Shifting currents in water diplomacy: negotiating conflict in the Danube and Nile River basins

This chapter analyzes conflict management strategies across three cases of water diplomacy in the Danube and Nile River basins during periods of high tensions and rapid change. Each water diplomacy case involved significant conflicts over access to water resources and benefits from its use, as well as conflicts over access to participate in water decision-making. This chapter is part of the edited book The Politics of Fresh Water: Access, conflict and identity

Role-Play Simulations and System Dynamics for Sustainability Solutions around Dams in New England

Research has shown that much of the science produced does not make its way to the decision-making table. This leads to a gap between scientific and societal progress, which is problematic. This study tests a novel science-based negotiation simulation that integrates role-play simulations (RPSs) with a system dynamic model (SDM). In RPSs, stakeholders engage in a mock decision-making process (reflecting real-life institutional arrangements and scientific knowledge) for a set period. By playing an assigned role (different from the participant’s real-life role), participants have a safe space to learn about each other’s perspectives, develop shared understanding about a complex issue, and collaborate on solving that issue. System Dynamic Models (SDMs) are visual tools used to simulate the interactions and feedback with a complex system. We test the integration of the two approaches toward problem-solving with real stakeholders in New Hampshire and Rhode Island via a series of two consecutive workshops in each state. The workshops are intended to engage representatives from diverse groups who are interested in dam related issues to foster dialogue, learning, and creativity. Participants will discuss a hypothetical (yet realistic) dam-decision scenario to consider scientific information and explore dam management options that meet one another\u27s interests. In the first workshop participants will contribute to the design of the fictionalized dam decision scenario and the SDM, for which we have presented drafts based on a literature review, stakeholder interviews, and expert knowledge. In the second workshop, participants will assume another representative\u27s role and discuss dam management options for the fictionalized scenario. We will report results related to the effectiveness to which this new knowledge production process leads to more innovative and collaborative decision-making around New England dams

People and Conflicts in Dammed New England Landscapes: From a Stakeholder Assessment to a Science-Based Role-Play Simulation

Increased demand to participate in environmental decision-making around highly contentious and wicked problems has shaped the need for participatory processes that prioritize learning and consensus building. Consensus building addresses one of the core issues and downfalls of hard-bargaining approaches to negotiations over water resources: not having the right or all relevant stakeholders represented. Before deciding whether a consensus building process is appropriate for dealing with a natural resource management issue, and if so, who should be involved and what issues should be at the table, a stakeholder assessment needs to be conducted. Such an assessment was conducted as part of the interdisciplinary “Future of Dams” project, for which the goal is to better understand how science is used in decision-making around current and future management of dams in New England. Due to their influence on environmental, economic, and social systems, as well as their inherent trade-offs, dams and decisions surrounding their management serve as examples of wicked problems. As aging infrastructure, safety concerns, and interests in ecological restoration lead to more New England communities being required to address the future of their dams, it becomes necessary to better understand the social context within which decisions are being made. This presentation will cover key steps of conducting stakeholder assessments, including stakeholder identification, data collection, data analysis (including use of NVivo software), and will conclude with preliminary results. The presentation will also address next steps, including use of results to design and implement a science-based role-play negotiation simulation around dam management

The politics of fresh water: setting the stage

This chapter identifies insights into the politics of fresh water and introduces the contributions to the book The Politics of Fresh Water: Access, conflict and identity. First, the social, physical, and ecological components of water systems are interconnected, forming a hydro-social system. Second, instead of being inevitable, freshwater crisis is a socially constructed experience, a lived phenomenon. Water scarcity is not simply the result of what nature has to offer but always involves power relations and political decisions. The water crisis is not only about who is granted access to safe, clean water (when, where, and why), but also about the extent to which the shrinking of available fresh water influences people’s everyday lives at the national and subnational scales. The water crisis also reflects the impact of modernization and neoliberal policies on identity and sense of community. After all, water is the source of livelihood and survival for all people, in every location, at every geographical scale, and the meaning of access to water is inextricably connected to cultural, societal, and political identities. This chapter is part of the edited book The Politics of Fresh Water: Access, conflict and identity

Nature-Based Municipal Flood Resilience and Conservation Priorities in New Hampshire’s Coastal Watershed

