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ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION TECHNOLOGIES, REGULATIONS AND SAFETY

COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS TYPES, SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION STRATEGIES

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ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION TECHNOLOGIES, REGULATIONS AND SAFETY

COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS TYPES, SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION STRATEGIES

THEODORE MASURA EDITOR

New York


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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ISBN: (eBook)

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. † New York


CONTENTS Preface Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

vii Understanding Hydrologic Processes in Humid Subtropical Coastal Watersheds: A Case Study Using the Semi-Distributed HSPF Model in Weeks Bay Catchment, Alabama Jairo Diaz-Ramirez Coastal Protection in Sardinia (Italy): A Tentative Assessment of the Regional Landscape Plan Corrado Zoppi and Sabrina Lai Coastal Ecosystem: Coral Reef Environment Monitoring of Coral Reefs in the Marine Parks of Terengganu and Tioman, Malaysia, Using Reef Check Methods and the Implementation into the Marine Park Management Chris Wetzelhuetter, Alvin Chelliah and Sue Yee Chen The Land Cover Changes as Tools to Support the Preservation of Naturalness at the Sele Coastal Plain (Southern Italy) I. Alberico, M. Fagnano, A. Dal Piaz, E. Anzalone, R. Barra, L. Ferraro, L. Giordano, V. Di Fiore and E. Marsella


1

31

75

109

vi Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Contents Implications of Offshore Oil Exploration in the Brazilian Coastal Zone Etiene Villela Marroni and Milton L. Asmus

129

Principles of Dredging Eco-Monitoring in the Eastern Gulf of Finland Julia Lednova and George Gogoberidze

151

Estimation of the Marine Economy Potential and Their Calculation for the Coastal Regions of the Russian Federation George Gogoberidze and Julia Lednova

Index

165 179


PREFACE Coastal zones have always been chosen by humans as a good place to live. Over the last forty years, human pressure has caused a strong variation of land use and wild areas have been consumed by agriculture, roads and settlements. The main causes of ecosystem loss are the coastal erosion, and the sprawl of infrastructures and economic sites. This book discusses several topics, some of which include the coral reef environment; the land cover change as a tool to support the preservation of naturalness at the Sele coastal plain in Italy; principles of dredging eco-monitoring in the Eastern Gulf of Finland; and others. Chapter 1 – The goal of this research was to further understand the temporal and spatial variability of hydrological processes and freshwater yield in a humid subtropical drainage area in Alabama by using available climate, soil, land use, topographic, and streamflow data in conjunction with the Hydrological Simulation Program – FORTRAN (HSPF). The study area, Weeks Bay watershed, is located in the Baldwin County, Alabama and covers around 198 mi2 of land surface. The watershed is primarily agricultural (47%), followed by forest land (18%), wetlands (14%) and developed areas (10%). Two main branches reach the Weeks Bay, Fish and Magnolia Rivers. The Weeks Bay watershed is located in the humid subtropical climate region, which dominates the states adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico. This provides for typically warm summers and relatively mild winters with occasional cold waves. The winter storms, summer thunderstorms, and tropical systems help to yield an annual precipitation accumulation of approximately 69 inches. This annual rainfall total makes this region second in annual rainfall in the continental United States, with the Pacific Northwest being the only region with more annual rainfall. Only 36% of the watershed area is gauged by the


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Theodore Masura

US Geological Survey (USGS). The watershed model was divided into 42 subcatchments. The model was setup using NOAA hourly rainfall data from 2002 to 2008. Simulated daily streamflow was evaluated against USGS 02378500 Fish River and 02378300 Magnolia River. Manual (following HSPF flow calibration tutorial) and parameter estimator techniques were used to optimize selected HSPF parameters. Goodness-of-fit coefficients, error equations, and graphical evaluation were used to assess the model results. In this study, most sensitive hydrologic parameters were those controlling baseflow recession (AGWRC) and infiltration (INFILT). More than 88% of annual water losses in Fish River and Magnolia River sub-catchments are due actual evapotranspiration and runoff. Simulated ground water recharge from rainfall represents only between 4 in/y and 7 in/y. Simulated daily streamflow values against USGS Fish and Magnolia station time series showed coefficient of determination and Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient greater than 0.71. The hydrology performance of the Fish River model was better than that for the Magnolia River one. Magnolia River and Fish River sub-catchment models performed better for the wet season (2003-2005) than the dry season (2006-2008). For the 2003-2008 periods, the simulated average daily freshwater inflow into the Weeks Bay was 441 cfs. Chapter 2 – The planning activity of the regional administration of Sardinia (Italy) has undergone a deep change after the approval of the Regional Landscape Plan (RLP), which establishes the directions for nearly any future planning activity in Sardinia, and requires that actual sectoral and local plans, as well as plans for protected areas, be changed to comply with its directions. This mandatory adjustment process can be conflictual, if the administrations responsible for these plans disagree with the rules established by the RLP. On these bases, this essay develops a discussion around two issues concerning public participation in the Sardinian RLP. The first focuses on the extent to which integration of different stakeholders was looked for in the plan preparation and what the likely consequences of this degree of participation are. The second discusses how local communities may participate in the implementation process of the RLP. This assessment builds on empirical studies on conflictual issues concerning the Sardinian RLP analyzed through Multicriteria Analysis (MCA) and Contingent Valuation (CV). The contribution of this essay to define an on-going strategic assessment of the RLP identifies two main normative points. First, the right concept of subsidiarity has to be restored in the RLP planning implementation code (PIC). Second, the regional planning activity has to be based on a true cooperative-


Preface

ix

planning approach so that the relations between the regional administration and the cities may lose their conflict-derived inefficiency. Chapter 3 – Between 2008 and 2013 the status of coral reefs was examined using Reef Check survey methods on 19 selected reefs along the eastern coast of the Malaysian Peninsula, around Perhentian, Redang and Tioman Islands. The goal of the study was to determine the status of these reefs and to monitor continuous change on the reef caused by human and nonhuman factors. Data on indicator fish, indicator invertebrate and indicator substrate as well as environment, socio-economic and human impacts was collected. The assessment of this data demonstrates that the two most obvious impacts were warm water bleaching and sewage pollution. Overall the study shows that live coral cover did not change significantly over the past six years. The results of these surveys were implemented into the Marine Parks management. First the survey technique was introduced to Marine Park personnel for long term monitoring. Priority and resilience areas where mapped out and established. Furthermore, a bleaching response plan was designed for Malaysia after the 2010 bleaching event and was implemented jointly with park management. In addition, pollution caused by growing ecotourism was recognized as a major impact to the coral reef status and measures like waste control were introduced and successfully established. Reef rehabilitation efforts in the form of coral transplanting were also undertaken at sites where the natural reef had suffered damage due to human and natural impacts. This reef rehabilitation project was used as a platform to involve tourism operators, local villagers and park managers in hands-on conservation in order to promote a better understanding of the importance of coral reefs. It was demonstrated that coral transplanting can be successfully used in reef rehabilitation. Chapter 4 – The effects of changes of land-cover on biodiversity at Sele coastal plain (Southern Italy), together with the use of the green infrastructures have been evaluated. First, the authors briefly comment on the territorial system evolution during the last 150 years, a fundamental step to understand the causes which lead to the urban sprawl and the agricultural vocation of this area. Afterwards, they analyze the present planning tools to preserve the environmental and landscape quality and the urban livability as well. This analysis evidences that the Sele coastal plain still has areas with a good degree of naturalness, some of which located in protected zones. However, the agricultural crops represent the dominant scenery. The grain cereals and vegetable plants, with a medium degree of naturalness, are the most common land-cover classes, representing the 50% of the whole area. The authors aim at


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Theodore Masura

illustrating how the use of agricultural practices, as identified in the new Common Agricultural Policy [1], hedges, beetle banks and rows of trees, and old infrastructures of the area, could improve the biodiversity framework of the area. Chapter 5 – The economic consequences of increased trade and foreign investment, as a result of greater economic integration between countries, are on the global agenda. The interaction between coastal environment and the external sector is one of the most challenging topics. The convergence of these themes has being provoking a heated debate among people which are favorable and contrary to the thesis of the incompatibility between increased trade and maintaining a pattern of economic development and sustainable environment. Thesis expanded to the possible incompatibility between the movement of international financial capital and foreign direct investment and sustainability. Categorically, this applies to exploration and production (E & P) of oil in the Brazilian Pre-Salt formation. Brazil must inspect and monitor any process of exploration, mainly offshore, in the coastal territory of its jurisdiction. In this respect, it is noteworthy that PETROBRAS (the lead oil company in the country) has become the technology leader in deep and ultradeep waters, which guarantees to Brazil at the time, the control of its maritime rich resources relating to exploration and exploitation of oil and natural gas. Thus, the authors recognize the issue of technological competition as a determinant for the productive internalization process. This process, especially among developed countries, should be understood as the result of technological capability, which multinational companies are able to appropriate due to the existence of "overflows" from the system. Therefore, they intend to clarify the extent to which Brazilian law "protects" the exploitation of natural resources, especially hydrocarbons, from a coastal environment approach. Chapter 6 – The Strategy of port’s infrastructure development to 2030 is passed in Russia in 2012. This document includes the main principles of development and enhancement of ports and adjacent coastal zone represented in conception of technospherical safety of activity extension. The program of Ecological Monitoring of Dredging and Reclamation (EMDR) is suggested for searching of main influences on the environment conditions. The principal questions and goals of the EMDR are formulated. As results of ecological monitoring in the Eastern Gulf of Finland before and after cessation of construction works of hydrotechnical objects, the main factors of influence on benthic communities and coastal zones in whole were determined. On the basis of the field works the results laboratory experiments for determine a


Preface

xi

level of effect of turbidity, thickness of sedimentation and frequency of discharging on benthic communities were made. Chapter 7 – Marine economy potential is a parameter, which characterizes marine economic, political and military power of the coastal region with comprehensive estimations of socio-economic, political, environment and military profits (damages) from coastal planning decisions. In the paper the principles of estimation of the marine economy potential are described and the results of assessment of status of the coastal regions of the Russian Federation, on the basis of official information are viewing, including the indicators comparison of the coastal regions of the state on 01.01.2006 and 01.01.2011. It is shown that it's possible to group the coastal regions of the Russian Federation into 3 categories by the level of socio-economic development. The results of the statistical processing and analysis of indicators and integrated indicators, which including correlation analysis of integrated indicators for coastal regions of the Russian Federation, as well as the relationship of the coastal regions of the Russian Federation, are interesting also.



In: Coastal Ecosystems Editor: Theodore Masura

ISBN: 978-1-63117-235-9 © 2014 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 1

UNDERSTANDING HYDROLOGIC PROCESSES IN HUMID SUBTROPICAL COASTAL WATERSHEDS: A CASE STUDY USING THE SEMI-DISTRIBUTED HSPF MODEL IN WEEKS BAY CATCHMENT, ALABAMA Jairo Diaz-Ramirez Mississippi River Research Center, Alcorn State University, MS, US

ABSTRACT The goal of this research was to further understand the temporal and spatial variability of hydrological processes and freshwater yield in a humid subtropical drainage area in Alabama by using available climate, soil, land use, topographic, and streamflow data in conjunction with the Hydrological Simulation Program – FORTRAN (HSPF). The study area, Weeks Bay watershed, is located in the Baldwin County, Alabama and covers around 198 mi2 of land surface. The watershed is primarily agricultural (47%), followed by forest land (18%), wetlands (14%) and developed areas (10%). 

Corresponding author: Jairo Diaz-Ramirez. Director, Mississippi River Research Center, Alcorn State University, MS, US. E-mail: [email protected].


2

Jairo Diaz-Ramirez Two main branches reach the Weeks Bay, Fish and Magnolia Rivers. The Weeks Bay watershed is located in the humid subtropical climate region, which dominates the states adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico. This provides for typically warm summers and relatively mild winters with occasional cold waves. The winter storms, summer thunderstorms, and tropical systems help to yield an annual precipitation accumulation of approximately 69 inches. This annual rainfall total makes this region second in annual rainfall in the continental United States, with the Pacific Northwest being the only region with more annual rainfall. Only 36% of the watershed area is gauged by the US Geological Survey (USGS). The watershed model was divided into 42 sub-catchments. The model was setup using NOAA hourly rainfall data from 2002 to 2008. Simulated daily streamflow was evaluated against USGS 02378500 Fish River and 02378300 Magnolia River. Manual (following HSPF flow calibration tutorial) and parameter estimator techniques were used to optimize selected HSPF parameters. Goodness-of-fit coefficients, error equations, and graphical evaluation were used to assess the model results. In this study, most sensitive hydrologic parameters were those controlling baseflow recession (AGWRC) and infiltration (INFILT). More than 88% of annual water losses in Fish River and Magnolia River sub-catchments are due actual evapotranspiration and runoff. Simulated ground water recharge from rainfall represents only between 4 in/y and 7 in/y. Simulated daily streamflow values against USGS Fish and Magnolia station time series showed coefficient of determination and NashSutcliffe coefficient greater than 0.71. The hydrology performance of the Fish River model was better than that for the Magnolia River one. Magnolia River and Fish River sub-catchment models performed better for the wet season (2003-2005) than the dry season (2006-2008). For the 2003-2008 periods, the simulated average daily freshwater inflow into the Weeks Bay was 441 cfs.

INTRODUCTION The US Environmental Protection Agency - EPA (2009a) defined a model as “simplification of reality that is constructed to gain insights into select attributes of a particular physical, biological, economic, or social system.” Hydrologic modeling is a representation of the processes of the water cycle and its controlling factors. There are a variety of philosophical and technical approaches for simulating hydrology. These approaches can range from models based on field or laboratory data to those developed by using water physics. Singh and Woolhiser (2002) and Todini (2007), who gave a historical review of hydrological watershed modeling, believe that the Rational Method


Understanding Hydrologic Processes …

3

developed in 1850 was the first hydrological modeling approach. Hydrology models are applied for many reasons (Wagener et al., 2004; Singh and Woolhiser, 2002), for example, such as for water resources assessment (e.g., reservoir system operations), to quantify the impacts of watershed management strategies (e.g., development of Total Maximum Daily Loads TMDLs), as load models linked to instream/estuary models, to understand dynamic interactions between climate and land surface hydrology, to provide boundary conditions for atmospheric circulation models, or for real time flood forecasting. The USEPA released in 1996 the Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources - BASINS (USEPA, 2001) which links the Hydrological Simulation Program – FORTRAN (HSPF) (Bicknell et al., 2001) and others watershed and water quality models with a Geographical Information System software, MapWindow (USEPA, 2009b). Also BASINS incorporates an extensive US data base (i.e., land use, climatological and water quality data) graphical and statistical analysis, and reporting tools. Several watershed hydrology models have been developed since 1960’s (Singh and Woolhiser, 2002). Watershed models such as the HSPF and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) (Neitsch et al., 2005) are popular continuous models. The HSPF model is one of the most comprehensive, flexible and modular programs of watershed hydrology and water quality available (Donigian et al., 1995). HSPF has been applied in different zones around the world since the 1980’s (Donigian et al., 1995; Singh and Woolhiser, 2002, Diaz-Ramirez et al., 2008; Diaz-Ramirez, Perez-Alegria, and McAnally, 2008). For instance, a major application of the HSPF is in the Chesapeake Bay (128,000 km2). The goal of this research was to demonstrate the application of a hydrologic model to predict fresh water inflows to a coastal watershed – Weeks Bay, Alabama. It is part of a larger effort to provide improved tools for predicting coastal water quality. This study was based on the application of the BASINS/HSPF program to simulate hydrologic processes in the drainage areas of the Bay. The study area is located in the Gulf of Mexico region where land slope is quite flat along with high frequency of tropical storms and hurricane events. Two US Geological Survey (USGS) continuous streamflow stations are placed in the Weeks Bay watershed covering 36% of the area. With this low percentage of gaged area, there is a necessity to provide better knowledge of surface freshwater quantity and timeing reaching the Bay.


