An Interpretive Approach to Developing Volunteer-based Coastal Monitoring Programmes

The concept of sustainable development has highlighted the need to involve those who use a natural resource in helping to manage and maintain it. This has prompted the development of monitoring programmes involving volunteers who collect scientific data on the state of the natural environment. This paper argues that interpretation theory and practice provide a sound basis for the design and implementation of volunteer-based coastal monitoring programmes. Integration of multiple interrelated objectives in programmes relies on sound 'audience' research, including planned evaluation procedures. Three case-studies are presented which serve to identify and highlight the benefits of broadening the primary scientific focus of monitoring programmes to include greater consideration of participant motivations, skills and knowledge in the design and delivery of programmes. Discussion in this paper focuses on coastal monitoring programmes but the stated benefits might also be expected when applying this approach to other natural resource monitoring programmes.     

Agricultural Land Use in an Environmentally Sensitive Area: An Assessment of an Agri-environmental Policy Measure

The agri-environmental measures included in European Union regulation 1257/99 encourage agricultural methods designed to protect the environment and maintain the countryside. The option of such environmentally favourable management of farming round a sensitive ecosystem including two lakes is examined. A multi-objective programming model is used to assess the cost of reducing the use of agrochemicals by changing the pattern of cropping alone. The solution shows that a substantial reduction in the use of agrochemicals can be achieved, if the support scheme provided for in this regulation can offset income loss due to reduced agrochemical use. The proposed aid results in a substantial reduction in the use of fungicides and insecticides, which are the most noxious agrochemicals.     

Policy and reality of Environmentally Sensitive Areas in Whitman County,Washington, USA

The Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) promotes the conservation of natural resources through procedural review of proposed actions which may impact natural systems. There are, however, many actions specifically exempt from the SEPA review process. Since many exempt actions could have significant adverse effects on natural resources at one location and not another, the SEPA statute contains a provision that enables local governments to designate Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs). Within the ESAs, these potentially adverse activities are subject to SEPA review. Local governments have complete control over the exact definition of the ESA criteria and the types of local projects exempt from SEPA. Whitman County, the most productive wheat-producing county in Washington, has recognized the need for conservation of its natural resources in its comprehensive plan but has not implemented the ESA provision. A representative watershed within Whitman County was used as a case study to identify areas which would qualify for ESA status. In these areas, specific soil, water, and biological characteristics or resources were identified as sensitive to certain common land uses. Significant differences were found between state and county policies regarding ESAs and actual conditions within the watershed. It may be more effective for the state to manage ESAs on a consistent and regional basis.     

Water Governance and Water Use Efficiency: The Five Principles of WUA Management and Performance in China1

Wang, Jinxia, Jikun Huang, Lijuan Zhang, Qiuqiong Huang, and Scott Rozelle, 2010. Water Governance and Water Use Efficiency: The Five Principles of WUA Management and Performance in China. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(4): 665-685. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00439.x Abstract: In recent years China has attempted to reform water management by decentralizing water management responsibilities. The overall goal of our paper is to better understand the emergence of water user associations (WUAs) in China and assess if they are adhering to the practices spelled out by the Five Principles, a set of recommended practices that are supposed to lead to successful WUA operation. Using four sets of different types of villages to examine implementation and performance, we find that World Bank-supported WUA villages (“Bank villages”) can be thought of as operating mostly according to the Five Principles. For example, the Bank villages were endowed with a more reliable water supply; were set up and were operating with a relatively high degree of farmer participation; and leaders were more consultative and the process more formal. When WUAs are run according to the Five Principals, we show that WUAs increase water use efficiency. The study also provides evidence that there is a perception in the Bank villages that water management is improving in general and that there is less conflict both within the village and among villages. Perhaps more importantly, we find that the Bank’s effort to promote WUAs extended beyond their own project villages. The openness, consultative nature, and transparency found in the Bank WUAs are also found (albeit at a somewhat lower level) in the non-Bank WUA villages.     