Land conservation is a non-structural approach to managing flood hazards through water retention, protecting areas where floodwaters can be stored to prevent downstream flooding, and prevention, protecting floodplains to avoid added risks from new construction and infrastructure. This presentation presents preliminary findings from ongoing research investigating how New Hampshire’s coastal watershed municipalities are implementing land conservation to manage coastal and riverine flood risks. Specifically, we analyze (1) the kinds of criteria municipalities are using to prioritize land conservation and whether managing flood risks is incorporated into the criteria, and (2) the factors that may explain variation observed across municipal land conservation strategies. This research is based on an analysis of publicly available planning documents and 28 semi-structured interviews conducted with municipal staff and officials during 9/2018 – 4/2019 including conservation commission chairs and town planners. Qualitative analysis of the interviews is ongoing. Preliminary analysis suggests there is significant variation across municipalities in the use of criteria for land conservation and that flood risk mitigation is often part of multi-objective selection criteria. Common land conservation criteria include: water resources protection, flood mitigation, climate regulation, nutrient cycling and uptake, soil retention and formation, aesthetic and scenic value, community character, recreation, public access, historic value, and wood supply. Even though nearly all municipalities include land conservation criteria in planning documents, a surprising percent of interviewees (29%) report not using criteria to prioritize land conservation, which suggests a possible disconnect between strategic planning and implementation. Many communities integrate local and regional priorities in developing their land conservation strategies. And, many communities struggle to prioritize flood risk mitigation relative to other competing needs. We conclude with a few examples of data presentation products from this research and ideas for next steps. This presentation was given at the September 10th, 2020 meeting of the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership. More information about the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership can be found at: http://www.greatbaypartnership.org

Nature-Based Municipal Flood Resilience: Land Conservation Strategies in New Hampshire’s Coastal Watershed

Land conservation is a nature-based approach to managing flood risks from fluvial flooding, coastal storm surge, and sea-level rise. This poster presents the design of ongoing research that aims to understand how New Hampshire’s (NH) coastal watershed municipalities implement land protection and conservation to reduce flood risk, the roles of local communities, land conservation organizations, and regional planning agencies in land conservation for flood risk management, how local decision-makers and stakeholders perceive flooding risks, and what institutional changes are needed to facilitate nature-based flood risk management. Research methods include (1) semi-structured interviews with individuals in New Hampshire representing a broad range of professional roles related to land conservation, including town officials, land trusts, environmental and planning organizations, and state agencies, and (2) analysis of existing studies, plans, and reports on flood risk management in New Hampshire. This poster also presents a framework to categorize how municipalities develop their land conservation priorities. This poster was presented virtually at the UNH Annual Graduate Research Conference on April 20 – 21, 2020

New England Food Policy Council Survey Instrument

This document is a survey instrument implemented with food policy councils (FPCs) in New England in October – December 2017. The survey’s purpose is to understand New England FPCs’ policy priorities, identify recent policy and planning processes, and learn about how FPC’s incorporate public participation

Framework for Implementing Socially Just Climate Adaptation (Post-Print)

The previous two decades of scholarship devoted to the role of social justice in climate change adaptation has established an important theoretical basis to evaluate the concept of just adaptation, or, in other words, how the implementation of climate adaptation policy affects socially vulnerable groups. This paper synthesizes insights from relevant literature on urban climate change governance, climate adaptation, urban planning, social justice theory, and policy implementation to develop three propositions concerning the conditions that must occur to implement just adaptation. First, just adaptation requires the inclusion of socially vulnerable as full participants with agency to shape the decisions that affect them. Second, just adaptation requires that adaptation framings explicitly recognize the causes of systemic injustice. Third, just adaptation requires a focus on incremental evaluations of implementation to avoid timeframes inconsistent with advancing justice. We then integrate the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) with the just adaptation literature to develop a framework to evaluate the implementation of climate adaptation. We present two novel modifications to the ACF aimed at fostering policy analysis of the previously presented three propositions for implementation of just adaptation

New England Food Policy Council Survey Results

This document provides the results of a survey of 12 food policy councils (FPCs) in New England conducted during October – December 2017. The survey’s purpose is to understand New England FPCs’ policy priorities, identify recent policy and planning processes, and learn about how FPC’s incorporate public participation. This survey also incorporates results from another survey, the annual survey conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF), which surveys all FPCs in North America

New England food policy councils: An assessment of organizational structure, policy priorities and public participation

Food policy councils (FPCs) are an increasingly common mechanism to improve participation in food system decision-making. Including individuals from under-represented groups can foster greater understanding of their needs and experiences with food system barriers and is an important part of food justice. However, engaging under-represented groups in food systems decision-making remains challenging for FPCs. This paper presents the results from a survey of FPCs and networks in New England to: (1) identify FPC policy priorities, (2) characterize FPCs engaged in policy initiatives based on attributes which, based on the literature, may impact effective public participation: geographic scale, organization type, capacity, policy priorities, and membership, and (3) analyze methods for engaging the public in FPC policy initiatives and demographic groups and sectors engaged. Findings indicate only half of New England FPCs work on policy efforts. Many surveyed FPCs engage multiple food system sectors and under-represented groups through a combination of different public participation opportunities. However, results indicate that New England FPCs could benefit from a greater focus on engaging under-represented audiences. FPCs interested in engaging more diverse participants should commit to a focus on food justice, strive for representative membership through intentional recruitment, and offer multiple methods to engage the public throughout policy initiatives