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.     

TURBULENCE IN MIRAMICHI BAY: THE BURNT CHURCH CONFLICT OVER NATIVE FISHING RIGHTS1

Abstract: A systematic technique is proposed for assisting in the design and implementation of policy and addressing the need to minimize or resolve disputes that may arise in the enforcement of regulations. The Graph Model for Conflict Resolution is a methodology that facilitates the modeling and analysis of interactive multiple participant-multiple objective decision problems. In the problems considered here, decision makers and policy planners engaged in capacity building typically have different viewpoints over appropriate ways of developing options and enforcing policy choices. Incompatible understandings of resource potentials and limits, and disparities in utilization of these resources, exasperate stakeholders and make the capacity building process counterproductive and even conducive to conflict. A systematic conflict resolution technique is invaluable to policy makers and practitioners in defusing confrontations and reaching out for consensus among participants. In support of current approaches to policy planning and regulation, the Graph Model provides accurate predictions and strategic insights into shortand long-term opportunities in multiple participant-multiple objective decision situations. A conflict among the government of Canada, the Mi'kmaq First Nation, and commercial fishermen over the sharing of a natural resource in New Brunswick, Canada, is used to illustrate the advantages of this technique in practical problems.     

Clarifying relationships between participatory approaches,issues, processes,and results,through crosscutting case analysis in Japan’s environmental,energy, and food policy areas

Participatory public engagement approaches such as Consensus Conferences, Deliberative Polling^®, and Planning Cells have been used to try and resolve environmental disputes in Japan; however, the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches have not been analyzed adequately or comprehensively. This paper evaluates practical applications of each of the above participatory approaches and conducts a crosscutting analysis of these applications to evaluate how effectively each approach provides scientific information to participants and to consider how the quality of deliberations that occur during these processes affect their outputs. Based on existing classification of participatory processes, and methodology for public involvement in US environmental decision-making, this study compares and contrasts the processes and outcomes of 25 participatory planning case studies in Japan. After compiling a case inventory of participatory approaches, the features of one approach are documented using qualitative analysis, and the aspects of four other approaches are confirmed using crosscutting analysis. In so doing, the likely strengths and weaknesses of each approach are suggested as follows. When discussions require an understanding of scientific knowledge, the Consensus Conference tends to be more suitable than the DP approach. If the consensus of participants is expected, the Consensus Conference is also thought to be suitable. But through a DP process or Simplified Planning Cells approach, we can know the quantitative portion of each opinion through results of ballots. In sum, new participatory approach that incorporates strengths of the Consensus Conference and the Simplified Planning Cells into Local Environmental Planning is needed. Thus, the quality of consensus building could be improved.     

Environmental auditing roundtable establishes formal standards for environmental,health, and safety audits

The Environmental Auditing Roundtable recently promulgated the Standards for the Performance of Environmental, Health, and Safety Audits that are featured in this article. With many global initiatives converging in the development of environmental auditing and management standards, this document represents a vital building block, unique from many others in that it was built by a broad-based consensus effort of actual practitioners. Over 95 percent of the Roundtable members who voted on the standard endorsed it.     

Seeing the environment through islamic eyes: Application ofShariah to natural resources planning and management

A comprehensive paradigm of environmental ethics should encompass two things: (1) a particular way of life, and (2) a path to achieve that ideal. An effective paradigm must also be internally consistent, yet externally workable in the real world. On the whole, the modern environmental movement has failed to provide these essential components and qualities in its associated philosophies, most of which suffer from being too abstract or too utopian.This paper suggests that Islam, as a religion and as a body of knowledge, is capable of providing its followers with a comprehensive and practical system of environmental ethics. The basic principles and guidelines of the faith represent the conceptual ideal, while Islamic institutions and laws provide the operational components of an ethical system.     