Transboundary Groundwater Policy: Developing Approaches in the Western and Southwestern United States1

Hathaway, Deborah L., 2011. Transboundary Groundwater Policy: Developing Approaches in the Western and Southwestern United States. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(1):103‐113. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2010.00494.x Abstract: The western and southwestern United States include dozens of groundwater basins that cross political boundaries. Common among these shared groundwater basins is an overlay of differing legal structures and water development priorities, typically, with insufficient water supply for competing human uses, and often, a degraded ecosystem. Resolution of conflicts over ambiguously regulated groundwater has clarified transboundary groundwater policy in some interstate basins, while transboundary groundwater policy in international basins is less evolved. This paper identifies and contrasts approaches to transboundary groundwater policy, drawing from recent conflicts and cooperative efforts, including those associated with the interstate compacts on the Arkansas and Pecos Rivers; the Hueco and Lower Rio Grande Basins shared by New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico; and the Mexicali Basin in California and Mexico. Some efforts seek to fit groundwater policy into existing surface water allocation procedures; some strive for a better fit – incorporating scientific understanding of key differences between groundwater and surface water into policy frameworks. In some cases, neither policy nor precedent exists. The collective experience of these and other cases sets the stage for improved management of transboundary groundwater; as such, challenges and successes of these approaches, and those contemplated in several hypothetical model agreements, are examined.     

Environmentally conscious manufacturing: A technology for the nineties

Editor's note: Companies embracing TQEM must evaluate and change their manufacturing processes to stay globally competitive in the nineties. This article shows how an environmentally conscious manufacturing program incorporating new approaches to waste reduction will help companies achieve their corporatewide TQEM and strategic goals.     

Environmentally adjusted productivity measurement: an Australian case study

This paper critically examines various methods for estimating productivity incorporating environmental effects for the Australian agricultural sector. The agricultural sector has been selected because of its strategic position in the economy of Australia. The findings of this study indicate that the application of environmentally adjusted productivity methods is a credible approach to measure productivity, in the context of sustainable development. Although the empirical findings of this research are case study specific, the results provide evidence supporting the adoption of these techniques to other sectors of the economy when measuring productivity and needing to be cognisant of sustainable development. The findings suggest that adjusting for the environmental impacts of soil erosion can result in higher or lower agricultural productivity depending on the assumptions we make regarding damage costs of erosion. It is argued in this paper that, for soil erosion in Australia, assumptions yielding higher productivity (i.e., upwardly adjusted) are justified. Finally, the findings of this study and the use of the methods presented point to important gaps in data availability. This gap needs to be addressed by policy makers if sustainable development objectives are to be credibly assessed using these techniques.     

Application of Resource Assessment Data to Policy Decisions in Developing Countries

Information about a nation's mineral resource potential is important in regional and national development planning. Unfortunately, it is usually not possible to determine the optimum levels of investment in mineral resource assessment activities in a developing country. In addition, there is a tendency for governments to initiate expensive resource assessment projects without an understanding of the types of decision that may be influenced by the assessment data. This paper examines ten major policy issues where decisions can be substantially influenced by resource assessment information. Governments can expect to increase their benefits from investment in resource assessment activities by linking resource assessments to specified policy decisions.     

重庆市五大功能区差异化环境保护政策研究

5大功能区战略是重庆坚持主体功能区规划理念,优化人口、产业和城镇发展布局,实现全市资源配置最优化和整体功能最大化的重要举措。该战略的实施对环境管理提出了新的任务和要求,构建有利于促进5大功能区建设的配套环境保护政策意义重大且非常迫切。本文在全面分析各功能区生态环境压力、发展定位和环境保护目标的基础上,遵循"分类指导、分区推进"原则,构建了5大功能区差异化环境保护政策框架,突出了生态红线、环境准入、总量控制、环境标准、环境监管、环境经济政策、绩效考核7大政策在不同功能区的政策取向和实施重点,有利于发挥环境保护政策的激励和约束作用。     

