Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 31.1
Examples of 'future prospects' for river conservation and management raised by Welcomme (1992) and a
summary of progress in the intervening period.
Theme
'Future prospect' examples from 1992
Progress achieved by 2010
Conservation
Rio Summit 1992 still to happen.
Recognition that conservation needs to
incorporate both conservation and use aspects
of the resource.
Iterations since (with little real progress?).
Move towards 'ecosystem services' useful here,
but belated impetus.
Basin approach
River conservation largely a problem of
conservation of catchment areas.
Scenario 1
? Managers work to mitigate worst
impacts.
Scenario 2
? Managers better integrated into
whole decision-making process working
towards restoration.
Much restoration still essentially site-specific.
Europe-wide river basin approach only by
2008.
Impetus provided by Water Framework
Directive, but real progress lacking.
Conservation
needs of rivers
Development of tools for management.
Good progress (e.g. RHS, biotopes,
hydromorphology, laser scanning and Global
Positioning Systems (GPS).
International meetings leading to new
conceptual and empirical approaches.
River Continuum Concept (1980) to River
Ecosystem Synthesis (2009) may not in itself
represent a major leap in scientific
understanding.
Recognition of importance of floodplains.
Slow. Affected by flood risk perception and
reluctance to 'make space' for rivers. More
work on groundwater and its importance to
rivers still needed.
Stakeholder
involvement
Evident in 1990 that a single national authority
insufficient by itself to manage rivers.
Stated in 1990 that natural management unit is
the river basin.
Need to involve public in decision-making
process.
Move towards international consensus and
Integrated Water Resource Management
(IWRM).
Level advocated in Water Framework Directive.
Emphasis in 1990s on catchment level
management, but patchy progress since.
More informed allocation of resources among
users.
Since 1990 advocating limitations on activities
and restrictive moral codes only partially
achieved.
flood-prone areas. In addition, decision-makers
are only now beginning to recognize, through
the 'ecosystem services' approach, that the water
environment provides economic benefits in various
ways, depending on how it is managed. Provision
of these benefits can and should therefore be
recognized and valued (Everard, this volume).
In the UK, the Natural Environment Research
Council
knowledge exchange, data gathering and analysis
('Science into Society'), are needed to ensure
environmental security and maintain both the
health and wealth of society as a whole. The
NERC strategy demonstrates how environmental
science could make a key contribution to
improved methods and techniques for quantifying
ecosystem services, better knowledge transfer and
development of practical means for assessing the
economic benefits of biodiversity. Nevertheless,
the strategy also reveals that research effort in
water is rarely integrated adequately and needs to
be addressed.
(NERC)
recognizes
implicitly
the
importance
of
this
socio-economic
aspect
in
their
current
5-year
research
strategy
(NERC,
2007).
This
emphasizes
that
sustainable
water
conservation
measures,
including
improved