Sustainable community development and ecological economics: theoretical convergence and practical implications

This paper examines the relationships between community development, sustainable development and economics. In particular the convergence of thought in the realms of strong sustainability and ecological economics are shown to be consistent with the goals of sustainable community development (SCD). It is argued that in order to truly and effectively practice SCD, an economics of sustainability, best represented by ecological economics, should be incorporated into all facets of SCD work. It is suggested that the application of neoclassical or environmental economics is likely to limit the effectiveness of SCD work. Five practical implications of the necessary relationship between SCD and ecological economics are presented, suggesting that SCD practitioners must: (1) seek interdisciplinarity, (2) understand and endorse limits to growth, (3) adopt and endorse alternative measures of success, (4) seek the economic valuation of natural and social capital and (5) ensure the inclusion of equity in discussions of sustainability. Finally, a practical example of those implications is offered by way of a community economic workbook application.     

ITERATIVE EVALUATION OF A LAKE WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM1

ABSTRACT: Local governments often face environmental problems that cross political boundaries. The onus for solution usually falls on the moat severely affected jurisdiction, others do nothing until impacted. Resolution of these problems requires cooperation across political boundaries which means that local governments must be persuaded first that there is a problem, and second that action is required to solve it. This paper presents a method to supply low cost, credible information that can be used to achieve consensus on problem solution. A case study of a lake water quality management problem is described. Formative evaluation techniques was adapted to provide a minimum of evidence which was then used to persuade less impacted local jurisdictions to cooperate in the problem solution.     

Consensus Seasonal Flood Forecasts and Warning Response System (FFWRS): An Alternate for Nonstructural Flood Management in Bangladesh

Despite advances in short-range flood forecasting and information dissemination systems in Bangladesh, the present system is less than satisfactory. This is because of short lead-time products, outdated dissemination networks, and lack of direct feedback from the end-user. One viable solution is to produce long-lead seasonal forecasts—the demand for which is significantly increasing in Bangladesh—and disseminate these products through the appropriate channels. As observed in other regions, the success of seasonal forecasts, in contrast to short-term forecast, depends on consensus among the participating institutions. The Flood Forecasting and Warning Response System (henceforth, FFWRS) has been found to be an important component in a comprehensive and participatory approach to seasonal flood management. A general consensus in producing seasonal forecasts can thus be achieved by enhancing the existing FFWRS. Therefore, the primary objective of this paper is to revisit and modify the framework of an ideal warning response system for issuance of consensus seasonal flood forecasts in Bangladesh. The five-stage FFWRS—i) Flood forecasting, ii) Forecast interpretation and message formulation, iii) Warning preparation and dissemination, iv) Responses, and v) Review and analysis—has been modified. To apply the concept of consensus forecast, a framework similar to that of the Southern African Regional Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF) has been discussed. Finally, the need for a climate Outlook Fora has been emphasized for a comprehensive and participatory approach to seasonal flood hazard management in Bangladesh.     

Making nature conservation modern: an analysis of developments in nature conservation policy in relation to macro-social changes—the Netherlands as a case study

It is often said that we live in the ecological era. It is also often said that society has entered a new phase, which—depending on the theoretical orientation—is called post-modern, post-industrial or risk society. This article analyses to what extent the presupposed shift to a phase beyond modernity is reflected in nature conservation policy. To do so, an analysis is first made of whether the basic perception and appreciation of nature in latter-day society differs essentially from perceptions and appreciations that were dominant during the heyday of modernity. When this turns out not to be the case, the development of nature conservation policy in the Netherlands during the last decades of the twentieth century is investigated to establish if conservation policy—that is, the way in which society deals with nature—has fundamentally changed. The conclusion is that Dutch policy with regard to nature has been undergoing a process of belated modernization in the sense that it is striving towards a firmer base in science and a more objective and quantifiable process of policy development. This can be seen as removing a pre-modern relic from modern society. At the same time, there is a late-modern drive towards consensus building and communication, which cannot be reconciled entirely with the stronger orientation towards science as the sole basis for deciding which kind of nature and how nature should be protected. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sustainability speak: Discourse and practice paradigms in subdivision design

In the last decade the concept of sustainable development has been widely embraced as the key to environmentally friendly development. However, in many instances the physical sustainability side of the equation stops at a rhetorical level and the ensuing developments fail to respond to ecological imperatives or to protect existing ecological values. Nowhere is this failure more evident than at the urban fringes of Melbourne, Australia, where residential land estate developments relentlessly engulf degraded agricultural lands that often contain the remnants of vegetative and hydrological ecological systems.