Incentive-Based Conservation Programs in Developing Countries: A Review of Some Key Issues and Suggestions for Improvements

Biodiversity conservation in developing countries has been a challenge because of the combination of rising human populations, rapid technological advances, severe social hardships, and extreme poverty. To address the social, economic, and ecological limitations of people-free parks and reserves, incentives have been incorporated into conservation programs in the hopes of making conservation meaningful to local people. However, such incentive-based programs have been implemented with little consideration for their ability to fulfill promises of greater protection of biodiversity. Evaluations of incentive-based conservation programs indicate that the approach continually falls short of the rhetoric. This article provides an overview of the problems associated with incentive-based conservation approaches in developing countries. It argues that existing incentive-based programs (IBPs) have yet to realize that benefits vary greatly at different “community” scales and that a holistic conceptualization of a community is essential to incorporate the complexities of a heterogeneous community when designing and implementing the IBPs. The spatial complexities involved in correctly identifying the beneficiaries in a community and the short-term focus of IBPs are two major challenges for sustaining conservation efforts. The article suggests improvements in three key areas: accurate identification of “target” beneficiaries, greater inclusion of marginal communities, and efforts to enhance community aptitudes.     

Key Principles of Community-Based Natural Resource Management: A Synthesis and Interpretation of Identified Effective Approaches for Managing the Commons

This article examines recent research on approaches to community-based environmental and natural resource management and reviews the commonalities and differences between these interdisciplinary and multistakeholder initiatives. To identify the most effective characteristics of Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM), I collected a multiplicity of perspectives from research teams and then grouped findings into a matrix of organizational principles and key characteristics. The matrix was initially vetted (or “field tested”) by applying numerous case studies that were previously submitted to the World Bank International Workshop on CBNRM. These practitioner case studies were then compared and contrasted with the findings of the research teams. It is hoped that the developed matrix may be useful to researchers in further focusing research, understanding core characteristics of effective and sustainable CBNRM, providing practitioners with a framework for developing new CBNRM initiatives for managing the commons, and providing a potential resource for academic institutions during their evaluation of their practitioner-focused environmental management and leadership curriculum.     

The Conditions for Environmentally Intelligent Regional Governance: Reflections from Lower Saxony

The first round of regional planning strategies in England in the 1990s only made tentative attempts to incorporate environmental priorities. More recent work is giving sustainability a higher profile and other factors, including the establishment of more co-ordinated government regional offices in 1994 and of the Environment Agency (with new regional boundaries) in 1996, are also raising questions about the future focus on economic and environmental planning at the regional level. Regional planning in Germany has incorporated environmental considerations to a greater degree and for longer. The paper examines experience in Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) in the 1990s, when the Land has been ruled first by a Social Democrat-Green Party coalition and then by the Social Democrats on their own, but with still some environmental emphasis. Particular attention is paid to policies in the energy, water and waste sectors. Although any direct transfer to experience in England is clearly not possible, it is argued that there are implications for possible directions for regional planning. This is the case whether the new British government initiates major changes or whether there is only gradual building on the foundations laid since 1990.     

Science, Policy, and Stakeholders: Developing a Consensus Science Plan for Amchitka Island, Aleutians, Alaska

