Land Cover and Water Quality Patterns in an Urban River: A Case Study of River Medlock, Greater Manchester, UK

Urban river catchments face multiple water quality challenges that threaten the biodiversity of riverine habitats and the flow of ecosystem services. We examined two water quality challenges, runoff from increasingly impervious land covers and effluent from combined sewer overflows within a temperate zone river catchment in Greater Manchester, North-West UK. Sub-catchment areas of the River Medlock were delineated from digital elevation models using a Geographical Information System. By combining flow accumulation and high-resolution land cover data within each sub-catchment and water quality measurements at five sampling points along the river, we identified which land cover(s) are key drivers of water quality. Impervious land covers increased downstream and were associated with higher runoff and poorer water quality. Of the impervious covers, transportation networks have the highest runoff ratios and therefore the greatest potential to convey contaminants to the river. We suggest more integrated management of imperviousness to address water quality, flood risk and, urban wellbeing could be achieved with greater catchment partnership working

Water Reallocation by Settlement: Who Wins, Who Loses, Who Pays?

The 2004 Arizona Water Settlements Act (AWSA) is the current standard for what a comprehensive, negotiated settlement can achieve in terms of water rights reallocation, water resource management, and water supply reliability enhancement. This note reviews the flows of money and water specified in Titles I and II of the AWSA to identify the signatory and non-signatory parties that benefit from the settlement and the allocation of costs between the various parties to the agreement. Opportunity costs are also considered. Innovative elements of the agreement are discussed particularly those that improve water supply reliability for the Gila River Indian Community and third parties. The central roles of water resource management tools and market mechanisms in the AWSA are also discussed

Valuing Private and Public Greenspace Using Remotely Sensed Vegetation Indices

In a typical metropolitan area, greenspace varies substantially in its quality and extent. Remotely sensed vegetation index data is used to characterize the heterogeneity in private and public greenspace (riparian corridors) in metropolitan Tucson, Arizona. This data set enables the researcher to test if: (1) greenness is a significant determinant of house price variation in this desert city; and (2) whether there is an interaction between public and private greenspace. Private greenspace amenities can be endogenously improved by homeowners as a complement or substitute for the greenspace that is publicly provided, whereas public greenspace might be exogenous or endogenous depending on households ability to pressure the local government to protect or restore public greenspace. The results of a Hausman test indicate that endogeneity is a problem in the dataset and therefore an instrumental variable two stage least squares estimation is used. The results of this analysis indicate that homebuyers in the study area have preferences for both greener lots and greener riparian corridors and that private and public greenspace appear to be substitutes. Results are robust across multiple identification strategies designed to address potential endogeneity. The study results could have fundamental implications for the efficient use of limited water supplies in this semi-arid metropolitan area.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Designing a flood storage option on agricultural land: What can flood risk managers learn from drought management?

The increasing probability of loss and damage to floods is a global concern. Countries are united by an urgent need to reduce flood risk to households, businesses, agricultural land, and infrastructure. As natural and engineered protection erodes with climate change and development pressures, new approaches to flood risk management delivered at the catchment scale that work with nature hold promise. One nature-based solution that aligns with this Special Issue on river flooding is the temporary storage of floodwaters on the floodplain. In many countries, this would involve controlled flooding inland low-lying agricultural land. Designing schemes that farmers and irrigation districts will adopt is essential. To inform future floodplain storage options, we review farm-centred drought management, specifically, agreements that transfer agricultural water to municipalities through fallowing in California, USA and an Australian farm exit scheme. These initiatives reveal underpinning principles around the need to: balance the multiple objectives of the parties, share the benefits and responsibilities, address local impacts and practical guidance on incentive design including the consideration of conditional participation requirements and responding to farmer and public preferences. In terms of funding there is opportunity for blended financing with flood-prone communities, insurers, and conservation charities

How Do Homebuyers Value Different Types of Green Space?

It is important to understand tradeoffs in preferences for natural and constructed green space in semi-arid urban areas because these lands compete for scarce water resources. We perform a hedonic study using high resolution, remotely-sensed vegetation indices and house sales records. We find that homebuyers in the study area prefer greener lots, greener neighborhoods, and greener nearby riparian corridors, and they pay premiums for proximity to green space amenities. The findings have fundamental implications for the efficient allocation of limited water supplies between different types of green space and for native vegetation conservation in semi-arid metropolitan areas.hedonic model, locally weighted regression, spatial, open space, golf course, park, riparian, Consumer/Household Economics, Land Economics/Use,

Do Homebuyers Care about the 'Quality' of Natural Habitats?

