Tweed Forum1
Christopher J. Spray (University of Dundee, UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Science & Policy) and Luke Comins (Tweed Forum). Contact details: Professor C.J. Spray, University of Dundee, DUNDEE, DD1 4HN, UK. C.J.Spray@dundee.ac.uk +44(0)1382 388362 Sub-theme Area: 7 (Global Challenges for water governance) or possibly sub-theme 10 (Management of water resources) Introduction: The production of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005, combined with a growing interest in the Ecosystems Approach, first defined within the Convention on Biological Diversity, has led to an increased focus on where and how what some see as new paradigms could add value to established protocols and practices for delivery of integrated water resource management (see for example Cook & Spray 2012). Within the emerging approach of the ecosystem services framework, a critical part of the process is the engagement of relevant stakeholders across the wide range of issues and challenges they face in achieving water security and, through it a better quality of life. This means more emphasis needs to be placed on a 'bottom up' and inclusive approach to governance, rather than sole reliance on a 'top down' and authoritarian approach to water management, driven by legal priorities and state-based organisations. To achieve this requires better alignment of the priorities for water management of the state and of society, and this in turn highlights the importance of non-governmental organisations able to bridge the gap and create dialogue between these and other parties involved in water management (see for example Spray & Rouillard 2012). Methods/Materials: We use our experiences of 20 years of working with the participative catchment organisation (PCO), Tweed Forum to explore the challenges for both state and PCO in managing this governance challenge (Spray & Comins (2010); Cook et al 2013). We build on co-operative working with other PCOs (see Cook et al 2013) and more recent work with the Scottish Land Use Strategy pilot using an Ecosystems Approach - for which Tweed Forum has played the key interlinking role with stakeholders across the Scottish Borders. Results/Discussion: The importance of establishing and maintaining stakeholder relationships with a whole variety of different sector interests is shown to be vital. How this is achieved, and the balance with which the relationships are managed over time can be seen as paramount and crucial to the way in which the PCOs have to manage their responses to competing water management claims and demands from different sectors. Maintaining trust with all sectors requires transparency, independence and a focus on practical delivery on-the-ground. Some projects and initiatives are too risky to undertake if that reputation is to be maintained. Tweed Forum is seen as being able to go where other agencies, local and national government organisations cannot, largely because it represents no threat or authority; on the contrary it encourages co-operative working and the real politique. Conclusions: Our exploration shows the importance of having a 'trusted intermediary' that can occupy that space between the top down and bottom up approach and align their respective priorities for water management at the catchment scale in a non-threatening and productive manner. 1. Millennium Assessment (2005). Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis. Island Press, Washington D.C. 2. Convention on Biological Diversity (2005). Handbook of the Convention on Biological Diversity Including Its Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, third ed. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal 3. Cook, B.R. and Spray, C.J. (2012) Ecosystem services and integrated water resource management: Different paths to the same end? Journal of Environmental Management 109, 93-100. 4. Spray, C & Comins, L 2011, ' Governance structures for effective integrated catchment management: lessons from the Tweed HELP Basin, UK ' Journal of Hydrologic Environment , vol 7, no. 1, pp. 105-109 5. Cook, BR, Atkinson, M, Chalmers, H, Comins, L, Cooksley, S, Deans, N , Fazey, I , Fenemor, A, Kesby, M, Litke, S, Marshall, D & Spray, C (2013), ' Interrogating Participatory Catchment Organisations: cases from Canada, New Zealand, Scotland and the Scottish–English Borderlands ' Geographical Journal , vol 179, no. 3, pp. 234-247. 6. Cook, BR, Kesby, M , Fazey, I & Spray, C (2013), ' The persistence of 'normal' catchment management despite the participatory turn: exploring the power effects of competing frames of reference ' Social Studies of Science , vol 43, no. 5, pp. 754-779 7. Spray, C.J. and Rouillard. J. (2012) CATCH II Catchment Advice Template and Exchange - Fully integrated Catchment Management Planning. Report to CREW, James Hutton Institute. www.crew.ac.uk