The Challenges of Inclusive Cross-Scale Collective Action in Watersheds

Abstract

Increasing attention to watershed management is part of an international policy trend toward integrated water resource management. Integration is multidimensional—across sectors, administrative regions, ministerial portfolios and levels of hydrologic structure and socioeconomic organization. Collective action is key. Individuals need to work effectively together to share common water points; upstream land users and downstream water consumers need to manage and resolve potential conflicts over water quantity and quality, while all the industries, farming communities, urban residents and public agencies that have interests in resource use and environmental quality need to agree on development and conservation objectives and approaches at the basin level. Initiatives that seek to foster collective action in watersheds need to account for the very different interests in water and watershed management. While there may be relatively straightforward ways to foster collective action at a local scale, some forms of collective action may, in fact, be detrimental to other stakeholders. In the developing world in particular, there are often geographic pockets and social groups that are chronically disadvantaged in collective and public processes. Water-users' associations and basin authorities may exacerbate these disparities and further marginalize already poor people. New statutory institutions may intentionally or inadvertently disempower effective customary local institutions. To enable project and program designers to address these challenges better, this paper lays out a framework for assessing the potential for, and implications of, individual and collective decisions in a watershed context. The framework integrates concepts drawn from the biophysical and social sciences, including new perspectives on watershed components, poverty, and collective action. Collective action is seen as a fractal process: collective action for water management at one level of social-spatial organization can have spillover effects at lower and higher levels of social-spatial resolution. To be pro-poor, watershed-management institutions must be genuinely inclusive, deliberately recognizing the interests, perspectives and knowledge of groups that may be systematically excluded from other political and social processes. Researchers, evaluators, watershed-management practitioners and others who apply the framework should be better placed to lay the foundations for that illusive goal: pro-poor, inclusive and resource-conserving development.     

Challenges to collective action in the management of the Kapenta fishery in lake Kariba

This study focused on the Kapenta fishing industry at Lake Kariba to illustrate that variations in economic situation, and in biophysical attributes of the resource users, make it difficult to institute collective conformity with fishery management regulations. The paper discusses how the Kapenta fishing companies in the Lake Kariba region have differing preferences regarding fishery resource management, and assign different priorities to various objectives of the resource management. The differences in personal objectives regarding management of the fishery resources, and the differences in the degree of control and access over the fishery, led to situations where users had varying incentive structures. The differences in incentive structures lead to fishery management regulations based on the average characteristics of users and the biophysical environment, fuelling conflicts between fishery resource managers and users. The variations of micro‐biophysical attributes of the resource, combined with the behaviour of the resource users, make it difficult to bring resource users together for developing and initiating collective action.     

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL? STATE OF THE DAMS AND MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

Dams are a critical component of water infrastructure, providing services such as water supplies, recreational opportunities and flood control. At the same time, dams alter the flow regime of rivers and the biota that inhabit them. Large dams have been the subject of many studies because of their potentially significant impacts on stream hydrology and ecosystems. However, most dams are not large and consequently have received far less attention. Data for more than 5700 dams in New York State, USA located in 17 watersheds were used to develop watershed level metrics that relate the characteristics of the dams to the hydrology and demographics of each watershed. Metrics presented, stratified by watershed, include median structure age, density, dams per stream length, persons per dam, storage per drainage area, storage per person and percent high impact dams (high hazard and large). These metrics were used to perform a simple characterization of the 17 watersheds. Considerable regional differences in these parameters suggest varying management strategies in each watershed. A new era of river management has resulted in the removal of many dams, which is driven by the high cost of maintenance and state regulations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrologic Response of Streams Restored with Check Dams in the Chiricahua Mountains,Arizona

