Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 2
From Channel to Catchment: A
20-Year Journey for River
Management in England and Wales
Malcolm D. Newson
Tyne Rivers Trust, Horsley, UK
Introduction
of humans and wildlife as a major mechanism of
achieving global resilience (Dresner, 2002);
(ii)
an
ecosystem services paradigm
which offers a
rationale and some tools to achieve this balance
(Pires, 2004; Everard, 2009, this volume);
(iii)
increasing
technical sophistication
in the
gathering, processing and displaying of spatial (e.g.
catchment) information and providing decision-
support scenarios using remote sensing methods
and
An ironic paradox of 'catchment scale' is that
although it has become an integral part of
river basin management terminology over the
last 20 years, it is still challenged as a proven
practical concept from several sceptical sources
(Newson, 2004). One reason is because the natural
configurations of individual river catchments
rarely coincide with historical land ownership
and institutional boundaries, so a unifying
influence is difficult to engender (Newson, 2004).
It is somewhat reassuring therefore that, at
the 1990 York conference, several presenters
correctly predicted the potential difficulties of
promoting an holistic, systems view of river basin
management to 'officials' with an institutional
mindset based on more traditional legislative and
policy viewpoints. The proverbial 'mountain to
climb' was therefore both literal - moving attention
away from the river channel - and political, given
the history and intensity of conflicts about
ownership of both land and water. The intervening
period since 1990 has seen the emergence of
'catchment consciousness' as a concept (Newson,
2009)
Geographical
Information
Systems
(GIS)
(Clark and Richards, 2002);
(iv)
an increase in hydrological, geomorphological
and ecological
knowledge
but also a need for that
evidence to be peer-reviewed as part of decision
making (Newson, 2010);
(v)
a wider acceptance that
vernacular or indigenous
(local) knowledge
has a valid and important
contribution in improving the relevance, quality
and ownership of water management proposals
and actions (O'Riordan and Rayner, 1991); and
(vi)
the professional re-positioning of
development agencies, environmental
consultancies, river authorities and environmental
non-governmental organizations (eNGOs) away
from a predominantly engineering focus to one
encompassing ecology and economics under
the banner of 'Integrated Water Resources
Management' (IWRM) (Global Water Partnership,
2001).
and
included
the
following
significant
changes:
(i)
a
sustainability paradigm
which promotes a
balance between the habitat and resource needs
