Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
ultimately, in increasing the resilience of the system as a whole. In the case of Coope-
silencio it was not necessary to invite the local population to participate in the restora-
tion; rather, the local people themselves initiated action in response to the devastating
effects of crises, even in the absence of state action. In the Guadiamar River, con-
versely, the scant offerings of participation on the part of the government to the local
population have not aided citizens' identification with the river that runs through
their backyard. In cases such as the Guadiamar, the technocratic model of restoration
must be replaced with a more public and participatory approach in order to increase
system resilience and improve the prospects for long-term sustainability of restoration
actions. This may mean starting with the scientists, technicians, and politicians them-
selves to foster a new culture wherein people are seen as active and important compo-
nents of the system, and not merely as bystanders or constituents. Encouraging the
territorialization of a region such as the Guadiamar basin, characterized by rapid de-
mographic and economic change, will require the construction of new relationships
between people and place.
Notes
1. The term resilience comes from the Latin
resiliere
, spring back or rebound.
2. The Protected Landscape of the Tinto River, a zone highly transformed by the mining
activity, was declared as such in the year 2005, after suffering a devastating fire in the summer
of 2004 that destroyed more than 61,776 acres (25,000 ha) of bush and forest.
3. Growth that is also clearly accelerating if we compare this figure with the growth regis-
tered between 1987 and 1996, which was 9.74 percent. The comparison with growth registered
in the city, which was practically static between 1996 and 2007 at just 0.24 percent, is highly re-
vealing. Furthermore, the statistics do not reflect real growth, since much of the new resident
population in this area is not registered in the official census for each municipality and, there-
fore, their presence is not officially recorded.
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