Stakeholder participation is considered a key principle for sustainable development in the context of natural resource and disaster risk management. Participatory modelling (PM) is an interactive and iterative process in which stakeholder involvement is supported by modelling and communication tools. Planning and decision-making for sustainable development (SD)integrate three substantive dimensions − social, ecological and economic. The procedural dimension of SD, however, is equally important, and here we see great potential for PM. In this study, we evaluate five PM research projects against criteria for the procedural dimension of SD. This provides a basis for identifying key issues and needs for further research into PM for SD. While the cases show great potential, especially for supporting knowledge integration, learning and transparent handling of values and perspectives, they indicate a particular need to develop PM in respect of organizational integration. This issue is closely connected to the possibility of effectively implementing PM in practice.
Abstract This paper examines the benefits of collaboration in flood risk management by introducing a Provider-User Matrix. The matrix is illustrated through a Swedish case of polycentric decision-making. In the Swedish case the users have not yet benefited from collaboration-benefits such as a more advanced understanding of the flood response system or from sharing detailed hydrological data; benefits that should be easily implemented. The Provider-User Matrix offers both a more holistic way to study benefits and a way to start raising the efficiency of collaboration, by identifying mismatches between the benefits provided and the benefits that users need.
The European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires EU member states to produce and implement river basin management plans, which are to be designed and updated via participatory processes that inform, consult with, and actively involve all interested stakeholders. The assumption of the European Commission is that stakeholder participation, and institutional adaptation and procedural innovation to facilitate it, are essential to the effectiveness of river basin planning and, ultimately, the environmental impact of the Directive. We analyzed official documents and the WFD literature to compare implementation of the Directive in EU member states in the initial WFD planning phase (2000–2009). Examining the development of participatory approaches to river basin management planning, we consider the extent of transformation in EU water governance over the period. Employing a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach, we map the implementation “trajectories” of 13 member states, and then provide a detailed examination of shifts in river basin planning and participation in four member states (Germany, Sweden, Poland and France) to illustrate the diversity of institutional approaches observed. We identify a general tendency towards increased, yet circumscribed, stakeholder participation in river basin management in the member states examined, alongside clear continuities in terms of their respective pre-WFD institutional and procedural arrangements. Overall, the WFD has driven a highly uneven shift to river basin-level planning among the member states, and instigated a range of efforts to institutionalize stakeholder involvement—often through the establishment of advisory groups to bring organized stakeholders into the planning process.
This study examines how the EU Floods Directive – an extensive and innovative legislative instrument for integrated and participatory flood risk planning in all EU member states – influences local flood risk management in one member state, Sweden. The study identifies that: many municipalities have received new knowledge; cross-sectoral organisational structures for water and flood risk issues at the local level are being formed or strengthened; and the flood risk issue has been elevated up the political agenda. There are also however clear signs that a number of other fundamental issues are not being adequately addressed in the complex institutional setting that results from the directive's implementation. These issues are undoubtedly obstructing the development of a more integrated and participatory flood risk management system. Of key importance here are questions relating to how roles and mandates are communicated and adopted, the lack of coordination between the Floods Directive and the Water Framework Directive, and the inadequate involvement of the municipal level and other stakeholders. Practical recommendations on how to redirect development towards more positive outcomes in these areas are thus formulated.
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is currently being implemented throughout Europe. As the Directive is likely to introduce major changes to the way in which water is managed in Sweden, this stud ...
A sustainable procedure can be described as a political conversation about desirable futures informed by scientific knowledge from a broad range of disciplines that are effectively integrated, and by the knowledge and perspectives of the concerned actors.A theoretical framework that defines what an integrated and participatory procedure implies has been successfully applied in the fields of strategic natural resources and disaster risk management (NRM and DRM).With a focus already on disciplinary integration, value integration, participation and democracy, the framework is here developed further with respect to organizational issues, such as coordination and collaboration among organizations of different types at different scales and with different mandates and incentives.The study thus establishes a new integrated approach to systematized scientific knowledge in relation to the concept of sustainable development, via the sustainability principles of integration and participationa theoretical baseline for the trans-disciplinary development of sustainable NRM and DRM procedures.
Participation and co-operation play important roles in attaining sustainable (and integrated) natural risk management. As a consequence, new management practices relating to participation are being ...
