Scenario-based stakeholder engagement: incorporating stakeholders preferences into coastal planning for climate change

Climate change poses many challenges for ecosystem and resource management. In particular, coastal planners are struggling to find ways to prepare for the potential impacts of future climate change while dealing with immediate pressures. Decisions on how to respond to future risks are complicated by the long time horizons and the uncertainty associated with the distribution of impacts. Existing coastal zone management approaches in the UK either do not adequately incorporate changing stakeholder preferences, or effectively ensure that stakeholders are aware of the trade-offs inherent in any coastal management decision. Using a novel method, scenario-based stakeholder engagement, which brings together stakeholder analysis, climate change management scenarios and deliberative techniques, the necessary trade-offs associated with long term coastal planning are explored. The method is applied to two case studies of coastal planning in Christchurch Bay on the south coast of England and the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland. A range of conflicting preferences exist on the ideal governance structure to manage the coast under different climate change scenarios. In addition, the results show that public understanding of the trade-offs that have to be made is critical in gaining some degree of public support for long term coastal decision-making. We conclude that scenario-based stakeholder engagement is a useful tool to facilitate coastal management planning that takes into account the complexities and challenges of climate change, and could be used in conjunction with existing approaches such as the Shoreline Management Planning process.     

Planktic community assembly in flowing water and the ecosystem health of rivers

Some of the modern criteria for assessing ecosystem health are compared with current understanding of ecosystem function in rivers. Owing to the predominance of catchment imports over autochthonous primary production, most rivers are naturally heterotrophic. This does not make them unhealthy but the pristine condition is that much harder to determine. The case is put for an index of ecosystem health and sustainability that takes into account the system's capacity for processing its resources, the species richness and its interdependence and its resilience to external forcing. Although these are not easily quantified, the qualitative indicators of healthy ecosystem function are easily checked. The sensitivity of organisms in suspension to fluvial flow may seem to counter the suitability of plankton as a reliable state indicator of river health. On the other hand, the rules governing the assembly of planktic communities in rivers are often strict and quantifiable: this makes them attractive candidates to act as indicators of the ecological condition of rivers.     

Meta-analysis of nitrogen removal in riparian buffers

Riparian buffers, the vegetated region adjacent to streams and wetlands, are thought to be effective at intercepting and reducing nitrogen loads entering water bodies. Riparian buffer width is thought to be positively related to nitrogen removal effectiveness by influencing nitrogen retention or removal. We surveyed the scientific literature containing data on riparian buffers and nitrogen concentration in streams and groundwater to identify trends between nitrogen removal effectiveness and buffer width, hydrological flow path, and vegetative cover. Nitrogen removal effectiveness varied widely. Wide buffers (>50 m) more consistently removed significant portions of nitrogen entering a riparian zone than narrow buffers (0-25 m). Buffers of various vegetation types were equally effective at removing nitrogen but buffers composed of herbaceous and forest/herbaceous vegetation were more effective when wider. Subsurface removal of nitrogen was efficient, but did not appear to be related to buffer width, while surface removal of nitrogen was partly related to buffer width. The mass of nitrate nitrogen removed per unit length of buffer did not differ by buffer width, flow path, or buffer vegetation type. Our meta-analysis suggests that buffer width is an important consideration in managing nitrogen in watersheds. However, the inconsistent effects of buffer width and vegetation on nitrogen removal suggest that soil type, subsurface hydrology (e.g., soil saturation, groundwater flow paths), and subsurface biogeochemistry (organic carbon supply, nitrate inputs) also are important factors governing nitrogen removal in buffers.     

The risks of risk-based regulation: insights from the environmental policy domain

Risk-based regulation has become increasingly popular in recent years. Proponents argue that it facilitates robust governance, contributing to efficient and effective use of regulatory resources and delivering interventions in proportion to risk. Critics contend that the challenges of operationalising risk-based governance mitigate its potential benefits. In this paper we start by considering what we mean by risk-based governance and discuss some of the factors shaping the adoption of such strategies. We then consider the development and operation of risk-based approaches in the environmental policy domain, focusing specifically on the regulation of contaminated land and radioactive waste. We argue that whilst risk-based approaches can offer important benefits, they face a range of epistemic, institutional and normative challenges that can play an important role in shaping the way that organisations manage both risks to society and their own institutional risks. This has profound implications for achieving regulatory objectives and, for this paper, the environmental outcomes that the regulations are designed to deliver.     