We study if homebuyers in Tucson, Arizona care about the condition of natural habitats and if they have preferences between natural and manmade habitats. Using field work data we examine whether homebuyers willingness to pay is influenced by the biological condition of the neighboring riparian habitat and how homebuyers value alternative manmade green areas, specifically golf courses. We also explore the relationship between the field data and remote sensing vegetation indices. The results of a hedonic analysis of houses that sold within 0.2 miles of 51 stratified-random selected riparian survey sites in Tucson, Arizona reveals that homebuyers significantly value habitat quality and negatively value manmade park-like features. Homebuyers are willing to pay twenty percent more to live near a riparian corridor that is densely vegetated and contains more shrub and tree species, particularly species that are dependent on perennial water flow. These environmental premiums are significant, outweighing structural factors such as an additional garage or swimming pool. Likewise, proximity to a riparian habitat with low biological quality or to a golf course lowers property values.Land Economics/Use,

Incorporating the insurance value of peri-urban ecosystem services into natural hazard policies and insurance products: Insights from Mexico

Understanding how to adapt to increasing risk under climate change is essential for governments wishing to mitigate harms and manage insurance and disaster assistance costs. An approach that values the public good of hazard mitigation provisioned by natural ecosystems could also incentivise government, beneficiaries and insurance companies to share responsibility and funding for targeted conservation and restoration. To illuminate this concept of the insurance value of ecosystems, it is important to map the relationship between the area(s) that benefit from and provide regulating ecosystem services and to identify what determines the level of protection. In the case of flood control regulation that benefits at-risk urban areas, upstream or inland peri-urban areas are key. We present steps to operationalise the insurance value in policy using spatial indicators of peri-urban biodiversity and vegetation and soil health for four Mexican cities. For Mexico City only, we identify at-risk areas and characterise upstream peri-urban areas and find this insurance value is already diminished. Combining spatial analysis with a damage cost function we estimate the expected damage costs of different flood events and the monetary value of enhancing this insurance value. This estimate could be compared to other policy interventions and integrated into hazard insurance

Managing groundwater in a mining region: an opportunity to compare best-worst and referendum data

In nonmarket valuation, practitioners must choose a format for the valuation questions. A common approach in discrete choice experiments is the ‘pick-one’ format, often with two alternative policy proposals and a status quo from which the respondent selects. Other proposed formats, include best-worst elicitation, where respondents are asked to indicate their most and least favoured alternative from a set. Although best-worst formats can offer efficiency in data collection, they can also lead to responses that are difficult to reconcile with neoclassical welfare estimation. The current article explores methodological issues surrounding the use of pick-one versus best-worst data for nonmarket valuation, focusing on framing and status quo effects that may occur within three-alternative discrete choice experiments. We illustrate these issues using a case study of surplus groundwater use from Western Australian mining. Results identify concerns that may render best-worst data unsuitable for welfare estimation, including a prevalence of serial choices in which the status quo is universally chosen as the worst alternative, rendering part of the choice process deterministic. Asymmetry of preferences and serial choices can be obscured when models are estimated using ‘naively’ pooled best-worst data. Results suggest that caution is warranted when using best-worst data for valuation, even when pooled results appear satisfactory

The importance of rebuilding trust in fisheries governance in post-Brexit England

The sustainable management of common pool resources, like fisheries, relies heavily on trust and reciprocity between managers and stakeholders (fishers). The UK Fisheries Act of 2020 and the Joint Fisheries Statement of 2022 seek to reinvent post-Brexit fisheries governance and the economic and environmental sustainability of the sector. Management of the fisheries sector through Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) is still under development but changes in governance arrangements are likely to significantly impact fishers’ livelihoods. This highlights a need for improved collaboration between fishers and the governing institutions. Using a novel survey design, representatives of the English fisheries sector were surveyed to capture their level of different forms of trust (rational, affinitive, system-based) towards national and regional governing institutions. Overall, low levels of trust were found, although regional institutions (i.e., Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities) were more trusted than national institutions (i.e., Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and Marine Management Organisation). Exploring different forms of trust revealed nuance between the institutions and distinctive regional differences. To build on this, interviews were conducted revealing feelings of apathy and conflict towards the governing institutions rather than inclination towards collaborating. Trust has a role in fostering more resilient fisheries management and fishers discussed the need for sustained institutional efforts to rebuild trust post-Brexit through greater transparency, face-to-face interaction, and meaningful consultation. Our research also reveals that FMPs will need to factor in geographical differences and that current institutions will need to work more collaboratively in order to foster local adaptive management

Mainstreaming nature-based solutions: What role do Communities of Practice play in delivering a paradigm shift?

As the urgency to adapt to climate change intensifies, nature-based solutions (NBS) are receiving increasing attention. To mainstream NBS, a fundamental shift in environmental management is required. This study evaluates the role that Communities of Practice (CoP) can play as platforms to foster social learning to drive such a paradigm shift. A Natural Flood Management (NFM) CoP in Yorkshire, UK, was used as a case study. A unique research design combined opportunistic data collected prior to the inception of the CoP and purposive data collected during and after its formation. Opportunistic data captured information from stakeholders regarding NFM engagement and challenges around its instalment and delivery. Purposive data was used to examine the ability of a CoP to foster social learning, overcome the challenges identified prior to its establishment and evaluate the extent to which a CoP contributes to inducing a NBS paradigm shift, using a multi-loop social learning framework. Results demonstrate that the CoP was effective in delivering social learning and improving NFM instalment and delivery. While most evidence of social learning point to incremental rather than transformational changes, it did reveal abundant questioning of the current framing of flood management. Furthermore, the CoP seems to have encouraged some participants to re-think the current governance structures for NFM and the boundaries of current actor networks, raising promise that, if sustained in the longer term, the CoP could induce a paradigm shift. Further research should conduct longitudinal studies to examine the CoP’s development overtime and its potential for overcoming current constraints