The development and application of water management sustainability indicators in Brazil and Scotland

This paper reports the formulation and application of a framework of catchment-level water resource management indicators designed to integrate environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainability. The framework of nine indicators was applied to the River Dee and River Sinos catchments in Scotland and Brazil, respectively, following an indicator selection process that involved inputs from water management professionals in both countries, and a pilot exercise in Scotland. The framework was found to capture a number of key sustainability concerns, and was broadly welcomed by water resource managers and experts as a means of better understanding sustainable water resource management. Issues relating to poor water quality and public water supply were particularly prominent in the findings for the Sinos, while findings for the Dee suggested that more attention might be focused on building institutional capacity and public participation in catchment management. The use of some proxy indicators was required in both catchments due to poor data availability, and this problem may hinder the further development of indicator frameworks that attempt to better integrate environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainability.     

A comprehensive set of resource use indicators from the micro to the macro level

Many of today's most urgent environmental problems arise from increasing volumes of worldwide production and consumption and the associated use of natural resources, including renewable and non-renewable raw materials, energy, water and land. Solid indicators to measure different dimensions of anthropogenic resource use are essential for designing appropriate policy measures for a sustainable management of these resources. Based on a brief review of the current state of the art of resource use indicators, this paper suggests a new set of complementary resource use indicators, combining existing measures for resource use. The suggested indicator set covers the core resource input categories of materials, water and land area and includes the output category of greenhouse gas emissions. This set can be applied consistently from the micro level of products and companies up to the macro level of countries and world regions. All suggested indicators take a life-cycle wide perspective on production and consumption activities. This set of indicators deals with the issue of the overall scale of the human production and consumption system. It can be regarded as the general indicator framework, based on which more specific indicators, for example, on different environmental impacts related to natural resource use, can be calculated.     

Applying a TQM framework to the public policy process: Part I—the framework

In Part I of this article, a TQM framework is described that can be used to analyze as well as manage the public policy process. Key elements of the framework include leadership, issues analysis, goal and policy development, strategic vehicles, implementation, indicators and outcomes, and stakeholder review. The framework can be used to analyze public policy cycles, predict future issues and outcomes, and develop more sustainable approaches to manage linked economic, environmental, and societal issues. In Part II, the framework is used to examine the effectiveness of management of environmental issues in the Great Lakes region over the past three decades and to demonstrate the need for a more integrated approach to regional management.     

Evaluating sustainable forest management strategies with the Analytic Network Process in a Pressure-State-Response framework

Nowadays forestry faces a complex management situation; the understanding of sustainable forest management (SFM) has gone far beyond the original meaning of sustainable yield of timber. SFM strategies should fulfil ecological, economic and social functions without causing damage to other ecosystems. In this understanding, forest management actions cannot be seen as isolated or mono-causal. In this case study, indicators for SFM are arranged in a Pressure-State-Response (PSR) framework at forest management unit level. This framework links pressures on the environment caused by human activities with changes of environmental state (condition) parameters. Forest management also responds to these changes by instituting environmental and economic measures to reduce pressures and restore natural resources. The Analytic Network Process (ANP) is utilized to evaluate the performance of four management strategies with regard to the PSR framework on SFM. Priorities of indicators and alternatives are modelled with the ANP resulting from the interconnections to other indicators and their respective cumulative importance. The approach allows for more detailed information on the network of human influences and their impacts on forest ecosystems and goes beyond the limitations of flat-dimensioned indicator sets.     

Urban Environmental Management in Shanghai: Achievements, Problems, and Prospects

This article critically reviews the evolution of urban environmental management in Shanghai since 1978. Established in a transitional postsocialist economy and shaped by a spectacular urban redevelopment process, the current environmental management framework of Shanghai has succeeded in mitigating major industrial pollution and improving urban amenities with unprecedented pace and magnitude. However, it generally failed to take social equity and environmental justice issues into consideration. Based on Haughton’s models of sustainable urban development, this article proposes four priorities and five principles within the framework of a fair shares cities model for the future environmental management of Shanghai and briefly discusses their policy implications and implementation issues. The authors argue that Haughton’s approach is relevant to Shanghai’s case because the essence of his argument—the multidimensional equity principles—is the core of the concept of sustainable development.     