With the ending of the Cold War, the US Department of Energy is responsible for the remediation of radioactive waste and disposal of land no longer needed for nuclear material production or related national security missions. The task of characterizing the hazards and risks from radionuclides is necessary for assuring the protection of health of humans and the environment. This is a particularly daunting task for those sites that had underground testing of nuclear weapons, where the radioactive contamination is currently inaccessible. Herein we report on the development of a Science Plan to characterize the physical and biological marine environment around Amchitka Island in the Aleutian chain of Alaska, where three underground nuclear tests were conducted (1965–1971). Information on the ecology, geology, and current radionuclide levels in biota, water, and sediment is necessary for evaluating possible current contamination and to serve as a baseline for developing a plan to ensure human and ecosystem health in perpetuity. Other information required includes identifying the location of the salt water/fresh water interface where migration to the ocean might occur in the future and determining groundwater recharge balances, as well as assessing other physical/geological features of Amchitka near the test sites. The Science Plan is needed to address the confusing and conflicting information available to the public about radionuclide risks from underground nuclear blasts in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as well as the potential for volcanic or seismic activity to disrupt shot cavities or accelerate migration of radionuclides into the sea. Developing a Science Plan involved agreement among regulators and other stakeholders, assignment of the task to the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation, and development of a consensus Science Plan that dealt with contentious scientific issues. Involvement of the regulators (State of Alaska), resource trustees (U S Fish and Wildlife Service), representatives of the Aleut and Pribilof Island communities, and other stakeholders was essential for plan development and approval, although this created tensions because of the different objectives of each group. The complicated process of developing a Science Plan involved iterations and interactions with multiple agencies and organizations, scientists in several disciplines, regulators, and the participation of Aleut people in their home communities, as well as the general public. The importance of including all parties in all phases of the development of the Science Plan was critical to its acceptance by a broad range of regulators, agencies, resource trustees, Aleutian/Pribilof communities, and other stakeholders.     

Contingent Valuation and Real Economic Commitments: Evidence from Electric Utility Green Pricing Programmes

This paper presents the findings of two 'green pricing' studies conducted to evaluate public support of utilities' investments in renewable energy technologies. These studies compared hypothetical WTP statements with actual payment commitments. The results of these studies indicate that the CVM can be an accurate indicator of an individual's WTP, but that it is an unreliable predictor of which individuals will actually pay. This has important implications for aggregating mean WTP estimates of the value of environmental benefits. It also suggests that market simulations can be useful for predicting programme participation rates when voluntary donations are used as a payment vehicle.     

Science, Policy, Stakeholders, and Fish Consumption Advisories: Developing a Fish Fact Sheet for the Savannah River

In recent years there has been a startling rise in the issuance of fish consumption advisories. Unfortunately, compliance by the public is often low. Low compliance can be due to a number of factors, including confusion over the meaning of advisories, conflicting advisories issued by different agencies, controversies involving health benefits versus the risks from consuming fish, and an unwillingness to act on the advisories because of personal beliefs. In some places, such as along the Savannah River, one state (South Carolina) had issued a consumption advisory while the other (Georgia) had not, although at present, both states now issue consumption advisories for the Savannah River. Herein we report on the development of a fish fact sheet to address the confusing and conflicting information available to the public about consuming fish from the Savannah River. The process involved interviewing fishers to ascertain fishing and consumption patterns, evaluating contaminant levels and exposure pathways, discussing common grounds for the provision of information, and consensus-building among different regulatory agencies (US Environmental Protection Agency, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, Georgia Department of Natural Resources) and the Department of Energy. Consensus, a key ingredient in solving many different types of “commons” problems, was aided by an outside organization, the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation (CRESP). The initial role for CRESP was to offer scientific data as a basis for groups with different assumptions about risks to reach agreement on a regulatory response action. The process was an example of how credible science can be used to implement management and policies and provide a basis for consensus-building on difficult risk communication issues. The paper provides several lessons for improving the risk process from stakeholder conflicts, through risk assessment, to risk management. It also suggests that consensus-building and risk communication are continuing processes that involve assimilation of new information on contaminants and food-chain processes, state and federal law, public policy, and public response.     

