integrated water management: ongoing research: … sps 1_3 workshop session 2...radar use in urban...
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NERC WSKEP workshop – Edinburgh 3rd May 2012
Integrated Water Management: Ongoing research:
Challenges for Water Security:
Science, Governance, the Ecosystem approach and
Integrating knowledge, policy and practice
Professor Chris J Spray –
a personal view
NERC WSKEP workshop – Edinburgh 3rd May 2012
Research at a time of Rapid Change
Physical - Climate change
- Land use
- Development
Economic - Value for (decreasing) money
Social - Localism
- Engagement & Participation
Technical - Remote sensing
- Rapid information flow
- Modelling capabilities
……Integration is being demanded across and between……
NERC WSKEP workshop – Edinburgh 3rd May 2012
Rapid change leading to greater pressure and
demand for the ‘evidence-base’
Physical - flood damage, biodiversity losses
Economic - multiple benefit value for (still decreasing!) money
Social - input and use of community knowledge, NGO expertise
Technical - solutions
…working within a democratic mandate and Media challenge…
NERC WSKEP workshop – Edinburgh 3rd May 2012
Policy Response is evolving rapidly as well
Millennium Assessment & UK National Ecosystem Assessment
Sterne Report and TEEB
EU Water Framework, Flooding, Environmental Accounting directives…..
DEFRA - Natural Value Programme
- Natural Environment White paper (Natural choice)
- 12 Nature Improvement Areas
- Natural England’s 3 Upland Ecosystem Pilots
- Integrated Catchment pilots (10+15+45)
Scotland - Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009
- Scottish Land Use Strategy
- Climate Change Act
Wales - Natural Environment Framework
NGOs - Living Landscapes (Scottish Wildlife Trust)
- Tweed Forum
- West Country Rivers Trust
NERC WSKEP workshop – Edinburgh 3rd May 2012
Research Response is evolving as well
• Evidence-base
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Science (BESS) call from NERC
• Testing solutions
Payments for Ecosystem Services (UEA, West Country Rivers Trust)
Governance for Integrated catchment management (pilots)
• Techniques and Tools
Radar use in urban flood modelling (Bristol university)
Call for Integration:
LWEC - research strategies (e.g. flooding; ecosystem challenge, etc)
research funding (multidisciplinary)
systems (and ecosystem service) approach
Knowledge Exchange Networks - but caveat: too many, and badly focussed.
NERC WSKEP workshop – Edinburgh 3rd May 2012
Integrated Catchment Management: research themes
Bio-Physical
• Flood risk management
• Water quality
• Climate change
Social Sciences
• Use and integration of community knowledge
• Governance models
• Valuation and Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES)
Integration
• Bringing it all together (for WFD Round 2?)
• Ecosystem services approach
NERC WSKEP workshop – Edinburgh 3rd May 2012
Flood risk management
Eddleston Water Restoration
Aims:
• Looking at potential for delivery of
improvement to river structure & habitats -
• and the potential contribution of “Natural”
Flood Management techniques
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• Project based on detailed accurate flow
measures – extensive surface and ground water
network throughout catchment
• Interventions being undertaken to test impact
of new ‘natural’ flood risk measures – re-
meandering, engineered log-jams, etc
• modelled scenarios for flood risk reduction and
changes to ecosystem services
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SEPA, Scottish government, Tweed Forum, Dundee
university
NERC WSKEP workshop – Edinburgh 3rd May 2012
Water quality management
NERC MacroNutrient Cycle
Demonstration Test Catchments Eden, Wensum, Avon (Hants)
Aim To assess the effectiveness of on‐farm mitigation measures for reducing diffuse pollution from agriculture to water • produce evidence to test the hypothesis that it is possible through the implementation of multiple on‐farm measures to: cost‐effectively reduce the impact of agricultural diffuse pollution to water on ecological function, while maintaining food security Multiple partnerships - FBA data coordination
NERC WSKEP workshop – Edinburgh 3rd May 2012
Climate change
2050s, mid emissions scenario, 50% probability, winter precipitation with Ramsar sites
-2% to 0%
0% to +4%
+4% to +8%
+8% to +12%
+12% to +16%
Reactive methods: •Reduce other
pressures •Water/land
management at Landscape scale •Seek multiple
ecosystem benefits
Proactive methods: •Species translocation
•Habitat alteration •Migration corridors
•New reserves in future “Climate change
envelopes”
Potential strategic Climate change biodiversity response options For lake conservation at the catchment landscape scale SNH/SEPA funded research Martin Muir/John Rowan/Chris Spray Dundee
22/05/2012 10
Use and integration of Community knowledge
Managing Borderlands: – RELU project (Lead Newcastle University)
Examining how local communities can become more resilient and adaptive to
flooding in the context of the “borders” that exist between institutions, between
different knowledges (and access to knowledge) and different stakeholders in
England and Scotland, faced by challenges of climate change
Comparing “upstream” and “downstream” communities; institutions, agencies and
individuals, etc (Q methodology)
NERC WSKEP workshop – Edinburgh 3rd May 2012
Valuation and payments for Ecosystem services
West Country Rivers Trust and UEA
Devising and testing PES schemes
Setting up markets for Payments for Ecosystem Services across a Catchment
Fecal Organisms
Nutrients
Flooding
Carbon
Sediment UPSTEAM
Market - buyers
DOWNSTREAM
Providers - farmers
Ethical broker
Trusted Intermediary
Water, Carbon, flood reduction, nutrient control, recreation
NERC WSKEP workshop – Edinburgh 3rd May 2012
Governance structures for Catchment management
Scottish Universities Insight Institute
Gatekeepers of Participatory Management
Dundee University and St. Andrews
University, with Tweed Forum
Workshops and Field Visits in 2011
Motueka River Basin, New Zealand
Fraser Basin, Canada
Tweed, Scotland/England
Dee, Scotland
Catchment NGOs and their role interfacing
between government and society in
integrated water resource management
www.scottishinsight.ac.uk ,
NERC WSKEP workshop – Edinburgh 3rd May 2012
Integration – the Ecosystems Approach
interfacing between government and
society in integrated water resource
management
www.scottishinsight.ac.uk ,
Functional gradients
Carbon sequestrationCarbon sequestration
Floodwater detentionFloodwater detention
Nutrient & contaminant transformationNutrient & contaminant transformation
Food chain Food chain
supportsupport
NERC WSKEP workshop – Edinburgh 3rd May 2012
Conclusions:
• Integration is the BIG Challenge
• Need for long-term pilot Catchment studies, with real bio-
physical data to prove models
• Need for ‘standardisation’ of a range of proven tools and
techniques
• Need for novel, rapid assessment tools – e.g mapping ecosystem
services
• Need more on ground-water:surface water interactions
• Need to enable NGOs and partnerships to also lead