Approaches to integrated water resource development and management

In southern Africa institutional capacity in the water sector is severely limited by diminishing regular budget and external assistance allocations. The result has been an overall decline in operational water resource management. This is ironic given the international community's current concern with 'integrated' or 'comprehensive' water resources management. Often, so-called integrated attempts at river basin planning and development have been conceived within the framework of a river basin authority or regional master plans. Such large-scale attempts have not necessarily been compatible either with the national capacity in water resources management or the existing institutional and legislative frameworks. In many cases the actual integration of a basin's physical resources and social, economic and environmental demands is poorly executed. To examine a way forward in resolving what is clearly an unsustainable state of affairs, a diagnostic study of the Kafue Basin, Zambia, was carried out in order to identify a set of water resource management options for a basin currently under stress. A physical framework for the Kafue Basin was established and principal subcatchments and hydro-geological subsystems identified. Current water resource issues in the basin are discussed and a multiobjective approach is proposed to allow intersectoral competition for the basin's limited water resources to be reconciled.     

DPSIR模型在西北水资源可持续利用评价中的应用

水作为人类生存和经济发展的生命线,已成为制约西部经济社会发展及生态环境改善的主要因素。为实现西部经济可持续发展,针对当前西北地区水资源利用中出现的问题,建立了基于“驱动力-压力-状态-影响-响应”模型的西北地区水资源可持续利用综合评价指标体系。同时采用熵值法。结合2004年西北五省相关评价指标值对该指标体系进行综合评价。评价结果表明,人均水资源量、水资源开发利用率、农业用水效率等十个指标为影响西北水资源可持续利用的关键因素。其中,新疆在五省区中可持续利用综合水平最高。宁夏最低。     

Using environmental accounts to promote sustainable development: Experience in southern Africa

Environmental accounts bring together economic and environmental information in a common framework to measure the contribution of the environment to the economy and the impact of the economy on the environment. They enable governments to set priorities, monitor economic policies more precisely, enact more effective environmental regulations and resource management strategies, and design more efficient market instruments for environmental policies. This article uses examples from the regional environmental accounting programme in southern Africa to demonstrate the usefulness of environmental accounts to policy-making and natural resource management. The examples address the contribution of natural capital endowments (minerals and fisheries) to sustainable development in Botswana and Namibia; the economic importance of non-market forest goods and services in South Africa; and the socio-economic impact of current water allocation and pricing policies in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. While there are many additional policy applications, these few provide a powerful argument for the use of environmental accounts in all countries.     

Mining and sustainable development: considerations for minerals supply

Sustainable development involves meeting the needs of human societies while maintaining viable biological and physical Earth systems. The needs include minerals: metals, fuels, industrial and construction materials. There will continue to be considerable demand for virgin mineral resources, even if levels of recycling and efficiency of use are optimal, and rates of population growth and globalisation decrease significantly. This article aims to stimulate debate on strategic issues for minerals supply. While the world has considerable stocks of mineral resources overall, international considerations of the environmental and social aspects of sustainable development are beginning to result in limitations on where mining will be conducted and what types of deposits will be mined. Current and emerging trends favour large mines in parts of the world where mining can be conducted within acceptable limits of environmental and social impact. Finding new deposits that meet such criteria will be all the more challenging given a disturbing global decline in the rate of discovery of major economic resources over the last decade, and the decreasing land area available for exploration and mining.
To attract responsible exploration and mining, governments of mining nations will need to provide: regional-scale geo-scientific datasets as required to attract and guide future generations of exploration; resource access through multiple and sequential land use regimes, and frameworks for dealing with indigenous peoples' issues; and arrangements for consideration of mining proposals and regulation of mines that ensure responsible management of environmental and social issues.
The minerals industry will need to continue to pursue advances in technologies for exploration, mining, processing, waste management and rehabilitation, and in public reporting of environmental and social performance.     

基于 SEEA 的自然资源资产核算指标的国际比较

本文从实物型、价值型自然资源资产账户及自然资源资产流量账户三方面对参照环境经济综合核算体系(SEEA)开展自然资源和环境经济核算的海外典型国家的核算指标进行比较分析,为编制我国自然资源资产核算框架提供参考借鉴。从五个典型国家的实践上看,各国的自然资源资产核算体系趋向与国民经济核算相对接;核算资源类别注重资源对社会经济的贡献度、资源数据可获得性以及资源核算的难易程度;核算账户及指标设置突出统计的实现,缺乏核算分析。基于此,本文提出,我国在开展自然资源资产核算时可借鉴国民经济核算的做法及已出台的各类资源分类标准,编制分类与综合资源核算账户、全国与地区专项资源核算账户;突出设置资源变化类指标,注重核算资源的流;探索编制自然资源资产生态账户,考虑实现资源核算指标与负债表指标的衔接,为自然资源资产负债表编制提供信息。     

