Integrated Land and Water Management in the United Kingdom: Narrowing the Implementation Gap

Riparian buffer zones have been incorporated in land and water management policy for England since 1994, when the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food introduced a Water Fringe Option (WFO) as part of a broader habitat conservation scheme. Whilst natural scientists have examined the functioning of riparian buffer zones, understanding of farmers' decision making regarding the adoption or non-adoption of voluntary buffer zone policies is very limited. This paper examines the factors influencing the decision making of farmers who were eligible to join the WFO in three river catchments. Quantitative and qualitative information was collected from farmers using semi-structured interviews and was supplemented with in-depth interviews with representatives of public agencies, agricultural groups and independent experts. Data analysis was completed using the 'Framework' analytical approach and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 8.0 computer software. The research revealed that decisions to participate in the WFO were influenced by a mix of situational, psychological and sociological characteristics, which suggests that policy makers must attach greater importance to implementation conditions and farmers decision making if riparian buffer zones are to play a more prominent role in the management of land and water in rural catchments. Tightly structured schemes will only appeal to a narrow segment of the farming population and will not lead to widespread re-creation of riparian habitats. A more flexible and collaborative style of policy development is needed in order for riparian buffer zone policies to meet the circumstances and needs of the diverse UK farming community.     

Managing the intractable: communicative structures for management of hexachlorobenzene and other scheduled wastes

This paper explores issues of governance and decision-making structures associated with the problem of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) waste at Botany in New South Wales. From a government perspective, the problem is ‘downstream’ of a well-known national controversy over whether Australia should have a high-temperature incinerator (HTI) to ‘dispose’ of such scheduled wastes. The 1992 decision not to proceed with HTI followed an extensive process of public consultation, which, against the expectations of industry and government, saw the emergence of Australia-wide community opposition. Alternative national management plans were formulated for the treatment of several types of organochlorine waste, with the scheme of these plans first approved in 1993 by the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC). The HCB Management Plan is one of three such plans (the others being for PCBs and organochlorine pesticides). With this, ANZECC established the Scheduled Waste Management Group comprising government officials, and the National Advisory Body (NAB) made up of stakeholders. Officially the NAB had oversight of the HCB problem until 2002 when it was disbanded. As a result of the HTI experience, new community consultation protocols were introduced in association with the alternative management plans. For HCBs, which are confined almost entirely to Orica's Botany site in southeastern Sydney, this led to the establishment of the Community Participation and Review Committee (CPRC), a representative body with review and advisory functions. This paper draws conclusions from this history about government processes of decision making, the role of individual and institutional actors, the central importance of trust, and the democratisation of risk management. Using concepts delineated by McDonell [1991. Toxic waste management in Australia: why did policy reform fail? Environment 33(6), 11–13, 33–39; 1997. Scientific and everyday knowledge: trust and the politics of environmental initiatives. Social Studies of Science 27, 819–863.] we identify swings towards, then away from institutionalised trust. Across two decades, government and industry have placed faith in centrally controlled mechanisms for public participation, hoping to garner trust and legitimate privileged technological solutions. On the ‘backswings’, these processes have seen public trust dissipate in the face of government misunderstanding of the opportunities for effective bureaucratic interventions.     

A formal model for consensus and negotiation in environmental management

Environmental management decisions typically lie at the interface of science and public policy. Consequently, these decisions involve a number of stakeholders with competing agendas and vested interests in the ultimate decision. In such cases, it is appropriate to adopt formal methods for consensus building to ensure transparent and repeatable decisions. In this paper, we use an environmental management case study to demonstrate the utility of a mathematical consensus convergence model in aggregating values (or weights) across groups. Consensus models are applicable when all parties agree to negotiate in order to resolve conflict. The advantage of this method is that it does not require that all members of the group reach agreement, often an impossible task in group decision making. Instead, it uses philosophical foundations in consensus building to aggregate group members' values in a way that guarantees convergence towards a single consensual value that summarizes the group position. We highlight current problems with ad hoc consensus and negotiation methods, provide justification for the adoption of formal consensus convergence models and compare the consensus convergence model with currently used methods for aggregating values across a group in a decision making context. The model provides a simple and transparent decision support tool for group decision making that is straightforward to implement.     

