Land-Manager Contributions to Protecting the Dee Water Environment

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Land-Manager Contributions to Protecting the Dee Water Environment SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME THEME 6: Environment (including Climate Change) Adaptive strategies to Mitigate the Impacts of Climate Change on European Freshwater Ecosystems Collaborative Project (large-scale integrating project) Grant Agreement 244121 Duration: February 1st, 2010 – January 31st, 2014 Deliverable 1.14: Report from workshop in UK to explore discrepancies between different groups of stakeholders regarding their perceptions of the policy implementation issues and the underlying factors that explain these differences Lead contractor: The James Hutton Institute (TJHI) (was MLURI) Other contractors involved: N/A Due date of deliverable: Month 15 Actual submission date: Month 16 Work package: 1 Contributors: Kerry Waylen & Kirsty Blackstock & Susan Cooksley Estimated person months: 3 Project co-funded by the European Commission within the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013) Dissemination Level (add X to PU, PP. RE or CO) PU Public X PP Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services) RE Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services) CO Confidential, only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services) Abstract The River Dee is an iconic Scottish river, with many uses and values. At present more than one third of its water bodies are classified at ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ ecological status, but under the Water Framework Directive, the condition of all water bodies across the catchment should reach good status by 2027. Many actions are required to achieve this, in particular tackling diffuse-source pollution, and reducing the impact of morphological changes (e.g. straight walls and instream structures) that reduce the natural habitats available. There have been a great many recommendations for activities (measures) that can help protect and promote the good quality of the Dee’s waters (Annex 1). There has been much already been much action taken, but much remains, and it is not really understood what determines why some actions are undertaken, and others are not. Better understanding of how to encourage action for the water environment is needed in order to know how best to encourage further action for the water environment. No one has previously tried to understand what constrains and influences actions to help the water environment, although theories about other pro-environmental behaviours provide a guide. To discuss what actually helps or hinder adopting actions for the water environment, on 16th November 2010, a workshop was held with a small group of people owning or managing land in the Dee catchment. The key findings from this workshop reflect on awareness and agreement with recommended actions, problems or issues faced by those looking to implement actions, and thoughts about how these issues might change in future. Despite the numerous recommendations made for the Dee there was good general awareness of most actions, although concerns about equity and responsibility may need to be addressed to prevent land-managers feeling they are being unfairly targeted. However, recommendations relating to drainage and ditch management are confusing and particularly contentious, so must be checked, clarified and clearly justified if any changes are expected to these practices. Key issues affecting whether or not actions were adopted were not only finances and money, but the related issues of labour and time. Business and environmental characteristics of an enterprise also strongly affect what actions are suitable or feasible, with some recommendations and policies to be regarded as inappropriately inflexible. In future, labour, time and money are expected to become increasingly scarce. However, in addition to market drivers, environmental and climate changes are also expected to be a significant if unpredictable force. Recommendations for changes and interventions by policy-makers, that could encourage future uptake of actions to help the water environment, are not just focused around financing, but also about encouraging inclusive ‘joined-up’ thinking. The results of this and a comparable Greek workshop (deliverable 1.15) inform a conceptual model of barriers to implementation (deliverable 1.16). This should inform the actions (measures) considered elsewhere in the REFRESH project. Land Manager Contributions to Protecting the Dee Water Environment Report from meeting 16th November 2010 Kerry Waylen & Kirsty Blackstock & Susan Cooksley [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] April 2011 Contents 1) Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 1 2) Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 2 3) The Dee and its water environment ............................................................................................ 2 4) The workshop.............................................................................................................................. 6 5) Awareness and perceptions of actions advised for the Dee ........................................................ 7 6) Issues faced when trying implement actions .............................................................................. 9 7) Future changes .......................................................................................................................... 12 8) Key points for policy-makers.................................................................................................... 12 9) Next steps .................................................................................................................................. 15 ANNEX 1: Actions to protect and enhance the water environment in the Dee ..................................... 16 ANNEX 2: The relationship between rainfall, field drainage and changing flows. ............................... 20 ANNEX 3: Monitoring water quality in the Dee ................................................................................... 22 1) Summary The River Dee is an iconic Scottish river, with many uses and values. At present more than one third of its water bodies are classified at ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ ecological status, but under the Water Framework Directive, the condition of all water bodies across the catchment should reach good status by 2027. Many actions are required to achieve this, in particular tackling diffuse-source pollution, and reducing the impact of morphological changes (e.g. straight walls and instream structures) that reduce the natural habitats available. There have been a great many recommendations for activities that can help protect and promote the good quality of the Dee’s waters (Annex 1). These apply to both public agencies, private organisations and individuals throughout the catchment. Some actions are the subject of rules and regulations, some may be promoted by incentive schemes and some may be purely advisory and voluntary. Much of the guidance, rules and schemes for action have been focused on land-managers in the catchment. There has been much already been much action taken, but it is not really understood what determines why some actions are taken, and others are not. However, this understanding is needed in order to know how best to encourage further action for the water environment. Research into this topic by the Macaulay Institute (now The James Hutton Institute) was commissioned as part of a project called ‘Refresh’1. No one has previously tried to understand what constrains and influences actions to help the water environment, although theories about other pro-environmental behaviours provide a guide. To discuss what actually helps or hinder adopting actions for the water environment, on 16th November 2010, a workshop was held with a small group of people owning or managing land in the Dee catchment. The key findings from this workshop reflect on awareness and agreement with recommended actions, problems or issues faced by those looking to implement actions, and thoughts about how these issues might change in future. Despite the numerous recommendations made for the Dee there was good general awareness of most actions, although concerns about equity and responsibility may need to be addressed to prevent land- managers feeling they are being unfairly targeted. However, recommendations relating to drainage and ditch management are confusing and particularly contentious, so must be checked, clarified and clearly justified if any changes are expected to these practices. Key issues affecting whether or not actions were adopted were not only finances and money, but the related issues of labour and time. Business and environmental characteristics of an enterprise also strongly affect what actions are suitable or feasible, with some recommendations and policies to be regarded as inappropriately inflexible. In future, labour, time and money are expected to become increasingly scarce. However, in addition to market drivers, environmental and climate changes are also expected to be a significant if unpredictable force. Recommendations for changes and interventions by policy-makers, that could encourage future uptake of actions to help the water environment, are not just focused around financing, but also about encouraging inclusive ‘joined-up’ thinking. These issues and recommendations will not be used only within academia
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