4

Jairo Diaz-Ramirez

REVIEW OF THE HSPF MODEL This section presents a brief summary of the capabilities of HSPF for modeling hydrology and erosion processes. A detailed description of HSPF can be found in HSPF Version 12, User’s manual (Bicknell et al., 2001). The HSPF software is a conceptual, continuous, lumped parameter watershed model supported by US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) that has been extensively used around the world since 1980. The model simulates hydrologic and water quality processes in pervious or impervious areas. Water quality constituents simulated by HSPF include: dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), temperature, pesticides, conservatives, fecal coliforms, sediment detachment and transport, sediment routing, nitrate, organic nitrogen, orthophosphate, organic phosphorus, phytoplankton, and zooplankton. The newest HSPF version is running under the Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources (BASINS) software (USEPA, 2001). BASINS platform offers pre and post processing for the HSPF model. Hydrological simulation in HSPF consists of five storage classes (interception, upper zone, lower zone, baseflow, and deep percolation), each allowing different types of inflow and outflow. Inflows and outflows are simulated in HSPF as water-balance accounting. Each pervious land segment considers the following processes: interception, evapotranspiration, surface detention, surface runoff, infiltration, shallow subsurface flow (interflow), base flow, and deep percolation (Donigian et al., 1995). Surface detention and surface runoff are the only components simulated in impervious areas. HSPF has been applied in different zones around the world since the 1980’s (Donigian et al., 1995; Singh and Woolhiser, 2002). HSPF watershed applications in the southeastern US can be found in Diaz-Ramirez et al. 2008; Duan et al., 2008; McAnally et al., 2006; and Martin et al., 2003. These applications focused on the alluvial Mississippi delta, Mississippi coastal area, and upland watersheds located in the north central area of Alabama. Lehrter (2006) applied the HSPF model in the Weeks Bay watershed using input gauge rainfall time series from 2000 to 2001. He calibrated daily streamflow simulations using data from the USGS Fish River station (02378500). Calibrated parameter values were validated at the USGS Magnolia River (02378300). He found correlation coefficient values of 0.7 and 0.6 for calibrated and validated sub-watersheds, respectively. Lehrter pointed



5

out that in many storm events the magnitude of peak discharge was not well simulated; however, baseflow and time of peak were well tracked by the model.

STUDY AREA The Weeks Bay watershed is located in Baldwin County, Alabama and covers around 198 mi2 of land surface (Figure 1). Figure 1 depicts the drainage areas above US Geological Survey (USGS) 02378500 Fish River and 02378300 Magnolia River. Only 36% of the Weeks Bay watershed area is gauged by the USGS. Table 1 shows the land use distribution in the study area. The National Land Cover data developed in 2001 (USEPA, 2008) shows that the watershed is primarily agricultural (47%) followed by forest land (18%), wetlands (14%) and developed areas (10%). The area surrounding Weeks Bay has experienced rampant urban development especially within the last ten years. Baldwin County in general, is one of the three fastest growing counties within the state of Alabama. Two major rivers flow into Weeks Bay: Fish River from the north and Magnolia River from the southeast. The bay and the adjacent coastal wetlands were established as a National Estuary and Research Reserve in 1986 and it has been protected for over twenty years. Table 1. 2001 Land use distribution using BASINS/HSPF delineation Land Use Water Developed Barren Land Forest Shrub Land Grass Land/Herbaceous Pasture Hay Cultivated Crops Wetlands Total N/A not applicable.

Weeks Bay mi2 % 3.1 1.5 20.3 10.1 1.1 0.6 36.1 17.9 6.2 3.1 10.7 5.3 42.9 21.3 51.8 25.8 29.0 14.4 201.2 100

Fish River mi2 % N/A N/A 5.3 9.7 0.3 0.6 16.2 29.9 3.5 6.5 4.1 7.6 6.6 12.3 10.3 19.1 7.7 14.3 54.1 100

Magnolia River mi2 % N/A N/A 2.6 14.2 0.1 0.5 1.3 7.3 0.1 0.8 0.6 3.2 4.2 23.7 7.3 40.9 1.7 9.5 17.8 100


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Jairo Diaz-Ramirez

Figure 1. Location of study area and USGS gaged catchments.

Two ecoregions cross the study area, southeastern plains and southern coastal plain. Land surface elevation in the Weeks Bay watershed ranges from sea level to about 210 ft above sea level. Land surface slopes in the area range from 0 to 4%. Five soil associations (% of area) are presented in the Weeks Bay watershed: Marlboro-Faceville-Greenville (71%), Bowie-Tifton-Sunsweet (9%), Lakeland-Plummer (14%), Norfolk-Klej-Goldsboro (4%), and Lakewood-St. Lucie-Leon (2%). In general, soils in the area are well drained or excessively drained with hydrologic soil groups B/A (USDA-NRCS, 2009). The aquifer system beneath the Weeks Bay watershed is divided into two geological units (Dowling et al., 2004): a) Aquifer zone A2, the Miocene /Pliocene aquifer system with a thickness of about 300 ft and a ground water residence time around 40 years; b) Aquifer zone A3, the lower unit is roughly 800 ft thick and has a water residence time of more than 50 years.



7

The recharge in the highly permeable sediments of the A2 aquifer was calculated by Dowling et al. (2004) between 9.5 and 22 in/year.

METHODOLOGY Model Setup BASINS/HSPF was used to simulate hydrologic processes within the Weeks Bay watershed. The BASINS platform offers GIS tools to display and calculate physiographic data (topographic, land use, soils, watershed boundaries, land slope). Spatial and climatic data, including topography, land use, soil properties, reach characteristics, and detailed hourly meteorological data were established using the BASINS/HSPF MapWindow interface. Table 2 shows physiographic and climate data used in this study. The topographic data used in the model setup was the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Digital Elevation Model (DEM). The DEM was used to delineate watershed and sub-watershed boundaries and generate the associated stream network (digitized streams). Table 2. GIS map layers and input data for the Weeks Bay watershed model Data

Description

Soil Map

STATSGO

Land Use

2001 NLCD

Digital Elevation DEM Model (30m resolution) Robertsdale and Rainfall Stations Fairhope Potential Robertsdale and Evapotranspiration Fairhope Stream National characteristic Hydrography (FTABLE) Dataset

Source BASINS and http://soils.usda.gov/survey/geography/statsgo/ BASINS and http://seamless.usgs.gov/website/seamless/viewer.php BASINS and http://seamless.usgs.gov/website/seamless/viewer.php http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/stationlocator.html BASINS BASINS and http://seamless.usgs.gov/website/seamless/viewer.php


8

Jairo Diaz-Ramirez

All geoprocessing operations were performed using the toolkits provided by BASINS. During this process, landuse areas and topographical parameters (overland plane slopes, streams’ slope and length, etc.) are summarized for export to HSPF’s User Control Input file. HSPF also requires a tabular characterization of streams’ geometry (FTABLE) with relationships among area, volume, and flow in a river cross section. These relationships are calculated by BASINS using the DEM and Manning’s equation for steady uniform flow. The climatological database was processed independently using the WDMUtil software (also part of the BASINS suite) and then incorporated into the watershed data management file (.wdm) specific for Weeks Bay watershed model.The climate dataset was setup from 01/01/2002 to 12/31/ 2008. Daily rainfall data were obtained from the National Weather Service (NWS) for the Fairhope and Robertsdale gauging stations (Figure 2).

Moble Regional Airport Station

Robertsdale Station Fiarhope 2NE Station

N

Legend Weeks Bay Watershed

0

4.5

9 miles

Figure 2. Climate stations and sub-watersed delineation used in this study.


Figure 3. Channel network conceptualized by HSPF.


10

Jairo Diaz-Ramirez

Hourly precipitation recorded at the Mobile Regional Airport station was used to disaggregate the above cited stations. Spatial rainfall representation was assigned to each sub-catchment by the station proximity tool in BASINS. In other words, each sub-catchment used rainfall time series from either Robertsdale station or Fairhope station. WDMutil computed hourly potential evapotranspiration by using the Hamon method (Hamon, 1963) and temperature data from the NOAA downtown Mobile station. The Hamon method is a temperature based equation recommended by Lu et al. (2005) for the southeastern United States. BASINS’ automatic delineation tool sub-divided the Weeks Bay watershed into 42 sub-watersheds (Figure 2). Consequently, the channel network was divided into 42 reaches. After delineation, the initial (not calibrated) HSPF model for Weeks Bay was generated from within BASINS (Figure 3).

Hydrology Calibration Simulated daily streamflow was evaluated against USGS 02378500 Fish River (figure 1) and 02378300 Magnolia River (figure 1). Hydrologic calibration was performed from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2005. Calibration was accomplished using an hourly time step; results of HSPF streamflow simulation are presented at a daily time step for comparison with USGS station records. Manual (HSPF flow calibration tutorial) and parameter estimator techniques were used to optimize selected HSPF parameters. Goodness-of-fit coefficients, error equations, and graphical evaluation were used to assess the model results. In this research, the HSPF parameters adjusted during the automatic calibration were: lower zone nominal soil moisture storage (LZSN), infiltration capacity (INFILT), variable groundwater recession (KVARY), base groundwater recession (AGWRC), fraction of remaining evapotranspiration from baseflow (BASETP), fraction of remaining evapotranspiration from active groundwater (AGWETP), interception storage capacity (CEPSC), upper zone nominal soil moisture storage (UZSN), Manning's for overland flow (NSUR), interflow inflow parameter (INTFW), and interflow recession parameter (IRC). Parameters adjusted manually were: fraction of groundwater inflow to deep recharge (DEEPFR) and lower zone evapotranspiration parameter (LZETP).



11

Parameter calibration was performed using the Model-Independent Parameter Estimation (PEST) program (WNC, 2004); however, further manual calibration was performed for water balance parameters (actual evapotranspiration and deep percolation) and variable groundwater recession parameter, KVARY. The objective function minimized by PEST included the summed weighted squared differences between: 1) observed and simulated daily streamflows (OF1), 2) observed and simulated monthly volumes (OF2), and 3) exceedence times for various flow thresholds computed on the basis of observed and simulated flows (OF3). PEST developers recommend weights values be inversely proportional to measurement standard deviations (WNC, 2004).

Hydrology Validation To increase the confidence in model simulation findings, a hydrology validation study was performed using an independent set of field observations not used in the calibration period. During the validation period, the HSPF parameters were not manipulated. The land use dataset and watershed delineation were the same as those used during the model calibration period. Hydrology validation was performed from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2008.

Evaluation Criteria The Generation and Analysis of Model Simulation Scenarios for Watersheds (GenScn) software (Kittle et al., 2001) was used for evaluation of the HSPF outputs. Visual evaluation was performed using scatterplots and duration curves of observed and simulated streamflow data. The following numerical criteria were used to evaluate observed data versus simulated data by HSPF: the coefficient of determination (R2), the Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient (NS), the relative error (RE), and the root mean square error (RMSE). The coefficient of determination (R2), which is the square of Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient, represents the fraction of variability in y that can be explained by the variability in x. It ranges from zero to one, with higher values indicating better agreement, and is given by:


12

Jairo Diaz-Ramirez   n   (O j  O)(S j  S )     j 1 R2   0.5 0.5    n    n   (O j  O) 2   ( S j  S ) 2     j 1     j 1  

2







(1)

where Oj is the observed streamflow at time step j, O is the average observed streamflow during the evaluation period, Sj is the simulated streamflow at time step j, and S is the average simulated streamflow at time step j. The Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient (NS) (Nash and Sutcliffe, 1970) represents the fraction of the variance in the measured data explained by the model. The NS ranges from minus infinity to one. An NS value of one represents a perfect fit. The NS coefficient is considered one of the best statistical criteria for the evaluation of continuous-hydrograph simulation programs (Moriasi et al, 2007; Engelmann et al., 2002; Legates and McCabe, 1999). The NS is given by the following equation: n

NS  1 

 (O

j

 S j )2

 (O

j

 O j )2

j 1 n

j 1

(2)

The relative error (RE) for long-term continuous simulation is given by the following equation: n

Oj  S j

j 1

Oj

 RE (%) 

n

*100 (3)

A positive value in equation 3 implies that (on average) the model underpredicted flow, whereas a negative value implies overprediction of flow. Equations 1, 2, and 3 are dimensionless measures of model performance. Additionally, calculating the error in terms of the units of the variable is useful for model evaluation (Moriasi et al., 2007; Legates and McCabe, 1999). The



13

root mean square error (RMSE) for long-term continuous simulation is given by the following equation:

 O n

RM SE 

j 1

S j 

2

j

n (4)

The lower the RMSE the better the model performance.

Estimation of Hydrographs from Ungaged Watersheds Based on the calibration and validation processes carried out in drainage areas above USGS 02378500 Fish River (figure 1) and 02378300 Magnolia River (figure 1), HSPF parameters were extrapolated to ungaged stream areas. Two ecoregions level III are set in the Weeks Bay watershed, southeastern plains and southern coastal plain (Figure 4). The calibrated Fish and Magnolia River sub-catchments lay on the southeastern plains and southern coastal plain ecoregions, respectively. To keep the HSPF parameter physical behavior thorough the entire study area, calibrated model parameters from each subcatchment were extrapolated to adjacent ecoregions. Spatial rainfall representation was assiged to each sub-catchment by the station proximity tool in BASINS. In other words, each sub-catchment used rainfall time series from either Robertsdale station or Fairhope station. Figure 5 shows sub-catchment around the Weeks Bay. Streamflow time series 31 and 36 (green numbers) sum up the total flow coming from Fish River. Magnolia River flow data come from time series 42. After estimating how much fresh water is coming to the Bay, the hydraulic retention time could be calculated. The retention time answers the question, how long does it take for an estuary to get flushed? Three major physical transport mechanisms influences the retention time in an estuary like Weeks Bay: tide, river discharge, and the density induced circulation. This study quantifies the individual contribution to flushing from the watershed drainage area streamflow. The Weeks Bay is connected to the Mobile Bay and the tide effect from Mobile Bay was not evaluated.


14

Jairo Diaz-Ramirez

Figure 4. Ecoregions in the Weeks Bay watershed.

Martin and McCutcheon (1999) defined the retention time as:

w 

V Q

(5)


Understanding Hydrologic Processes … where

15

 w is the retention time, V is mean water volume of the bay and Q is the

mean flow from the watershed. The area and mean water depth of the Weeks Bay are 3 mi2 and 4.8 ft, respectively (NERRS, 2009). Using these data, the average water volume of the Bay should be 400,000,000 ft3. As mention earlier in this section, the fresh water flows coming into the Bay were calculated using the HSPF model.

RESULTS Sensitivity Analysis Table 3 shows results of the relative PEST sensitivity analysis performed to 10 HSPF parameters in this study. Three objective functions were used in this study for the period 2002 to 2005: daily flows (OF1), monthly volumes (OF2), and exceedance times (OF3). In the Fish River sub-catchment model, the streamflow parameters most sensitive were: AGWRC, INFILT, DEEPFR, and CEPSC. The streamflow parameter that was most sensitive was the AGWRC which affects base flow recession. The AGWRC parameter showed an inverse relationship with stream flow values (i.e., the higher the AGWRC value, the lower the simulated streamflow). The AGWRC parameter depends on watershed physiographic characteristics (e.g., climate, soils, geology, topography), (USEPA, 2000).

Figure 5. Sub-Catchments around the Weeks Bay.


16

Jairo Diaz-Ramirez Table 3. Relative parameter sensitivity values calculated by PEST

Parameter

Definition

Lower zone nominal soil moisture storage INFILT Index to infiltration (in/hr) capacity AGWRC Base groundwater (1/day) recession Fraction of DEEPFR groundwater inflow to deep recharge Fraction of remaining BASETP evapotranspiration from baseflow Fraction of remaining AGWETP evapotranspiration from active groundwater Interception storage CEPSC (in) capacity Upper zone UZSN (in) nominal soil moisture storage Interflow inflow INTFW parameter Interflow recession IRC (1/day) parameter Variable KVARY groundwater (1/in) recession Lower zone LZETP evapotranspiration parameter LZSN (in)

Fish River

OF1 Magnolia Fish River River

OF2 Magnolia Fish River River

OF3 Magnolia River

4.23E-06 7.79E-06 2.82E-01 1.75E-01 3.40E+00 2.69E+00 1.71E-05 3.61E-05 6.33E-01 5.09E-01 2.24E+01 2.55E+01 2.85E-05 3.13E-05 2.01E+00 1.06E+00 2.62E+01 2.05E+01 9.15E-06 5.43E-06 6.84E-01 1.98E-01 2.66E+01 9.95E+00

3.79E-07 3.95E-06 2.07E-02 9.92E-02 7.80E-01 4.91E+00

1.81E-07 2.41E-06 1.02E-02 6.32E-02 4.65E-01 3.22E+00

5.61E-06 7.01E-06 2.41E-01 1.26E-01 1.11E+01 7.25E+00 5.17E-06 3.31E-06 2.29E-01 7.67E-02 2.91E+00 9.46E-01 0.00E+00 4.52E-06 0.00E+00 1.47E-02 0.00E+00 5.77E-01 5.98E-06 1.06E-05 6.11E-02 7.56E-02 2.32E+00 4.28E+00 ---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

--- not evaluated.