In this study, hydrological processes are evaluated to determine impacts of stream restoration in the West Turkey Creek, Chiricahua Mountains, southeast Arizona, during a summer‐monsoon season (June–October of 2013). A paired‐watershed approach was used to analyze the effectiveness of check dams to mitigate high flows and impact long‐term maintenance of hydrologic function. One watershed had been extensively altered by the installation of numerous small check dams over the past 30 years, and the other was untreated (control). We modified and installed a new stream‐gauging mechanism developed for remote areas, to compare the water balance and calculate rainfall–runoff ratios. Results show that even 30 years after installation, most of the check dams were still functional. The watershed treated with check dams has a lower runoff response to precipitation compared with the untreated, most notably in measurements of peak flow. Concerns that downstream flows would be reduced in the treated watershed, due to storage of water behind upstream check dams, were not realized; instead, flow volumes were actually higher overall in the treated stream, even though peak flows were dampened. We surmise that check dams are a useful management tool for reducing flow velocities associated with erosion and degradation and posit they can increase baseflow in aridlands. © 2015 The Authors. River Research and Applications published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Role of Collective Action in Water Governance: A Comparative Study of Groundwater User Associations in La Mancha Aquifers in Spain

Abstract

The paper analyzes the problem of collective water management in Spain. The paper has two main objectives: first it provides a brief introduction on long established traditions for collective water management under Water User Associations (WUAs), some dating back to the twelfth century. It discusses the legislative and institutional frameworks that have favored collective water management. The second objective is an analysis at a more specific level, by focusing on the particular case of groundwater as a traditional common pool resource and the problem of mutually beneficial collective action (MBCA). It does so by applying the Institutional Development Framework and an in depth analysis of key factors leading to MBCA. A comparative case study approach is applied to three main aquifers in the central Mancha region. It points to the importance that WUAS can play in facilitating factors that encourage collective action. It also highlights the relevance of social capital as trust between WUAs and the administration, like Water Authorities. It concludes that while solutions like subsidies and payments can help mitigate aquifer overuse, these are not a long-term or sustainable option (economically or sustainably). Only sound institutional design of Water User organizations can favor self-governance and management by farmers.     

Capturing the complexity of water uses and water users within a multi-agent framework

Due to the hydrological and socio-economic complexity of water use within river basins and even sub-basins, it is a considerable challenge to manage water resources in an efficient, equitable and sustainable way. This paper shows that multi-agent simulation (MAS) is a promising approach to better understand the complexity of water uses and water users within sub-basins. This approach is especially suitable to take the collective action into account when simulating the outcome of technical innovation and policy change. A case study from Chile is used as an example to demonstrate the potential of the MAS framework. Chile has played a pioneering role in water policy reform by privatizing water rights and promoting trade in such rights, devolving irrigation management authority to user groups, and privatizing the provision of irrigation infrastructure. The paper describes the different components of a MAS model developed for four micro-watersheds in the Maule river basin. Preliminary results of simulation experiments are presented, which show the impacts of technical change and of informal rental markets on household income and water use efficiency. The paper also discusses how the collective action problems in water markets and in small-scale and large-scale infrastructure provision can be captured by the MAS model. To promote the use of the MAS approach for planning purposes, a collaborative research and learning framework has been established, with a recently created multi-stakeholder platform at the regional level (Comisión Regional de Recursos Hidricos) as the major partner. Finally, the paper discusses the potentials of using MAS models for water resources management, such as increasing transparency as an aspect of good governance. The challenges, for example the need to build trust in the model, are discussed as well.     

Linking Performance and Collective Action—the Case of the Office du Niger Irrigation Scheme in Mali

Increasing irrigation efficiency in irrigation schemes has always been high on the agenda of policy makers. Despite quite some ‘social’ experiments, whereby large portions of management were carried over to the farmer level, results often remained disappointing. This paper explores why this came about for a case study in the Office du Niger irrigation scheme in Mali. Since Irrigation Management Transfer, farmers are responsible for the tertiary level, but collective action for water management remains below expectations. This paper applies an analytical framework based on the conceptual model developed by van Noordwijk et al. (Conserv Ecol 5:21, 2002) and proceeding in two steps. Firstly, an interview-based stakeholder analysis assesses the objectives and mental models of farmers and the central management regarding water management. It appears from the interviews that the central management wants to increase irrigation efficiency through fully-fledged collective action, whereas farmers value the latter only when it favours easy irrigation. Secondly, the relation between collective action and performance was tested through a field study on a sample of 36 tertiary blocks. Results indicate that only collective action at the inlet of the tertiary canal, currently implemented on less than a third of the tertiary blocks, increases irrigation efficiency (with 14%). Collective action for water allocation is implemented within almost three quarters of tertiary blocks and effectively reduces irrigation problems. However, if they lack the necessary social capital, not all farmers can establish collective action when needed. Based on this analysis, the paper proposes a mix of incentives and measures to resolve the conflict between farmers and the central management to their mutual benefit.     

