Effective risk governance for environmental policy making: A knowledge management perspective

Effective risk management within environmental policy making requires knowledge on natural, economic and social systems to be integrated; knowledge characterised by complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity. We describe a case study in a (UK) central government department exploring how risk governance supports and hinders this challenging integration of knowledge. Forty-five semi-structured interviews were completed over a two year period. We found that lateral knowledge transfer between teams working on different policy areas was widely viewed as a key source of knowledge. However, the process of lateral knowledge transfer was predominantly informal and unsupported by risk governance structures. We argue this made decision quality vulnerable to a loss of knowledge through staff turnover, and time and resource pressures. Our conclusion is that the predominant form of risk governance framework, with its focus on centralised decision-making and vertical knowledge transfer is insufficient to support risk-based, environmental policy making. We discuss how risk governance can better support environmental policy makers through systematic knowledge management practices.     

Expert risk perceptions and the social amplification of risk: A case study in invasive tree pests and diseases

The Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF) is often used as a conceptual tool for studying diverse risk perceptions associated with environmental hazards. While widely applied, it has been criticised for implying that it is possible to define a benchmark ‘real’ risk that is determined by experts and around which public risk perceptions can subsequently become amplified. It has been argued that this objectification of risk is particularly problematic when there are high levels of scientific uncertainty and a lack of expert consensus about the nature of a risk and its impacts. In order to explore this further, this paper examines how ‘experts’ – defined in this case as scientists, policy makers, outbreak managers and key stakeholders – construct and assemble their understanding of the risks associated with two invasive tree pest and disease outbreaks in the UK, ash dieback and oak processionary moth. Through semi-structured interviews with experts in each of the case study outbreaks, the paper aims to better understand the nature of information sources drawn on to construct perceptions of tree health risks, especially when uncertainty is prevalent. A key conclusion is that risk assessment is a socially-mediated, relational and incremental process with experts drawing on a range of official, anecdotal and experiential sources of information, as well as reference to past events in order to assemble the risk case. Aligned with this, experts make attributions about public concern, especially when the evidence base is incomplete and there is a need to justify policy and management actions and safeguard reputation.     

Making water policy work in the United Kingdom: A case study of practical approaches to strengthening complex,multi-tiered systems of water governance

We propose a suite of actions for strengthening water governance in contexts with complex, multi-tiered arrangements. In doing so, we focus on the collective water policies and approaches of the United Kingdom (UK), including those of devolved governments, which confront a host of serious water-related challenges—from massive flooding of urban areas and agricultural lands, to pressure on aquifers from rising water demand and drought. Further complexity in addressing these challenges has emerged in the wake of the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union (EU), so-called ‘Brexit’, and the ensuing ‘separation process’ with uncertainties for institutional and governance arrangements to follow. We make ten proposals for improving and reinvigorating water policy in complex, multi-layered situations, and comment specifically on their application in the UK setting. These are: put in place a system-wide water policy; fully embrace community-led nested river basin planning and management; fully fund river basin planning and management; re-focus the policy framing; use best-available data and information; create conversational spaces and become a more water-literate society; mobilise people; support and sustain core community networks; underpin river basin plans with regulatory provisions and effective monitoring and enforcement; and address systemic institutional amnesia. Individually and collectively, we contend that these actions will have a marked effect on transforming the planning and management of water resources. A system-wide water policy that maintains and builds on the substantive biophysical and socio-economic benefits delivered through implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, together with the more recent Floods Directive, will galvanise stewardship of water in the UK. We urge more active engagement with and empowerment of the multiplicity of system ‘actors’, and highlight the role of non-government actors in a post-Brexit world as conduits for reaching out to and connecting directly with a wide range of water-related actors, especially across the EU. While attention to-date has focused on a plethora of specifically water-related projects, initiatives, plans and regulations, what is really needed is a systemic, long-term view of water resource management.     