STATE LEGISLATIVE CONSTRAINTS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF WATER RESOURCES POLICY1

ABSTRACT: Legislative constraints on the development of water resources policy fit into three broad categories-political, institutional, and informational. The political category encompasses constituency needs and preferences, satisfaction with existing water management practices and policies, and the necessity for legislators to blend political ambition with public problem solving. Constraints fitting into the institutional category include differences in legislative behavior and attitudes that stem from one's location in the legislature (e.g., senate-house, leader-follower, or committee activity), the dynamics of scheduling and organization, and the capability to manage complex issues. Informational constraints refer to the availability of information and the use to which it is put by lawmakers in formulating decisions on waterrelated issues. These constraints are approached from a behavioral perspective by examining several constituency, institutional, and information hypotheses that “explain” legislative involvement with water resources issues. The data are drawn from a recent study of water resources decision making in West Virginia. Eighty-three of the 134 members of the 1975–76 West Virginia Legislature participated in the study.     

Environmental management in an international consumer goods company

Many management processes and tools can provide companies with information to support their environmental decision making. Risk assessment, environmental auditing, life cycle assessment and environmental reporting are but a few examples. Each of these has typically evolved independently as the need for it has arisen. Today, however, this abundance of tools can lead to confusion: What is the exact objective of each tool? How do they differ? Are some ‘better’ than others? Should they be used in parallel, sequentially or in place of each other? More importantly, how do they fit together into a coherent environmental management framework that will ensure sound environmental and economic decision making in a company? This paper seeks to answer these questions. It describes the overall environmental framework that has been developed internally within Procter & Gamble and which allows the company to make coherent economically and environmentally sound decisions, in both the short- and long-term.     

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.     

Industrial Development Versus Environmental Conservation at Local Scale: A Case Study from Southeastern Spain

Local scale has an important role in environmental management. In Spain, rapid industrialization has occurred in the last three decades, leading to substantial changes in socioeconomic relations and resulting in significant environmental degradation. This paper describes the environmental status of the township of Sax (Alicante, in southeast Spain), which has passed from agriculture to industrial manufacturing in 50 years. The human population has grown exponentially during the second half of the 20th century, with a 91% increase from 1955 to 1995, coinciding with strong growth in manufacturing (factories increased fivefold in the period 1955–1976) and important changes in the working population and land use. Illegal rubbish dumps, water pollution, forest fires, erosion, and degradation of wildlife habitats are the main outcomes of these dramatic socioeconomic and demographic changes. The administration has focused on the control of water pollution and waste management, while nongovernmental organizations have concentrated on the prevention of forest fires and the development of environmental education programs. These measures are insufficient to manage current environmental degradation, and an environmental management plan for the study area is discussed. Increasing effort in waste management and industrial wastewater control, changes in land-use policy, and the creation of an advisory committee to increase public participation in decision-making have been identified as environmental target objectives for the coming years.     

Strategic environmental assessment as a tool of environmental governance: Scotland's extension of the European Union SEA Directive

The coverage of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) has been extended to all public sector policies, plans and programmes subject to Scottish jurisdiction. Evaluation of the arguments advanced by the Scottish Executive for using environmental assessment as a tool for environmental governance requires an exploration of some of the contested interpretations of the function of environmental assessment at a strategic level. The paper examines the implications of this extension of the European Union SEA Directive in the context of current arrangements to fit environmental assessment into the UK tradition of integrated policy appraisal. It considers the methodological implications of using SEA explicitly for improving public sector decision making at all levels and across all activities. This enables environmental effects to be taken into account at an early stage in the formulation of government policy, through a transparent system of assessment which encourages public participation.     