Irrigation management transfer in sub-Saharan Africa: an analysis of policy implementation across scales

ABSTRACT

This article explores how irrigation management transfer policies were implemented in Mali, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. In Mali and Mozambique, where the irrigation bureaucracy controlled one large irrigation system, state agencies retained control over irrigation management despite reduced state funding. In Malawi and Zimbabwe, where the state irrigation systems and the irrigation bureaucracy were smaller, users have taken over irrigation management, but are having trouble sustaining irrigated agriculture. We show how irrigation management transfer policies were shaped by the interplay between international donors, macro-economic dynamics, national politics and the interactions with (and the nature of) irrigation infrastructure, bureaucracies and organized users.     

数字流域架构与软件体系研究

数字流域是一个以流域地理空间信息为基础,融合流域各种相关信息的数字化系统平台。数字流域是流域现代化管理的重要技术手段,是我国流域管理的发展方向。数字流域的总体框架分为数据层、模型层、应用与综合决策层和用户层。根据数字流域系统特点,可以设计正交软件体系、三层C/S、C/S和B/S混合软件体系等3种数字流域软件结构。     

A review of the sustainability of recent watershed management programmes in Bangladesh

Watershed management has evolved during the 1990s in Bangladesh. However, it has not yet achieved much exposure in the country, even though wetlands play a very significant role in its ecology, economy and stakeholder livelihoods. Several watershed management programmes have been initiated in the country with a co‐management and participatory approach, but in a piecemeal basis. Many wetland problems have arisen as a result. This study reviews watershed management programmes and undertakes a sustainability analysis of three recent initiatives, namely MACH, Nishorgo and Tanguar Haor projects, on the basis of the main watershed exchanges. This analysis indicates these projects are/were less environmentally, but more socially and economically, sustainable. Thus, this study suggests first incorporating the unaccounted environmental sustainability indicators. Moreover, the country's future management programme(s) should incorporate stakeholder livelihood improvements and social empowerment via education and training schemes, by ensuring social inclusiveness that makes the management initiatives locally sustainable.     

流域水资源可持续脆弱性回顾评价及敏感度分析

流域水资源可持续脆弱性回顾评价不仅能够识别影响流域水资源可持续的潜在风险要素,评估系统的可持续发展能力,而且能够回看水资源政策实施效果,从而为政府完善现有政策提供依据.采用时间序列分析方法,基于欧几里德空间原理,构建了流域水资源可持续脆弱性n维空间评价模型;基于状态空间模型,分析了总脆弱度对资源、环境、社会经济3个维度...     

Who joins advocacy organizations? Water quality and participation in rural shoreline Great Lakes communities

Civic organizations play an important role in translating individual preferences into the emergence of collective action for protection of the environment. The purpose of this article is to examine factors that help explain why individuals become aware of, and to ultimately join, local environmental advocacy groups. We conducted a mail survey of property owners in four slow growing, politically conservative rural watersheds along the southeast corner of Lake Ontario, inquiring about length of property ownership, engagement in outdoor activities, observations of impaired water quality, level of concern about the watershed environment, and awareness of and membership in local environmental organizations. We used two binary logistic regressions and find that owning property on the waterfront and length of tenure strongly predicts both awareness of and membership in stewardship and advocacy organizations in these watersheds.     

Whither collective action? Upscaling collective actions,politics and basin management in the process of ‘legitimizing’ an informal groundwater economy

This article examines different forms and levels of collective action by aquifer users in securing access to over-allocated groundwater resources using a case study of La Loma, Úbeda (Jaén, Spain), one of the largest olive-growing areas in the world. It shows how opportunities for collective water management increase at the basin level as bargaining spaces increase but also how political rent influences the institutional designs that emerge. The article identifies an opportunity to redesign the organizational and institutional configurations by both securing access to water and strengthening collaborative spaces at the basin level.     