A cost-effectiveness analysis of radon protection methods in domestic properties: a comparative case study in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, UK

Building regulations in the UK have since 1992 required that radon-proof membranes be installed in new domestic properties to protect residents against the adverse effects of radon. This study compares the cost-effectiveness of the current regulatory regime with an alternative that would entail new properties being tested for radon after construction, and being remediated if necessary. The alternative regime is found to be more cost-effective for a sample of properties in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, UK. For this regime, the central estimate of cost per quality-adjusted life-year gained, the measure of cost-effectiveness used, is 2869 pounds compared to 6182 pounds for installing membranes, results suggesting a case for re-examining the current regulations on radon protection in new properties. Pilot studies will, however, be needed to consider how different means of protecting residents of new properties against radon might operate in practice and to provide improved evidence on their relative cost-effectiveness.     

Estimating High Latitude Carbon Fluxes With Inversions Of Atmospheric CO2

Atmospheric inversions have proven to be useful tools, showing for example the likely existence of a large terrestrial carbon sink in the northern mid-latitudes. However, as we go to smaller spatial scales the uncertainties in the inversions increase rapidly, and the task of finding the distribution of the sink between North America, Europe and Asia has been shown to be very difficult. The uncertainty in the fluxes due to network selection, transport model error and inversion set up tends to be too high for studying either net annual fluxes or interannual variability on spatial scales such as the North American Boreal or Eurasian Boreal regions. We discuss the path forward; to couple together the atmospheric inversions with process based terrestrial carbon models, creating carbon data assimilation systems. Such systems are being developed now and could prove to be very powerful. The multi-disciplinary nature of the data assimilation system requires information from flux towers, soil and above ground biomass inventories, remote sensed fields, atmospheric CO₂ concentrations and climate data as well as model development and will need a massive community effort if it will succeed.     

Anaerobic degradation of naphthalene in a fluvial aquifer: a radiotracer study

A radiotracer study was conducted in a creosote-contaminated aquifer beneath the Fraser River, British Columbia Canada to investigate the in situ degradation of naphthalene. The groundwater is anaerobic, with abundant methane, ferrous iron and carbon dioxide. This study followed earlier work at the site where the contaminant distribution could only be explained by invoking a mass loss through degradation, even though extensive field and laboratory microcosm studies closer to the source zone onshore could not confirm degradation. Accordingly, 14C-naphthalene was injected into the aquifer offshore, further from the source zone where modeling suggested degradation was occurring. During the 230-day monitoring period, 14CO2 was detected, confirming the degradation of the radio-labeled naphthalene tracer. A zero-order degradation rate of naphthalene of 5 microg/L-day was estimated based on the decrease in 14C-naphthalene concentration with time. While the degradation pathway could not be determined from the radiotracer study alone, the geochemistry of the site suggests that either iron reduction or methanogenesis is the terminal electron accepting processes responsible for naphthalene oxidation.     

Trade-offs in linking adaptation and mitigation in the forests of the Congo Basin

Regional Environmental Change - Recent discussions on forests and climate change have highlighted the potential for conservation of tropical forests to contribute synergistically to both mitigation...     

The composition of natrophosphate (sodium fluoride phosphate hydrate)

Natrophosphate is a common trace mineral in alkaline rocks and a major salt in alkaline nuclear waste that complicates waste processing. Natrophosphate has historically been assigned the composition Na₇F(PO₄)₂·19H₂O, but this conflicts with a more recent solubility study that claimed natrophosphate is a solid solution of NaF and Na₃PO₄. It is not possible to model the solubility of natrophosphate in nuclear waste until this controversy is resolved. The present study mixed stock solutions of 0.9 M NaF and Na₃PO₄ at different ratios at 8 °C. The compositions of the liquid phase and wet natrophosphate sample were measured by ion chromatography. Plotting the tie-lines between the solid and liquid phase composition showed convergence on a single composition, indicating that natrophosphate is not a solid solution. The resulting composition is approximately the same as the composition first reported more than 140 years ago. Thus, this study resolves the long-standing controversy in the literature concerning the composition of natrophosphate.