科层制度视角下旅游地水资源治理的演变研究——以哈尼梯田为例

旅游业的可持续依赖于各项环境资源的投入及其科学有效的治理,而旅游地公共池塘资源治理问题仍有待深入。水资源作为一类典型的公共池塘资源,是目的地可持续发展的关键。以哈尼梯田核心区为案例,以水权科层概念模型为分析框架,通过半结构访谈、参与式观察等质性研究方法,探讨大众旅游发展前后目的地水权结构的演变历程。研究发现：（1）政体变动和大众旅游业的发展是促成目的地水权结构演变的主要动力,从赋权体系和分配方式两方面影响用户的水资源利用实践;（2）旅游情境下,目的地用户主体的异质性增强,水资源稀缺性提高,商品化趋势明显;（3）科层结构下,集体层级的决策实体作为连接国家层级决策实体和用户层级的中间层,只有充分发挥其监督管理的治理职能才能促进资源的公平利用与可持续发展。现阶段案例地水资源治理以市场力量为主导,而政府管理存在一定缺位,面临可持续发展的挑战。     

CVM中的抗议性响应:动机与影响——以胶州湾浒苔治理支付意愿为例

抗议性响应是意愿调查法应用中受访者表现出的典型策略性行为,可能导致对资源环境物品或服务的估值出现偏差。识别抗议性响应影响因素并降低其对支付意愿的影响,有助于提高CVM估值效度。以胶州湾海域居民浒苔治理支付意愿为例,以抗议性信念作为受访者抗议性响应的度量指标,筛选抗议性信念的驱动因素,量化各驱动因素对支付意愿的影响方向及程度。研究结果表明:（1）愿意支付的受访者仍然具有抗议性信念,且在个别测量题项中,其抗议性信念甚至高于拒绝支付群体。（2）环境关注、搭便车顾虑、暖光效应等变量均对受访者抗议性信念存在影响。（3）抗议性信念水平对受访者参与决策与支付意愿金额均存在显著负向影响,抗议性信念变量对参与和支付决策的影响方向与程度存在差异,进一步证明参与和支付决策是不同的机制。研究结论将对优化CVM问卷设计、规范操作流程、减少评估偏差具有指导意义。     

晋江流域工业环境风险评价研究

为了预防由于工业企业危险物质泄漏引发的环境突发事故,保护流域水环境安全.本研究选用基于Seveso III指令模型的方法进行流域环境风险评价研究,并对模型进行适应性改进,选择工业企业分布较为密集的泉州晋江流域进行了示范研究.利用高程、企业分布、危险物质储存量等数据,得到企业内在风险;叠加区域易受损性后得到子区域的环境风险.结果表明,南安市是晋江流域环境风险最高的子区域,风险值高达108,安溪县和泉州市区风险水平居中,晋江市为低度危险子区域.在此基础上,根据评价结果提出了具有针对性的流域环境风险控制建议.     

黄土丘陵沟壑区生态风险空间识别及开发利用权衡——以兰州市为例

基于社会经济发展与土地资源利用管理、生态环境保护之间矛盾的现实需求,以兰州市为例,通过区域开发生态风险传递过程分析,构建黄土丘陵沟壑区区域开发生态风险评价框架,结合自然生态风险、开发生态风险和生态重要性,定量评价黄土丘陵沟壑区开发利用综合生态风险并识别其空间分布特征,最后结合丘陵地区建设用地适宜性,权衡黄土丘陵沟壑等未利用地的开发与生态环境保护.结果表明:兰州市综合生态风险以中、低等级为主;兰州市二类未利用地占比最大,为51.67%;一类未利用地在海拔相对较低的皋兰县北部、永登县庄浪河以东集中分布,占总面积的37.45%.权衡兰州市综合生态风险与未利用地开发适宜性,一、二类用地的综合生态风险以1级低风险为主.其中,一类用地集中连片度高,坡度、海拔等自然本底相对较好,是未来未利用地综合开发建设优先选择区域;二类用地因自然地理条件的限制,开发难度大,开发成本高,可以作为后备土地开发资源选择性开发.