Environmentally Friendly Disposal Behaviour and Local Support Systems: Lessons from a metropolitan area

This paper describes some of the insights gained by the authors in the development of an approach for systemic sustainability analysis to arrive at sustainability indicators (SIs) for development. The paper describes the problems of perspective and mindset which such research involves, and the necessity to rethink both the purpose and content of SIs as well as taking into account the perspective of the researcher. The result represents a new perspective on the classification of SIs that serves to highlight one of the central difficulties encountered so far with these tools, namely their limited use in management and the setting of policy. We argue that this is due in large part to the nature of the SI frameworks created to date, even if carried out in a 'participative' mode. The framework itself is representative of a mindset or paradigm of understanding which, when applied as the sole device, we find less than adequate in achieving useful SIs. SIs arising from this mindset tend to be quantitative and explicit (clearly stated and with a defined methodology), while in practice most people's and institutions' use of SIs tends to be more qualitative and implicit ('understood' to apply in vaguer terms, with no defined methodology). These two paradigms or mindsets are represented here as the reductionist and the conversational : the first is characterised by quantitative and explicit indicators (or QNE* indicators); and the second is characterised by qualitative and implicit indicators (QLI* indicators). We suggest that what is required is far more research on the evolution and use of QLI* SIs (and the mindset which is necessary to develop them), in order to best appreciate how they can be hybridised with the QNE* group. The result may be termed 'multiple perspective' SIs. Este documento describe algunas de las ideas obtenidas por los autores en el desarrollo de un acercamiento por análisis de sostenimiento sistemático para llegar a los indicadores de sostenimiento (SIs) por desarrollo. El documento describe los problemas de perspectiva y patrones que dicha investigación involucra, y la necesidad de repensar tanto en el propósito como en el contenido de los SIs así como tambien toma en cuenta la perspectiva del investigador. El resultado representa una nueva perspectiva en la clasificación del los SIs la cual sirve para resaltar una de las dificultades centrales encontradas hasta ahora con estas herramientas; especificamente su limitado uso en el manejo y establecimiento de políticas. Nosotros argumentamos que ésto se debe en gran parte a la naturaleza de las estructuras de los SIs creadas hasta la fecha, incluso si se lleva a cabo en un modo 'participativo'. La estructura por si misma es representativa de un patron o paradigma de entendimiento el cual cuando es aplicado al esquema único encontramos menos adecuado alcanzar SIs útiles. Los SIs que surgen de este patrón tienden a ser cuantitativos y explícitos (claramente señalados y con una metodología definida), mientras que en la practica el uso de los SIs por parte de la mayoria de la personas e instituciones tiende a ser mas cualitativo e implicito ('entendido' a aplicar en terminos mas vagos, con metodología mas definida). Estos dos paradigmas o patrones son representados aquí como el reduccionista y el coloquial — uno es caracterizado por indicadores cuantitativos y explícitos (o indicadores QNE*), el otro por indicadores cualitativos e implícitos (QLI*) respectivamente. Nosotros sugerimos que lo que se requiere es mucha mas investigación en la evolución y uso de SIs de QLI* (y el patrón que es necesario para desarollarlo), para apreciar mejor como ellos pueden ser mezclados con el grupo de QNE*. El resultado puede ser denominado indicadores de sostenimiento de perspectiva multiple.     

Environmentally Friendly Disposal Behaviour and Local Support Systems: lessons from a metropolitan area

The amount of household refuse has steadily increased in Sweden. Strategies for household waste reduction include sorting, recycling, re-use and repair. Two categories of motivational factors determine disposal behaviour, external and internal. The external factors include administrative, economic, information and physical measures. The internal factors include knowledge, values and attitudes of individuals. Environmentally friendly disposal behaviour is best achieved when both external and internal motivational factors argue for performing activities benign to the environment. The data were collected by interviewing households and stakeholders in a metropolitan area and by studying the facilities for recycling and re-use there. The results show that over 80% of the inhabitants sorted most paper and glass; they were satisfied with the facilities and considered the behaviour important for the environment. The external motivational factors for this behaviour were very strong, with numerous bins and ample information. National policy, formulated in the eco-cycle bill with specified achievement levels, local responsibilities for organising waste management, supporting citizens with physical facilities, information and moti vational arguments, seems to be a successful combination when implementing environmental policy in this sector.