Anita Milman

An integrated method for evaluating community-based safe water programmes and an application in rural Mexico

The burden of diarrhoeal disease remains high in the developing world. Community-based safe drinking water programmes are being promoted as cost-effective interventions that will help reduce this illness burden. However, the effectiveness of these programmes remains under-investigated. The primary argument of this paper is that the biological exposure reductions underlying safe water interventions vary tremendously over space and time, and studies that only report results of intent-to-treat analyses cannot reveal why such programmes succeed or fail. The paper develops a stepwise evaluation framework to characterize, and so analyse, the technical, financial, social and behavioural factors that underlie exposure and mediate the impact of safe water investments. Relevant factors include physical performance of the water system, community capacity to maintain and manage the systems, and the time and budget constraints of households participating in the programme. The approach draws on the public health, community-based resource management, and household choice literatures to identify modifiable points of failure along the causal pathway to programme impact. The evaluation framework is used to assess the performance and impact of UVWaterworks, a community-based water purification system in rural Mexico, 5 years after the programme began. No impact on diarrhoea incidence was found in this case. The assessment method revealed that (a) household priorities and preferences were a key factor in maintaining exposure to safe drinking water sources, and therefore (b) user convenience was a primary leverage point for programme improvement. The findings indicate that a comprehensive examination of the many factors that influence the performance and impact of safe water programmes is necessary to elucidate why these programmes fail or succeed.

Assessment of institutional capacity to adapt to climate change in transboundary river basins

Responses to climate change in transboundary river basins are believed to depend on national and sub-national capacities as well as the ability of co-riparian nations to communicate, coordinate, and cooperate across their international boundaries. We develop the first framework for assessing transboundary adaptive capacity. The framework considers six dimensions of transboundary river basins that influence planning and implementation of adaptation measures and represents those dimensions using twelve measurable indicators. These indicators are used to assess transboundary adaptive capacity of 42 basins in the Middle East, Mediterranean, and Sahel. We then conduct a cluster analysis of those basins to delineate a typology that includes six categories of basins: High Capacity, Mediated Cooperation, Good Neighbour, Dependent Instability, Self-Sufficient, and Low Capacity. We find large variation in adaptive capacity across the study area; basins in Western Europe generally have higher capacities to address the potential hazards of climate change. Our basin typology points to how climate change adaptation policy interventions would be best targeted across the different categories of basins.

Cumulative adverse effects of offshore wind energy development on wildlife

Offshore wind energy development (OWED) is being pursued as a critical component in achieving a low-carbon energy economy. While the potential generating capacity is high, the cumulative effects of expansion of OWED on wildlife remain unclear. Since environmental regulations in many countries require analysis of the cumulative adverse effects (CAE) during permitting processes, this paper reviews the state of knowledge on CAE of OWED on wildlife. We synthesize ecological research on the effects of OWED on wildlife; delineate a framework for determining the scope of CAE assessments; describe approaches to avoiding, minimizing and compensating for CAE; and discuss critical uncertainties.

Interpreting the unknown: uncertainty and the management of transboundary groundwater

This paper shows how uncertainty undermines collaborative transboundary groundwater management. Focusing on the Santa Cruz Aquifer, spanning the United States–Mexico border between Arizona and Sonora, the authors describe the uncertainties within the aquifer using interviews and hydrologic studies. We discuss how data requirements and ambiguous interpretations exacerbate these uncertainties, and explain how each countrys water-management culture combines with this uncertainty to create contrasting views on groundwater availability and abstraction impacts. As a result, water managers in both countries predict different impacts from pumping and recharge, and each uses that information discursively to support unilateral policies rather than to promote collaborative management.

Scholarly motivations to conduct interdisciplinary climate change research

Understanding and responding to today’s complex environmental problems requires collaboration that bridges disciplinary boundaries. As the barriers to interdisciplinary research are formidable, promoting interdisciplinary environmental research requires understanding what motivates researchers to embark upon such challenging research. This article draws upon research on problem choice and interdisciplinary research practice to investigate motivators and barriers to interdisciplinary climate change (IDCC) research. Results from a survey on the motivations of 526 Ph.D.-holding, early- to mid-career, self-identified IDCC scholars indicate how those scholars make decisions regarding their research choices including the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and the barriers arising from the nature of interdisciplinary research and institutional structures. Climate change was not the main motivation for most respondents to become scholars, yet the majority began to study the issue because they could not ignore the problem. Respondents’ decisions to conduct IDCC research are driven by personal motivations, including personal interest, the importance of IDCC research to society, and enjoyment of interdisciplinary collaborations. Two thirds of respondents reported having encountered challenges in communication across disciplines, longer timelines while conducting interdisciplinary work, and a lack of peer support. Nonetheless, most respondents plan to conduct IDCC research in the future and will choose their next research project based on its societal benefits and the opportunity to work with specific collaborators. We conclude that focused attention to supporting intrinsic motivations, as well as removing institutional barriers, can facilitate future IDCC research.