The AGWRC is the ratio of current groundwater discharge to groundwater discharge 24 hours earlier (Bicknell, et al., 2001). Possible minimum and maximum values of AGWRC are 0.85 and 0.999, respectively (USEPA, 2000). In the same order of magnitude, the second most sensitive parameter was the INFILT, which controls the division of precipitation to surface and subsurface storages. INFILT is function of soil characteristics. In general, soils



17

in the area are well drained or excessively drained with hydrologic soil groups B/A (USDA-NRCS, 2009). This means that INFILT values between 0.1 in/hr and 1.0 in/hr are expected. DEEPFR simulates recharge to deep aquifers and should be based on groundwater studies in situ. Dowling et al (2004) and O’Neil and Chandler (2003) studied the aquifers of the Baldwin County, Alabama, where the Weeks Bay watershed is located. They showed aquifer recharge values between 4.5 in/y and 22 in/y. The parameter interception storage (CEPSC) was among the most sensitive in the Fish River model. Interception is rainfall which collects on the plant canopy. Interception is affected by rainfall frequency and intensity, species of vegetation, growth stage of vegetation, season of year, and wind velocity (Haan et al., 1982). Chin (2006) showed interception percentages of rainfall amount in selected studies ranging from 4 to 48. In the Magnolia River sub-catchment model, the streamflow parameters most sensitive were: AGWRC, INFILT, and IRC. IRC affects the recession curve of the hydrograph (between the peak storm flow and baseflow).

Hydrology Calibration and Validation The parameter values that were obtained in this study are in the range of recommended values by HSPF developers (USEPA, 2000). Table 4 depicts calibrated parameter values reached in this study and in the literature. Table 4. Comparison of the calibrated parameter values reached in this study and the literature Parameter LZSN (in) INFILT (in/hr) AGWRC (1/day) DEEPFR BASETP AGWETP CEPSC (in) UZSN (in) INTFW IRC (1/day) KVARY (1/in) LZETP

Fish River 2.000 0.750 0.993 0.250 0.001 0.001 0.010 0.498 2.50 0.50 0.000 0.85

Magnolia River 2.133 0.350 0.996 0.156 0.001 0.002 0.010 0.678 0.900 0.419 0.100 0.750

Lehrter (2006) 0.820 0.580 0.997 --------0.120 --0.300 -----

--- no information available.


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Jairo Diaz-Ramirez

Lehrter (2006) found INFILT and AGWRC parameter values close to this study values. The LZSN value found by Lehrter (2006) is lower than recommended by HSPF developers (the minimum possible recommended is 2.0 in). Mean annual water balance components are shown in Table 5. More than 88% of annual water losses in Fish River and Magnolia River sub-catchments are due to actual evapotranspiration and runoff. The Magnolia River subcatchment used rainfall data from the Robertsdale station. Rainfall time series from Fairhope and Robertsdale were use in the Fish River sub-catchment. The Magnolia River model showed less deep groundwater recharge than Fish River model because DEEPFR value was higher in Fish River sub-catchment than Magnolia River sub-catchment (Table 4 above). Annual water balance components simulated in this study are close to those calculated by Lu et al. (2003), Dowling et al (2004), and O’Neil and Chandler (2003). No information about storage was found in the literature review. Table 6 shows simulated and observed streamflow data at USGS Fish River station. The calibration period (2003 to 2005) showed higher flows than the validation period (2006 to 2008). The observed mean streamflow ratio between calibration and validation period was 1.7. This means that the calibration period showed 70% more flow than the validation period. The mean relative error of daily flows was -8.6% and -2.2% for the calibration and validation periods, respectively. Donigian (2002) considers this range of errors a very good value for continuous daily simulation results. Negative relative errors indicate that the model overpredicts streamflow. Statistical results for best-fit calibration of daily and monthly flows were better for the calibration period than validation process. The coefficient of determination (R2) indicates that the model explained 79% of the total variability in the observed data at daily levels for the entire simulation period (2003 to 2008). Table 5. Mean annual water balance, 2002 to 2008 Component Rainfall Runoff Deep Groundwater Actual Evapotranspiration Storage

Fish River Values (in/year) 68.42 26.85 7.13 33.51 0.93

Magnolia River Values (in/year) 70.62 32.44 3.85 32.77 1.57



19

Table 6. Observed and simulated streamflow data at USGS Fish River Period Daily calibration (2003-2005) Daily validation (2006-2008) Daily total (2003-2008) Average daily values by month (2003-2006)

Simulated Mean (cfs)

Observed Mean (cfs)

R2

RMSE (cfs)

NS

153.8

141.6

0.82

136.36

0.75

81.74

80.01

0.40

66.72

0.35

117.77

110.8

0.79

107.35

0.72

117.91

110.95

0.83

42.21

0.63

Figure 6. Daily observed and simulated streamflow time series.

Results showed in this research are better than those reached by Lehrter (2006). He used streamflow time series from 2000 to 2001 and found a R2 value of 0.49. Figure 6 depicts daily simulated and observed streamflow time series at USGS Fish River station. The season from 2003 to 2005 showed higher flows than the 2006-2008 periods. Many observed flow peaks were tracked by the model. However, some simulated peaks did not match observed ones, mainly because of uncertainty associated with the rainfall database and the effect of lumped parameter calculations.


20

Jairo Diaz-Ramirez

Simulated baseflow was well tracked from mid 2004 to mid 2005. Observed baseflow was lower than simulated in 2003 and 2008. The model underpredicted baseflow consistently in 2006. Figure 7 shows that annual rainfall values from 2006 to 2007 were below average precipitation values by between 14 in and 26 in. The Palmer Hydrological Drought Index calculated by NOAA showed severe drought for 2006 and 2007 years around the Weeks Bay watershed (NOAA, 2009). Simulated and observed flow duration curves are shown in figure 8. Both curves match relatively closely at high flows. Flows lower than 60 cfs were underestimated by HSPF. Flows between 70 cfs and 180 cfs were overestimated by the model. The median flow (50% of the time) was 90 cfs and the mean flow was 110.8 cfs (see Table 6 above). Figure 8 also shows that baseflow is significant in the Fish River sub-catchment because flow values much of the time (10% to 100% of the time) have a low slope. This low slope reflects the importance of the AGWRC parameter. In other words, 90% of the time the flow changed less than 140 cfs; in contrast, high flows turned up from 140 cfs to 7,000 cfs in just 10% of the evaluated time. In Figure 9, the HSPF model simulation output is plotted against the observed streamflow for the entire simulation period. HSPF output shows that almost all daily flows are below 2,000 cfs excluding four values above this threshold. The model showed a slight tendency to overestimate peak flows.

Rainfall (in)

Robertsdale Station Fairhope Station

Figure 7. Annual total rainfall values from NOAA stations.



21

FLOW (cfs)

OBSERVED USGS0237 FISH RCH1

Percent chance FLOW exceeded

Figure 8. Daily flow duration curves at USGS Fish River station, 01/01/2003 to 12/31/ 2008.

Y = 1.019 X + 4.890

SIMULATED FLOW (cfs)

Corr Coef= 0.889

OBSERVED FLOW (cfs)

Figure 9. Daily streamflow scatter plot, 01/01/2003 to 12/31/2008.

Table 7 shows simulated and observed streamflow data at the USGS Magnolia River station. This station showed the same flow character as the Fish River station because the stations are just 10.6 mi apart. The observed mean streamflow ratio between calibration and validation periods was 2.5. This means that the calibration period showed 150% more flow than the validation period. A bigger discrepancy was exhibited by the Fish River data.


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Jairo Diaz-Ramirez

The mean relative error of daily flows was 12.8% and -12.2% for the calibration and validation periods, respectively. Donigian (2002) considers this range of errors a good value for continuous daily simulation results. Positive relative errors indicate that the model underpredicts streamflow. As found in the Fish River model, statistical results for best-fit calibration of daily and monthly flows were better for the calibration period than the validation process. The coefficient of determination (R2) indicates that the model explained 71% of the total variability in the observed data at daily levels for the entire simulation period (2003 to 2008). Results showed in this research are better than those reached by Lehrter (2006), who evaluated streamflow time series from 2000 to 2001 and found a R2 value of 36%. Figure 10 shows simulated and observed discharges for the 2003-2008 periods. This figure depicts that, generally, the model responds to daily precipitation events. The flow duration curve plotted in Figure 11 showed the same high relevance of baseflow that was found in the Fish River subcatchment. The scatter plot in Figure 12 depicted clearly that the extreme events were underestimated by the model. Most of the flows are clustered below 800 cfs. Contrasting the intercept value from the linear regression between Magnolia River (11.4 cfs) vs. Fish River (4.8 cfs), one can state that the hydrology performance of the Fish River model was better than the Magnolia River model. In addition, the correlation coefficient was higher for the Fish River sub-catchment model than the Magnolia River model. Table 7. Observed and simulated streamflow data at USGS Magnolia River Period Daily calibration (2003-2005) Daily validation (2006-2008) Daily total (2003-2008) Average daily values by month (2003-2006)

Simulated Mean (cfs)

Observed Mean (cfs)

R2

RMSE (cfs)

NS

59.24

67.95

0.74

132.76

0.74

30.00

26.73

0.20

53.25

-1.08

44.62

47.34

0.71

101.14

0.71

44.69

47.47

0.77

34.64

0.71



23

Figure 10. Daily observed and simulated streamflow time series.

Figure 11. Daily flow duration curves, 01/01/2003 to 12/31/2008.

Hydrographs from Ungaged Stream Areas After model calibration and validation at USGS Fish River and Magnolia River stations, calibrated parameters were extrapolated to ungauged areas in the Weeks Bay watershed.


24

Jairo Diaz-Ramirez

Y = 0.701 X + 11.427

SIMULATED FLOW (cfs)

Corr Coef= 0.841

OBSERVED FLOW (cfs)

Figure 12. Daily streamflow scatter plot, 01/01/2003 to 12/31/2008.

Figure 13. Streamflow simulations coming into the Bay.

Figure 13 depicts streamflow time series from Fish River, Turkey Branch and Magnolia River for the combined gauged and ungauged areas. Simulated annual fresh water coming into the Bay ranged from 81,000 cfs to 235,000 cfs for the 2003-2008 periods. The simulated median annual fresh water reaching the Weeks Bay was 190,000 cfs. From the total surface fresh water coming into the Bay, Fish River watershed accounts roughly 77%, the remaining water flow portion comes from the Magnolia River watershed.



25

Adding up all the fresh water coming into the Bay, simulated daily minimum, average, and maximum streamflows were: 118 cfs, 441 cfs, and 42,890 cfs, respectively. The minimum, average, and maximum flushing time in days between 2003 and 2008 was calculated as 0.1, 10.5, and 39.3, respectively.

CONCLUSION The research conducted in this study provides a stream flow estimate coming into the Weeks Bay during the period between January1, 2003 and December 31, 2008. This study used 2,192 continuous daily streamflow data from two USGS stations in order to evaluate hydrologic processes in a coastal sub-tropical watershed in Alabama, US. The Hydrological Simulation Program - FORTRAN (HSPF) in interface with Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources (BASINS) was used to study hydrologic processes in the drainage areas of the Weeks Bay. A parameter sensitive analysis was performed using the Model-Independent Parameter Estimation (PEST) program. In general, the most sensitive hydrologic parameters were those controling baseflow recession (AGWRC) and infiltration (INFILT). When flow duration curves were analyzed, it was found that baseflow was significant in the drainage areas evaluated because flow values much of the time (10% to 100% of the time) have a low slope. The calibrated Fish River and Magnolia River models explained more that 71% of the daily variability of streamflows. The models performed better during high flow seasons than dry seasons. Daily observed mean flows between 2002 and 2005 were 76% higher than dry season. In general, the model performance was good considering that the evaluation period covered flood and drought scenarios. These results demonstrate that HSPF is capable of simulating hydrology for flat sub-tropical coastal areas impacted by tropical storms and hurricanes. For the 2003-2008 periods, the simulated average daily freshwater inflow into the Weeks Bay was 441 cfs. The residence time for the Weeks Bay, using only fresh water from the watershed drainage areas could range from 0.1 days to 39 days for the 2003-2008 simulated periods. These results show that in freshwater flood conditions, the Weeks Bay residence time is in the order of hours. The majority of organic pollutants and sediments are transported by runoff events, and considering the short residence time in the study bay, it is expected that the pollutant removal was high during those events. In order to


26

Jairo Diaz-Ramirez

increase the understanding of the hydraulics in the bay (tidal influence from the Mobile Bay) a multidimensional numerical modeling should be coupled to the hydrology model used in this study.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was performed with funding from the Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) project NGI06-MSU-03, Watershed Modeling Improvements to Enhance Coastal Ecosystems. The support provided to the author by the USDA-NIFA Evans Allen project: “Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment” is recognized.

REFERENCES Bicknell, B. R., J. C. Imnoff, Jr., T. H. Jobes, and A. S. Donigian, 2001. Hydrological Simulation Program – Fortran (HSPF) version 12, User’s Manual. Prepared for AQUA TERRA Consultants Mountain View, California, in cooperation with Water Resources Discipline US Geological Survey Reston, Virginia, and US Environmental Protection Agency Athens, Georgia. Chin, D. A. 2006. Water Resources Engineering. Pearson Prentice Hall. Diaz-Ramirez, J. N., V. Alarcon, Z. Duan, M. L. Tagert, W. H. McAnally, J. L. Martin, and C. G. O’Hara. 2008. Impacts of Land Use Characterization in Modeling Hydrology and Sediments for the Luxapallila Creek Watershed, Alabama/Mississippi. Transactions of the ASABE 51(1): 139151. Diaz-Ramirez, J. N., L. R. Perez-Alegria and W. H. McAnally. 2008. Hydrology and Sediment Modeling Using HSPF/BASINS in a Tropical Island Watershed. Transactions of the ASABE 51(5):1555-1565. Donigian, A. S., B. R. Bicknell and J. C. Imhoff, 1995. Chapter 12: Hydrological Simulation Program – FORTRAN (HSPF). In: V. P. Sigh (Editor), Computer Models of Watershed Hydrology. Water Resources Publications, Littleton, CO, pp. 395-442. Donigian, A. S., Jr. 2002. Watershed model calibration and validation: the HSPF experience. In: Proc. WEF National TMDL Science and Policy.



