Marcus Collier

Industrially Harvested Peatlands and After-use Potential: Understanding Local Stakeholder Narratives and Landscape Preferences

Abstract Recent years have witnessed much debate on the turn towards community within landscape management and planning. This is particularly evident in the European Landscape Convention which asserts the legitimacy of local preferences and citizen involvement in policy processes. This paper explores a bottom-up perspective on people–place relationships in a changing landscape, through assessing the after-use potential of industrially mined peatlands in Ireland and the rehabilitation of degraded landscapes. The mining of the peatland resource has a longstanding tradition in Ireland, however, significant attention has now focused on exploring market and non-market uses of remains after harvesting has finished resulting in a cutaway landscape. We argue that local peoples everyday experiences of the landscape is a legitimate form of knowledge and should provide a key input into deliberative planning and management processes. Drawing largely on an interpretive research approach, we assess key local narratives in relation to harvested peatland landscapes and explore local peoples after-use preferences. There appears to be strong support among the local community for amenity/biodiversity after-uses, which are currently not reflected in public policy debates. We review people–place relationships and discuss the role of ethnographic research in a peatland context as well as defining the relevant stakeholders. Finally, conclusions are developed to identify wider lessons for people/place relationships within the context of landscape management and planning.

Field boundary stone walls as exemplars of 'novel' ecosystems

Abstract In some parts of Europe, stone wall field boundaries pervade agricultural landscapes, yet despite their prominence there has been very little research into field boundary walls anywhere. However, these anthropogenic features within cultural landscapes may offer insights into current debates on ‘novel’ ecosystems because of their artifice, their longevity in the landscape particularly in remote or exposed regions, and their morphology. In a review of the available, published literature in Europe, it was found that no publications exist that examine or illustrate specific ecological characteristics of field boundary stone walls, despite this longevity. Using examples from Ireland, where these structures are locally abundant, this paper aims first to draw attention to the poorly representative literature on this topic, and thus stimulate research that will detail the potential ecological characteristics of these ancient forms of field boundary. It then briefly explores the potential for these walls to be considered as ‘novel’ ecosystems within current debates on the issue.

Novel ecosystems and social-ecological resilience

ContextNovel ecosystems are anthropogenic landscapes that cannot be returned to their original ecological status. Little is known the social-ecological dynamics of these never-before-seen ecosystems. Less is known of their implications for society, sustainability and transitioning.Objective and methodsThis literature review contends that novel ecosystems may be regarded as exemplars of social-ecological resilience and that the exploration of potential opportunities within novel ecosystem theory is being constrained by a lack of investigation.ResultsSocietal values in relation to novel ecosystems are unknown. Since societal values can influence conservation and restoration policies and practice, it is suggested that future policy prescriptions will need to explore the fundamentals this emerging relationship.ConclusionsIt could be contended that such complex issues such as novel ecosystems will demand a science of transition, where the desire is to combine the science of discovery and science of engagement into a normative framework for societal change based on reality and realistic objectives and goals.

Novel ecosystems: challenges and opportunities for the Anthropocene

Novel ecosystems are ecological assemblages that have emerged in the landscapes of the Anthropocene, where an ecological abiotic or biotic threshold has been passed and can no longer be restored to a previous state. In such landscapes, novelty is attributed to unanticipated rapid anthropogenic environmental change, and deliberate land use practices, and can be characterised by the arrival over time of differing species assemblages and extent. While little has been explored in the literature with respect to the policy implications of novel ecosystems, calls have been made for a better understanding of the barriers to adopting novel ecosystems within mainstream policy. This review reports on a qualitative literature analysis carried out in order to identify the challenges and opportunities for transposing novel ecosystem theory into mainstream policy. Though published debate is still emerging, eleven policy challenges broadly conforming to three themes were identified. Within these themes three opportunity areas were identified, revealing that more focused discussion is required on the wider policy implications of novel ecosystems beyond the stated concerns about lowering standards in ecological conservation. The analysis also shows that there exists a greater understanding of the challenges to transposing novel ecosystems in policy, as opposed to the possible opportunities under current policy timeframes. While a resilience framework has been put forward to offer an outline for policy makers, mechanisms for incorporating novel ecosystem theory into policy and decision making is some distance off.

