Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The nexus approach to management of environmental resources has highlighted
the challenges of
. The nexus approach offers alternative
pathways for discussing integration challenges using more nuanced perspectives
such as trade-offs and synergies. However, the discussion remains focused on the
biophysical domain
'
integrated management
'
resource flows, linked cycles, modelling, waste, water and
soil management. The chapters in this topic highlight an important facet of the
nexus, which so far has remained largely overlooked by the debate: the institutional
—
ciency and resource recovery,
which is an important consideration in addition to those of trade-offs and synergies
that were alluded to earlier. Would we be better off by referring to
'
resource
optimization
'
, which may or may not be the result of increased
'
system ef
ciency
'
?
The chapters in this volume call attention to a broader perspective on systems
air,
water and soil. This broader perspective must encompass social and political sys-
tems, as well as the expression of the intersection of these systems with the bio-
physical domain in the form of ecosystem services (Chap.
5
). From a nexus
perspective, we should also consider whether optimizing the use of budgetary
resources will result in optimal use of biophysical resources such as water, waste
and soil or vice versa.
Chapter
3
points out that the Poverty-Environment (P-E) nexus is robust. It is this
assumption that shapes public interventions for management of environmental
resources. What we know for sure is that scale is an important determinant of the
outcomes of the P-E nexus. At larger scales of analysis, the impacts of soil erosion for
example, may be less intensive than at the level of a farm or plot. This difference in
outcomes can be an important influence on how public programmes are targeted, such
as using a sector-wide approach assuming that the PE nexus is strong or a budget-
support approach that assumes the relationship is weak (Dasgupta et al.
2005
).
The discussion about the role of public
—
financing of infrastructure projects is
something that has been overlooked by discussions on management of environ-
mental resources. The nexus approach makes it imperative that we discuss the role
of higher order institutions (
understood as rules
) and their influence on resource
management decisions at multiple levels (Ostrom
2009
). For example, what role
can central transfers, taxes and tariffs have on distribution of bene
ts and costs of
infrastructure projects covering sectors such as irrigation, wastewater or hydro-
power? Linda Veiga, in Chap.
4
, points out that while the overall bene
ts of
decentralization appear positive, the actual distribution of bene
ts and costs of
infrastructure projects under decentralized regimes may depend on demography
(
population size and age
). This issue is highlighted by the example of European
experience with costing and tariffs of wastewater projects (Chap.
7
). The impli-
cations of this analysis suggests that peri-urban regions composed of small/sec-
ondary towns could be candidates for policy and programmatic attention of
strategic infrastructure investments since they are currently experiencing the fastest
rates of demographic change, but without the matching infrastructure coverage that
is required to keep pace with demand for services. (UN-Habitat
2013
).
Search WWH ::
Custom Search