Suchergebnisse

In the wake of the flood that affected Brisbane, Australia, in January 2011, public attention turned to the causes of the event and lessons for minimizing the impacts of future floods. The news media was an important vehicle for understanding and internalizing the 2011 Brisbane flood. Examining how the flood was framed in the media is, therefore, useful to understand broad public perception of floods. We undertook a systematic newspaper analysis during a one-year period to explore media framings of the flood, focused on learning as an aspect of resilience in relation to two themes: (1) perceived links between the flood and climate change and (2) perceived roles of government in managing the flood. We show that media coverage of the flood reinforces aspects of resilience by acknowledging community spirit, self-reliance and the importance of sharing experiences for learning; articulating the risk of extreme events in a changing climate; and highlighting regional management trade-offs. Much of the discourse is likely to inhibit resilience, however, by casting the flood in terms of blame and political opportunity and paying inadequate attention to longer-term aspects of regional resilience. The limited learning observed to date may highlight a need for other mechanisms and actors to lead learning processes. As policy related to the 2011 Brisbane flood, and extreme events more generally, is influenced by the public discourse, it is important to understand the nuances of communication around these events and the media's role in reinforcing or changing perceptions.

The ARDI method focuses on developing a schematic representation of individual or group understanding of key elements of the social ecological system. Ten individual mental models were elicited from water resource users and managers; the collective mental model process could not be completed in the time available. The ARDI assessment's systems diagrams provide insight into sustainability through showing how stakeholders and resources interact. It also illuminates drivers of the system, as understood by different stakeholders and the way in which these stakeholders understand the system to function. This research found that with respect to sustainability, the Reserve and compliance with the Reserve, both methods suggested that the Reserve is a concept that is not well understood: if people were familiar with the Reserve as a tool then more detailed understanding was often lacking or limited. In addition, both the CA and ARDI methods identified noncompliance as an important issue for stakeholders in the catchment. However additional work would be required to explore the actual nature and intent of the non compliance as this was beyond the scope of the current application of the two methods. In many ways, CA could be seen as a screening technique to, for instance, define specific thematic areas that water management needs to address within the catchment. What is valuable is that both methods highlight the nature and extent to which stakeholders perceive problems relating to WRM in the catchment. This information is useful in engaging water managers and broader stakeholder groups in subsequent stages of collaborative work as it provides a basis from which to tackle problems. This research found that with respect to the techniques for eliciting mental models, both methods accommodate high levels of representation and inclusivity and are therefore in accordance with participatory water resources management as required by the NWA. They both generate a sense of involvement and 'buy-in' in that they draw information and ...