Evaluating the Impact of Policy-induced Land Use Management Practices on Non-point Source Pollution Using a Spatial Decision Support System

Abstract

State and federal conservation compliance policies in the United States are aimed, in part, at reducing non-point pollution and maintaining long-term agricultural productivity. These policies affect land use and management practices on the nation's farms. Farms and farmers, however, are part of a larger agri-ecological system and changes in farming practices affect linked socio-economic, biologic, and hydrologic systems. It is difficult, therefore, to foresee the wide ranging and long-term consequences that are set into motion by changes in agricultural policy. Yet, these consequences must be understood if we are to avoid the deleterious side effects or capture the collateral benefits associated with specific policies. A Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) has been developed here to help understand some of these consequences within the context of watershed management and the control of non-point source pollution. This SDSS consists of a Geographic Information System (GIS), two spatial models (GEOLP and AGNPS), and a graphical user interface. The purpose of this SDSS is to assist decision-makers as they investigate the impact of agricultural policy on non-point source pollution and the local economy. The SDSS is used to simulate the potential impacts of alternative policy scenarios in the Big Creek watershed. The models and methodologies described here, however, are general and can provide benefits to a variety of decision-makers engaged in watershed management and the reduction of non-point pollution.     

流域综合治理一体化管控平台系统解决方案

为系统解决流域水环境问题,践行“流域统筹、系统治理”的理念,以某市流域综合治理项目为例,阐述流域综合治理一体化管控平台系统解决方案。该平台通过建设水质、污水管网等监测监控感知体系,并整合流域水环境、水务及市政相关管理信息资源,实现流域水质、管网等相关信息的实时处理与呈现,再经大数据分析,为流域提供实时水质预报、预警,并实现以目标为导向的智能化运维管理,为流域水环境长治久清提供信息化决策支持。该平台作为流域综合治理工程的重要非工程措施,其设计成果已通过专家评审,正在推进实施。     

A Watershed Integrity Definition and Assessment Approach to Support Strategic Management of Watersheds

Watersheds are spatially explicit landscape units that contain a range of interacting physical, ecological and social attributes. They are social–ecological systems that provide a range of ecosystem services valued by the society. Their ability to provide these services depends, in part, on the degree to which they are impaired by human‐related activity. An array of indicators is used by natural resource managers, both private and government, to assess watersheds and their sub‐components. Often these assessments are performed in comparison with a reference condition. However, assessments can be hampered because natural settings of many systems differ from those sites used to characterize reference conditions. Additionally, given the ubiquity of human‐related alterations across landscapes (e.g. atmospheric deposition of anthropogenically derived nitrogen), truly unaltered conditions for most, if not all, watersheds cannot be described. Definitions of ‘integrity’ have been developed for river ecosystems, but mainly at the reach or site scale and usually for particular species, such as fish or macroinvertebrates. These scales are inappropriate for defining integrity at the watershed scale. In addition, current assessments of endpoints do not indicate the source of impairment. Our definition of watershed ‘integrity’ is the capacity of a watershed to support and maintain the full range of ecological processes and functions essential to the sustainability of biodiversity and of the watershed resources and services provided to society. To operationalize this definition as an assessment tool, we identify key functions of unimpaired watersheds. This approach can then be used to model and map watershed integrity by incorporating risk factors (human‐related alterations or stressors) that have been explicitly shown to interfere with and degrade key functions in watersheds. An advantage of this approach is that the index can be readily deconstructed to identify factors influencing index scores, thereby directly supporting the strategic adaptive management of individual components that contribute to watershed integrity. Moreover, the approach can be iteratively applied and improved as new data and information become available. © 2015 The Authors. River Research and Applications published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Development and implementation of a watershed management plan forLlac la Biche, Alberta, Canada.

