早日实现和重点区域、突出问题的尽快解决.      

Environmental flows and its evaluation of restoration effect based on LEDESS model in Yellow River Delta wetlands

Due to freshwater supplement scarcity and heavy human activities, the fresh water wetland ecosystem in Yellow River Delta is facing disintegrated deterioration, and it is seriously affecting the health of the Yellow River ecosystem. This paper identifies the restoration objectives of wetland aiming to protect ecological and economic values and development as well as the water resources of the Yellow River. The hydraulic and groundwater coupling model and Landscape Ecological Decision and Evaluation Support System (LEDESS) of the Yellow River Delta were established to calculate environmental flows of degraded wetlands. LEDESS is a computer-based model developed and used to assess and evaluate the effects of land-use changes on nature. In this study, LEDESS is used to assess and evaluate the ecological effects and the restoration possibilities considering several environmental flows’ supplement scenarios. This included the changes of suitable habitat conditions and its ecological carrying capacities for indicator species, e.g., Red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis), Oriental stork (Ciconia boyciana), and Saunder’s gull (Larus relictus), and changing of ecological patterns. The results showed that replenishing fresh water to wetlands is one of the effective adaptive measures to mitigate wetland degradation and improve its habitat quality and carrying capacities. This study indicated that landscape ecology approach is not only considered as a good way to solve complex problems in ecosystem management but also can be used to decide on the environmental flows and assess its ecological effects in large-scale wetland rehabilitation. This integrated method could make environmental flows estimated and assessment more rational than the results of hydrologic methods. It could assist decision makers to “see” the ecological effects after water supplementing and so alleviate the contradictions between environmental flows and production water demands, and can facilitate the implementation of environmental flows in most countries with water resources shortage.     

Collaborative networks and new ways of knowing

To move beyond legal and regulatory gridlock around water issues in the California Bay-Delta, a new inter-agency initiative, commonly known as CALFED, was created in 1994. CALFED has been an ongoing experiment in policy innovation. Part of the change in management practice has involved constructing new arenas that engage multiple perspectives and transform regulatory impasse into provisional steps forward. We examine the construction of so-called boundary objects, which are forums and policy instruments that cross group boundaries and foster integrative deliberation. We compare the design and action of two boundary objects created by CALFED, namely the Environmental Water Account (EWA) and the Water Use Efficiency (WUE) program. We find that the presence of the boundary object, in itself, does little to explain the success of each policy experiment. Rather, the answer lies in the types of network interactions that result, along with the way meaning is coproduced. In fact, rather than create new patterns of interrelationship (e.g., between fish habitat advocates and pump station operators), the boundary object might further embed institutionalized routines. To more deeply understand what makes the new institution an integrative one, we introduce the concept of Ways of Knowing which explains how new knowledge emerges from the network of new relationships.     

Integrated environmental assessment and pollution prevention in Vietnam: the case of anthracite production

Using the concept of life cycle analysis, the whole life cycle of anthracite production in Vietnam was assessed and the environmental “hot-spots” were identified. These include (i) dust pollution at coal transfer points or piles in storage; (ii) noise pollution resulting from the usage of heavy equipment, and (iii) high volume of acid and turbid mine water discharged into the environment.Pollution prevention and treatment options were identified and discussed in this study which consists of wet treatment of dust, planning, collection and treatment of mine water, planting of trees for dust and noise reduction as well as minimization of erosion. Some recommendations are made for pollution abatement from coal production and improvement of anthracite production in the region.     

天津市城市生态系统与污染综合防治的研究

天津市城市生态系统与污染综合防治的研究,以城市生态系统的理论为指导,应用经济生态学、系统工程的研究方法,通过环境及社会调查、大规模的野外试验、实验模拟与数学模拟,系统地揭示了天津市城市生态系统的现状及其规律;揭示了系统中经济发展、资源利用、环境污染三个子系统间的关系,为制定城市总体规划、城市经济发展规划、城市环境保护规划,为保持天津市城市生态系统的良性循环提供了科学的决策依据;建立了经济效益、社会效益、环境效益统一的、系统的环境综合防治模型和环境综合整治规划;发展了一系列的环境管理实用技术和多项环境     

基于韧性理念的海岸带生态修复规划方法及应用

生态修复是海岸带空间规划的重要组成部分,而韧性理念中有关规划-吸收-恢复-适应的演化规律对于海岸带生态修复具有重要的指导意义。以沙化较为典型的海南木兰湾海岸带区域为例,开展海岸带国土空间生态修复规划的方法及应用研究,基于沙化脆弱性和生态系统服务的空间耦合分析划分不同类型空间,并分区制定生态修复规划方案。研究结果表明：（1）沙化脆弱性高的区域主要是旱地和沙地,面积达21.8%,生态系统服务高的区域主要是林地、水域、湿地,面积达67.5%。（2）重建修复区主要位于鱼塘、旱地一带,占总面积的16.4%;人工辅助修复区主要位于旱地以及迎风面一带,面积达5.5%;适度开发区多为基本完全沙化区域,面积为15.8%。相关评估结果和生态修复规划方案能够揭示生态系统各关键因子之间的胁迫-响应机理,为海岸带沙化区域的生态修复及恢复提供科学支撑。     

