A first assessment of river basin management plans

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A first assessment of river basin management plans

• David Lerner and colleaguesCatchment Science
  Centre

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Im glad it wasnt me

• Thanks to
• Bob Harris, Ben Surridge, Alison Holt, Annelie
  Kolzkämper, Vikas Kumar, Natasha Tkachenko Emma
  Westling of the CSC
• Claire Reece, Sara Metcalfe, Vicky Hirst, Geoff
  Bateman and others at the Environment Agency,
  nationally and in the NE region

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The Don and Rother catchment

• Google Earth fly through the catchment
• Moors
• Upland livestock
• Upland arable
• Urban
• Lowland arable
• Lowland moors
• Mining and industrial
• Heavily modified rivers

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Fly through the Don and Rother catchment
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Index of multiple deprivation
Health
Employment
Income
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The Don typically English

• Variable
• Geology
• Topography
• Land use
• Layers of industrial legacy
• Modified rivers
• Heavily populated
• Economic pressures
• Conflicting aspirations
• Complex!

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WFD pressures
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WFD status
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Whats in the River Basin Plan for the Don and
Rother?
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Whats in the River Basin Plan for the Don and
Rother?

• There is no plan.
• Reductionist analysis
• No vision
• No assessment of
• Suitability
• Capacity
• No linking of solutions to issues
• Not looking for synergistic effects or win-wins
• Basically a load of scraps and exhortations
• the National Environment Programme for water
  utilities
• No implementation approach
• Doesnt consider the Catchment as an entity

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River Basin Liaison panels

• Business Industry
• Consumers
• Environment Agency
• Environmental NGOs
• Farming
• Forestry
• Local Authorities
• Natural England
• Ports
• Regional Assembly
• Regional Development Agency
• Rural business
• Water Companies
• Waterways
• Users, regulators and spenders

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NEP
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Lets rewind what is the context?
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Complex and integrated at all scales
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Recognise

• Environmental systems are wicked
• The ecosystem is an emergent property
• Catchment goods and services
• Not just ecological quality!
• Competition between services
• The opportunities and capacities
• Co-delivery implies compromise

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How might we get there next time?
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Which model do we want?
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Ownership by co-deliverers

• Business Industry
• Consumers
• Environment Agency
• Environmental NGOs
• Farming
• Forestry
• Local Authorities
• Natural England
• Ports
• Regional Assembly
• Regional Development Agency
• Rural business
• Water Companies
• Waterways

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3 key points

• Ownership
• Co-deliverers have to be interested and empowered
• The panel needs resources
• Work at the right scale
• No basin-scale stakeholders
• Policy is large scale
• Implementation and ownership is mostly local
• There is no right answer
• Trade-offs
• Benefits cannot all be monetarised
• Use the catchment goods and services approach

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Suggestions

• Independent liaison panels and chairs
• Paid membership
• Technical secretariat
• Work at the catchment scale
• Aggregate upwards
• Look for win-win opportunities
• Accept adaptive management

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Exploit the loophole!

• The Don and Rother are 71 AHMWB
• Can define Ecological Potential for AHMWB
• Use this freedom to do catchment management
  rather than attacking symptoms