Elisabet Roca

Proposal for an Integral Quality Index for Urban and Urbanized Beaches

A composite index, based on function analysis and including thirteen sub-indices, was developed to assess the overall quality of urban and urbanized beaches in the Mediterranean area. The aggregation of components and sub-indices was based on two questionnaires completed by beach users and experts. Applying the new Beach Quality Index (BQI) demonstrated that the quality of beaches could be improved. In general, the strongest aspects of the beaches assessed were those related to short-term user demand, and the weakest were those related to the consequences of human pressure on the area, in particular, erosion problems. The composite index is intended to be used together with Environmental Management Beach Systems (EMBs) as a hierarchical management scorecard and in monitoring programs. This new tool could also make planning more proactive by synthesizing the state of the most important beach processes.

Integrated sustainability assessment of water systems: lessons from the Ebro River Basin

This paper describes the co-development and implementation of visioning and experimenting exercises, agent-based modelling, and gaming tools in Integrated Sustainability Assessments (ISAs) involving stakeholders. These new tools are aimed at supporting reflexive learning and at building alternative policy relevant knowledge and evaluative paradigms for managing sustainability. The specific case study relates to water management within the Ebro River Basin. Conclusions concern the use of these tools to represent complexity, to learn how conflict and collaboration between agents can be addressed, and to explore the roles played by power regimes, institutional rules, and culture in constraining or enhancing transition in the water domain.

Cross-border organisations as an adaptive water management response to climate change: the case of the Guadiana river basin

In this paper we analyse the role played by cross-border organisations in the Guadiana river basin in Iberia, and the extent to which new emerging institutional arrangements carry on adaptive management practice as a response to mounting climate change risks in the river basin. Particular attention is paid to the new transboundary agencies, as promoted by the EU INTERREG programmes, and their potential for mainstreaming climate change considerations into Guadiana river basin development strategies. Results indicate that the penetration of climate change concerns into regional development policies requires a better integration of different policies and improved connectivity and coordination between multiple actors operating across sectors, and at different spatial scales. We argue that the emergence of new transboundary agencies capable of performing these bridging functions is a vital ingredient for building climate adaptive capacity in these cross-border regions.

Public perception and social network analysis for coastal risk management in Maresme Sud (Barcelona, Catalonia)

Understanding the governance system, stakeholder relationships and perceptions of coastal landscape risk is essential to improving the sustainability of coastal environments. Our main objective was to analyse social networks for the Maresme Sud coastal area in Catalonia and examine public perceptions of risk in order to shed light on how the current governance system could be improved to promote more adaptive coastal landscape risk management. Our methodology was based on semi-structured interviews of key stakeholders and a social network analysis, which provided context-based information on stakeholder interactions and power relationships and the transfer and diffusion of different types of knowledge. In Maresme Sud, the strong presence of public bodies makes the integration of more adaptive and innovative discourses in coastal management practices more difficult. The role of supra-local stakeholders, currently poorly represented in the network, should be enhanced. Coastal partnerships could also act as bridging organizations to facilitate learning, cooperation and knowledge exchange among stakeholders.

Integrating Social Perceptions in Beach Management

Beach management of many coastal tourist regions has been marked by strongly sectoral and fragmented management visions and poor public engagement. The resulting mismanagement has often led to a loss of environmental and recreational quality and social conflicts. This chapter aims to go beyond traditional reductionist approaches and include a social dimension in beach management. Effective coastal systems assessment requires moving away from single-discipline evaluation methods and taking on board integrated and multidimensional perspectives that acknowledge the complexity of beach systems.