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Water Environment Federation, Phoenix, AZ. Available at: http://hspf. com/publications.html. Accessed February 1, 2006. Dowling, C. B., R. J. Poreda, A. G. Hunt, and A. E. Carey. 2004. Ground Water Discharge and Nitrate Flux to the Gulf of Mexico. Ground Water 42(3):401-417. Duan Z., J. N. Diaz, J. L. Martin and W. H. McAnally. 2008. Effects of LandUse Changes on Saint Louis Bay Watershed Modeling. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 52: 117-124. Engelmann, C. J. K., A. D. Ward, A. D. Christy, and E. S. Bair. 2002. Application of the BASINS Database and NPSM Model on a Small Ohio Watershed. J. American Water Resources Assoc. 38(1): 289-300. Hamon, W. R. 1963. Computation of Direct Runoff Amounts from Storm Rainfall. Int. Assoc. Sci. Hydrol. Pub., 63:52-62. Haan, C. T., H. P. Johnson and D. L. Brakensiek. 1982. Hydrologic Modeling of Small Watersheds. ASAE. St. Joseph, Michigan. Kittle, J. L., R. Dusenbury, P. R. Hummel, P. B. Duda, and M. H. Gray. 2001. A Tool for the Generation and Analysis of Model Simulation Scenarios for Watersheds (GenScn): User's manual for release 2.0. Washington, D.C.: US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Science and Technology and Office of Water. Legates, D. R. and G. J. McCabe, Jr. 1999. Evaluating the Use of "Goodnessof-Fit" Measures in Hydrologic and Hydroclimatic Model Validation. Water Resources Res. 35(1): 233-241. Lehrter, J. C. 2006. Effects of Land Use and Land Cover, Stream Discharge, and interannual Climate on the Magnitude and Timing of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Organic Carbon Concentrations in Three Coastal Plain Watersheds. Water Environ. Res., 78(12): 2356-2368. Lu, J., G. Sun, S. G. McNulty, and D. M. Amatya. 2003. Modeling Actual Evapotranspiration from Forested Watershed Across the Southeastern United States. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 39 (40):887-896. Lu, J., G. Sun, S. G. McNulty, and D. M. Amatya. 2005. A Comparison of Six Potential Evapotranspiration Methods for Regional Use in the Southeastern United States. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 41(3):621-633. Martin, J. L., W. L. Kingery, V. J. Alarcon, and W. H. McAnally. 2003. Modeling the Big Sunflower River for TMDL Development. Phase I. Submitted to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality,


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Surface Water Division, TMDL Program. Mississippi State University, MS. Martin, J. L. and S. C. McCutcheon. 1999. Hydrodynamics and Transport for Water Quality Modeling. CRC Press. McAnally, W. H., J. L. Martin, J. N. Diaz-Ramirez, Z. Duan, C. A. Mancilla, M. L. Tagert, C. O’Hara, and J. A. Ballweber. 2006. Assimilating Remotely Sensed Data into Hydrologic Decision Support Systems: BASINS Evaluation. Department of Civil Engineering and GeoResources Institute, Mississippi State University, MS. Moriasi, D. N., J. G. Arnold, M. W. Van Liew, R. L. Bingner, R. D. Harmel, and T. L. Veith. 2007. Model Evaluation Guidelines for Systematic Quantification of Accuracy in Watershed Simulations. Transactions of the ASABE 50(3):885-900. Nash, J. E. and J. V. Sutcliffe. 1970. River Flow Forecasting through Conceptual Models: Part I. a Discussion of Principles. J. Hydrology 10(3): 282-290. National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). 2009. Weeks Bay Reserve, Alabama. Available: http://nerrs.noaa.gov/WeeksBay/welcome. html. Accessed November 11, 2009. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 2009. State of the Climate. Available: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/. Accessed November 11, 2009. Neitsch, S. L., J. G. Arnold, J. R. Kiniry, and J. R. Williams, 2005. Soil and Water Assessment Tool Theoretical Documentation Version 2005. GSWRL-Agricultural Research Service and BRC-Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Temple, TX. O’neil, P. E. and R. V. Chandler. 2003. Water Quality and Biological Monitoring in Weeks bay Watershed, Alabama 1994-1998. Geological Survey of Alabama Bulletin 173. Singh, V. P. and D. A. Woolhiser. 2002. Mathematical Modeling of Watershed Hydrology. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering 7(4): 270-292. Todini, E. 2007. Hydrological Catchment Modelling: Past, Present and Future. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 11(1): 468-482. US Department of Agricultural, Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS). 2009. General Soil Map (STATSGO2) for Alabama. Available: http://soils.usda.gov/survey/geography/statsgo/. Accessed June 1, 2009. US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 2000. BASINS Technical Note 6: Estimating Hydrology and Hydraulic Parameters for HSPF. EPA-



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823-R00-012. Available at: http://www.epa.gov/ waterscience/basins/ tecnote6.html. Accessed November 5, 2009. US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 2001. Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources, BASINS Version 3.0, User’s Manual. EPA-823-B-01-001. US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water, Washington, D.C. US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 2008. Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC): 2001 National Land Cover Data (NLCD 2001). Available: http://www.epa.gov/mrlc/nlcd-2001.html. Accessed September 16, 2008. US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 2009a. Guidance on the Development, Evaluation, and Application of Environmental Models. EPA/100/K-09/003. Available: http://www.epa.gov/crem/library/cred_ guidance_0309.pdf. Accessed November 11, 2009. US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 2009b. Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources. Available: http://www. epa.gov/waterscience/basins/. Accessed November 12, 2009. Wagener, T., H. S. Wheater and H. V. Gupta, 2004. Rainfall-Runoff Modelling in Gauged and Ungauged Catchments. Imperial College Press, London, UK. Watermark Numerical Computing (WNC). 2004. Model-Independent Parameter Estimation User Manual: 5th edition. Available: http://www. pesthomepage.org. Accessed September 21, 2009.





Chapter 2

COASTAL PROTECTION IN SARDINIA (ITALY): A TENTATIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE REGIONAL LANDSCAPE PLAN Corrado Zoppi* and Sabrina Lai Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale e Architettura, Università di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

ABSTRACT The planning activity of the regional administration of Sardinia (Italy) has undergone a deep change after the approval of the Regional Landscape Plan (RLP), which establishes the directions for nearly any future planning activity in Sardinia, and requires that actual sectoral and local plans, as well as plans for protected areas, be changed to comply with its directions. This mandatory adjustment process can be conflictual, if the administrations responsible for these plans disagree with the rules established by the RLP. On these bases, this essay develops a discussion around two issues concerning public participation in the Sardinian RLP. The first focuses on the extent to which integration of different stakeholders was looked for in the plan preparation and what the likely consequences of this degree of participation are. The second discusses how local communities may participate in the implementation process of the RLP. This assessment *

Corresponding author: Tel.: Italy–(0)70–6755216, telefax: Italy–(0)70–6755215, E-mail: [email protected].


32

Corrado Zoppi and Sabrina Lai builds on empirical studies on conflictual issues concerning the Sardinian RLP analyzed through Multicriteria Analysis (MCA) and Contingent Valuation (CV). The contribution of this essay to define an on-going strategic assessment of the RLP identifies two main normative points. First, the right concept of subsidiarity has to be restored in the RLP planning implementation code (PIC). Second, the regional planning activity has to be based on a true cooperative-planning approach so that the relations between the regional administration and the cities may lose their conflictderived inefficiency.

1. INTRODUCTION Early recognition and integration of the local communities’ expectations into regional planning policies are necessary conditions for the sustainability of strategic planning processes (see Directive 42/2001/EC of the European Union). They require connecting planning choices to preferences and needs of the members of local communities, comprised of strong stakeholders and of formal and informal organizations, through which citizens may express their aspirations, needs, and expectations concerning the organization of the urban space. Regional and local planning processes are, therefore, significant grounds to analyze public policies from a participatory point of view, in an SEA-based framework. The planning activity of the regional administration of Sardinia (Italy) has undergone a deep change after the approval of the RLP, which establishes the directions for nearly any future planning activity in Sardinia, and requires that actual sectoral and local plans, as well as plans for protected areas, be changed to comply with its directions. This mandatory adjustment process can be conflictual, if the administrations responsible for these plans disagree with the rules established by the RLP. On these bases, this paper develops a discussion about two issues concerning public participation in the Sardinian RLP. The second section focusses on the extent to which integration of different stakeholders was looked for in the plan preparation and what the likely consequences of this degree of participation are. By means of one-to-one semistructured interviews carried out in Italian, some professionals involved in the making of the plan were asked to provide an informed insight on how horizontal cooperation, vertical integration, and inclusiveness had been looked for, and whether the level of participation was satisfactory. As for the


Coastal Protection in Sardinia (Italy)

33

implementation, possible consequences of inconsistencies between the RLP and local master plans, as well as conflicts between the regional and the municipal administrations, were explored. The third section discusses how local communities may participate in the implementation process of the RLP. This assessment builds on an empirical study on conflictual issues concerning the Sardinian RLP analyzed through Multicriteria Analysis and Contingent Valuation (Zoppi, 2012). The disparities brought out by the application of these two methods clearly point to the selection of criteria, usually identified by experts on various fields. Since the inclusion/exclusion of a criterion can reverse the results of the classification procedures, the choice of the criteria is decisive for the ranking of the scenarios. If this choice were open to public participation, it would be possible to implement decision processes where experts and the local community would share and possibly build common expectations on the future of their city environment. Finally, the results arising from the views of privileged stakeholders and local communities are compared, and some lessons that can be learned from the intermix of the two approaches are identified.

2. PRIVILEGED STAKEHOLDERS AND THE REGIONAL LANDSCAPE PLAN The Sardinian RLP is the first statutory landscape plan with regional dimensions produced in Italy under the new legislation. Its statutory character stems from both a national law (National Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape), which required that each regional executive committee should approve a landscape plan, and from a regional law (no. 8 of November 25, 2004) which required that the Sardinian RLP for the coastal areas be approved within one year since the approval of the regional law. The Regional Administration of Sardinia initially focused on the coastal zone, because of the resources needed to prepare an RLP, the complexity of development conflicts arising from tourism and other development, and the fact that thirteen out of the fourteen previous landscape plans covering coastal areas, which contained some restrictions on coastal development, had been quashed in 2003 in a court decision. Following approval of the plan in 2006, restrictions and prohibitions (on development of land and on certain changes in land uses) stemming from the


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Corrado Zoppi and Sabrina Lai

plan are currently in force, in order to protect a part of the island considered economically strategic and environmentally sensitive. Restrictions and prohibitions are set out by the plan by means of a system of rules. Since the plan has now been in force for a few years, an evaluation of the outcomes of the RLP would require an examination of the consequences and changes produced by the plan; however, as some scholars (Albrechts, 2004; Tewdwr-Jones, 2004) have pointed out, planning has to do not only with implementation and performance, but also with processes (Faludi, 2000). It is therefore appropriate to evaluate the Sardinian RLP by making reference to its contents (albeit only partially put into practice) and to the making of the plan. In its premises, the Sardinian RLP declares that its principles “constitute a framework and a reference for the sustainable development of the regional territory, based upon a balance between social needs, economic activities and environment” (PIC, article 3). However, nowhere does the plan provide a definition of “sustainable development,” nor does it clearly relate its policies and actions with these three traditional components of sustainability. Furthermore, a reading of the documents contained in the plan suggests that sustainable development, as pursued in the plan, is imbalanced towards the environmental component, while economic and social aspects seem not to be given the same importance as the environmental ones. Therefore, in order to establish whether the RLP, formally a plan for the landscape, but in practice a normative framework for other types of plans, pursues this objective, the first part of this paper attempts to evaluate to what extent its contents, both rules and policies, are consistent with the declared aim of its principles, that of pursuing a sustainable, balanced development. This section is organized as follows. In the first paragraph, justification for a qualitative approach is provided, together with an account of the selection of the interviewees; in the second paragraph, the making of the interviews is described, while the third paragraph presents the content of the interviews. Finally, the fourth paragraph discusses the findings.

2.1. A Qualitative Approach Since personal values and beliefs, as well as professional expertise, affect the way sustainability is understood, the idea of a “logically ordered, objective reality that we can come to know” (Babbie, 1998, p. 50) does not hold, because many contrasting points of view exist. In other words, this research is socially and culturally grounded and relies on the collection of “data based on



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privileged information” (Denscombe, 1998, p. 111). This choice has been judged as the best possible one, since the process of the plan, the complexity of its language, and the relationship to the wider planning system can be understood only by informed testimonies with a “high degree of credibility” (Denscombe, cit., p. 133). By attempting to “see things from that person’s [an expert] point of view” (Bogdan and Taylor, as cited in Bryman, 2001, p. 14 and in Prior, 1997, p. 64) about the essence and possible consequences of the rules and measures of the Sardinian RLP, we focus on “how people interpret the world” (May, 2001, p. 14). The use of qualitative research has therefore been considered to be necessary to obtain information from privileged observers “in a special position ‘to know’” (Denscombe, 1998, p. 111), the sole possible source of additional information about the preparation of the plan, beyond that which can be understood from the documents. Moreover, only from these kinds of actors can “an in-depth insight to the topic” (Denscombe, cit., p. 111) be provided, because of the technical and complex language and structure of the plan, and especially because an evaluation of the likely effects of the Sardinian RLP on other plans requires a high level of either theoretical knowledge or professional expertise. Therefore, five privileged testimonies (next referred to as “Interviewee A,” “Interviewee B,” “Interviewee C,” “Interviewee D” and “Interviewee E”) were selected among academics and public officers who worked for the Regional Administration of Sardinia, and took part in the process. About one hundred public officers, academics and consultants, with different roles, competences and responsibilities, composed the technical team which prepared the plan. Among all those, five interviewees were chosen on the basis of three criteria:   

their specific area of competence, as far as the Sardinian RLP is concerned; their availability; their likely contribution to the interview.

Regarding the first point, the main concern was that of approaching the research with a global perspective, not restricted to landscape quality or environmental matters only. The RLP’s contents (both descriptive and prescriptive ones) have been divided into three categories (natural assets, cultural heritage, and built environment). During the plan preparation, the technical team was divided into four working groups, one for each of the three categories, plus one specifically dealing with landscape character areas. A


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coordination scheme was also set up to link contributions from the thematic groups. However, for this research it was considered that members of different working groups would have different insights and specific points of view about approaches to sustainability, so respondents were also selected from different working groups. As for the second point, it is worth pointing out that not all the professionals involved in the making of the Sardinian RLP live in Sardinia. This particularly applies to the members of the scientific committee, some of whom were distinguished academics from various universities all over Italy. However, their contribution to the RLP mainly focused on providing guidance about the form of the plan, and giving suggestions and opinions to ensure the compliance of the plan to both the European Landscape Convention and the National Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape (Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, 2006c, p. 1), which, although significant, is not among the topics of this study. Therefore, issues of availability, together with constraints on time and scope of the research suggested a course of action in which members of the scientific committee would not need to be interviewed. The third point, that of contribution of the interviewees to the research, was the greatest concern in selecting the interviewees. Different issues needed to be considered. First, they were all involved in the making of the plan, so there was a risk that their opinion could be somewhat sympathetic towards the plan, and that they would tend to justify its choices, rather than provide an objective insight. Second, and related to the previous point, some of the interviewees are senior officers and managers, so there could have been an issue of power relations (Valentine, 2005), which means that some informants could have tried to control access to information. Finally, there was a concern about the impact of the interviewer’s identity (Denscombe, cit.), caused by the fact that the interviewer worked for the Regional Administration shortly before the beginning of the preparation of the Sardinian RLP, therefore four out of five interviewees were previously known. However, rather than a threat, this similar professional expertise and educational qualification (Denscombe, cit.) and shared membership with their social group (Miller and Glassner, 1997) proved to be an opportunity for the research, since it made it easier to make arrangements for the interviews and to obtain the respondents’ availability; furthermore, this already established professional relationship, which could have biased the interviewees’ statements, was in fact discovered to affect positively the responses from the informants (Denscombe, cit.; Valentine, cit.), some of whom gave information they might not have revealed to somebody they did not know or trust.



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The five selected interviewees were architects, engineers and planners, involved in the plan preparation with different roles and responsibilities. Three of them were selected from the working groups dealing respectively with natural assets, cultural heritage and built environment, while the other two are an academic and a senior public officer of the regional administration.

2.2. Fieldwork: The Making of the Interviews The interviews were carried out in August, 2007. They were conducted in the interviewees’ workplaces, therefore neither issues of safety (Valentine, cit.) nor concerns of limited resources and travel cost (Denscombe, cit.) affected the research, since all the offices are based in the same city. The method chosen, as far as the interviews were concerned, was that of one-to-one semi-structured interviews, with “a general plan of enquiry but not a specific set of questions that must be asked in particular words and with a particular order” (Babbie, cit., p. 290). Not only does this type of interview allow to collect “an in-depth insight to the topic” (Denscombe, cit., p. 111), but it is also extremely flexible (Babbie, cit.), since it lets the interviewee free to explain “all the complexities and contradictions” (Valentine, cit., p. 110) of the phenomenon observed and to raise issues which were not thought of by the researchers. At the beginning of each interview, each participant was asked for freely given informed consent to take part in the research, in accordance with the statement of ethical practice of the British Sociological Association (BSA, 2002). All the respondents, prior to the interview, were read a form that included the following points:    



the interview was being done for research purposes only; for each specific question, the interviewees could choose whether to answer or not; their consensus could be withdrawn in any moment; anonymity would be guaranteed, not only with reference to their name, but also to their professional role, which could have given away their identity; the interview would be recorded for the sole reason of easing the analysis of the materials and no one, apart from the researchers, would have access to the recordings.