This paper postulates that while landscape design practitioners claim the 'authority of nature' (and, by extension, the land) for their design inspiration, in reality narrow practice foci and instrumental approaches have meant that the design of estates and subdivisions often make only token reference to ecological underpinnings. It is argued that instrumental influences on design decision-making are embedded in landscape-architectural professional culture and glossed over with an elusive rhetoric of care and concern for the environment. It is further postulated that individual expressions of interest in the land and its systems can make a substantive contribution to sustainable design practice and practical outcomes.     

DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS: A CRITIQUE AND A CHALLENGE1

ABSTRACT: Computer-based models together with their interactive interfaces are typically called decision support systems. DSSs are interactive computer-based information providers. The common objective of all DSSs, regardless of the frameworks, methodologies, or techniques used, is to provide timely information that supports human decision makers - at whatever level of decision making. The informational needs of the decision making process are the key considerations that motivate the development of DSSs. The growth of DSS development and use has been substantial. In spite of this impressive growth, computer-aided decision support systems can still be improved and made more useful to those they are intended to support. Researchers and practitioners, and indeed the computer industry, continue to identify ways of doing this. This paper reviews some of these needs and opportunities by focusing on the process of successful DDS development and implementation. The paper outlines an approach and some guidelines for developing DSSs. The approach emphasizes and requires considerable interaction between the DSS developers (analysts) and the DSS users (decision makers). This interaction and feedback is required throughout the entire DSS building, testing and evaluation (debugging), and implementation processes. The paper concludes by identifying some research needs and opportunities affecting DSS development and effective use.     

Using Dynamic Modeling to Scope Environmental Problems and Build Consensus

/ This paper assesses the changing role of dynamic modeling for understanding and managing complex ecological economic systems. It discusses new modeling tools for problem scoping and consensus building among a broad range of stakeholders and describes four case studies in which dynamic modeling has been used to collect and organize data, synthesize knowledge, and build consensus about the management of complex systems. The case studies range from industrial systems (mining, smelting, and refining of iron and steel in the United States) to ecosystems (Louisiana coastal wetlands, and Fynbos ecosystems in South Africa) to linked ecological economic systems (Maryland's Patuxent River basin in the United States). They illustrate uses of dynamic modeling to include stakeholders in all stages of consensus building, ranging from initial problem scoping to model development. The resultant models are the first stage in a three-stage modeling process that includes research and management models as the later stages.KEY WORDS: Dynamic modeling; Scoping; Consensus building; Environmental management; Ecosystem management; Policy making; Graphical programming languages     

MOVEMENT AND WAYFINDING IN THE KING SAUD UNIVERSITY BUILT ENVIRONMENT: A LOOK AT FRESHMAN ORIENTATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION

One potentially significant, yet hardly investigated, criterion for postoccupancy evaluation is the legibility of a setting—the degree to which a building or group of buildings facilitate the ability of users to find their way around. Legibility is one of the foundation concepts of environmental psychology, yet it has not often been considered enough as a guiding principle in design. The purpose of this paper is to analyse spatial orientation and wayfinding problems encountered by newcomers (freshman students) at the King Saud University (KSU) campus, Saudi Arabia, and to test/relate this to Lynch's elements of the image of cities. The analysis draws on previous research findings, theories, and more general observations, as well as observations made of wayfinding performance and map sketching by 30 high-school students likely to soon enroll at the university. Many specific problems with orientation and the architectural legibility of the buildings are identified and discussed. Emphasis is placed upon physical-setting variables that are likely to affect the ease with which spatial orientation and wayfinding are accomplished. These include the following facets of the KSU built environment: degree of differentiation; degree of visual access; and complexity of spatial layout.Legible buildings within which people can effectively maintain their orientation and find their way, according to this research, are in no way simplistic, dull, or boring; on the contrary, settings must possess distinctive landmarks and regions which, along with understandable path networks, allow users to know where they are and how to make their way to desired destinations. Coherent and legible environments are important in the lives of the people who use them. The movement of people through buildings and the factors that influence whether or not they are able to find their way need to continue to be of significance to both researchers and practitioners.     