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.     

SOCIAL FEASIBILITY AS AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO WATER RESOURCE PLANNING1

ABSTRACT: Research suggests that conflict over public participation in water resource planning is due, in part, to confusion over the nature of the policies involved. This article examines the roadblocks to citizen involvement in water resource planning in terms of two policy models: (1) the Social Feasibility Model and (2) the Political Feasibility Model. Each model posits a different role for public participation. Although the Political Feasibility Model has been widely accepted in water resource planning, changes in the nature of the policies involved in water resource management have weakened its appropriateness. Currently, social and redistributive policies involving value conflicts often dominate water planning and these policies are best chosen through the Social Feasibility Model. The article discusses the nature of the social feasibility model, the new types of policy decisions facing water resource managers, and how the social feasibility model can help overcome the roadblocks to increased public participation in water resource policy making.     

Integrating Local Environmental Management and Federal/State Interests Through Governance: The Case of the Garden Island Environmental Advisory Committee

The apparently unresolvable differences between managing national defense and local conservation, public recreation, and scientific research can be overcome through an advisory committee, with a strong and dedicated entity to drive the processes of governance and change. The case of the Garden Island Environmental Advisory Committee shows how the organizational and political difficulties of integrating state interests and federal concerns were met. Garden Island, off the coast of Perth, the capital of the State of Western Australia, is a base for the Royal Australian Navy which is administered by the federal Department of Defence. Examples are given of the committee's approach to integrated environmental management and the implementation of the Navy's environmental policy.     

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.     

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.     

Finding Common Ground: How Advocacy Coalitions Succeed in Protecting Environmental Flows1

Abstract: This paper reviews several recent case studies in which states or countries have strengthened their protection of environmental flows to explore the key policy, stakeholder, and scientific elements that contributed to these advances in water management. A conceptual framework is developed to describe the actions of interest groups and individuals, how environmental flow issues get onto the formal agenda of decision makers, the events and conditions which precipitate this attention, the role of science and scientific uncertainty, and how interactions and dialog among individuals and groups with different interests lead to changes in state and national statutes. In general, the review found that changing policies is a result of actions of informed groups of interested parties using science and information to inform both the public and decision makers about the need for action and about the specific action needed. In almost all cases, environmental flow issues make it onto the formal agenda of institutions through one or more precipitating events, often legal challenges that call into question the existing legal framework for water management. Significantly, in almost all cases the engagement between advocacy coalitions with different and often opposing views results in reframing the issues to provide a common approach or solution upon which the competing coalitions can agree.     

The Role of Information in Environmental Management and Governance in Lesotho

Successful environmental management and governance can be realised through maximum dissemination of information. Environmental management and governance involve knowledge and understanding of environmental laws and citizens' involvement in environmental issues. Citizens' contributions to environmental laws, policies and regulations lead to good governance and management and, as a result, access to environmental information. Structures of environmental information dissemination, from as far back as during the traditional land tenure, are in place in Lesotho; to what extent these instruments facilitate awareness of key environmental issues in Lesotho, facilitate policy implementation and influence decision making is what this paper tries to reveal.     

Building Trust in Natural Resource Management Within Local Communities: A Case Study of the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie

Communities neighboring federally protected natural areas regularly weigh the costs and benefits of the administering agency’s programs and policies. While most agencies integrate public opinion into decision making, efforts to standardize and formalize public involvement have left many local communities feeling marginalized, spurring acrimony and opposition. A significant body of research has examined barriers to effective public participation as well as strategies for relationship building in planning processes; many of which point to trust as a key factor. Trust is especially tenuous in local communities. This paper explores perceptions of trust, expectations for management, as well as constraints to building trust. In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 community members and USDA Forest Service personnel at the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in northeastern Illinois. The interviews revealed that trust is perceived as important to effective management. Distinct expectations for management outcomes and processes emerged, including the values, knowledge, and capacity demonstrated in management decisions and actions and opportunities provided for communication, collaboration, and cooperation within the agency-community relationship. The case study identified several constraints to building trust, including competing values, knowledge gaps, limited community engagement, and staff turnover.     