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The respondents were finally asked whether they objected to any of the statements contained in the form, and whether they agreed to be interviewed. No objections were raised, and all of the interviewees gave their consensus.

2.3. Design of the Interviews and Questions Asked As previously mentioned, semi-structured interviews are not carried out on the basis of a specific and rigid set of questions to be asked in a certain order and with particular words. On the contrary, they are conducted in a flexible way, and tailored to the interviewees and to their responses to previous questions, having always consideration to the aim of the research. For this reason, a general list of topics of interest and some questions were prepared prior to the interviews. A general framework for the topics covered and the questions raised is here presented. It should be noticed, though, that some areas investigated (in particular, the issue of public participation, as well as that of relation between different tiers of government) overlap in some respects. The first topic covered the treatment of sustainability in the plan, and was always preceded with a reading of article 3 of the PIC, which advocates “a balance between social needs, economic activities and environment.” The interviewees were then asked what kind of sustainability, in their opinion, the plan pursues, and whether the code only affirms a theoretical principle, or provides the means to put this statement into practice. On the basis of individual responses to the previous question, a series of detailed questions were then asked, to allow the respondents to expand upon the topic, to give reasons for their answers and, when possible, to make reference to specific examples. Among these questions: 

   

How did the plan address the issue of consumption of renewable/non renewable resources, protection of biodiversity and safeguard of the landscape? How were economic activities considered by the plan? How were participation and information sought? Why was a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) not performed? Does a plan for the landscape really need to tackle economic, social and environmental problems?



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The second general topic looked into the plan preparation process of the Sardinian RLP, especially the decision-making process, by examining to what extent participation and integration of different stakeholders in the making of the plan were sought. This topic was developed by means of a series of specific questions, depending on the responsibilities of each respondent in the preparation and implementation of the plan, and, when possible, it was broadened by making explicit reference to laws, literature or good practice. The relation, or conflict, between the so-called “technical knowledge” (scientific and technical expertise) and “common knowledge” (owned by common people who live in a particular place, and stemming from their experience and perception of issues and concerns related to that place) in deciding upon the meaning, quality, and future of places and spaces was also investigated. Among these questions: 



In what phases of the plan-preparation, and in what ways, were municipalities, provinces, private sector and other stakeholders involved? What level of participation has been achieved? Was it appropriate?

The third general topic examined the idea of governance (Vigar et al., 2000) reflected in the Sardinian RLP. The relationship between the RLP, the provincial plans and the local masterplans is here assumed to be a reflection of the relationship between different administrative tiers, that is region, provinces and municipalities. In particular, three of the interviewees, who are also working on the implementation of the plan, were asked to talk about the consequences of inconsistencies between the Sardinian RLP and the local masterplans, and to explain possible conflicts between the regional and the municipal administrations, where possible providing specific examples they had encountered. The other two interviewees, who took part in the preparation of the plan but not in its implementation, were given by the interviewer some of those examples as inputs, so as to stimulate a theoretical reflection on the relation between different tiers of government as implied by the RLP. With regard to critical aspects of the research strategy here used, it is worth pointing out that qualitative research methods are not concerned with issues of generalization, therefore the insights provided by the interviewees should not be considered as representatives of those either of the regional administration or of the academics. Moreover, different insights could have been provided if the research had included, for instance, representatives from city councils, environmental groups, economic sector (especially tourism and


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construction), not interviewed because of constraints on time and length of the study. Another factor which limits the breadth of this study is its focus on the contents and on the plan preparation, therefore on potential, rather than actual, effects. This is partly due to the fact that the implementation of the plan has started only in the last few months, and partly to the complexity of data which would have been required to perform such analysis. As for the interviewing process, each interview lasted from about 60 to about 80 minutes, including both formalities at the beginning of the interview and courtesies at the end. To control the progress of the interviews, and especially the transition from a topic to the following one, was not easy. Each of the interviewees felt quite passionate about the topic, and nearly all of them added extra information, sometimes beyond the scope of this research. Occasionally, it was also difficult for the interviewer to maintain a neutral position towards the answers, especially during the last interviews, when opposing points of view began to emerge. The discussion was often monitored by the interviewer, either echoing the answer, or paraphrasing it, sometimes also oversimplifying and taking answers to the extremes, to check whether the interviewee’s message had been correctly understood.

2.4. Findings As expected, different opinions and judgments about the contribution of the RLP to sustainable development emerged from the interviews, therefore similarities and dissimilarities were looked for (Babbie, cit.), in order to understand whether a shared perception of the issue exists and to find out why different respondents disagreed on the likely effects of the RLP.

2.4.1. The Sardinian RLP and sustainability Explicit reference to sustainable development, and to its three traditional components, is contained both in the regional law which preceded and required the preparation and approval of the Sardinian RLP, and in the plan itself. However, from a mere reading of the documents of the plan, it is not clear how this formal commitment relates to policies and rules contained in the plan, especially as far as economic and social sustainability are concerned, and whether a landscape plan is an appropriate means of delivering balanced, sustainable development. This ambiguity was reflected in the interviewees’



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answers, since the respondents provided different, and sometimes opposing, points of view, which can be grouped into two categories. The first group of interviewees believed that, in spite of the formal commitment contained in the plan and anticipated by the regional law, social and economic development lie beyond the scope of a landscape plan, which should be restricted to environmental objectives, aesthetic concerns, and landuse related issues. For this reason, they argued that a careful selection of principles deriving from the European Spatial Development Perspective and from the European Landscape Convention was necessary, and that this selection had to leave out other principles not directly related to the aim of a landscape plan - that of laying down “basic emphases, general principles and strategic choices by which decisions on landscape protection, management and planning are to be guided” (Council of Europe, 2000, article 38 of the Commentary Report). Among the principles set by the Sardinian RLP, and whose application was believed to contribute to sustainability, the interviewees made explicit reference to safeguarding of habitats (Interviewee A) and to prevention of consumption of non-renewable resources (Interviewees B and C), especially water and land. For example, it was emphasized that many of the rules contained in the Sardinian RLP prohibit new developments in greenfield sites, and demand that new housing supply, if needed, should be generated primarily by means of urban renewal (according to interviewee B, this also entails regeneration of abandoned areas and buildings, especially in town centers, thus indirectly contributing to economic development and social aims). Only when the regeneration of previously developed land is demonstrated, by means of demographic analysis, to be insufficient to meet the needs for new houses, can greenfield sites be developed under very restrictive conditions. These measures, which prevail over the zoning system of municipal masterplans, are meant as a tool to prevent urban sprawl and consumption of land which could be reserved for agriculture, amenities, or other activities, if judged to be ecofriendly. To sum up, according to this first group of interviewees, a plan for the landscape must not be considered a comprehensive planning tool, since its scope would be restricted to environmental and aesthetic matters. As a consequence, rules and policies contained in the plan were regarded as effective in promoting environmental sustainability. A completely different opinion emerged from the second group, which comprised two interviewees. Despite adopting two different approaches to the topic (one more theoretical and academic, the other more practical and grounded on planning practice in Italy), they both judged the plan to be


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inconsistent with its statement of intent. The various reasons they put forward to justify this opinion are next grouped according to the three traditional components of sustainability.

2.4.2. Environmental sustainability In the opinion of the second group of interviewees, the plan is somewhat ineffective if reference is made to sustainability in general, but it is stronger in terms of environmental sustainability. Some positive aspects of the plan were identified; however, each of them was somehow diminished by stressing its omissions and failures. The analysis of the elements which constitute Sardinian natural environment and landscape was regarded as “strong.” Commitment to protection of current levels of quality of places was considered to have been consistently put into practice by means of a series of rules aimed at preventing loss of natural assets and cultural heritage, and at preserving or recreating identity and vibrancy in town centers. It was noticed, though, that the plan pursues “landscape protection” (Council of Europe, cit., article 1.d) rather than “landscape management” (Council of Europe, cit., article 1.e), or, in other words, that the rules and policies of the Sardinian RLP “freeze” natural and built landscapes (Interviewee D) by “impeding that any transformation could take place” (Interviewee E). Such an approach, in the opinion of Interviewee E, can be tolerated only in a context, such as the Sardinian one, where environmental problems are not serious (with only few, circumscribed exceptions) and diffuse. On the contrary, in other regions of Italy, where widespread environmental risks exist (because of either natural phenomena or human activities), this commitment to protect the present situation of places rather than to manage their change can produce adverse effects and exacerbate the situation; to put it with Interviewee E, “the more environmentally sensitive and fragile a landscape is, the more you need to give directions and rules to guide processes of transformation.” Finally, as for the absence of an SEA of the plan, some interviewees appeared reluctant to go into details. An appraisal procedure was said to have been studied (Interviewees A and E), but the study was not completed. Lack of time (Interviewee B) and absence of legal requirement (Interviewee A) were put forward as an explanation. This latter justification stems from the absence, at the time the Sardinian RLP was approved, of a national law requiring a formal assessment of the effects of spatial and sectoral plans on the environment; however, it was also admitted that there was a statutory



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requirement, deriving from the Directive no. 42/2001/EC of the European Union, even in the absence of a national law (Interviewee A).

2.4.3. Economic sustainability As for economic sustainability, two main deficiencies of the plan were identified. The first one concerns the absence of any reference to economic issues (Interviewee D), the only exception being some economic data contained in the reports concerning the economic structure of the landscape units. These data, however, have been judged as “a mere repetition of data already available in any report published by the National Census” (Interviewee D). It was suggested that a certain neglect of economic concerns was embedded in the very early stages of the planning process, that of the selection of the more appropriate type of plan. Regional governments are required by the National Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape to approve either a “Regional Spatial Plan for Land Management with Specific Consideration of Landscape Values,” or a “Landscape Plan,” but the choice of which one is left to the discretion of the regions. In the opinion of Interviewee E, the former is more capable of envisioning and guiding transformation and development, while the latter is more focused on protecting and enhancing landscape. As a consequence, it would be the choice of the type of plan itself that leads towards a limited consideration of economic issues. The second weakness was identified in the fact that the plan failed to keep its promise of bringing economic development because of the lack of coordination between the Sardinian RLP and the “Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development” (PSTD, Interviewee D). Tourism is regarded as a strategic and at the same time as a risky sector for the economic growth of the island. On the one hand, tourists are attracted by distinguishing nature, environment, and cultural identity of Sardinia (Hospers, 2003); on the other hand, tourism activities are mainly concentrated in coastal areas and in summer, a relatively short period of the year. Furthermore, along the coastline, private houses for rent can accommodate (legally or illegally) four times as many tourists as hotels and resorts (Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, 2006b), contributing significantly to a particular kind of informal economy of the island which, in the absence of proper plans or of their enforcement, has resulted in consumption of land and “strip development” (Kay and Alder, 1999, p. 22) in many parts of the region close to the coastline. Because of this relationship between one of the key sectors of Sardinian economy and the need to safeguard coastal areas, it was decided by the regional executive committee that the Sardinian RLP had to be prepared together with a plan, the already


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mentioned PSTD, aimed at controlling tourism activities and impacts (Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, 2004). Contrary to this decision, the two plans eventually followed two different paths, and the PSTD was presented for its approval several months after the approval of the RLP (Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, 2007). Therefore, in the opinion of Interviewee D, the Sardinian RLP lacks one ingredient which would have been necessary, that is an appraisal of the impacts of economic and social activities in general, and of tourism in particular, on landscape and environment. Consequently, the making of the plan itself would be undermined by this deficiency, since rules and policies would have stemmed directly from a scientific analysis of the present situation without any prior evaluation of the factors which impact on the territory, and of the magnitude of this impact.

2.4.4. Social sustainability As for social sustainability, understood as a complex subject made up of cooperation of different tiers of government, integration of public and private sector, inclusion of stakeholders in the decision-making process, transparency and information about decisions made on scientific and technical grounds, this topic proved to be the most challenging one. Aims and objectives of the plan were defined in a political and technical process which involved the Regional Administration only (interviewees A and C). Only after the adoption of the plan (however, before its approval) were lower tiers of government and other stakeholders involved in public meetings (the so-called “conferenze di co-pianificazione,” “cooperative-planning conferences”) on a territorial, rather than thematic, basis. A single meeting concerned one or two landscape units, so a total of twenty-three meetings were held. As for their role, it was admitted (Interviewee C) that the aim of the meetings was more informative than participative, so the consultation phase consisted of explaining principles, aims and contents of the Sardinian RLP to those key actors whose cooperation was needed for the implementation of the plan, that is, municipalities. Different reasons were put forward as a justification for such a restricted interpretation of participation. First, one leitmotiv was that of lack of time (Interviewees B, C and E), since the plan had to be approved within the space of a year. Second, the absence of participation during the making of the plan was justified in terms of institutional competences (Interviewee E), which means that only the regional government would be responsible for the definition of regional policies and rules. Third, it was also suggested (Interviewee B) that the absence of a proper consultation



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phase was legitimized by the character of the RLP itself. According to this interpretation, participation was not required because the RLP would simply set rules for other plans, and in particular for municipal masterplans; as a result, wider participation would be required only when it comes to adjusting masterplans, and especially their zoning schemes, to the RLP, because only in this phase would interests and expectations be affected in concrete terms. It was somewhat agreed that the process of adjustment of the municipal masterplans to the rules of the Sardinian RLP, through which policies and rules contained in the regional plan are to be implemented, would compensate for the lack of consultation during the making of the regional plan (Interviewees B, C, and E). Article 11 of the PIC clearly states that the Sardinian RLP is to be implemented by means of other plans (such as municipal and provincial plans) and by means of individual agreements (the so-called “intese”) between regional, provincial and local governments. Therefore, the plan relies on other planning tools to implement its policies. Technical support and financial resources are available to allow every municipality to prepare a new masterplan (Interviewees B and C). All the municipalities whose territory overlaps the coastal areas, that is around 100, are entitled to such funds, which were made available in December 2006. However, as of August 2007, only five municipalities had actually made request for those resources (Interviewee B). The reason for such an “omission” seems to be that a municipal government is obliged to approve its masterplan in compliance with the Sardinian RLP within one year of the funds being granted. This does not mean that municipalities can apply the rules of the RLP only if they wish, because, if they do not modify their plans, almost any development of land is forbidden by the regional plan, whose rules become immediately effective in the absence of a compliant land use plan (Interviewee B). This shows that, rather than drawing on consensus and wide participation, which are considered as ordinary tools to facilitate the implementation of a spatial plan (Zonneveld, 2005), the delivery of the Sardinian RLP relies on a normative approach. The effectiveness of this kind of approach as a tool to implement a regional strategy has been questioned (Interviewee E) on the basis of an historical precedent, that of the small number of municipal masterplans approved in compliance with the former landscape plans in force in Sardinia. Within this context, participation would take two different forms. The first one concerns involvement of the general public in the making, or in the adjustment, of local masterplans; the second one concerns cooperation and


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integration between different administrative tiers and stakeholders in the mechanism of the intese. Some interviewees’ insights about meanings and limitations of these two ways of pursuing both public participation and vertical integration are next provided. The Sardinian RLP is not a plan aimed to simply control land uses. It was argued by Interviewee A that the Sardinian RLP does not spatially allocate land uses, thus it should not be qualified as a plan. However, to put it with Interviewee E, The fact that somebody says that the [Sardinian] RLP is not a ‘plan’ does not surprise me, because it is, in fact, a ‘meta-plan’ [that is, a plan which controls other plans], although it is a rather weak meta-plan… When it affirms its principles, it mentions sectoral policies and plans, local masterplans and provincial plans. But, when it comes to practice, it is only concerned about municipal masterplans, land-use plans.

