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Ecosystem Services
for watershed management and planning
Planning for Ecosystem Services
Planning and Design for Sustainable Places LabUNIVERSITY OF TRENTO
DICAM - Department of Civil,
Environmental and Mechanical Engineering
Ph.D. Candidate: Blal Adem Esmail Supervisor: Prof Davide Geneletti
XXVIII Cycle – THESIS DEFENCETrento, 8th April 2016
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People gather to fetch water from a huge well in the village of Natwarghad in the western Indian state of Gujarat (Reuters)
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A woman carries jerry cans to fill them with water from a communal tap in Yemen's capital Sanaa (Reuters)
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URBAN WATER SECTOR
Water Supply
System
Sanitation
System
Drainage
System
Water utility
HUMAN WELLBEING IN CITIES
Villagers carry pitchers filled with drinking water after visiting a well at Meni village in the western Indian state of Gujarat (Reuters)
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2030 +2.5 billion urban dwellers 90% in Asia and Africa
UN World Urbanization Prospect (2014)
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Capacity of ecosystems
e.g. half of cities with more than
100.000 inhabitants are located in
water scarce basins
(Srinivasan et al. 2012, Richter el al 2013)
Adequate infrastructural &
institutional capacity
(Kayaga et al. 2013, Lieberherr & Truffer 2015)
Adaptation & Integration(Cortner and Moote 1994, Ward 1995, Gleick 2000, Pahl-Wostl et al 2002, 2007, 2011)
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Participatory management and collaborative decision-making;
Addressing problem sources not effects;
Changing human behavior through “soft” measures;
Open & shared information sources (linking science & decision-making);
Embedded in iterative learning cycles;
Adaptation & Integration paradigm
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Key challenge to real-life implementation
Linking diverse actors and knowledge systems, across management
levels, sectors, and institutional boundaries.
(Folke et al 2005, Parker and Corona 2012, Kowalski & Jenkins 2015)
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4 research objectives
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Urban water sector & ESs
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Spatial considerations
THREE KEY ROLES
i linking ecosystem service production and benefit areas;
ii bridging spatial scales ranging (watershed to household);
iii adopting ES-based responses to water vulnerability.
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Inte
gra
tin
g f
ram
ew
ork
s
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Urban water sector & ESs
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Watershed management and planning
SETTING BACKGROUND FOR IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS
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Exploring boundary work
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• Set of activities put in place by any organization/individual that seeks to mediate between knowledge and action
(Cash et al 2003)
KNOWLEDGE ACTION
Attributes
• Participation
• Accountability
• “Boundary object”
Criteria
• Credibility
• Saliency
• Legitimacy
Boundary Work
• Active management of tension at the interface between stakeholders with differing views on relevant knowledge
(Clark et al. 2011)
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“Boundary Work”: Highly context-specific
18/04/201617
Clark et al (2011). “Boundary work for sustainable development: Natural resource management at the CGIAR”
C C + S C + S + L
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• 300 Km2 - Germany’s largest water protection area
• 650.000 people in Hannover & surroundings
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Fuhrberg watershed management
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• 300 Km2 - Germany’s largest contiguous water protection area
• 650.000 people in Hannover & surroundings
• 1970s groundwater quality problems
• 3 decades of research and cooperative implementation with farmers
Fuhrberg watershed management
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From research to implementation
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Investigating boundary work practices
THREE RESEARCH QUESTIONS
i. Type of barriers for transfer of knowledge into action?
ii. Boundary work activities put in place?
iii. Effectiveness of boundary work?
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4 step methodology
Interviews, Workshop, Field visit
Scie
ntific f
indin
gs
and im
plic
ations f
or
ma
nagem
ent
Embedded case study design
Boundary work framework (Clark et. 2011)
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Critical boundaries in the case study
Cla
rk e
t al. 2
011
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Findings
Context: knowledge Use and Source;
‘enlightenment’, ‘decision-support’, ‘negotiation-support’;
Boundary work: a dynamic process, not a single-time achievement;
“Contextual” & “contingent” factors, and relative influence (power) of actors.
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Designing watershed investments
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Watershed investments
LARGE-SCALE
TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGES
EROSION CONTROL
FLOOD MITIGATION
BIODIVERSITY
POVERTY ALLEVIATION
Mu
ltip
le-o
bje
cti
ves
• Financial and governance mechanisms
to secure water for cities, involving
upstream communities;A
cti
vit
ies
REVEGETATION
AGRICULTURE
PROTECTION
TERRACING
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Toker reservoir
• 13 million m3 capacity
• US$44 million estimated value
Asmara City
• 650.000 inhabitants
• 50% of urban population
Toker watershed
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Ba
se
d o
n A
bra
ha
m e
t a
l. 2
00
9
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Ba
se
d o
n A
bra
ha
m e
t a
l. 2
00
9
THREE QUESTIONS
i. Which activities yield the
greatest returns?
ii. How activities affect selected
ecosystem services?
iii. What is the performance of
watershed investment?