Sustainability speak: Discourse and practice paradigms in subdivision design

Abstract

In the last decade the concept of sustainable development has been widely embraced as the key to environmentally friendly development. However, in many instances the physical sustainability side of the equation stops at a rhetorical level and the ensuing developments fail to respond to ecological imperatives or to protect existing ecological values. Nowhere is this failure more evident than at the urban fringes of Melbourne, Australia, where residential land estate developments relentlessly engulf degraded agricultural lands that often contain the remnants of vegetative and hydrological ecological systems.

This paper postulates that while landscape design practitioners claim the ‘authority of nature’ (and, by extension, the land) for their design inspiration, in reality narrow practice foci and instrumental approaches have meant that the design of estates and subdivisions often make only token reference to ecological underpinnings. It is argued that instrumental influences on design decision-making are embedded in landscape-architectural professional culture and glossed over with an elusive rhetoric of care and concern for the environment. It is further postulated that individual expressions of interest in the land and its systems can make a substantive contribution to sustainable design practice and practical outcomes.     

Valuing externalities from water supply: Status quo,choice complexity and individual random effects in panel kernel logit analysis of choice experiments

Choice experiments are often implemented with choice sets including one alternative depicting the status quo. Utility from status quo is experienced by the respondent, while utility associated with experimentally designed hypothetical alternatives is only conjectured by respondents. The effects of explicitly accounting for such a difference in the econometric analysis of the data are often unreported, or limited to fitting a ‘status quo’ constant. The paper proposes a model that explicitly accounts for these effects and attempts their decomposition using data from two choice modelling exercises designed to value the provision of environmental goods. Preferences for change versus status quo are explored with standard specifications along with a less usually applied error component analysis via mixed logit. The results suggest that alternatives offering changes from status quo do not share the same preference structure as the status quo alternative, and that estimates of spread parameters in zero-mean error components can be decomposed conditional on respondents' socio-economic characteristics. It is argued that these findings have implications for practitioners and their stance towards the strategies for the econometric analysis of choice modelling data for the purpose of valuation.     

Increasing the capacity of community development corporations for brownfield redevelopment: an inside-out approach

While the redevelopment of brownfield sites has been the mainstay of public agencies and private developers, this paper argues that in order to promote just redevelopment that encourages participation and targets weak market sites, a community-based approach to brownfield redevelopment should be encouraged. Furthermore, this paper maintains that community development corporations (CDCs) could be the ideal agents to spur community development and address environmental justice concerns through their increased involvement in brownfield redevelopment projects. In order to promote these positions, we first describe this new approach, which focuses on building the capacity of CDCs to meaningfully participate in brownfield redevelopment. We then offer four proposals designed to increase this capacity. We conclude with a discussion of how community-based brownfield redevelopment connects to larger issues of democratic decision-making, environmental justice, and urban revitalisation.     

Making Capacity Building Meaningful: A Framework for Strategic Action

This paper aims to give practical meaning to ‘capacity building’ through (a) identifying a suite of practical measures, such as mentoring or best practice guidelines, that have been shown to or are considered to build human, social, institutional, and economic capital; (b) placing these measures within a broader systems framework; and (c) exploring stakeholder feedback on specific measures to inform framework implementation. The 29 measures described provide actors, whether government or nongovernment, with a suite of practical investment choices for building capacity. These measures are then clustered into eight groups according to their primary purpose and placed within a systems framework. The framework provides a tool for actors with responsibilities for or an interest in capacity building to inform more holistic and strategic targeting of effort and investment. Stakeholder feedback gathered through surveys and workshops is subsequently reported to further inform implementation of specific measures within the framework’s eight groupings. The framework presented may be built upon through the identification and inclusion of further capacity building measures. The research is conducted within the context of decentralized governance arrangements for natural resource management (NRM), with specific focus on Australia’s recently formalized 56 NRM regions and their community-based governing boards as an informative arena of learning. Application of the framework is explored in the Australian setting through the identification and comparison of measures supported and most preferred by four major stakeholder groups, namely board members, regional NRM organization staff, policy/research interests, and Indigenous interests. The research also examines stakeholder perceptions of capacity issues, and whether these issues are likely to be addressed through implementing their preferred measures.