Lakeland County is experiencing increasing developmental pressures arising from the oil and gas boom at nearby Fort McMurray. There is increased industrial traffic passing through the county, and 600 new residential lots are proposed in 2005, almost double from 5 years ago. Deteriorating surface water quality has been a concern in the area due to an increase in development and agriculture, while excessive fish harvesting and winterkills have impacted commercial and recreational fisheries. Today, walleye and pike populations in the lake remain collapsed and restocking efforts have not been successful. Due to the lack of studies done on the watershed, the county is leading a multidisciplinary research study which includes a baseline water quality study, riparian health assessments, land use mapping and ground-truthing and projects with the local health authority. This research has been summarized in a comprehensive state of the watershed report, which will be used to complete a watershed management plan for the Lac la Biche watershed. Recommendations from the state of the watershed report and watershed management plan will also be incorporated into municipal planning documents and recommend changes to the Municipal Government Act itself.     

Spatial Decision Support System for Watershed Management

A prototype spatial decision support system (SDSS) is presented for watershed management. The SDSS integrates landuse/landcover derived from the remote sensing data, real-time hydrological data, geographic information system, and a model-based subsystem for computing soil loss, land capability classification and engineering measures. A graphical user interface has been developed to allow effective use by decision makers. The model-based subsystem employs a process-based soil erosion model to compute soil loss in spatial environment. Computed pixel-based soil loss information is an input to the land capability classification and watershed management modules. The developed SDSS can help the end users in avoiding the laborious procedures of soil erosion calculations and analysing various thematic layers to get suitable watershed management practices. The SDSS for watershed management is applied to the Tones watershed in India to compute soil loss, to prioritise watersheds, and to suggest various watershed management practices.     

Vegetation Buffer Strips Design Using an Optimization Approach for Non-Point Source Pollutant Control of an Agricultural Watershed

Management of agriculture-induced water quality problems requires an integrated approach involving selection of the most suitable and economical Best Management Practices (BMP). Vegetation Buffer Strips (VBS), one of the commonly used off-field structural BMPs, when designed and placed correctly, can significantly improve the water quality. However, VBS takes up agricultural land used for crop production and the implementation/maintenance costs are of concern. Currently, the standards for design of VBS (location and width) are normally set on field study basis, and they do not involve science-based approach to guarantee their efficiency under regional variations, geological and economical conditions. The present study proposes a new approach which integrates computational modeling of watershed processes, fluvial processes and modern heuristic optimization techniques to design a cost effective VBSs in a watershed. The watershed model AnnAGNPS (Annual AGricultural Non-Point Source Pollution Model) and channel network model CCHE1D (Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering One(1) Dimensional Model) are linked together to simulate the sediment/pollutant transport processes. Based on the computational results, a multi-objective function is set up, which aims to minimize soil losses, nutrient concentrations as well as total costs associated with installation and maintenance of VBS, while the production profits from agriculture production are being maximized. The solution procedure involves the use of iterative Tabu Search (TS) algorithm to flip VBS design parameters (switching from one alternative to another). The search for the optimal solution follows an iterative procedure. An illustrative case study of USDA’s Goodwin Creek experimental watershed located in Northern Mississippi is used to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed approach. The results show that the optimized design of VBS using an integrated approach at the watershed level can provide efficient and cost-effective conservation of the environmental quality by taking into account productivity and profitability.     

Assessing the Efficiency of an Elver Ladder Using a Multi‐State Mark–Recapture Model

The decline of the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) stock has led the European Commission to enforce a regulation (Council Regulation N° 1100/2007), in which each member state was required to establish an eel management plan. Various measures in the French plan aim at restoring river connectivity by mitigating the impact of obstacles on the colonization of continental water by eels. Consequently, many obstacles are going to be equipped with elver ladder in the near future. In this context, a method to assess the passability of an obstacle seems essential. In this study, we developed a tag–recapture method, appropriate to glass eels and elvers, and an associated multi‐state mark–recapture model (i) to assess the passability of a ladder and (ii) to quantify the effect of various environmental factors on this passability. An application to a specific obstacle is applied as an illustrative example that demonstrates the relevance of the assessment method, and how the results can be used to propose technical solution to improve the efficiency of the ladder. Nine tag–recapture campaigns were carried on this obstacle, and about 4400 young eels were tagged. The model demonstrates that the efficiency of the ladder was rather low, especially during low river flow periods, mainly because of accessibility problems. The model also demonstrates the major influence of the river flow on the probability for an eel to pass the ladder; consequently, managing river flow during the migration period can be a relevant measure to improve river connectivity and facilitate colonization of the watershed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.