Developing green infrastructure ‘thinking’: devising and applying an interactive group-based methodology for practitioners

Recent years have witnessed a wave of interest in the concept of green infrastructure (GI) as a means of applying an ecosystem approach to spatial planning practice; however, more limited attention has been paid to decision-making processes or tools to enhance GI within spatial plans and guidance. We address this deficit by reporting on the development and application of an interactive group-based methodology to enhance GI ‘thinking’ and interdisciplinary collaboration, drawing on the literature on the sociology of interactions. Our findings suggest that a game-based approach to GI problem-solving was successful in breaking down professional barriers by creating an informal learning arena, providing an enabling opportunity for participants to solve problems in an iterative, non-linear style to develop principles for action with transferability to ongoing plan formation. This style of problem-solving was characterised by shifting norms and routines of interaction, leading to problem re-framing and a search for alternative solutions.

The emergence of green infrastructure as promoting the centralisation of a landscape perspective in spatial planning - the case of Ireland

Abstract The ‘landscape’ approach to planning and design has long since advanced a social–ecological perspective that conceives ecosystems health and human well-being as mutually constitutive. However, conventional public sector organisational arrangements segregate and discretely administer development issues, thereby militating against the holistic viewpoint necessary to redress the entwined nature of complex planning issues. The emergence and continuing evolution of green infrastructure (GI) thinking seeks to redress this problem by promoting interdisciplinary collaboration to deliver connected and functionally integrated environments. This paper reflects upon the ongoing development and institutionalisation of GI in Ireland as a means to critically evaluate ‘if’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ GI thinking promotes the centralisation of landscape principles in public sector planning. Drawing on a review of local authority practices and interviews with local authority officials, the paper traces and explains the concept’s growth from the ‘rebranding’ of ecological networks to its current manifestation as a new mode of collaborative planning for multifunctional environments. This material is then employed to discuss the potential benefits and barriers encountered by GI planning more generally. Lessons are subsequently extrapolated for the advancement of landscape principles through innovative GI planning practices in other jurisdictions.

ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF POLLEN- MEDIATED GENE FLOW FROM GM HERBICIDE TOLERANT BRASSICA NAPUS INTO COMMON WILD RELATIVES IN IRELAND

Although now we have had many years of research completed on assessing the potential environmental impact of GM crops, concern remains over their potential impact on biodiversity in the rural landscape. In particular, issues have arisen in regards to the modification of crops with traits that could introgress into sexually compatible wild relatives. In contrast to wheat, barley, potato and maize, Brassica napus (oilseed rape) is the only commercial crop grown in Ireland at present with the potential to successfully transfer its DNA, via pollen-mediated gene flow, into inter-related weed species. This review details the species in question and by examining the relevant literature that relates to Irish agronomic conditions, demonstrates that gene flow is likely to occur, especially to an earlier used cultivar, Brassica rapa. However, the critical factor remains not that GM traits will flow from the commercial source but what might the consequences of said gene flow events be. This review indicates that the conferred trait in question (in this case, herbicide tolerance) can only impact on weed diversity in the presence of selecting herbicide action. In the absence of the herbicide, the GM traits will be lost from the wild species over time and will not confer any selective advantage that could facilitate population growth.

Potential for longevity of novel genetically modified herbicide-tolerant traits in the Irish landscape.

Abstract With the renewed interest in genetically modified crop technology in Ireland, some concern has been raised in relation to the potential impact on biodiversity in the Irish agri-environment. This concern can focus on the potential for a transgenic trait to cross to wild relatives. A novel trait will be judged to have persisted in a wild population via the successful production of seeds, such that these seeds are viable and result in the establishment of a self-sustaining population. In the case of an herbicide-tolerant (HT) trait, feral and volunteer populations can only remain viable if managed with applications of the herbicide that the trait is designed to resist. This surviving population of HT plants would then need to compete successfully with other wild plants in order to prevail in the landscape and persist over time. There are few agricultural crops that can manage this combination, but as oilseed rape plants are often noted along roadsides and hedgerows in Ireland; it is correct to assum...