Multicriteria Evaluation of Water Resources Sustainability in the Context of Watershed Management1

Kang, Min‐Goo and Gwang‐Man Lee, 2011. Multicriteria Evaluation of Water Resources Sustainability in the Context of Watershed Management. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(4):813‐827. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2011.00559.x Abstract: To evaluate water resources sustainability at the watershed scale within a river basin’s context, the Water Resources Sustainability Evaluation Model is developed. The model employs 4 criteria (economic efficiency, social equity, environmental conservation, and maintenance capacity) and has 16 indicators, integrating them using their relative weights. The model is applied to evaluate the water resources sustainability of watersheds in the Geum River basin, South Korea. A geographic information system is employed to efficiently build a database for the indicators, and the values of the indicators are normalized using the probability distribution functions fitted to the datasets of the indicators. The evaluation results show that, overall, the water resources sustainability of the watersheds in the upper basin is better than other areas due to the good environmental conditions and the dam management policies of South Korea. The analysis of the correlations among the model’s components and the comparison between the results of the model and the Water Poverty Index show that the model can provide reasonable evaluation results for the water resources sustainability of watersheds. Consequently, it is concluded that the model can be an effective tool for evaluating the states of water resource management from the perspective of sustainable development and provide a basis on which to create policies for improving any inadequacies in watersheds.     

Multi-Criteria Assessment of Tensions in Resource Use at Continental Scale: A Proof of Concept with Australian Rangelands

The purpose of this study was to help to inform policy development for the Australian rangelands, and provide a proof of concept for application of a multi-criteria analysis approach to assessment of competing resource use at continental scale. The study aimed to identify and locate key natural resource and agricultural production assets in the rangelands, define a number of measures of potentially threatening processes, and use a multi-criteria approach to identify areas where threatening processes, agricultural production problems, or valuable natural resources coincided. The analysis used 35 readily available, continental spatial data layers at 5-km pixel resolution ranked from 1 (low) to 5 (high) under three themed groupings: natural resource base, production base, and threatening processes. These measures were aggregated into composite indicators to define attributes such as environmental sensitivity and total grazing pressure. The composites were then compared in a two-way analysis to explore particular interactions between threatening processes such as pastoralism and mining, and the condition of production and natural resource assets. These interactions were defined as “tensions” for purposes of this analysis. Example “tensions” included the association of high grazing intensity with areas of high environmental sensitivity, indicating a risk of land degradation under adverse climatic conditions. A summary of patterns of tension was obtained by extracting area proportions of high-tension classes for selected Natural Heritage Trust Regions, which are a basis for Australian Government funding of improved environmental management. The study provides a basis for further examination of trade-offs in the use of natural assets, opportunities for improved productivity and sustainability, and social and economic implications.     

Comparative capitalism and sustainable development: Stakeholder capitalism and co-management in the Kenyan fisheries sub sector

This paper argues that stakeholder capitalism is more appropriate to natural resource management and rural development in Africa than other varieties of capitalism. It examines different management arrangements in Kenyan Lake Victoria fisheries resources to argue that whilst stakeholder capitalism is still far from being the mainstream model of capitalism in Kenya, theoretically and empirically, it is more appropriate to sustainable development than the Anglo‐Saxon variety of capitalism that the country inherited from its British colonizers. The paper demonstrates that the concepts of ownership and management rights are social, economic and political constructs that are continuously contested, with huge implications for sustainable development and natural resource management.     

When sustainable may not mean just: a critical interpretation of urban water consumption decline in Barcelona

In this paper, we document and analyse the recent decline (2007–2013) in domestic water consumption in Barcelona. The postulates of ecological modernisation and market environmentalism celebrate these declines as an example of sustainable development, thanks to the combination of more efficient technologies and economic incentives. However, these interpretations ignore the new framework of social relations introduced by technologies and markets and take environmental improvements as homogeneous and universal regardless of distributional issues. Therefore, it would be perfectly possible to achieve optimal environmental situations in the context of deteriorating social conditions, particularly in terms of access to basic resources by the most disadvantaged. We explored the relationships between declining domestic water consumption and the uneven impact of the economic crisis on Barcelona’s urban geography. We found that the alleged increase in environmental sustainability that follows decline in resource use translates into highly uneven social impacts in terms of both accessibility and consumption. These results show that water flows have profound political dimensions and that water justice in terms of distributional costs and benefits but also in terms of recognition and participation of the less well-off should be a fundamental component of future urban water policies in this area.     

