RATES,RIGHTS, AND REGIONAL PLANNING IN THE METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA1

ABSTRACT: The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has for more than 70 years shaped the development of an immense urban region. The district's current strategic planning process therefore could have substantial effects on regional water planning and management. The rate restructuring phase of the planning process has produced a multiple component, cost of service based framework. This paper describes that framework as well as some criticisms that have been directed toward it. The rate restructuring was shaped, and for a while stalled, by old disputes among member agencies over rights to water supplied by Metropolitan. That controversy has diverted attention from the resource management implications of the rate structure. This paper presents an alternative future focused approach to regional integrated water resource planning for Southern California based on projections of current trends and anticipation of future events. This discussion raises the question of how regional integrated water resources planning of this sort may proceed, and what role Metropolitan will play in that process.     

Forest service experience with interdisciplinary teams developing integrated resource management plans

The National Forest Management Act and National Environmental Policy Act require the use of an interdisciplinary team (ID team) to do integrated resource planning for the National Forests and the concurrent environmental analysis. A survey sent to all National Forest planning officers (82% response) reveals the composition of the ID teams used in integrated resource and land management planning. More than half the National Forests ID teams met NEPA and NFMA compositional requirements. National Forest planners recount their experiences with these ID teams. Despite frustrations with many aspects of the ID teams, the planners strongly support the idea that ID teams are an important part of the land-use planning process and think that their use leads to better National Forest integrated resource plans.     

Integrated Resource Management: Moving from Rhetoric to Practice in Australian Agriculture

/ Implementing the concept of sustainability through integrated approaches to natural resource management poses enormous challenges for both the rural communities and government agencies concerned. This paper reviews the underlying rhetoric of sustainable agricultural systems and the integrated resource management paradigm and identifies some of the challenges being experienced in translating this rhetoric into practice. A relatively recently implemented community-based integrated catchment management (ICM) process in a rural community in northeast Australia is examined in terms of some of the lessons learned that may be relevant to other similar integrated resource management (IRM) processes. It reveals a pragmatic, opportunistic, and evolving implementation process based on adaptive learning rather than a more traditional "rational" planning approach. Some essential characteristics of a community-based IRM process are identified, including fostering communication; providing a structure that fosters cooperation and facilities coordination among community, industry, and government agencies; the integration of IRM principles into local government planning schemes; and an emergent strategic approach to IRM program implementation. We conclude by identifying some essential characteristics of an IRM process that can assist a community to adapt to, and manage change for, sustainable resource use.     

The Use of Geographic Information Systems for Resource Evaluation: A New Zealand Example

Over the last decade, New Zealand has implemented innovative reforms in respect of natural resource and environmental management. These include the Resource ManagementAct 1991 (RMA), a notable feature of which is the adoption of 'sustainable management' as the key principle guiding resource allocation and use. This and other features of the new administrative context for resource management strongly suggest a prominent role for geographicinformation systems (GIS) and related spatial information technology. In this paper we present an outline of the Regional Resource Evaluation Project (RREP), a project that has been established to explore and demonstrate the capabilities of GIS and related spatial information technology in the context of resource analysis and decision making. To date, the RREP has achieved important outcomes in terms of database design and development. An extensive information base which incorporates data on the physical and natural environment, patterns of human activity, and on social and demographic characteristics has been assembled. We describe the information systems, as well as some of the technical issues that attend to database design and development.We also provide brief reviews of two applications of the GIS to resource evaluation. One relates to the evaluation of changes in regional land use, with a focus on natural habitats. The other is concerned with land suitability assessment for plantation forestry.     

GIS噪声环境监测与管理

环境噪声是评价城市环境质量的一个重要指标,但噪声污染与水污染、大气污染不同,不能通过"资源化"、"化害为利"等方式来治理,因而要解决噪声污染就必须准确地获取环境噪声信息,并对其影响进行科学评价,以及时进行噪声治理决策规划和管理。本文探讨了GIS在噪声环境监测与管理中的应用。     

基于ASP．NET与ArcServer的水资源GIS研究设计

目前水资源已经成为我国实施可持续发展战略的一个重要方面,建立对水资源进行有效的监测、模拟、分析和评价的地理信息系统已愈发重要。本文从系统研发角度,阐述系统的设计,依托Web技术,将各种水资源信息及空间数据发布在Internet上,采用了ArcServer开发模式,并结合ASP．NET技术,解决了传统WEBGIS开发上的一些缺陷。用户通过使用该系统,可以方便的对任意空间信息和属性信息进行查询、分析和浏览,充分满足了水资源信息管理的需求。     