This statement was indirectly supported by the fact that, when asked about the impact of the RLP on other policies or plan, all the interviewees automatically referred to urban masterplans, as if the RLP were a framework for land-use plans only. Public participation during the making of city masterplans in Italy is, by law, carried out in the form of written comments on an adopted draft of the plan, so there appears to be the risk of a limited involvement of stakeholders and general public in the implementation of the Sardinian RLP, which would parallel that occurred in the preparation. However, since an SEA has to be carried out when preparing a new masterplan or making an existent one compliant with the Sardinian RLP (Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, 2010), it has been argued that wide public participation will be sought in accordance to good practice already established for the SEA process (Interviewee B). This would mean that municipalities should organize public meetings, taking, for instance, the form of fora and workshops; allegedly, though, the same municipal governments who complained about not being involved in the making of the Sardinian RLP seem not to be willing to allow their citizens to take part in the making of their masterplans (Interviewee C). As for vertical integration, both positive and negative sides of the intese, and of their consequences on relations between regional, provincial and municipal governments, have been pointed out by the interviewees. On the negative side, it has been maintained that the Sardinian RLP provides only a few rules concerning landscape protection and prohibition of



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activities, and omits to give rules concerning transformation of land (Interviewees D and E). This absence of a formal, standard, and complete set of rules to guide transformation, management, and development of land in compliance with the principles and aims set by the Sardinian RLP would force municipal administrations to make compromises about the contents of their masterplans. In other words, the intese risk allowing the regional administration to interfere with the making of municipal masterplans, while this is actually an exclusive responsibility and power of municipal administrations (Interviewee D), since it is only they who can define programs and plans for development and transformation of land (CEC, 2000, p. 24). As a consequence, there might be a risk that the regional administration, with the RLP, exerts absolute power on spatial planning, retaining its own power on spatial strategies (moreover, limiting participation, vertical integration and avoiding independent appraisal of the strategy) and compelling both municipalities and provinces to negotiate their plans with the regional administration. This also entails a risk of social inequality, because results of such compromises could be different for each municipality or province (Interviewee D), if affected by their bargaining powers and political or economic strength. Advocates of the intese contend that this mechanism allows for an effective integration between regional and municipal governments. It is during the intese, in fact, that inconsistencies between masterplans and the Sardinian RLP can be justified on both technical and political grounds (Interviewee B) and development plans not allowed by the regional plan can justify their assumptions, methodologies, choices on the basis of their analyses. In this respect, the intese would address an issue of scale, since the Sardinian RLP based its policies and rules on analyses at the regional scale, while local masterplans and development plans carry out their analyses at a much more detailed scale. Therefore, the intese would be a tool which, rather constraining municipal powers, would help to preserve them. An example raised by two interviewees when stimulated on public participation was that of the definition of landscape character areas. Both the spatial distribution of coastal landscape areas and the landscape units have been defined in scientific terms, by means of GIS-based analysis and interpretation of aerial photographs. It was suggested that this process of definition and identification of landscapes leads to a “romantic” and “old-fashioned” interpretation, “à la Humboldt,” according to Interviewee D, and interprets in a very narrow way the definition of landscape provided by the Council of Europe. As both


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Interviewee D and E remarked, the European Landscape Convention clearly implies that landscape does not even exist without the mediation of people’s perception (Selman, 2006). Landscape, according to the Convention, far from being defined by aesthetic qualities and scenic views, is shaped by people’s experience and interpretation. However, landscape and landscape character areas were defined by experts and not by people (or municipal administrations, who ought to represent their citizens) on scientific grounds.

3. LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND THE REGIONAL LANDSCAPE PLAN The process of adjustment of the masterplan of the city of Sinnai (MPS) to the RLP is quite complicated. The MPS has to conform itself to the descriptive, prescriptive and propositive contents of the RLP, to the general planning rules and directives established by the RLP for the coastal zones, and to the strategic policies for “conservation and protection, maintenance, improvement or restoration of the landscape values identified in the landscape units” (PIC, article 7, paragraph 1). The relationships between landscape values, characteristics of the zones and categories of strategic actions are described in the Annex 1 of the PIC. In this section, a significant and problematic issue concerning the change of the MPS in order to follow the RLP is put in evidence and discussed. This aspect is referred: i) to the areas which belong to the “Coastal zone” according to the PIC; these zones roughly correspond to the “Coastal tourist zones” (labeled as “F” zones) of the MPS; ii) to the residential areas, identified as “C” zones in the actual MPS immediately adjacent to the consolidated urban fabric of the city; these zones may or may not correspond to the “Programmed expansions” of the PIC. This question is extremely important, in the context of the adaptation process of the urban planning rules of cities and provinces to the RLP, for the city of Sinnai, whose territory is partly inside and partly outside the boundary of the coastal zone defined by the PIC. Outside the boundary is the consolidated urban fabric which roughly corresponds to the historic center, the most recent developments and the expansion zones (the “C” zones), where the city development is planned by the MPS but has not taken place yet. The coastal zone, which is an administrative island of the city (that is, a territory belonging to the municipality but non contiguous with the main part, the one



49

where the urban area is located), has a consolidated small residential nucleus, and some areas where houses should be built in the near future, according to the masterplan, which defines these zones as “F” (tourist) zones. The question of the adaptation process of the actual plans to the RLP is of paramount importance for the effectiveness of the new planning policies of the Sardinian regional administration, and for the definition of a general model for the strategic assessment of city planning based on the analysis of perceived needs and expectations of the local communities, through sustainabledevelopment-oriented governance processes (Cau and Zoppi, 2008). Sinnai is an important urban center of the metropolitan area of Cagliari, the regional capital city of Sardinia; it shows a constant demographic increase in the period 1951-2001, with a resident population of around 16,000 in 2004. The city jurisdiction covers an area of about 220 km2. Land uses are highly diversified, both in the urbanized and in the rural areas. An important coastal administrative area is almost entirely coincident with the village of Solanas, characterized by settlements for coastal and marine tourism. A diversified and complex structure characterizes the local community, its economic and social activities, and its relationships with its landscape and environment. The city of Sinnai shows a significant local dynamics, as the Province of Cagliari Area Report (PRA) of the Regional Programming Center puts in evidence (Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, 2006a) which grounds the choice of this context for the case study of this section. Another interesting feature of this context is that it is circumscribed enough; as such, it is easy to be analyzed and understood, with reference to the economic and social processes which develop within it. The PRA indicates that Sinnai has a demographic weight greater than the average amidst the cities of Southern Sardinia, with a comparatively high annual growth rate in the period 1991-2001, and a low old-age index. The percentage of cultivated land in the city jurisdiction is comparatively high, and construction industry is the most developed and attractive for the local labor force. There is a significant supply of rooms and beds in hotels, residences and camping sites. The level of education of the residents of Sinnai is above the average of Southern Sardinia, while youth unemployment rate is very high (above 20%). Sinnai is a young, demographically expanding city. It is an urban context with a lot of unemployed people and people looking for a job for the first time. Many of the young unemployed are investing in their professional education. The productive system of Sinnai is strongly dependent on agriculture and construction. Services and hi-tech are weakly developed. Marine and coastal


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tourism in the administrative island of Solanas is important and could be increasingly important in the future for local economic development. All these remarks are discussed in the PRA, which states the foundations of the economic and social programs of the Sardinian regional administration. These programs are based mainly on the availability of the Structural Funds of the European Union. Sinnai has identified its economic and social development perspective with important residential developments, for tourism, in the coastal zone (an important share of the Eastern part of the Gulf of Cagliari), and for new residents, in some areas adjacent to the consolidated urban fabric of the city. Construction and tourism would fuel the local depressed economy, and in the long run a balanced and stable economic development would take place, based on the short- and medium-run impacts of the increase in income and employment. This development perspective, which the city has expressed in its MPS and in its planning code, must be reconsidered with respect to the RLP, because the PIC is in contrast to the MPS. Since it is mandatory for the cities to redesign their masterplans to fulfil the PIC, it is evident that a harsh dialectics may arise in the adaptation process. From this point view, the Sinnai case is certainly paradigmatic. Moreover, it must be noticed that the city of Sinnai had recently (2002) adapted its MPS to the previous RLP. Thus, the MPS is consistent with the PIC which was in force before the new RLP. By doing so, Sinnai would deserve a mention, since very few coastal cities adapted their masterplans.1 The MPS was established by three Deliberations of the City Council (no. 87/October 30, 2000, 41/July 17, 2001 and no. 63/October 30, 2002), and published on the Bulletin of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia no. 40/November 26, 2002. The MPS has a simple and linear structure, which favors a concentric development of the city residential areas. This concentric development allows future residential developments to take the same characteristics of the historic and recent developments of the urban fabric. The inner part of the fabric is the historic center of Sinnai. Residential completion and expansion zones are concentric and adjacent to the historic center. The planning rules of the MPS for the expansion zones have to be implemented 1

The previous RLP referred to the city of Sinnai was the RLP no. 13 (South-Eastern Sardinia), established by Law enacted by decree of the President of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia no. 278/August 6, 1993, published on the Ordinary Supplement of the Official Journal of the Italian Republic no. 285/December 4, 1993. This Law was cancelled by the Regional Administrative Court of Sardinia with Sentence no. 1207/2003.



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through detailed plans. A few of these plans have already been designed and approved by the city, and are actually being implemented by groups of landlords. However, in most cases these plans have not been designed and approved yet, due to the relatively recent approval of the MPS (end of 2002), and to the safeguard rules established in September 2004 by the Regional Law no. 8, which stated that in coastal areas the implementation of the masterplans had to stop until the approval of the RLP.2 Thus, only one year and a half had passed from the MPS establishment when Law no. 8/2004 was approved. The process of adjustment of the MPS of 2002 to the RLP is extremely problematic and conflictual. One important reason of the conflict is that the planning process concerning the expansion zones adjacent to the consolidated urban fabric of Sinnai and the coastal tourist zones of the administrative island of Solanas cannot be implemented as planned by the MPS. This section analyzes this conflictual issue. The analysis starts from the results of two preceding essays (Zoppi, 2007; 2012). Planning proposals consistent with the RLP (open space for recreational uses) for not-yet-planned residential expansion and coastal tourist zones of the MPS were defined and proposed to the local community. The assessments were based on CV and MCA. Questionnaires were delivered to random samples of the residents. Through the responses to these questionnaires it was possible to evaluate the desirability of the future scenarios which would be generated in the former residential expansion and tourist coastal residential and hotel zones by the implementation of the PIC. The CV method is a favorite tool of regional and urban economists. CV case studies, which are based on people’s expressed thoughts and convictions, quantitatively assess the degree of consensus in terms of people’s willingness to pay (perceived opportunity cost) for some public good. It is commonly used in the context of environmental goods.3 The responses to the questionnaires were used to weight and rank a set of decision criteria which can be used to compare four future scenarios by means of MCA; two of them are consistent with the RLP (one concerns an area classified as a C zone and one an area classified as an F zone) the remaining two, consistent with the MPS, are referred to the same areas.

2

3

This law (named “The saving-coast law”) identifies the coastal areas as those included in a 2km belt from the coastline. The safeguard rules expired in September 2006, after the RLP approval. Braden and Kolstad (1991) present an excellent review of CV methodologies in the context of evaluating environmental goods.


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This section is organized as follows. In the first paragraph, the potential conflict between the city of Sinnai and the Sardinian regional administration is discussed. The second paragraph summarizes the findings of the CV and MCA case studies, and discusses the implications of integrating the CV and MCA methodologies as a way of dealing with the diverse local community views on complex spatial planning issues. In the third paragraph, findings and implications are analyzed in the light of a few conversations between members of the regional government of Sardinia and representatives of coastal towns and villages. These conversations took place before the RLP was adopted, during the so-called cooperative-planning conferences promoted by the Sardinian regional administration between January and February 2006.4 The analysis of these dialogues makes it possible to define some interesting narratives concerning the apparent inconsistency between the CV and MCA results.

3.1. The Conflict The conflict concerning the residential expansion zones and the costal tourist zones depends on the new rules that the adjusted MPS will establish for these areas in case no detailed plans had been implemented by the time Law no. 8/2004 was approved. The PIC states that, before the approval of the new MPS, new developments can take place if they are allowed in the actual masterplans and detailed plans for the areas of these developments are in force (PIC, article 15, paragraphs 2 and 3). The areas defined by the actual masterplans as residential expansion zones can maintain their actual status in the future adjusted masterplans if it can be demonstrated that new (not-yet-urbanized) areas are needed to accommodate future demographic expansions, beyond the increase in housing supply which may be generated through the implementation of reasonable policies of urban renewal. These policies have priority with respect to residential developments in areas which are not-yet urbanized (PIC, article 74, paragraph 1).

4

The complete accounts of the conversations of the twenty-three cooperative-planning conferences are available online in the Regional Administration of Sardinia’s website [http://www.regione.sardegna.it/ accessed: October 3, 2013].



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It is easy to show that, using the data published in the actual MPS, no areas defined as residential expansion zones which are not-yet urbanized can maintain their status in the future adjusted MPS.5 In other words, Sinnai should lose about 66 hectares of residential areas and about 500,000 m3 of housing units. The PIC also states the planning rules for the tourist coastal zones without detailed plans in force. These are the following: i.

ii.

iii.

iv.

v.

5

the quality of the existing tourist supply (houses, hotels, camping sites) of urban centers, villages, rural and scattered settlements, and old mining villages, must be fostered (PIC, article 90, paragraph 1, letter a); tourist projects for the existing settlements and their public areas must be defined and implemented, eventually through a step-by-step approach, in order to promote the improvement of the quality of the tourist supply and to favor a longer tourist season (article 90, paragraph 1, letter b, §1); tourist projects must aim to increase the supply of rooms in hotels rather than build vacation houses (article 89, paragraph 1, letters a and b); new projects should increase the tourist supply through the restoration of existing residential buildings and the realization of rooms and suites available for tourists, rather than through construction of new buildings; transformation of houses into hotels can be stimulated by giving extra building permits in areas located outside the coastal zone (article 90, paragraph 1, letter b, §2); settlements in the coastal zone should be relocated outside it; this should take place possibly in sites adjacent to existing residential settlements in order to minimize the impacts on the landscape; relocation of residential settlements can be stimulated by giving extra building permits in areas located outside the coastal zone, allowing for up to 100 percent residential volume increment (article 90, paragraph 1, letter b, §3).

The detail of the calculations is omitted here (see Cau and Zoppi, cit., pp. 308-312). The housing demand in the year 2014 should be referred to 18,415 residents instead of 20,778 as indicated in the MPS. The MPS uses the demographic data available in 1997 to forecast the number of residents in 2014, and, by doing so, it overestimates the average growth rate of the resident population. Most recent data indicate that the average annual growth rate in period 1992-2001, 1.48 percent, which is fairly lower than the 2.1 percent used by the MPS, still leads to an overestimation of the number of residents.


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It is evident that the adjustment of the MPS to the RLP implies significant losses of residential volume and tourist houses in the coastal zone. These losses can be detected and quantified on a per-coastal-section basis.6 Let us consider, for example, two sections of the tourist coastal zone adjacent to each other, identified as F2- and F4-type areas by the MPS, both in the territory of the administrative area of Solanas. The MPS allows to build houses up to 3,000 m3 on a 29,000-m2 area (F2) for a nominal population of 50 residents, and hotels, residences, bungalows and camping sites, up to 16,000 m3 on a 125,000-m2 area (F4) for a nominal population of 270 residents. With the exception of a 3 percent of the F4-type area, where, optimistically, a 485m3 very small new hotel could be built – which, incidentally, could be allowed only if it were demonstrated that it is a functional improvement of an existing building – all the whole building capacity of the MPS would be lost, were it adjusted to the RLP. This loss amounts to about 20,000 m3.7 As a consequence of the adjustment process, the most part of the building capacity of the coastal tourist zones of Sinnai, and of the other Sardinian coastal cities, would be lost in the same way, which may possibly hinder the development of coastal tourism, and generate a stark institutional conflict between the cities and the regional administration. It is evident that the city of Sinnai would be in big troubles, if it had to set up a new MPS which states that no new houses and hotels would be allowed either in tourist areas or in residential expansion areas where new developments could have taken place before the RLP. The conflict comes from different reasons. First, landowners of the areas located in the actual residential expansion or tourist coastal zones would experience an overnight dramatic decrease in the values of their properties, since they would lose their building rights. Second, the city would suffer from the decline in building expansion rights since it could not rely on the financial resources for public services and infrastructure that would come from the impact fees paid by the developers anymore. Another problem for the budget of the city would come from the decrease in payments of the communal tax for real estate which includes land property, since the value of land would dramatically drop without development rights. Since in many of the actual residential expansion or tourist coastal zones it would not be possible to build anymore, a crisis of the local construction industry would probably occur. This industry is the most important in terms of income and employment for the local economy, which is characterized by a 6

7

The MPS divides the tourist coastal zone of the administrative island of Solanas into several zoning sections. The detail of the calculations is omitted here. It is based on the information provided in the Main Report of the MPS.