Managing Urban Trees and Their Soil Envelopes in a Contiguously Developed City Environment

Urban Hong Kong is covered by high building, road, and population densities. Its urban morphology is inherently not conducive to extensive or high-grade greening. Recent renewal of old areas has squeezed out some limited interstitial plantable space, although in new development areas modest spaces have been earmarked for greenery. The study aims at evaluating the major constraints to urban trees and their companion urban soil envelopes and at providing specific recommendations to improve tree management in the city. The analysis covers the above-ground confinements that dampen tree performance, the less tangible but rather difficult institutional restrictions that impose a somewhat unnecessary lid on tree planting, the multiplicity of players and stakeholders involved in urban-tree management that militates against coordination and cooperation, the widespread occupation of underground space by utility lines often to the exclusion of trees, and the extremely poor quality of urban soils that are often used without amelioration to support tree growth. The management recommendations furnish practical suggestions and hints to improve the short- and long-term welfare of trees in terms of quality, quantity, and spatial distribution. The conclusion enumerates some concrete measures for consideration by decision-makers to upgrade the city's greenery to close the gap between science and policy.     

Critical factors for waste management in office building retrofit projects in Australia

Office building retrofit is a sector being highlighted in Australia because of the mature office building market characterised by a large proportion of ageing properties. The increasing number of office building retrofit projects strengthens the need for waste management. Retrofit projects possess unique characteristics in comparison to traditional demolition and new builds such as partial operation of buildings, constrained site spaces and limited access to as-build information. Waste management activities in retrofit projects can be influenced by issues that are different from traditional construction and demolition projects. However, previous research on building retrofit projects has not provided an understanding of the critical issues affecting waste management.This research identifies the critical factors which influence the management of waste in office building retrofit projects through a literature study and a questionnaire survey to industry practitioners. Statistical analysis on a range of potential waste issues reveals the critical factors, as agreed upon by survey respondents in consideration of their different professional responsibilities and work natures. The factors are grouped into five dimensions, comprising industry culture, organisational support and incentive, existing building information, design, and project delivery process. The discussions of the dimensions indicate that the waste management factors of office building retrofit projects are further intensified compared to those for general demolition and construction because retrofit projects involve existing buildings which are partially operating with constrained work space and limited building information. Recommendations for improving waste management in office building retrofit projects are generalised such as waste planning, auditing and assessment in the planning and designing stage, collaboration and coordination of various stakeholders and different specialists, optimised building surveying and BIM technologies for waste analysis, and new design strategies for waste prevention.     

The Problem of Common Land: Towards Stakeholder Governance

This paper examines the current governance of common land with the intention of updating a story last examined in detail in studies in the late 1980s. In addition, the paper draws on recent conceptualizations of stakeholders and governance. A brief history of common land shows that governance systems are highly localized and dependent on custom and practice. Such a dependence suggests the need for governance which is based on the incorporation of stakeholders using consensus building approaches. The paper suggests that local governance systems are crucial to the successful implementation of sustainable management practices but that this may be overlooked by land managers and policy makers. Consequently, comprehensive national legislation for common land is not a viable option but legislation can play a valuable role in particular circumstances. The need to give further consideration to the role of legislation and an appropriate policy framework for commons within the context of stakeholder governance is particularly important given the significance of common land for agriculture, nature conservation, landscape, heritage and recreation across England and Wales.