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Process-based approach
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Boundary work needs
Saliencyrelevance to the problem at hand
+
LegitimacyUnbiased, and respectful of all
stakeholders
Credibilityscientifically adequate handling of evidences
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60 Investment scenario
Toker Watershed application
60 SCENARIOS
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Three main results
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Investment portfolio
URBAN WATER SECURITY RURAL POVERTY ALLEVIATION
An
nu
al
bu
dg
et
$
10
0,0
00
all
oc
ate
d c
os
t-e
ffe
cti
ve
ly
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Impact on soil erosion
Budget levelBu
dg
et
all
oc
ate
d e
nti
rely
to
ag
ric
ult
ura
l ve
ge
tati
on
ma
na
ge
me
nt
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Bu
dg
et
allo
cati
on
mo
de
Investment Objective
Synthesis for 38 scenarios
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% REDUCTION OF SOIL EROSION AT
SUB-WATERSHEDLEVEL
Su
b-w
ate
rsh
ed
Budget level
Assessment of investment performance
Budget allocated cost-effectively
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Results
Science-informed answers to key management questions in a data
scarce context:
Addressing concerns of credibility, saliency and legitimacy;
Single ESs, uncalibrated models, no stakeholder involvement.
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Water utilities as learning organizations
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METHODOLOGY
Part 1Investigation of the two case studies
WUM-based interview with head of Asmara Utility
•11 questions - general information• 23 questions for each attributes
• 7 ranking questions
Part 2WUM-based questionnaire
For each case study •3 senior mangers
•1 informed scientist
• “All-inclusive” perspective of institutions as “rules-and-roles” ;
• Institutional capacity as “capacity to continuously generate a minimum level and
quality of valued outputs, and to prioritize learning” ;
• Strong theoretical basis + application-oriented.
Initial Basic Proactive Flexible Progressive
• Integrative, mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive;
• 23 attributes
• 5 maturity levels
Water utility maturity model(K
aya
ga
, e
t a
l. 2
01
3).
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Influence Hannover Water Utility Asmara Water Utility
Policy, legal,
regulatory, and
political environment
Utility has predictive capabilities, and carries
out risk/opportunities assessment and
management; continuously adaptive to the
external environment in near real-time.
Leadership passively interested in factors in the
external environment, and reacts to them rather than
strategically influencing them.
Managerial autonomy Utility has full autonomy with respect to all
managerial, operational and financial
decisions.
There is limited managerial and operational
autonomy.
External
accountability
Utility has a balanced accountability
framework.
External accountability mechanisms in place but not
effective.
Partnerships and
networks
Partnerships are integrated within business
processes.
Partnerships and networks may be initiated by
individual staff. Supplier communications are limited
to tendering, order placement or problem resolution.
Corporate image The results of the corporate image scans are
integrated into the performance/incentive
management system for staff.
Leadership is aware of the importance of corporate
image; however, it is not monitored or evaluated in a
consistent & systematic manner.
Findings
• Hannover Water Utility = Level 5 “Progressive”
• Asmara Water Utility = Level 2 “Basic”
• Capacity dimension “ INFLUENCE ”
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Overall conclusions
Implementing adaptive management
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Main research outputs
• Paper 1: “Exploring practices of effective boundary work in watershed management for ecosystem
services”, submitted to “Ecology & Society”;
• Paper 2: “Designing, and assessing watershed investments: An operative approach based on ecosystem
services”, submitted to “Environmental Impact Assessment Review”;
• Paper 3: “Evaluating institutional capacity of a water utility: An empirical application of the Water Utility
Maturity Model”, to be submitted to “Water utilities policy;
Acknowledgement
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A boy bathes on the side of the road in the southern Indian city of Chennai (Reuters)
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RIOS Approach
• Need for operative methodologies to support design, and implementation of
watershed investments, in a context of adaptive management. (e.g. Tallis et al, 2015, Schultz et al. 2015).
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RIOS Investment Portfolio Advisor
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RIOS Investment Portfolio Advisor
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48Initial Basic Proactive Flexible Progressive
• Integrative,
• mutually exclusive,
• collectively exhaustive;
• 23 attributes
• 5 maturity levels
(Ka
ya
ga
, e
t a
l. 2
01
3).