Towards Participatory Geographic Information Systems for community-based environmental decision making

This article discusses the potential of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to become an information technology enabling groups of people to participate in decisions shaping their communities and promoting sustainable use of natural resources. It explains the concept of participation in the context of planning and decision making. In this context Participatory GIS (PGIS) offers tools that can be used to help the public become meaningfully involved in decision making processes affecting their communities. Following an overview of research on PGIS and its current status the article presents two recent studies of PGIS in water resource planning; one involving the use of computer generated maps representing simple information structures and the other involving the use of more sophisticated information tools. The synthesis of both studies provides the bases for discussing the prospects of PGIS to empower citizens in making decisions about their communities and resources.     

GIS-based urban sustainability assessment: The case of Dammam city, Saudi Arabia

This paper applies an integrated approach to assessing urban sustainability in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia. The approach, based on geographic information systems (GIS), involves the evaluation of the planning process, the master plan and the land use activities resulting from planning. It concludes that some aspects of sustainability are not addressed by the planning process and the plan document. The planning process and the plan document addressed economic sustainability issues more than social and environmental issues. The result of the GIS-based sustainability assessment of the study area produces similar findings. The paper develops a sustainable planning guidance and makes some recommendations based on the findings.     

GIS, modeling, and politics: on the tensions of collaborative decision support

A tension exists at the heart of efforts to support collaboration with GIS. Many scholars and practitioners seek to support two separate objectives: (1) problem solving and (2) the exploration of diverse problem understandings. GIS applications designed for problem solving often pre-define the problem space by structuring the kind of information that can be considered or the way in which the problem is conceptualized. In doing so, they necessarily privilege particular perspectives and understandings of the problem while marginalizing others. As a result, these initiatives undermine their second objective. This is problematic in the context of contentious environmental decisions which have broad-reaching impacts on people with diverse perspectives and interests. In such contexts, I argue that equitable collaboration is impossible without first emphasizing the exploration of diverse problem understandings. I support this argument theoretically by turning to the literatures on collaborative planning and spatial decision support, and empirically in my analysis of a case study of an effort to construct a GIS for supporting collaborative water resource management in rural Idaho. Reflecting upon the case, I provide a set of recommendations to those seeking to better negotiate the tensions of supporting collaboration with GIS in the context of contentious environmental and natural resource decisions.     

Facilitating Integrated Resource and Environmental Management: Australian and Canadian Perspectives

It is widely believed that improved resource and environmental management outcomes would occur if those responsible took a longer term view, considered whole systems rather than their components in isolation, and co-ordinated and integrated their activities with each other. There has been substantial action in many countries to achieve these ideals but with mixed success. Why has it not been possible to have a more co-ordinated and integrated approach to resource and environmental management (IREM)? We briefly review various conceptual issues regarding the purpose and character of IREM. The core of the paper is analysis of the factors contributing to success or failure, including the requirement that IREM, in practice, must be based on a careful analysis of the need and scope for integration in a given context, the significance of leadership, information access, and the links with other planning and management activities. Obstacles arising from these and other shortcomings, including the focus regarding what IREM involves, bureaucratic resistance, adverse financial arrangements and property rights problems, are also discussed. The paper concludes with five recommendations as to how to enhance integrated resource and environmental management dealing with need, scope and context, best management practice, information accessibility and integration, financial arrangements,and strengthening local and regional planning capacity.     

Sustainable Management for the Eastern Mediterranean Coast of Turkey

The objective of this article is to propose a program for the integrated coastal zone management that is required to stimulate and guide sustainable development of the Mediterranean coastal zone of Turkey. Improved data collection, quality control, analysis, and data management will provide a firm basis for future scientific understanding of the East Mediterranean coast of Turkey and will support long-term management. Various innovative procedures were proposed for a promising ecosystem-based approach to manage coastal wetlands in the Mediterranean: remote data acquisition with new technologies; environmental quality monitoring program that will provide a baseline for monitoring; linking a Geographic Information System (GIS) with natural resource management decision routines in the context of operational wetlands, fisheries, tourism management system; environmental sensitivity analysis to ensure that permitted developments are environmentally sustainable; and use of natural species to restore the wetlands and coastal dunes and sustain the system processes. The proposed management scheme will benefit the scientific community in the Mediterranean and the management/planning community in Eastern Turkey.     