Toward livable and healthy urban streets: Roadside vegetation provides ecosystem services where people live and move

Fostering ecosystem services in urban road corridors is an important challenge for urban planning and governance because residents are often exposed to environmental pressures in these ubiquitous open spaces. We here aim at illustrating multiple ecosystem services that may be underpinned by roadside vegetation. Previous work is broadly scattered in papers from the natural and social sciences and biased by a focus both on regulating services (temperature regulation, air filtration, carbon sequestration) and also on trees. We provide a first synthesis that illustrates (i) the multi-functional capacity of green elements in streetscapes to deliver various ecosystem services; (ii) the relevance of planted and wild-grown herbaceous vegetation as well as trees; and (iii) trade-offs between certain ecosystem services as well as risks related to disservices. Trees and herbaceous road vegetation can mitigate adverse environmental conditions in road corridors, which is particularly important in vulnerable neighborhoods that are undersupplied with green spaces. Enhancing the amenity value of streetscapes might also positively influence public health by promoting physical activity. However, significant knowledge gaps exist, e.g. on the contribution of biodiversity to ecosystem services and on the valuation of green street components by different sociocultural groups. Our synthesis illustrates management options that can support planning and governance approaches toward more livable streetscapes by fostering ecosystem services and counteracting disservices.     

长江三角洲生态系统的近代演化特征及其生态与环境问题分析

长江三角洲主要生态系统类型包括河流生态系统、河口海岸湿地生态系统、农林生态系统、城市生态系统、湖泊生态系统以及近海海域生态系统，、长江三角洲是人类和自然相互作用的结果．具有明显的生态边缘效应．支持了长江三角洲丰富的动植物区系。文章分析了长江三角洲地区主要生态系统的演化特征及其相互关系：阐述了长江三角洲地区主要生态系统在城市化进程中所面临的生态与环境问题．从系统生态学的角度对长江三角洲地区主要自然生态系统的修复和保护提出了对革。同时分析了流域治理和区域治理的重要性．这对于长江三角洲地区社会和经济的可持续发展具有重要的指导意义。     

Developing a Regional Open Space Strategy (ROSS) for Central Puget Sound,Washington State,USA

Ecosystem services provided by the landscapes of regions and cities are critical to human and environmental health, quality of life, environmental justice, biodiversity and climate mitigation and adaptation. In the Pacific Northwest region of the US, a team led by the University of Washington Green Futures Lab is working to identify, conserve and enhance regionally-significant landscapes and to evaluate their contributions as ecosystem or “open space” services. This paper outlines the goals and planning methods of the ongoing Regional Open Space Strategy for Central Puget Sound (ROSS) project, and the frameworks and processes being developed to evaluate ecosystem and open space services in order to inform and influence local and regional governance structures and decisions.     

Environmental principles applicable to supply chains design and operation

In this paper we deal with the problem of identifying environmental principles for the design and operation of supply chains. The operations that are included in supply chains are briefly described along with the approaches that are applied in order to improve their environmental performance. A background of environmental principles for achieving eco-efficiency and building of environmentally friendly organizational systems is presented and emphasis is put on the application of such principles “from cradle to grave”. Then, environmental principles applicable to particular objects of logistics networks planning are identified and commented upon. In addition, selective case studies from the literature, which show the applicability of the formulated principles and their relevance to practice, are discussed. The paper concludes with some remarks regarding the benefits for companies and societies, in general, that occur as a result of the application of the formulated principles.     

Ingredients in sustainably managing water in semi-arid environments

The lessons learned from CALFED indicate that ingredients important in the long-term resolution of water management issues may not result in short-term “solutions”. The value of this special issue lies in its identification of ingredients that stimulate re-framing of issues, adapting to new knowledge and innovative decisions. But sustainable water management also requires the political patience to sustain those processes as a means of perpetuating the long-term decision-making necessary to anticipate and/or respond to an ever-changing environment.     

流域水生态系统完整性模拟方法展望

水生态系统完整性变化模拟是流域水生态退化诊断、风险预警和修复重建的基础。受到多种环境压力的叠加影响,水生态系统完整性状态具有累积性、复合性和滞后性的响应特征,难以采用常规静态实验和水质模型进行表征和预测。梳理了国内外该领域最新进展,按照水生生物、生态系统动力学、栖息地适宜性、统计经验、流域水系统耦合等5类模型,阐明了不同类型模型的基本原理、适用性和应用案例。结果表明:我国环境管理亟需水生态系统完整性模拟工具支撑,应围绕该领域开展重大科学基础研究,突破河湖水生生物模拟预测和多尺度耦合关键技术,加快构建具有自主知识产权的水生态系统完整性模型库和参数库,推动建设我国流域水生态系统模拟器大科学装置,支撑构建长江、黄河等重点河流水生态系统综合管理体系。