Suchergebnisse

This study diagnoses temporal and spatial variations in the performance of different social-ecological systems (SES) in coastal floodplain management in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta. We go beyond common pool resource management problems and address the management of local public goods. In the assessment, we consider recent developments in the framework initially developed by Elinor Ostrom. The main variables of the framework that we use are resource systems, the environment, the governance system and actors. The focal SES is defined based on guiding questions relating to the definition of the key problem, system boundaries, and action situations. According to our results, the performance of resource systems and the environment deteriorated in 1960–79 compared to the performance prior to 1960. The condition reached a low point during 1980–1999 but improved slightly after 1999. The horizontal network structure of local governance was active until 1960. Due to the introduction of the 'tidal river management' approach in the 90 s, the performance of the resource system and the environment has slightly improved, as has the involvement of government and non-government organizations. Our results also show that overall SES performance is comparatively better

Coastal social-ecological systems (SES) are home to over 500 million people and one of the most productive and diverse ecosystems in the world. In recent years, coastal SES are experiencing severe threat from an increasing population, resource exploitation, and global environmental change (e.g. climate change), which have devastating societal impacts in coastal areas. Despite several global, national, and local initiatives, there is a growing consensus that coastal resources are depleting and increasing conflicts in coastal areas. Recognizing the global call to understand social–ecological interactions for implementing development practices, this special issue features a suite (seven) of articles advancing the understanding of the sustainability of social and ecological interactions within coastal areas through theoretical SES approaches and related analytical methods. In this editorial of this special issue, we also argued that coastal area needs to define from SES perspectives, which have received less attention compared to ecological and social perspectives. We hope that this special issue will stimulate the debate and further thinking of how coastal SES can be managed sustainably by conceptualizing and understanding the complex dynamics (interaction, feedback) of SES.

Tidal River Management (TRM) is a local adaptation strategy for coastal floodplains in the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta in Bangladesh. TRM involves the periodic opening and closing of embankments to accelerate land accretion (or reclamation) in a floodplain. Although the approach is considered a promising adaptation strategy, there have been both positive and negative outcomes from recent TRM implementation. The aim of this study is consequently to explore the institutional (community, rules-in-use, and also biophysical) factors influencing successes and failures of TRM implementation for managing common-pool resources, as a basis for making recommendations on future institutional design. The Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, first developed by Ostrom (2010) and revised by Bisaro and Hinkel (2016), is therefore used to conduct comparative analysis of TRM institutional effectiveness in three Delta floodplains or beels: one led by a local community and the other two by national authorities. Our research employs a mixed method approach involving focus group discussions, stakeholder interviews, site visits, along with secondary literature analysis. The results of this assessment provide insights into coastal adaptation governance that could inform TRM implementation in Bangladesh and other similar contexts worldwide.

Tidal River Management (TRM) is a local adaptation strategy for coastal floodplains in the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta in Bangladesh. TRM involves the periodic opening and closing of embankments to accelerate land accretion (or reclamation) in a floodplain. Although the approach is considered a promising adaptation strategy, there have been both positive and negative outcomes from recent TRM implementation. The aim of this study is consequently to explore the institutional (community, rules-in-use, and also biophysical) factors influencing successes and failures of TRM implementation for managing common-pool resources, as a basis for making recommendations on future institutional design. The Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, first developed by Ostrom (2010) and revised by Bisaro and Hinkel (2016), is therefore used to conduct comparative analysis of TRM institutional effectiveness in three Delta floodplains or beels: one led by a local community and the other two by national authorities. Our research employs a mixed method approach involving focus group discussions, stakeholder interviews, site visits, along with secondary literature analysis. The results of this assessment provide insights into coastal adaptation governance that could inform TRM implementation in Bangladesh and other similar contexts worldwide.

AbstractThe Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus approach has an opportunity to create sustainable business solutions, especially in the agricultural sector. This report provides a clear understanding of challenges for the most promising and scalable solutions to the interconnected water, energy and food/feed/fiber problems, allowing combined co-optimization. Searching solutions for nexus challenges, a model based assessment of WEF nexus at global scale and a theoretical perspective of integrating economic and ecological objectives are presented. This study explores the opportunities for the global community to develop robust partnerships and cross sector collaboration to foster water security and increase resource use efficiency, particularly in agriculture and food industry, as part of corporate environmental and financial performance goals.

We thank the authors, Varis and Keskinen, and Nauditt, for their constructive contributions. We endorse their key comments, further referring to recent literature and events, including the UN 2018 High Level Political Forum on sustainable development. Here, we elaborate on the epistemological perspective of the water–energy–food nexus conceptualization, assessment, discourse and operationalization.

Abstract. To mark the 20th anniversary of Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (NHESS), an interdisciplinary and international journal dedicated
to the public discussion and open-access publication of high-quality studies
and original research on natural hazards and their consequences, we
highlight 11 key publications covering major subject areas of NHESS that
stood out within the past 20 years. The papers cover all the topics contemplated in the European Geosciences Union (EGU) Division on Natural Hazards including dissemination, education, outreach and teaching. The selected articles thus represent excellent scientific contributions in the major areas of natural hazards and risks and helped NHESS to become an exceptionally strong journal representing interdisciplinary areas of natural hazards and risks. At its 20th anniversary, we are proud that NHESS is not only used by scientists to disseminate research results and novel ideas but also by practitioners and decision-makers to present effective solutions and strategies for sustainable disaster risk reduction.

Flood risk is dynamic and influenced by many processes related to hazard, exposure and vulnerability. Flood damage increased significantly over the past decades, however, resulting overall economic loss per event is an aggregated indicator and it is difficult to attribute causes to this increasing trend. Much has been learned about damaging processes during floods at the micro-scale, e.g. building level. However, little is known about the main factors determining the amount of flood damage on event level. Thus, we analyse and compare paired flood events, i.e. consecutive, similar damaging floods that occurred in the same area. In analogy to 'Paired catchment studies' - a well-established method in hydrology to understand how changes in land use affect streamflow – we will investigate how and why resulting flood damage in a region differed between the first and second consecutive flood events. One example are the 2002 and 2013 floods in the Elbe and Danube catchments in Germany. The 2002 flood caused the highest economic damage (EUR 11600 million) due to a natural hazard event in Germany. Damage was so high due to extreme flood hazard triggered by extreme precipitation and a high number of resulting dyke breaches. Additionally, exposure hotspots like the city of Dresden at the Elbe river as well as some smaller municipalities at the river Mulde (e.g. Grimma, Eilenburg, Bitterfeld, Dessau) were severely impacted. However, affected parties and authorities learned from the extreme flood in 2002, and many governmental flood risk programs and initiatives were launched. Considerable improvements since 2002 occurred on many levels that deal with flood risk reduction and disaster response, in particular in 1) increased flood prevention by improved spatial planning, 2) an increased number of property-level mitigation measures, 3) more effective early warning and improved coordination of disaster response and 4) a more targeted maintenance of flood defence systems and their deliberate relocation. Thus, despite higher hydrological severity damage due to the 2013 flood was significantly lower than in 2002. In our international comparative paired event study we investigate under which circumstances similar or contrasting processes occurred and hope to identify common key processes which determine flood damage on event level.