Evaluating the success of public participation in integrated catchment management

Recognition of the need to manage the water environment in more holistic ways has resulted in the global growth of Integrated Catchment Management (ICM). ICM is characterised by horizontal integration, encouraging interdisciplinary working between traditionally disparate management sectors, alongside vertical integration, characterised by the engagement of communities; central is the promotion of participatory governance and management decision-making. ICM has been translated into policy through, for example, the EU Water Framework Directive and at a national level by policies such as the Catchment Based Approach in England. Research exploring the implementation of these policies has reported success at a catchment level, but further research is required to explore practices of management at local level within catchments. This paper presents the findings of participatory research undertaken with a catchment partnership in the northeast of England to explore the integration of top-down policy translation with how local communities interact with management agencies at sub-catchment scale (a bottom-up perspective). The research found that supra-catchment scale drivers dominate the vertical interplay between management systems at more local levels. These drivers embed traditional practices of management, which establishes public participation as a barrier to delivery of top-down management objectives, resulting in practices that exclude communities and participatory movements at the local level. Although collaboration between agencies at the partnership scale offers a potential solution to overcoming these obstacles, the paper recommends changes to supra-catchment governance structures to encourage flexibility in developing local participatory movements as assets. Further research is necessary to develop new practices of management to integrate local people more effectively into the management process

Historical channel-floodplain dynamics along the River Trent: implications for river rehabilitation

The geomorphological history of the River Trent, UK, is documented from historical (documentary and cartographic) information to establish the character of the river along a 60-km reach in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, prior to intensive regulation. Using aerial photography, 28 former channels, as well as a number of growth bends characterized by scroll meandering, could be identified. However, many of these features date from the early medieval period and some reaches are shown to have had an extremely stable history, with the river experiencing little or no planform change since at least enclosure times. Along the 60-km reach examined, 21 per cent of the length could be classed as being stable over the 400-year period. Unstable reaches were associated with tributary confluences of the Dove, Derwent and Soar. While 79 per cent of the reach showed some evidence of channel mobility and reworking of floodplain sediments, in most reaches lateral mobility was restricted to a narrow (< 200 m) corridor. It is recommended that: 1. (1) channel dynamics and natural vegetation successions should be restored in habitat ‘islands’ at tributary confluences; (2) the geomorphologically active reaches of the upper sector, together with adjacent floodlands, should be protected; (3) along the lower sector, floodlands should be expanded, and (4) throughout the river corridor, specific floodplain features, such as backwaters and woodlands, should be maintained and enhanced, including works to restore connectivity with the main channel and between patches

Rethinking flood risk communication

Flooding is a serious hazard across Europe, with over 200 major floods documented in the last two decades. Over this period, flood management has evolved, with a greater responsibility now placed on at-risk communities to understand their risk and take protective action to develop flood resilience. Consequently, communicating flood risk has become an increasingly central part of developing flood resilience. However, research suggests that current risk communications have not resulted in the intended increase in awareness, or behavioural change. This paper explores how current risk communications are used by those at risk, what information users desire and how best this should be presented. We explore these questions through a multi-method participatory experiment, working together with a competency group of local participants in the town of Corbridge, Northumberland, the UK. Our research demonstrates that current risk communications fail to meet user needs for information in the period before a flood event, leaving users unsure of what will happen, or how best to respond. We show that participants want information on when and how a flooding may occur (flood dynamics), so that they can understand their risk and feel in control of their decisions on how to respond. We also present four prototypes which translate these information needs into new approaches to communicating flood risk. Developed by the research participants, these proposals meet their information needs, increase their flood literacy and develop their response capacity. The findings of the research have implications for how we design and develop future flood communications, but also for how we envisage the role of flood communications in developing resilience at a community level

The importance of volunteered geographic information for the validation of flood inundation models

Two dimensional flood inundation models capable of simulating complex spatially and temporally differentiated floodplain flows are routinely used to model and predict flooding. However, advances in modelling techniques have not been matched by improvements in model validation. Validation of flood models remains challenging due to a lack of available spatially-explicit data; traditionally measured data and validation approaches reveal little about the ability of a model to simulate the complex dynamics of floodplain flows, including the pathways, timeline, and impacts of an event. In this paper we propose a novel method for the validation of hydraulic models of flooding using quantitative and qualitative Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI). This method uses VGI data to enhance traditionally measured validation data by reconstructing the observed dynamics of a flood, allowing validation of the temporal and spatial simulation of these dynamics. We illustrate the method using a case study from Corbridge in the northeast of England, using VGI collected through participatory research with people affected by severe flooding in 2015. The results of the study demonstrate that VGI data can be used for the effective reconstruction of flood event dynamics. The results also reveal that the proposed validation approach is able to identify underperformance in the model’s simulation of event dynamics not evaluated by standard global performance measures. Such a lack of evaluation can have adverse consequences where dynamic model outputs are used locally to influence floodplain management. As a result, we propose a new framework for model validation, adopting a pragmatic and flexible approach to examining event dynamics using a diverse range of data

The use of coleoptera (arthropoda:insecta) for floodplain characterization on the River Trent, U.K.

Following a long history of floodplain degradation, directly or indirectly as a result of river regulation, international attention is turning to the restoration of these ecologically important ecotones. One immediate problem is to assess the ecological value of different floodplain habitats. With reference to two floodplain sectors - one non-regulated and one regulated - on the River Trent, U.K., this paper characterizes the dominant floodplain units using two families of beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae and Staphylinidae). Five dominant habitat units, riparian, wetland, woodland, pasture, and arable, are clearly differentiated by both families using ordination analyses. Although the faunal assemblages of specific units within the two sectors have many similarities, the units within the regulated sector are more clearly differentiated, having larger assemblages of describer species. It is suggested that the enhanced environmental gradients between units within this sector may be responsible for stronger faunal contrasts

Sediment continuity through the upland sediment cascade: geomorphic response of an upland river to an extreme flood event

Hillslope erosion and accelerated lake sedimentation are often reported as the source and main stores of sediment in the upland sediment cascade during extreme flood events. While upland valley floodplain systems in the transfer zone have the potential to influence sediment continuity during extreme events, their geomorphic response is rarely quantified. This paper quantifies the sediment continuity through a regulated upland valley fluvial system (St John's Beck, Cumbria, UK) in response to the extreme Storm Desmond (4–6 December 2015) flood event. A sediment budget framework is used to quantify geomorphic response and evaluate sediment transport during the event. Field measurements show 6500 ± 710 t of sediment was eroded or scoured from the river floodplains, banks and bed during the event, with 6300 ± 570 t of sediment deposited in the channel or on the surrounding floodplains. <6% of sediment eroded during the flood event was transported out of the 8 km channel. Floodplain sediment storage was seen to be restricted to areas of overbank flow where the channel was unconfined. Results indicate that, rather than upland floodplain valleys functioning as effective transfer reaches, they instead comprise significant storage zones that capture coarse flood sediments and disrupt sediment continuity downstream