Policy Frameworks Influencing Outdoor Water-use Restrictions†

Water-use efficiency in the United States (U.S.) has improved in recent years. Yet continued population growth coupled with increasingly conservation-oriented regulatory frameworks suggest that residential water suppliers will have to realize additional efficiency gains in coming decades. Outdoor water-use restrictions (OWRs) appear to be an increasingly prevalent demand-side management policy tool. To date little research has investigated the policy mechanisms that govern OWR adoption and influence the prevalence of OWRs. This article fills this gap with an assessment of state-level policies influencing local-level restrictions on residential outdoor water use in each of the 48 contiguous U.S. states, and with a detailed illustration of the cross-scalar dynamic of one states policy framework in practice. An examination of the implementation of OWRs in 24 neighboring towns in Massachusetts across the 2003-2012 period indicates the interplay between state-level and local-level policies leads to OWRs implementation over extended time-periods, even when drought conditions are not present. This finding suggests OWRs are being used as a tool for general-purpose water conservation rather than as a stopgap measure justified by temporary water shortage conditions. Future research should investigate how local-level water savings vary with differing state-level approaches.

Geographic pollution mapping of power plant emissions to inform ex-ante environmental justice analyses

Abstract Federal and many state agencies are required to perform environmental justice analyses of their policies prior to implementing them to prevent undue impacts on low income and minority populations. However, little academic attention has been paid to the quality of these ex-ante environmental justice analyses. This investigation evaluates the methods used to perform environmental justice analyses during siting and permitting processes. The study uses both the California Energy Commission guidelines for environmental justice analyses and a method that geographically maps air pollution to perform ex-ante environmental justice analyses of three power plants. The objective is to see if results from using these two analysis methods differ substantially. Findings indicate that the mapping technique employed represents a substantial improvement over defining the impacted population using proximity methods because it accounts for the geographical distribution of the hazard. Furthermore, using multiple comparison benchmarks to determine whether the impacted population constitutes an environmental justice population improves upon existing methods by accounting for the spatial distribution of minority and low income populations and for the possibility that there is a relatively high or relatively low percentage of low income and minority persons in both the impacted and comparison regions.

Opportunities, constraints, and choices for flood mitigation in rural areas: perspectives of municipalities in Massachusetts

While a portfolio approach to flood mitigation that combines structural and non-structural measures provides many benefits, in practice, the selection and implementation of flood mitigation measures is a complex process. This research examines the factors influencing the choice of flood mitigation measures by 27 rural municipalities in Western Massachusetts and the opportunities and constraints they face in implementing flood mitigation. The physical and institutional characteristics of these rural municipalities drive them to prioritise structural over non-structural flood mitigation measures. Yet implementation of those measures is often hindered by state and federal regulations and by barriers to accessing state and federal assistance programmes. Consequently, the municipalities engage in reactionary and ancillary flood mitigation, and remain vulnerable to future flood events. These findings point to the importance of tailoring government policies and programmes to the specific context in which flood mitigation occurs, including the unique characteristics of rural municipalities.

Identifying and quantifying landowner perspectives on integrated flood risk management

Understanding landowner perspectives on flood mitigation is an essential step towards minimizing conflict and ensuring public support and compliance. To illuminate landowner perspectives on flood mitigation and the drivers of those perspectives, we surveyed landowners in the Deerfield River Watershed, Massachusetts (USA). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) shows landowners differentiate between the physical and the policy pathways through which flood mitigation strategies provide protection. Multiple regression analyses indicate landowner support or opposition for each of those pathways is related both to the risks a landowner faces and to their broad worldviews. Lastly, cluster analysis indicates variation in patterns landowner of support or opposition to the physical and policy pathways through which flood mitigation provides protection. Findings point to how issues beyond flood impacts, including understandings of riverine processes, assessments of responsibility, and interpretations of the relationship between government and private property drive landowner perspectives on flood mitigation policies.

Conceptualization and implementation of ecosystems-based adaptation

While ecosystems-based adaptation (EbA) has been received with great interest, the requirements for EbA implementation and its precise benefits under future climate change are unclear. Furthermore, EbA’s overlap with environmental, and development policy agendas leads to ambiguity regarding what actions fall under the rubric of EbA. We analyze the projects identified by the UNFCCC as examples of EbA to understand how EbA is conceptualized and promoted by the international community. Addressing climate change is the primary objective of 58% of the EbA projects; the other 42% of projects provide adaptation benefits yet are not primarily driven by climate change. A project’s adaptation targeting is tied to its information needs. Projects whose primary objective is to address climate change are more likely to use detailed climate projections than projects whose primary objective is to address natural hazards, development or ecosystems degradation. A majority of projects do not address uncertainty in future climate change or in adaptation benefits, nor do they track adaptation outcomes. This prevalent lack of monitoring highlights the possibility of a gap between expected and realized adaptation outcomes. It also represents a lost opportunity for improving knowledge of the thresholds of effectiveness of EbA and of factors influencing EbA efficacy.