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high unemployment rate. Its crisis would worsen an already difficult economic and social situation (Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, 2006a). Moreover, in the short run most of the local firms of the construction industry would not be able to convert their expertise from construction of new buildings to renewal of existing houses and hotels. A lot of them would be displaced and may possibly be pushed out of the market by competitors from outside Sinnai. Lack of competition between supply of newly-built houses and hotels in the residential expansion or tourist coastal zones and supply of houses and hotels elsewhere – since almost the entire supply of houses and hotels would be the latter, in the medium and long run – would possibly impoverish the overall quality of the housing stock. A progressive decline of the quality of the housing stock would weaken the competitive position of Sinnai as an attractive city to spend a vacation, which would in turn boost its economic and social problems. Public subsidies for the infant construction industry of Sinnai would be necessary to support it during the adjustment period, in order to prevent a significant share of the firms of Sinnai from running out of business. These subsidies could hardly be available, since a lot of the coastal cities of Sardinia would need them at the same time, which may cause important financial problems to the regional administration. For these reasons, it is likely that a big resent could develop against the RLP, and, as a consequence, against the city and regional administration during the process of adjustment of the MPS to the RLP.

3.2. Findings from Two CV-MCA Case Studies The CV results show that the residents of Sinnai would disagree with the classification changes which the adjustment of the MPS to the RLP would imply. Definitely, the residents seem to prefer the MPS rules over the PIC, that is: (i) a new residential settlement (Plan A1) over a new city park (Plan B1) in an area adjacent to the existing consolidated urban fabric, classified as a residential expansion zone by the MPS; (ii) a new tourist settlement (Plan A2) over a new recreation (aquatic) park (Plan B2) in an area classified as a coastal tourist zone. However, the same respondents revealed a very different attitude toward new residential settlements and new city parks when asked to classify eight criteria to assess future city planning scenarios. Criteria and their ranking are reported in Table 1.


Table 1. Definition and ranking of the criteria Criterion CRI1

CRI2

CRI3 CRI4

CRI5

CRI6

Definition Availability of public open spaces for recreational uses Accessibility of public open spaces for recreational uses

Increase in supply of houses Availability of restaurant-court space Availability of hotels, residences and camping sites Increase in urbanized zones for private uses

Measure m2, area of the open spaces net of streets suitable for vehicles and public parking lots

m, distance of the entrance of the closest planned parking lot which serves a planned open space plot from the section of the closest external street suitable for vehicles; in case of multiple open spaces or parking lots, this measure is identified by the weighted average of the distances; the weight is the area of the open space net of streets suitable for vehicles m3, total volume of the new houses m2, total area devoted to restaurant courts, including parking lots and green areas m2, total area devoted to hotels, residences and camping sites, including parking lots and green areas m2, total area for private uses (services and residences), including parking lots and green areas

A1 43,119

B1 107,980

A2 75,712

B2 139,980

120

60

194

0

99,966

0

1,836

0

993

1,635

1,635

6,289

0

0

27,928

0

53,337

0

44,204

0


Criterion CRI7

CRI8

Definition Consistency with the environmental, culturalhistorical and settlement context Accessibility of residential areas

Measure Qualitative assessment expressed through the Saaty Semantic Scale (Saaty, 1998). 1 = The planning proposals contribute equally to the property; 9 = The evidence favoring one planning proposal over another is one of the highest possible order of affirmation m, distance of the entrance of the planned residential plot from the section of the closest external street suitable for vehicles; in case of multiple residential plots, this measure is identified by the weighted average of the distances; the weight is the volume of the building planned in the residential plot Criterion CRI1 CRI2 CRI3 CRI4 CRI5 CRI6 CRI7 CRI8

Score 1,839 1,806 1,718 1,503 1,095 1,270 1,419 1,159

Normalized value 6.69 6.57 6.25 5.47 3.98 4.62 5.31 4.21


A1

B1

A2

B2

Qualitative assessment 298

60

221

0

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Corrado Zoppi and Sabrina Lai Table 2. Rankings of the plans Plan Plan A1 Plan B1 Plan A2 Plan B2

Weight 36% 64% 31% 69%

If applied to rank the plans through MCA,8 the criteria weights based on respondents’ classifications would reveal a large preference of the B plans, based on the classification changes which the adjustment of the MPS to the RLP would imply. The rankings of the planning proposals concerning both expansion and coastal tourist zones are shown in Table 2. From this point of view, these findings demonstrate how the results from the CV method can be used to improve upon the objectivity and accuracy of MCA. Moreover, the application of this method allows for a comparison of the results between the CV method and the MCA, which can be used by economists or planners to determine if the criteria were appropriately defined. In this respect, these findings make an important methodological contribution, since economists and planners can better ensure that the policies they advocate are the ones actually desired by local communities. In the context of this case study, the CV and MCA results are not consistent with each other, since, on the one hand, willingness to pay estimates from CV are negative (Zoppi, 2007; 2012),9 on the other hand, the global weights of the B plans are quite higher than the global weights of the A plans. The AHP results depend on the fact that the B plans prevail over the A plans for Criteria 1, 2, 4, 7 and 8 (see Table 1), which are considered – especially CRI1, CRI2 and CRI4 – the most important by the vast majority of the respondents. The deep differences between the MCA and CV results indicate that the MCA evaluation problem is not well-defined. The chosen criteria (see Table 1) should be integrated within a larger set which should take into account the negative short- and medium-run social and economic impacts which may come from the adjustment process of the MPS to the RLP, that is dramatic decrease in land value, decline in financial resources for public services and 8

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied in the cited case studies. See Scarelli (1997, pp. 91-100) for a detailed discussion on this MCA method. 9 A negative estimate of the willingness to pay indicates that the local community does not see, on average, any increase in its welfare coming from the implementation of a plan.



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infrastructure that would come from the impact fees paid by the developers, decrease in payments of the communal tax for real estate which includes land property, crisis of the local construction industry, and lack of competition between supply of newly-built houses in the residential expansion zones and supply of restored houses in the consolidated urban fabric of the city. Dissemination of information and fairness of the decision processes, which are most likely to be ensured by awareness and participation of the local community in defining and implementing public policies, are certainly important in generating the most socially desirable outcome. The role of the city administration of Sinnai and of the regional administration of Sardinia would be instrumental in developing a process of this kind for the future of the residential expansion and coastal tourist zones of Sinnai. Moreover, the ranking of the scenarios cannot be the end of the story. The ranking must be presented back to the local community and a public discussion on the outcomes and implications must be held. This is necessary as the rankings are merely a representation of average preferences. What criterion has proven decisive in determining the ranking has to be made as clear as possible, and further consideration and discussion on the main issues must be encouraged, even though they may possibly delay the implementation of the final plan. Thus, the findings should be viewed not only as a decision support tool, but as a procedure to favor and improve information, awareness and participation. Goals, criteria and scenarios are sure to be defined first by the public administration. The integrated CV and MCA methods can then be used to start the decision process where participants (public officials and executives, politicians, practitioners, scientists, citizens, entrepreneurs and so on) cooperate and build the future of their city recursively and incrementally. In the next paragraph we try to identify the reasons of the conflict between the regional administration and local communities concerning the implementation of the RLP by analyzing parts of the conversations between members of the regional government of Sardinia and representatives of coastal towns and villages, which took place during the cooperative-planning conferences promoted by the regional administration in 2006, before the RLP was adopted and approved. This assessment puts in evidence that the roots of the conflict should be identified by means of narratives different from the criteria used in the CVMCA case studies, which are very much related to the roles the regional administration and the cities believe they should play in the RLP story, and the roles they believe their antagonists should play.


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3.3. The Conflict Revisited The analysis is developed in the light of the lesson learned from Forester’s (1999) The Deliberative Practitioner. One of the main points of Forester’s approach is that the practitioner should try to understand and solve conflicts concerning decision-making in the public domain by favoring empathetic dialogue between the fighting parties. Forester’s narrative is that conflictual processes can succeed (that is, can be deliberative) if the parties start esteeming each other, and, by doing so, try to understand and possibly appreciate the other’s point of view. A Foresterian analysis of a few dialogues which took place between the regional government and the representatives of the coastal cities during the cooperative-planning conferences puts in evidence that an endless conflict may easily arise since the regional administration and the cities not only are uninterested in understanding the other’s point of view, but also believe they have to play a role which is intrinsically conflictual with respect to the role played by the other player. In this drama, the regional administration sees itself as the advocate, the defender of the landscape, with a moral commitment to save natural resources and cultural heritage from the danger of the speculative attack of the cities, which are generally prone to the pressures of the local building industry. On the other hand, the cities see the regional administration as an external oppressive power which can prevent the effectiveness of whichever planning policy decided by the local authorities. In doing so, they try to understand how they could eventually save up a little bit of their autonomy. So, the dialogues are almost always based on the apodictic statements of the regional administrators and on questions raised by mayors and representatives of towns and villages who would like to be informed about what is left from the good old days when each city was allowed to plan its own territory and decide on land uses, that is residential restoration and expansion zones, service and recreation areas, agricultural and tourist zones, etc. The conversations show that the attempt to set up a cooperative-planning process results in these clumsy outcomes. There is no real cooperativeplanning process, no true participation. But a Foresterian analysis of this pseudo-participatory process indicates that everything could change since Sardinian local communities generally show a strong attitude towards the protection of nature, natural resources, and cultural heritage, as the results of the intermix of the CV and MCA approaches demonstrate for the city of Sinnai.



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The rest of this paragraph develops a Foresterian analysis of a few passages drawn from the conversations of the cooperative-planning conferences which put in evidence: (i) how the regional administration sees its role in the implementation of the RLP; (ii) how the regional administration interprets the role of the representatives of coastal towns and villages; (iii and iv) how the representatives of coastal towns and villages consider their role and that of the regional administration. Each of the four sub-paragraphs below is about one of the four points indicated above. Quotations of passages of cooperative-planning conferences are followed by comments.10

3.3.1. How the regional administration sees its own role First, I would like to point out that landscape protection is a constitutional principle, that is, it comes from the Italian Constitution, and represents the most important objective of our legislative and ruling tasks. I would like you to consider this question out of discussion with respect to the approach the regional administration is taking to define the Regional Landscape Plan. We have to recognize frankly that in the past the definition and implementation of regional and local planning processes did not consider 11 landscape values as predominant over all the others.

The first passage puts in evidence that the regional administration feels it needs to legitimatize its ruling role. What better reference than the Italian Constitution? Through the RLP the regional administration is defending a constitutional principle, so, whoever questions the RLP is challenging a constitutional principle. Whoever challenges a constitutional principle is intrinsically subversive, therefore, my dear representatives of cities and towns, if you do not want to be accused of subversion, you will accept the regional administration as the defender of the landscape, and, therefore, as the ruler of regional and local planning processes. The second passage puts in evidence that the regional administration considers the RLP as a watershed between an evil past which brought a lot a 10

The quotations that follow refer to passages originally written in Italian. Their translation is responsibility of the authors. 11 These two passages are drawn from the introductory address of the first conference given by a member of the Sardinian regional government (pp. 3-4 of the account of the first conference, available at http://www.regione.sardegna.it/documenti/ 1_34_2006012709 1101.pdf; accessed October 3, 2013).


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damages because of the bad planning rules and practices that were in use, and a promising future, which the RLP and the new ruling power of the regional administration will contribute decisively to build and lead.

3.3.2. How the regional administration sees the role of the cities [W]hat was the role of an urban masterplan before the RLP? It ruled over the whole city territory. Since it was the only type of planning instrument, cities were responsible for defining planning policies and rules for the whole territory under their jurisdiction [that is, urban and extra-urban]. Now, things have changed, since the RLP rules over the whole Sardinian region. Certainly, the RLP has substituted the urban masterplans for the extra-urban territory. [U]rban masterplans can now take over their original meaning, which consists of planning and defining rules for the urban part of the city territory. On the other hand, they should not plan the whole city territory. Should they plan the whole territory, they should be named territorial masterplans. [In the RLP] We are proposing directions. Cities will implement the decision-making processes, provided that their choices are consistent with 12 these directions.

The first two passages depict the role the regional administration would like the cities would play in the RLP implementation, that is, they should be followers of what the regional administration has already decided for their extra-urban territory. Not only this, but this vision of the role of cities has another implication. It implies indeed that the regional administration does not trust the capability of the cities of ruling their own extra-urban territory, because of their past mistakes. If we recall what was reported in the preceding subparagraph with reference to the wrong way regional and local planning processes were implemented in the past, due to the lack of consideration of the predominance of landscape values, it is easy to detect that, according to the 12

The first passage is drawn from the introductory address of the first conference given by a member of the Sardinian regional government; the second passage is drawn from the introductory address of the sixteenth conference given by a member of the Sardinian regional government; the third passage is drawn from a reflection proposed by a member of the Sardinian regional government during the second conference (p. 5 of the account of the first conference, available at http://www.regione.sardegna.it/ documenti/1_34_20060127 091101.pdf; p. 9 of the account of the sixteenth conference, available at http://www. regione.sardegna.it/documenti/1_34_20060213135024.pdf; p. 23 of the account of the second conference, available at http://www.regione.sardegna.it/ documenti/ 1_34_ 20060119103656.pdf; all accessed October 3, 2013).



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regional administration, cities, town and villages were responsible for those mistakes, since they took care only of the urban territory and neglected the extra-urban. This is the reason the RLP rules are defined by the regional administration and municipalities have to follow these exogenous rules for their extra-urban territory. The third passage indicates that the regional administration believes that the autonomy of the cities has to be bounded also with reference to their urban planning activity, since this activity, were it autonomous, could possibly endanger the effectiveness of the RLP and, ultimately, the quality-increase potentials of the local communities. So, the RLP puts in evidence that the regional administration considers the autonomous planning activity of the cities as a general threaten for their future.

3.3.3. How the representatives of the local communities see their role We [The City of Golfo Aranci, the local administration of a coastal village located in the north-east of Sardinia] have a heavy load of requests of building permits concerning new developments which are really amazing, since it is still possible to have a building permit in our city until the RLP is approved [the RLP was approved about seven months later]. Do you [the regional administration] think it reasonable that in one year we released the building permits we would have released in ten years, if the law-which-savesthe-coasts [this is the nickname of the Regional Law no. 8 of November 25, 2004] had not been established and the RLP was not going to be approved, since everybody fears that everything will be blocked in the very short 13 run[?]

The concept expressed in this passage is very recursive across all the cooperative-planning conferences. The cities see themselves as the keepers of the good right of the local communities to decide how to organize and possibly transform the land under their jurisdiction. Not only this. They feel their electors will hold them responsible for defending their good right, their freedom, their autonomy. And they feel this autonomy dramatically endangered, and their responsibility extremely heavy. So, in the short run, they want to release as many building permits as they can, so that it is made as clear as possible that they are backing up their citizens. After the approval of the 13

This passage is drawn from a reflection proposed by a representative of the City of Golfo Aranci during the sixteenth conference (p. 32 of the account of the sixteenth conference; available at http://www.regione.sardegna.it/documenti/1_34_20060213135024.pdf, accessed October 3, 2013).


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RLP, this attitude has often resulted in harsh conflicts with the regional administration, with lots of never-ending legal implications.

3.3.4. How the cities see the role of the regional administration [A representative of a coastal town raises a question to a regional administrator] [W]hat is the limit, the watershed between the alreadyestablished residential-expansion implementation plans? Take into account that for a few of these plans the regional administration has already released a consistency certification. Your answer to this question is very important for us, because it is really not clear what the limit is. [A representative of a coastal town criticizes the regional administration] [I] raised two questions and the answers totally missed the point. If the members of the regional administration had not considered the members of the city government of Golfo Aranci inept, and they had come to Golfo Aranci, it would have been easy for us to make clear our points concerning 14 new developments [for residences and services].

The representatives of the coastal town and villages feel themselves dependent on the will and decisions of the regional administrators. Since the rules that are going to be established are fuzzy, and they have no control over the new planning procedures, they try to understand if something from the good old days can be saved. They know very well, anyway, that the saving decision is exogenous. They feel they have lost their autonomy as local administrators. Moreover, they believe their city planning future will be difficult since it is very possible that the exogenous, fuzzy rules of the RLP will prove ineffective in addressing the real problems of their communities. They see the regional administration as a malevolent, insensible dictator, who does not take care of the needs and expectations of their citizens, since it feels it has to implement an irrational, abstract design, the RLP.