区域生态环境预警的原理与方法

本文提出了以区域持续发展的能力作为区域生态环境预警的综合指标,进一步用承载力、稳定性、缓冲力、生产力和调控力作为衡量区域持续发展的能力。选取生态、环境和社会经济指标对区域生态环境质量进行评价,以及对经济发展的协调性和适应性进行分析,作出判断和预警,并讨论了区域生态环境预警的综合方法。     

Using Newspaper Coverage Analysis to Evaluate Public Perception of Management in River-Floodplain Systems

Traditional natural resource management approaches often focus on a specific natural resource and ignore social components other than economic value. In contrast, new approaches to resource management, such as those employing ecosystem management strategies, recognize and strive to incorporate other social components of the managed system. This study uses a content analysis of regional newspaper coverage of two relatively new reserves in river-floodplain systems, the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway and the Middle Elbe Biosphere Reserve, to analyze each reserve’s success in managing the social components of its resources during each reserve’s first ten years. The results suggest that positive coverage of both reserves has increased, as has the perceived authority of the reserve staff, as measured by trends in the quantity of direct quotes. The Middle Elbe Biosphere Reserve received approximately three times more coverage than its Wisconsin counterpart, suggesting that the more extensive public outreach program of the former is an important tool in dealing with social issues within a conservation reserve.     

Community Capacity for Implementing Clean Development Mechanism Projects Within Community Forests in Cameroon

There is a growing assumption that payments for environmental services including carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emission reduction provide an opportunity for poverty reduction and the enhancement of sustainable development within integrated natural resource management approaches. Yet in experiential terms, community-based natural resource management implementation falls short of expectations in many cases. In this paper, we investigate the asymmetry between community capacity and the Land Use Land Use Change Forestry (LULUCF) provisions of the Clean Development Mechanism within community forests in Cameroon. We use relevant aspects of the Clean Development Mechanism criteria and notions of “community capacity” to elucidate determinants of community capacity needed for CDM implementation within community forests. The main requirements are for community capacity to handle issues of additionality, acceptability, externalities, certification, and community organisation. These community capacity requirements are further used to interpret empirically derived insights on two community forestry cases in Cameroon. While local variations were observed for capacity requirements in each case, community capacity was generally found to be insufficient for meaningful uptake and implementation of Clean Development Mechanism projects. Implications for understanding factors that could inhibit or enhance community capacity for project development are discussed. We also include recommendations for the wider Clean Development Mechanism/Kyoto capacity building framework.     

A Decision Support Framework for Environmental Planning in Developing Countries

This paper presents a decision support framework for environmental planning in developing countries. The interest in protecting the natural environment from pollution gained increased importance in the 1990s with a push by world communities for sustainable development. Developing countries as well as the industrialized nations are expected to cut down on pollution and control the use of non-renewable natural resources. Although the concept of sustainable development sounds plausible, it is difficult to implement in many countries due to their conflicting goals. The world-wide targets on emissions, use of fossil fuels, reduction in water and atmospheric pollution require the participation of every nation. These goals are not easily achievable by some of the poorer developing countries partly because of their economic dependence on natural resources and partly because of their inability to afford more modern and efficient technologies. Thus, environmental planning goals are often in conflict with the development,social and economic needs of a country. In this paper, we develop a decision support framework that utilizes multicriteria and optimization models to address environmental planning problems. This framework is based on identifying the priorities of conflicting goals by working through and reducing the conflicts. A strategic planning framework is introduced into the decision support system since national planning is a strategic issue and these goals can only be achieved by adopting a systemic view.     

Assessing the social impacts of extensive resource use activities

Extensive forms of resource use are rarely subject to detailed environmental and social assessment. This paper outlines a potential methodology for assessment of the social impacts of extensive resource use activities based on the Pressure-State-Impact-Response (PSIR) model of integrated indicator development. It then tests this methodology through a case study of changed water flow regimes in Central Queensland's Fitzroy River catchment. While resource degradation associated with interruptions to flow was expected to force all resource users to face higher costs and greater uncertainty, negative social impacts were particularly concentrated among vulnerable groups and downstream industries. Extension of the PSIR framework and methodology proved useful in linking social and biophysical research and would thus appear to offer some potential as a model for incorporating social concerns within natural resource decision making.