决策支持系统应用于城市环境管理

南宁市环境决策支持系统集环境管理办公自动化、环境管理系统(MIS)、环境地理信息系统(GIS)、多媒体环境管理信息应用和环境管理信息辅助决策等多功能一体集成的综合性环境信息系统，为南宁市环境管理、经济发展决策提供环境信息支撑与服务。     

Integrated resource assessment and sustainable land use

Decision makers and planners in resource sectors recognize, at least in theory, the multiple uses of land, reflecting possible choices and options for society, and the need to evaluate the economic, social, and environmental implications of these choices. As such, the need for integrated resource management is now widely accepted in resource planning. This article contributes to the understanding of sustainable resource development through a specific case study. An integrated analytical system is developed and applied to the Peace River Region, British Columbia, Canada, to examine the impacts of a wide range of land-use options and policies upon the achievement of multiple resource use goals. The results indicate that an integrated approach in land resource analysis is not only possible but a necessary step in the move to develop procedures for assisting public decision makers in integrating the diverse functions of the land resource base and to revise demands or develop alternative strategies in order to move society closer to sustainable outcomes.     

Integrating social preference in GIS-aided planning for forestry and conservation activities: a case study from rural SE Asia

Land-use planning using geographic information systems (GIS) commonly emphasizes biophysical spatial data; however planning can be improved by integrating spatial sets of socioeconomic data into the GIS. As an example, we compared a traditional GIS-aided forestry planning protocol that considered only biophysical suitability, with an integrated GIS-aided approach that incorporated both biophysical and socioeconomic suitability. The analyses were conducted for the planning of plantation investments in the Kyaukpadaung Township in the dry zone of central Myanmar. The traditional approach used three biophysical layers for suitability: land use, slope, and accessibility. In contrast, the integrated GIS approach included biophysical suitability data, perceptions and preferences of local villagers towards forestry (social suitability), and quantitative socioeconomic data. The results indicated that the integrated approach provided two principal benefits over the traditional method. First, the integrated method resulted in a more precise idea of suitable sites for plantation investment that could benefit more rural people and also lead to greater investment efficiency. Second, incorporating social preference into the GIS takes into account the crucial element of social capital (viz., social preference), which should lead to higher levels of community acceptance of plantation projects because those plantations would be established on socially suitable land. A second GIS exercise showed how conservation investment decisions could be informed using the integrated method. The results of this study support the idea that GIS-aided planning activities can be enhanced through the incorporation of social data into the analysis. When applicable, spatial data collection efforts for GIS-based planning exercises should incorporate spatial socioeconomic data.     

Sustainable Development and Structure Plans in England and Wales: Operationalizing the Themes and Principles

This paper explores attempts to operationalize some themes and principles of sustainable developmentin five UK structure plans which performed best in an overview of current practice (Counsell, 1998). Following a summary of literature, the approaches to sustainable development in the five plans-Avon, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, and West Sussex-are described. The plans are then used to explore the operationalization of a range of resource protection (environmental capacity, environmental capital and the precautionary principle) and socio-economic (social equity, policy integration and participation) themes. It is concluded that the planning system probably provides greater scope for accommodating the resource protection than the socio-economic themes, which are likely to present a considerable challenge in making sustainable development operational in planning.     

