Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
onto a trajectory that could sustain and enhance ecosystem services, societal
development and human well-being (WBG, Art 4 (2), Valais WBG, Art 14)
1
(Valais
2009
) .
Knowledge
Planning time horizons were shown to be insufficient for current challenges, there-
fore longer term horizons were set, shifting the planning focus to more iterative and
integrative and uncertainty (variable risk) based strategies. This was enabled through
a diverse range of impact studies and multi-stakeholder investigations to allow for
compromise and balance in the project. The integration of climate change adjusted
risk and uncertainty into planning was deemed necessary to ensure that time would
not be wasted in the future by having to redo the management plan (reflecting the
understanding that present day hydrology might not reflect future patterns). Planning
and scoping was therefore forward looking, acknowledging that current levels of
flows may be surpassed in the future. Within the project itself, the enlargement (by
2 or 1.6 times) signifies redundancy being built into the system (Valais
2009
) .
An element of flexibility needed to be incorporated into the TRC plan to deal with
this, so that the technical experts, rather than politicians, can define the planning process,
but overall objectives are set in a top down manner from federal and canton levels (but
their strength and closeness to interpretation is negotiated at the local level). Scientific
and technical monitoring and modelling are relied upon to diagnose vulnerabilities, and
communication programmes tend to translate the outcome studies into justifications for
the project with local level stakeholders. Sustainability criteria are integrated into
financial incentive criteria and thereby are positively linked with project objectives.
Networks
The distributed legal structure (i.e. canton and federal law) allows for negotiation
between canton and federal levels to find a balance in the implementation of legal
provisions which encourage a 'sustainability' led approach that matches both federal
guidelines and local realities. Reliance on federal financial support allows the federal
(more transformative approach) to have some power, but regional particularities and
needs are accounted for through the decentralised implementation structure, which in
turn is influenced by local autonomy, land rights holders and water owners. Each
scale has its own source of power and agency (federal: legislative provisions, financial
capability; canton: subsidiarity of Implementation as a constitutional right, technical
1
Refer to the Management Plan of the TRC for more discussion on the acceptance that absolute
security against flooding was no longer an option, and the development of the legal framework for
the management of watercourse in conjunction to this shift in thinking. Available online at:
http://
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