Martin J. Bunch

Linking conceptual and simulation models of the Cooum River: collaborative development of a GIS-based DSS for environmental management

The Cooum River is an extremely polluted stream that flows through Chennai, India. Past attempts to rehabilitate the river have focussed on physical interventions such as dredging. However, the problem continues to worsen. This research has borrowed techniques from adaptive management and soft systems methodology to apply an ecosystem approach to the problem. This involved participatory development of conceptual models of relevant systems that informed construction of a GIS-based DSS and environmental model. This paper addresses the link between conceptual models and the DSS. The process of problem identification, system conceptualization, development of the GIS database and DSS, and its use for exploratory scenario analysis was found to stimulate learning about the situation and promoted novel solutions to the problem.

Watershed Management and Public Health: An Exploration of the Intersection of Two Fields as Reported in the Literature from 2000 to 2010

Watersheds are settings for health and well-being that have a great deal to offer the public health community due to the correspondence between the spatial form of the watershed unit and the importance to health and well-being of water. However, managing watersheds for human health and well-being requires the ability to move beyond typical reductionist approaches toward more holistic methods. Health and well-being are emergent properties of inter-related social and biophysical processes. This paper characterizes points of connection and integration between watershed management and public health and tests a new conceptual model, the Watershed Governance Prism, to determine the prevalence in peer-reviewed literature of different perspectives relating to watersheds and public health. We conducted an initial search of academic databases for papers that addressed the interface between watershed management (or governance) and public health themes. We then generated a sample of these papers and undertook a collaborative analysis informed by the Watershed Governance Prism. Our analysis found that although these manuscripts dealt with a range of biophysical and social determinants of health, there was a tendency for social factors and health outcomes to be framed as context only for these studies, rather than form the core of the relationships being investigated. At least one cluster of papers emerged from this analysis that represented a cohesive perspective on watershed governance and health; “Perspective B” on the Watershed Governance Prism, “water governance for ecosystems and well-being,” was dominant. Overall, the integration of watershed management/governance and public health is in its infancy.

Canadian ENGOs in governance of water resources: information needs and monitoring practices

Water quality monitoring involves a complex set of steps and a variety of approaches. Its goals include understanding of aquatic habitats, informing management and facilitating decision making, and educating citizens. Environmental nongovernmental organizations (ENGOs) are increasingly engaged in water quality monitoring and act as environmental watchdogs and stewards of water resources. These organizations exhibit different monitoring mandates. As government involvement in water quality monitoring continues to decline, it becomes essential that we understand their modi operandi. By doing so, we can enhance efficacy and encourage data sharing and communication. This research examined Canadian ENGOs that collect their own data on water quality with respect to water quality monitoring activities and information needs. This work had a twofold purpose: (1) to enhance knowledge about the Canadian ENGOs operating in the realm of water quality monitoring and (2) to guide and inform development of web-based geographic information systems (GIS) to support water quality monitoring, particularly using benthic macroinvertebrate protocols. A structured telephone survey was administered across 10 Canadian provinces to 21 ENGOs that undertake water quality monitoring. This generated information about barriers and challenges of data sharing, commonly collected metrics, human resources, and perceptions of volunteer-collected data. Results are presented on an aggregate level and among different groups of respondents. Use of geomatics technology was not consistent among respondents, and we found no noteworthy differences between organizations that did and did not use GIS tools. About one third of respondents did not employ computerized systems (including databases and spreadsheets) to support data management, analysis, and sharing. Despite their advantage as a holistic water quality indicator, benthic macroinvertebrates (BMIs) were not widely employed in stream monitoring. Although BMIs are particularly suitable for the purpose of citizen education, few organizations collected this metric, despite having public education and awareness as part of their mandate.