MAKING SMARTER ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT DECISIONS1

ABSTRACT: This paper outlines a sound, practical approach for making more informed decisions about environmental policy choices. It emphasizes the importance of using a structured decision process to specify and organize values, use these values to create alternatives, and assess tradeoffs to help achieve a desired balance across key objectives. Although these decision making steps are based on common sense, they are often neglected or poorly carried out as part of the complex evaluations of natural resource options. We discuss several reasons for this frequent neglect of decision making principles and provide examples from recent water use planning projects to demonstrate some of the benefits of using a structured, decision focused approach: new and better solutions, increased and more productive participation by stakeholders, and greater defensibility and acceptance of the resource management evaluation process and its conclusions.     

基于陆海统筹的海洋生态环境管理体系研究

经过近60年的探索和实践,我国海洋生态环境管理机制体制不断完善,海洋生态环境综合管理能力显著提升。本文立足我国海洋生态环境管理现状,重点从强化制度约束性、机制协同性和政策指导性等角度分析了存在的主要问题,阐述了陆海统筹的海洋生态环境管理体系框架,并提出了构建以生物多样性保护为核心的海洋生态环境管理分区、建立以氮磷污染物为重点的陆海协同排放管控制度、完善以监测评估为核心的海洋生态监管制度、建立以入海河流和海湾为重点的区域联防联控机制和完善以海洋生态补偿和赔偿为核心的财政政策等重点任务,可为建立陆海统筹的生态环境治理制度提供参考。     

THE (POLITICAL) SCIENCE OF WATERSHED MANAGEMENT IN THE ECOSYSTEM AGE1

ABSTRACT: Ecosystem management has become an important unifying theme for environmental policy in the past decade. Whereas the science of ecosystem dynamics suggests that it will remain difficult to define ecosystem borders and all of the natural and anthropogenic effects that influence them, the politics of ecosystem management require that a national ecosystem delineation standard be adopted. Moreover, a political framework for ecosystem management decision making must be designed in such a way as to complement the hierarchical, interrelated nature of ecosystems generally. This paper advocates that a watershed-based ecosystem delineation standard is the most politically suitable because it will be easily understood by the public and watersheds have a long history as a medium of environmental policy. The paper then proposes that the political framework for watershed-based ecosystem management must depend heavily on state and local autonomy, subject to federally prescribed standards and goals. The Coastal Zone Management Act provides a model for how a national ecosystem management policy can work within state and local watershed cultures and economies.     

Should I stay or should I go? An experimental study of health and economic government policies following a severe biological agent release

Extensive research has explored policy challenges associated with preparing and responding to a large-scale biological release. A key component in recovery strategy development that has received less attention is the understanding of government policy influence on the impacted populations’ migratory decisions. This study experimentally manipulates health and economic government policies during response and recovery to assess the extent to which public migration is contingent on the level of government intervention. Set immediately following a large-scale anthrax release in San Francisco, we use a five episode video scenario to describe details about the environmental impacts of the disaster, emergency response procedures, and clean-up operations. Within these video segments, the extent of government involvement in economic and health risk policies is manipulated. Using these manipulations as predictors, we track how varying levels of government risk signals influence migration behavior at three distinct decision points during disaster recovery. In addition, two belief scales and two scales of emotion (affect) are included as predictors to explore the potential for their mediating role in explaining intentions to migrate. We find that the decision to migrate is highly context-sensitive, with each decision point showing a unique combination of significant predictors influencing decision making. At 19 days following the anthrax release, the health risk policy manipulation has both a direct and indirect effect on migration behavior. At 3 months, the influence of the health risk policy manipulation is mediated by beliefs, and at 1 year, only indirect effects associated with affect and beliefs influence migration.