« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
Chapter Seven Resource Management
7.1 Resource management is the sixth major theme explored in this review. Public attitudes to conservation, perceptions of water resources and values assigned in water resource management are considered here. Participation is an important element of resource management. According to Sidaway (2005, 259), public participation should be employed, to address public concerns, when developing a management strategy. Moreover, participation is at the heart of Scottish WFD implementation, which explicitly demands the creation of river basin management plans, providing an integrated participatory framework for the management of all water resources.
Definitions and Concepts
7.2 In the academic literature it is generally agreed that there are two approaches to resource management: management of people and management of the environment. Both approaches can be achieved through direct and indirect management. Management of people includes restrictions on entry to a water environment (a direct management practice) or providing environmental information to visitors (an indirect practice), while examples of the management of the environment include the construction of foot-bridges (a direct practice) or allowing the resource to remain in its current form (an indirect practice).
7.3 For this chapter, resource management is defined more widely to encompass conservation.
Scotland and UK
7.4 One of the few Scottish studies investigating resource management in a water environment context is provided by Werrity (2002). He suggests issues of concern that may arise for water resource managers that result from Scotland's variable climate and, therefore, explores the values of these professionals.
7.5 Barr et al (2005) address resource management from the perspective of waste management and conservation. Their paper examines their perceptions of water conservation in a sample of 1,265 households from Devon, which were found to vary according to demographic characteristics and whether individuals identified themselves as 'mainstream environmentalists', 'occasional environmentalists' or 'non-environmentalists'. Environmental concern increased with age, smaller household size, home ownership, income, educational attainment, and membership of community organisations, and was higher for females than males.
7.6 In Scotland, the Macaulay Institute's Socio-Economic Research Programme ( SERP) focuses on understanding and managing environmental and rural issues from a policy perspective, through research directed towards 'participation and governance' and 'valuation and preferences'. Environmental and rural policy is treated as intersecting with a range of motives such as values, attitudes and norms, which determine individual and group behaviour. One aspect of SERP is to define and measure such motives and Macaulay are also analysing the many social and economic issues involved in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive. To do this they are looking at the implications of future policy changes and assessing the cost-effectiveness of water management schemes. One example of this work is a project on 'Measuring the benefits of environmental actions', in which Macaulay are collaborating with land managers, farmers and local communities to increase awareness of sustainable environmental actions (Macaulay Institute, 2006).
7.7 A practical example of resource management and stakeholder involvement is the Ythan Project in Scotland (Morris, 2006). Funded by the European Commission's Life Environment Fund, it aimed to involve local people in protecting, restoring and enhancing the River Ythan. It ran from August 2001 until February 2005 and was managed by a partnership of organisations which included Forestry Commission Scotland, Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, SEPA and SNH. Located north-east of Aberdeen, the Ythan catchment was designated as a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone under the European Nitrates Directive. The project involved local residents and land managers in the management and improvement of the catchment through a number of methods and raised awareness of the river amongst local stakeholders and the local community, an important initiative given the WFD requirement that stakeholders should be involved in resource management.
Europe
7.8 In a European context, resource management is often synonymous with conservation. De Ruyck et al (2001) have argued the importance of taking account public perceptions for coastal managers. To determine the view of the Belgian public on the country's coastal water environment, a questionnaire survey was conducted with 100 respondents. Although a very small sample, they discovered that perceptions of, and attitudes to, the coastal zone differed for the following groups: politicians, coastal entrepreneurs and business people, naturalists and scientists, coastal residents and tourists.
7.9 Olsson et al (2004) also discuss integrating public attitudes into resource management and its relationship to conservation. They have analysed the emergence of social and cultural values within the previously ecologically dominated resource management framework in southern Sweden, and argue that management of wetland landscapes should occur along a social-ecological continuum.