Research in Turbulent Environments: Slums in Chennai, India and the Impact of the December 2004 Tsunami on an Ecohealth Project

On December 26, 2004, a tsunami struck coastal areas in the Bay of Bengal. Among the communities affected were Pallavan Nagar and Anju Kudasai slums in Chennai India. These communities have been collaborating, with some success, on a project to manage the urban environment for human health that employs an adaptive ecosystem approach framework, and is heavily influenced by participatory action research methodology. The tsunami resulted in loss of life, shelter, property and livelihoods in these communities. This profile presents an overview of the project, the two settlements, and the impact of the tsunami on the communities. This article also discusses the impact of the disaster on the direction and nature of the ecohealth project.

Championing Ecosystem Sustainability and Health: Profile and Tribute to the Life and Work of James Kay (1954–2004)

The past decade has seen considerable developments in the integrated study of ecosystem sustainability and health. Important developments in theory, methods, and application of this area have emerged from the work of key individuals and informal, multidisciplinary networks of peers working across continents and countries and based in governments, universities, and private organizations. This profile focuses in particular on the critical influence of James Kay as a key advocate and intellectual champion for incorporating complexity and uncertainty into the “Ecosystem approach.” The intent is to provide an overview of an important era in the application of this approach to address health and sustainability concerns and to highlight the frameworks, methods, and networks that have emerged as collective acknowledgments to the life and work of James Kay (1954–2004).

Public Health at the Watershed Scale

Public health is usefully defined and managed at a variety of spatial spaces. This place-based, healthy settings approach has led to the formation of a number of successful programs and policies, such as the healthy cities, healthy neighborhoods, healthy schools and healthy homes movements. The application of a healthy settings approach to watersheds creates a powerful frame for public policy that enhances both natural and social systems, and is particularly relevant to discussions around climate change. Health and well-being are impacted by the governance and management of watersheds, at multiple scales, in ways that go well beyond the traditional focus on flooding or drinking water. Drawing on examples from watersheds, this chapter outlines the policy implications of watersheds as a setting for health and well-being. It highlights the need for a more strategic approach to watershed governance that actively seeks linkages with public health institutions in order to more effectively leverage scarce resources to meet common goals. It fills a gap in our understanding of the links between watershed-level programming and public health.

Ecosystems, Society, and Health: pathways through Diversity, Convergence, and Integration, L. Hallström, N. P. Guehlstorf, & M. W. Parkes (Editors), 2015, Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press.

The last few decades have witnessed continued and progressive recognition of health and well-being as strongly influenced by social and environmental contexts. Associated with this recondition, in a variety of fieldsweare seeing the integration of health as an emergent property of ecological and social systems. Yet, it remains a struggle for many of us embedded in the Western tradition of science to maintain a holistic conception of health for more than a fleeting moment, before our training snaps our perspective back to a narrower field of view. This is where Ecosystems, Society, and Health: Pathways through Diversity, Convergence, and Integration edited by Lars Hallström, Nicholas Guehlstorf and Margot Parkes can help us. In thisbook the editors integrate contributions fromabroad range of perspectives to ‘‘offer a narrative of ... inter-linked, crossnational, and interdisciplinary research’’ that demonstrates diverse yet convergent approaches to the integration of knowledge and action on ecosystems, society and health. Beyond an introductory chapter that provides an overview of multiple perspectives and settings at the intersection of environmental, health and social domains, Hallström, Guehlstorf and Parkes organize the text into three sections that address social–ecological approaches, policy and governance, and learning and local knowledge. The sections are nicely balanced: each consisting of three chapters, and each proceeded by a preface in which the editors introduce and integrate the contributions. Also, very usefully, each chapter includes a preamble with the authors’ explanation of their perspective, background and research interest. The result is a cohesive and masterfully integrated volume that stands in contrast to so many edited compendiums that seem to be mere collections of loosely connected papers. These editors bring tomind the goal of the action researcher to represent all relevant perspectives in the pursuit of holism, and at the same time the expertise of the systems thinker who moves beyond analysis to synthesis to arrive at larger patterns not evident in the parts alone. EcoHealth 13, 430–431, 2016 DOI: 10.1007/s10393-016-1122-z