INTERACTIVE DISTRIBUTED CONSERVATION PLANNING1

ABSTRACT: In the environmental and agricultural conservation planning process, more efficient and effective tools are needed for planners to assist private landowners with making wiser land use decisions. Current methods are slow, inefficient, and costly. Scientific techniques have not been fully implemented within the planning process, yet such plans are increasingly needed to meet water quality and Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requirements. The objectives of this study are to (a) utilize the web for accessing an integrated science‐based land use decision support system; (b) link decision tools, models, and databases to the user via the web; (c) link distributed models and databases for enhanced planning efficiency; and (d) integrate the above into an easily usable and readily accessible system. The procedures resulting in the initial design involved planning expertise and focus groups' input. The system was developed in partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and several state agencies. A survey of 150 certified conservation planners, the end users, was conducted to identify the data sets and planning tools needed. Data, tools, and models then were selected and integrated into a web accessible system. Specifically, the first generation used a web interactive Geographic Information System (GIS) that overlaid onto digital orthoquads and/or soils polygons field boundaries, transportation, hydrologic features (such as drains, rivers, lakes, etc.), and high pesticide risk runoff or infiltration areas. Conservation planners found they could save time with the system. Clients could access the system quickly to help them prepare for meeting with their planner. Previously acquiring GIS maps in some cases had been a lengthy process that limited use of the information in land use decisions.     

Striking the Balance Between Environment and Economy in Coastal North Carolina

A fundamental purpose of intergovernmental growth management has been to infuse regional concerns—especially regional environmental and economic development concerns—into local land use planning. This paper presents results from a study of state-mandated local planning in coastal North Carolina during the mid-1990s, addressing in particular local efforts to ‘strike a balance’ between environment and economy as required by the state's planning mandate. While acknowledging the need for coastal resource protection, coastal localities were not striking a balance between environment and economy through their planning efforts beyond stating support for the State's minimum resource protection rules. Within this context, key factors yielding less environmentally focused local planning included both local elected officials' concerns about the need for economic development for jobs and their belief that environmental protection was not a local problem. Factors that tended to shift local planning back toward environmental protection included local officials' perception that the local economy was in good shape and heightened citizen engagement.     

Application of the DPSIR framework to environmental degradation assessment in northern Ghana

In many communities in northern Ghana, the environment has been altered by complex natural and human driven forces with significant impact on the lives of their inhabitants. The need to formulate an improved, holistic and consistent methodological approach to assess the problem is critical for sustainable natural resource management. This paper examines the potential of the DPSIR environmental assessment framework utilizing GIS‐based participatory methodology in the assessment of environmental degradation in northern Ghana. Community truthing tools such as key informant interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation and participatory Geographical Information Systems (GIS) were employed as a means of soliciting societal responses integrated to conventional GIS spatial analysis to measure the indicators of the Driving force–Pressure–State–Impacts–Response (DPSIR) assessment framework. Post classification GIS imagery results show a marked natural vegetation decrease of 634 km2 (42%) of the study area with a corresponding increase of 600 km² (39%) of grasses and built‐up and barren environment in the period of 14 years from 1990 to 2004. This is attributed to extreme climatic conditions and human driven causes such as poverty, population growth, migration and land tenure system. Poverty reduction strategies, amendment of the Mining and Mineral Law (PNDC law 153), improvement of the existing land tenure system and the control of migrants and Fulani herdsmen from neighbouring Burkina Faso were some of the solutions selected by the research participants, to be emphasized in the National Environmental Action Plan (EPA Act 490). This paper concludes that the DPSIR environmental assessment framework is an effective means of organizing complex environmental information to facilitate policy decision making.     

噪声地图及其在城市规划中的应用

噪声地图是由道路交通噪声、铁路噪声、工业噪声和机场噪声等对城市地图上每个接收点的叠加噪声值拟合图像绘制而成。它为城市规划、城市环境噪声管理提供了依据,也是检验噪声污染防治技术措施和规划控制措施有效性的重要手段。随着信息化程度的日益提高,应该加强GIS等具有空间分析功能的技术系统与噪声预测模型的结合,建立符合我国实际情况的通用模型,使噪声地图发挥更准确的决策作用。     

ECO-ENGINEERING-THE CHALLENGE OF RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT1

It is presumed that the present environmental thrust is not a wholly transitory fad; that there will be a residual impact on American society which will demand greater consideration in the future of ecological and environmental values by resource developers and public works agencies. An example is cited to show the validity of the environmental thrust and the severe consequences of ignoring it under the present emphasis on this aspect of resource development. An attempt is made to understand some of the reasons for the dramatic change in public attitude toward the environment and opposition to projects of apparent benefit to society. It is suggested that basic changes in philosophy and concept will be necessary in the field of resource development. Some broad ecological and developmental guidelines are provided in the interest of implementing environmental considerations. Finally, those involved in resource development and public works are challenged to accept the concept of eco-engineering; a concept combining the competing elements of resource development and conservation.