7.10 Across Europe, a number of studies have been conducted on participatory processes to inform implementation of the WFD. One example is the ADVISOR programme, which is co-ordinated by the New University of Lisbon and has as its main objective to provide an integrated project evaluation framework and methodology for the sustainable governance of Europe's river basins. Its many projects aim to provide a solution to a "policy gap" in the EU through: the establishment of an integrated theory and understanding of the process of evaluation of river basin projects; the development and testing of a number of practical evaluation tools; and a proposed integrated methodology for the evaluation of EU river basin projects. Five ADVISOR case studies have been assessing water management projects in Greece, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and Scotland, covering water management evaluations in the context of the Water Framework Directive ( ADVISOR, 2004). The Scottish case study looked at the process for the designation of the River Ythan and its estuary as a nitrate vulnerable zone, meriting a special action programme for the control of nitrate pollution from agriculture (see 7.7). 10
7.11 Ireland offers another example government-commissioned research relating directly to the WFD. The Irish Heritage Council (2004) identified the implementation of the WFD as a major work area with a particular emphasis on public participation, and as such undertook a public consultation on views on water quality. The consultation covered the current state of Ireland's waters; the principles underlying the WFD; its practical implementation; and what else needs to be done. From 147 written responses to the consultation, the dominant concern for over 62% of respondents was in relation to water quality. Many suggestions were made for how the public could be involved in the implementation of the WFD, including a dominant theme concerned with the perceived need for a much greater level of public awareness. A second theme was the need for active, rather than passive, involvement of the public at all stages (from development of River Basin Management Plans, through their implementation, to their revision). Another concern was the need to provide support for the public to participate in implementation, and a fourth concern was the need to establish formal mechanisms or structures for representation of the public within the process of implementation for the WFD.
7.12 Additional European texts which are relevant but not discussed include Getzer (2002), who investigates public decisions about wetland protection in Austria and the importance of public participation in the resource management process.
Global
7.13 A plethora of texts exist outwith Europe concerned with the management and conservation of water environments, although their relevance varies widely. Three of the key texts emerge from North America. As Klessig (2001) demonstrates, lake management is often approached from a biophysical perspective and the social values of lakes are usually given less attention. However, through a discussion of U.S. lakes, he outlines society's needs in relation to water environments. He suggests that lakes can only provide optimal social benefits if management decisions recognise the full set of potential contributions they can make to society. The set of values that lakes can contribute to society are environmental, recreational, aesthetics, education, economic opportunity, emotional security, cultural opportunity, individual freedom and spirituality.
7.14 Eddy et al (2002) examine integrated management in Canada's northern marine environment, where there was an early effort to engage the northern coastal community of Churchill, Manitoba in the first stages of an integrated management plan. The steps taken included communicating the importance of management planning for the town's coastal region; conducting personal interviews on coastal activities and concerns with a representative sample of the community; mapping the results of these interviews; verifying results with the community; and evaluating the effectiveness of the process used. Those interviewed were more comfortable participating once they had had a number of opportunities to become familiar with the context of the study, and its relevance to them. Public attitudes to resource management of water environments altered as communication and information availability increased.
7.15 Another North American study set out to ascertain whether the role of citizen participation in natural resource management was changing, using the Tennessee Valley Authority as a case study (Marshall and Jones, 2005). To assess the representativeness of citizen participation, the researchers conducted telephone surveys of area residents and participants. Results showed that citizens participating in natural resource management were not representative of the stakeholder population who would be impacted by the decisions being made. There were many significant differences between participants and non-participating locals. For instance, participants were generally older, disproportionately male, more educated and affluent, and had higher levels of political efficacy and trust in government.
7.16 The New Zealand Ministry for the Environment's Water Bodies of National Importance project, outlined above, also generates useful comparative evidence from a resource management perspective.
Summary
7.17 As might be expected, the evidence suggests that resource managers value the water environment in a different way to the public, the attitudes of which they need to understand and take account of.
7.18 With increased communication and information, public willingness to participate, a crucial element of water resource management, can grow. Evidence from other countries on the effectiveness of different approaches to and forms of engagement can offer valuable, transferable lessons for Scottish implementation of WFD. As examples of how policy decision-makers have engaged with this subject elsewhere, a number of European resource management studies have already been conducted to inform WFD implementation, while New Zealand offers other insights.
« Previous | Contents | Next »