14

Both passages are drawn from the sixteenth conference (p. 38 and p. 26 of the account of the sixteenth conference; available at http://www.regione.sardegna.it/ documenti/ 1_34_20060213135024.pdf). With reference to first passage, it has to be put in evidence that it was not clear at the time the sixteenth cooperative-planning conference was held what would happen to the already-established residential expansion plans once the RLP was approved. Would they remain valid or cease?



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CONCLUSION This paper discusses two issues concerning participatory planning. The first issue has to do with sustainability of the plan, as assessed by some privileged testimonies. As the first regional plan prepared under new national legislation, the Sardinian was innovating within a new policy context. The plan, whose implementation is currently in its earliest phases, has been evaluated with reference only to its contents and process, and by looking at issues, such as sustainability, which are deeply affected by personal values and beliefs. However, since based on insights provided by professionals and academic who took part in the process, the weak points highlighted in this study can provide useful suggestions both for the review of the first part of the RLP for the coastal areas, and for other Italian regional plans for the landscape, including the second part of the Sardinian RLP, currently in preparation for the inland areas. Although there was little or no agreement among the five interviewees on whether a plan for the landscape should pursue all the three components of sustainability, it can be concluded, from the opinions of privileged interviewees, that the plan is unbalanced towards environmental objectives. Environmental sustainability of the Sardinian RLP was primarily meant as potential effectiveness in protecting non-renewable resources and habitats, especially because it establishes a series of rules to contrast consumption of land. However, such rules, with their underlying conservative approach and understanding of landscape as something which needs protecting rather than managing, were believed not to be effective in addressing environmental problems and risks in sensitive contexts such as those of other parts of Italy. Another issue concerning environmental sustainability was that of the lack of an SEA, considered not only as a statutory requirement, but especially as a tool which enhances the implementation of the plan by means of an assessment of its potential effects carried out during the plan preparation. Economic issues, although considered in the very beginning of the preparation of the plan, appear to have been overlooked, both because of the choice of the type of plan and because of the lack of coordination of the Sardinian RLP with a sectoral plan aimed at controlling tourism activities. Finally, as for social sustainability, here explored only with reference to issues of participation, integration and coordination, evidence suggests that participation in the making of the plan: i) was limited to those organizations required by law to implement the RLP, and ii) was in the form of information giving, rather than consultation, a simple delivery of information, in a top-


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down process. The municipalities and other actors, therefore, had extremely limited chance to influence the plan. It has been suggested that such a dominant role of the regional administration is only partly justifiable on the grounds of competences and powers stemming from the laws, and risks both interfering with powers of lower tiers of government and tailoring rules to specific situations. Institutional coordination has been moved from the plan preparation to its implementation, in the form of adjustment of the masterplans, and of intese, a technical and political mechanism aimed at approving specific projects and development plans by means of an assessment carried out on a case-by-case basis. The intese, whereby specific projects and developments can be approved prior to the adjustment of urban land-use plans provided that they are agreed by different tiers of government (region, provinces and municipalities), allowed an opt-out clause, enabling specific developments to proceed in sensitive areas, thus possibly weakening the plan. They have a controversial nature, being judged both as a mechanism to bypass the rules contained in the regional plan and as a means to include institutional cooperation in the application of the Sardinian RLP. A greater involvement of the general public is envisioned in the implementation of the plan, both in the SEA process and in the modification of local masterplans. Until a more robust participatory approach which involves wider consultation is adopted, such a tool may prove to be a relatively insensitive instrument in plan implementations. The second issue proposes a Foresterian narrative to explain the disparities brought out by the application of the CV and MCA methods. The CV results show that the residents of Sinnai would disagree with the classification changes which the adjustment of the MPS to the RLP would imply. However, the same respondents revealed a very different attitude toward new residential settlements and new city parks when asked to classify eight criteria to assess future city planning scenarios. With reference to planning, the Sardinian regional administration maintain an overturned concept of subsidiarity. This passage of the regional law proposal titled “New rules for the use of the regional territory” enlightens this point: “The goals of the preceding paragraph [The goals of the planning activity of the cities, provinces, and the regional administration] are pursued, on the basis of the principles of subsidiarity, adequacy and efficiency, by means of: a) the attribution to the cities of all the functions concerning



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territorial government which are not expressly attributed by this or other laws to the region and the provinces; […].”15 This overturns the concept of subsidiarity of the Italian legislation, which states that: “[The attributions of functions] have to observe the principle of subsidiarity. The majority of tasks and administrative functions should be attributed to the cities, provinces and mountain communities, on the basis of their territorial size, and community and organizational complexity, with the only exclusion of the functions inconsistent with these size and complexity. Public responsibilities are also attributed to the part of the public administration closest to the citizens in order to help families, organized groups and communities, to take on social tasks and functions; […].”16 This overturned concept of subsidiarity puts in evidence how much far from an effective cooperative approach is the adjustment process to the RLP of the masterplans of the coastal cities of Sardinia. The PIC establishes that the contribution of municipalities to the adjustment process consists of the following tasks: 1. they have to cooperate to design, implement and update the regional geographic information system, which is fundamental “for the definition and coordination of the landscape protection and revaluation policies”;17 2. they have to identify precisely the landscape goods (buildings or areas) defined according to articles 134, 142 and 143 of the National Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape. These goods have already been approximately identified in the RLP cartography, with reference to the environmental, historic-cultural and settlement structures of the regional territory; 3. they have to adjust their masterplans to comply with the prescriptive and proposal contents of the RLP related to all the structures of the regional territory. Even though these contents can hardly be translated into masteplan rules, they are both detailed and debatable at once, which gives the regional administration a strong discretional power in the approval processes of the adjusted masterplans. This not only may 15

Law proposal no. 204 of January 3, 2006. Italian Law no. 59/97 titled “Law which delegates the Italian government to establish the procedures to attribute administrative tasks and functions to the regional and local administrations, in order to reform the public administration and to simplify the administrative procedures”, article 4, paragraph 3, letter a. 17 PIC, article 2, paragraph 2, letter d. 16


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Corrado Zoppi and Sabrina Lai generate, and is generating indeed as we put in evidence above, neverending conflicts between the regional administration and the cities, but may also cause a continuous lack of transparency in their relations concerning the definition, implementation and management of regional and urban planning processes.

So, the role of the cities is very ancillary, since they have just to complete what cannot be done by the regional administration in terms of geographic, economic and social information. They have just to provide this information, so that the regional administration may govern and manage the regional, province and city planning activity in the most efficient way. The only role of the cities is to support the regional administration. The Foresterian narrative shows that everything could change, if each participant changed the way he sees the role he or she has to play, and if each participant changed the way he or she sees the role the other should play. In particular, the fundamental point is that the regional administration should change its attitude towards subsidiarity. It is worth quoting the definition of subsidiarity given by the European Union’s Glossary: The principle of subsidiarity is defined in Article 5 of the Treaty establishing the European Community. It is intended to ensure that decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen and that constant checks are made as to whether action at Community level is justified in the light of the possibilities available at national, regional or local level.[…] The Edinburgh European Council of December 1992 issued a declaration on the principle of subsidiarity, which lays down the rules for its application. The Treaty of Amsterdam took up the approach that follows from this declaration in a Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality annexed to the EC Treaty. Two of the things this Protocol introduces are the systematic analysis of the impact of legislative proposals on the principle of subsidiarity and the use, where 18 possible, of less binding Community measures.

In other words, the principle of subsidiarity indicates that the regional, national (and of the European Union) authorities should not interfere with the administrative autonomy of local communities as long as local communities are willing and able to deal with and govern successfully certain matters. Urban and city planning are certainly among these matters. 18

The Glossary is available at the following Internet address: http:// europa.eu/ scadplus/ glossary/ subsidiarity_en.htm [accessed: October 3, 2013].



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The RLP should take into account that more attention should be devoted to incentivizing building opportunities in the coastal strip, even though its conservative approach with respect to allowing new buildings, oriented to implement comprehensive protection of coastal and marine natural resources, is reasonable and motivated, as discussed in the third section. The RLP is consistent with the European Landscape Convention,19 and, from this point of view, we recommend that the methodological approach used in this paper be considered as a source of information on the impacts of analogous policies. Policies consistent with the RLP approach are developed in France, through the Conservatoire du Littoral, a public body which implements land-use policies for the protection of threatened natural areas, and in the United Kingdom, through the National Trust, a private charity body having the goal of protecting the coastline, countryside and buildings of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.20 Both bodies implement proactive conservative policies, based on acquisition, rehabilitation and renewal of costal areas. These experiences, which are aligned to the provision of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Protocol, integrate conservation and local economic and social development in coastal areas, by defining and implementing policies based on a case-by-case approach.21 These policies generally develop a fine-tuned integration of different and sometimes potentially-conflicting land uses. A careful case-by-case approach should be implemented in the RLP in order to overcome the conflict between conservation and local development, which could possibly imply new urbanization, at least to some extent. This conflict may very possibly arise each time conservative policies, based for example on the European Landscape Convention, are discussed, defined and implemented, not only concerning coastal areas, but also referred to whatever natural or cultural heritage landscape is involved. The methodological approach of this paper contributes to increasing information on important quantitative aspects of this potential conflict.

19

20

21

European Treaty Series No. 176 (October 20, 2000), implemented in the Italian legislation through the Law enacted by decree No. 2004/42 and through the Law No. 2006/14. See the official websites of the Conservatoire du Littoral and of the National Trust at: http://www.conservatoire-du-littoral.fr/ [accessed: October 3, 2013]; http://www. nationaltrust.org.uk/ [accessed: October 3, 2013]. The Protocol on Integrated Coastal Zone Management in the Mediterranean was adopted during the Conference of Plenipotentiaries held in Madrid on 21 January 2008. The Protocol is available on the Internet at http://195.97.36.231/dbases/webdocs/BCP/ ProtocolICZM08 _eng.pdf [accessed: October 3, 2013].


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Chapter 3

COASTAL ECOSYSTEM: CORAL REEF ENVIRONMENT - MONITORING OF CORAL REEFS IN THE MARINE PARKS OF TERENGGANU AND TIOMAN, MALAYSIA, USING REEF CHECK METHODS AND THE IMPLEMENTATION INTO THE MARINE PARK MANAGEMENT Chris Wetzelhuetter1,, Alvin Chelliah2,† and Sue Yee Chen2 1

CERF (Coastal Education and Research Foundation, Austria 2 Reef Check Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

ABSTRACT Between 2008 and 2013 the status of coral reefs was examined using Reef Check survey methods on 19 selected reefs along the eastern coast of the Malaysian Peninsula, around Perhentian, Redang and Tioman Islands. The goal of the study was to determine the status of these reefs and to monitor continuous change on the reef caused by human and non †

Email: [email protected]. E-mail address: [email protected].


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Chris Wetzelhuetter, Alvin Chelliah and Sue Yee Chen human factors. Data on indicator fish, indicator invertebrate and indicator substrate as well as environment, socio-economic and human impacts was collected. The assessment of this data demonstrates that the two most obvious impacts were warm water bleaching and sewage pollution. Overall the study shows that live coral cover did not change significantly over the past six years. The results of these surveys were implemented into the Marine Parks management. First the survey technique was introduced to Marine Park personnel for long term monitoring. Priority and resilience areas where mapped out and established. Furthermore, a bleaching response plan was designed for Malaysia after the 2010 bleaching event and was implemented jointly with park management. In addition, pollution caused by growing ecotourism was recognized as a major impact to the coral reef status and measures like waste control were introduced and successfully established. Reef rehabilitation efforts in the form of coral transplanting were also undertaken at sites where the natural reef had suffered damage due to human and natural impacts. This reef rehabilitation project was used as a platform to involve tourism operators, local villagers and park managers in hands-on conservation in order to promote a better understanding of the importance of coral reefs. It was demonstrated that coral transplanting can be successfully used in reef rehabilitation.

Keywords: Coral reef, coral reef monitoring, perhentian, tioman, redang, reef check, marine park management, marine protected areas, mpa, coral bleaching, bleaching response plan, reef rehabilitation, coral transplanting, coral resilience, climate change

1. INTRODUCTION Perhentian, Redang and Tioman Islands are among the most popular tourist destinations along the East coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Their sandy white beaches, crystal clear water and colourful coral reefs are the main reasons why these islands are so popular among divers, snorkelers and beach goers (Ch’ng 1990). Realizing the importance of coral reefs to these islands, the Malaysian government gazetted these islands as Marine parks (MP) under the Department of Marine Parks Malaysia (DMPM) in 1994 (Aikanathan & Wong, 1994). Since their protection in 1994, the popularity of these islands has increased drastically from 17,228 visitors at Perhentian, 12,750 visitors at Redang and 25,115 visitors at Tioman in 1994 to 103,505 at Perhentian, 108,110 at Redang and 214,477 at Tioman in 2012 (Jabatan Taman Laut, 2012). The development of infrastructure has also increased to accommodate


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the growing number of tourists (Jabatan Taman Laut, 2012). In 2008, this long-term study was initiated to monitor the continuous change caused by human and natural factors on 19 reefs around these islands. The Reef Check Malaysia (RCM) methodology was used to assess the health of coral reefs by focusing on the abundance of particular coral reef organisms that: a) are widely distributed on coral reefs b) are easy for non-scientists to identify c) provide information about the health of a coral reef Using a standardized, easy to learn and scientifically robust methodology, data from surveys at different sites can be compared, on an island, regional, national or international basis (Hodgson et al, 2006). The RCM monitoring methodology allows scientists and managers to monitor changes to coral reefs over time. By surveying reefs on a regular basis, deleterious changes can be highlighted early before they become problems. This gives managers the opportunity to intervene, carry out additional, more detailed studies and/or initiate management actions to try to reverse the change before permanent damage is done to the reef.

1.1. Geographical Settings Perhentian, Redang and Tioman Islands are located off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia (Figure 1.1). Redang and Perhentian are located about 14 nm and 9 nm respectively, off the coast of Terengganu, while Tioman is located about 20 nm from the coast of Johor. Due to their proximity to the equator, these islands experience a seasonal weather pattern characterized by exceptionally higher rainfall during the North East monsoon (November to February on Tioman, and October to March on Redang and Perhentian). The average temperature on land ranges from 21 0C to 33 0C while sea surface temperature ranges from 26 0C to 31 0C (Bahagian Pemuliharaan dan Pengurusan Alam Sekitar, 2006a, 2006b). These islands are located on the Sunda Shelf and are generally made out of sandy and rocky beaches as well as rocky headlands with granite outcrops. Forest vegetation on these islands consists mainly of regenerated primary and secondary rainforest on cleared and abandoned areas, as well as small, scattered coconut plantations (Bahagian Pemuliharaan dan Pengurusan Alam Sekitar, 2006a, 2006b).


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Chris Wetzelhuetter, Alvin Chelliah and Sue Yee Chen

Figure 1.1. Peninsular Malaysia – Tioman, Redang, Perhentian Islands (Google earth).

1.2. Department of Marine Parks Malaysia (DMPM) In 1994 Perhentian, Redang and Tioman Islands were gazetted as Marine Parks (MP) under the Fisheries Act 1985 and were placed under the management of the DMPM. The primary objectives for being gazetted (Aikanathan & Wong, 1994) were to: a)

b) c) d)

Afford special protection, manage natural breeding grounds, and preserve habitats for marine life in particular regard to rare or endangered species Allow natural regeneration and prevent further depletion Promote scientific study and research Regulate activities in order to avoid irreversible damage to the environment

The change of status of these islands to MP caused issues as only the area from the lowest tide line to two nautical miles out to sea was protected by the Fisheries Act 1985 and the land adjacent to these marine resources does not come under the jurisdiction of the DMPM. Instead, most of the land is privately or state owned and all land-based resources including forest, rivers and inter-tidal coastlines are under the constitutional authority of the State Government. Besides that, any development that occurs on land need not comply with marine park regulations or management plans. Thus the different


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priorities for conservation and development between the management authorities have created numerous conflicts and issues (Aikanathan & Wong, 1994). The restriction on fishing within two nautical miles of the islands also had a socio-economic effect on local fishing communities as the majority of the villagers previously relied on fishing for food and income. On the contrary the branding of these islands as MP had a positive effect in assisting to expand the tourism sector. With the increasing number of tourist visiting the islands infrastructure was improved. The new infrastructure not only benefited the tourist but the local islanders as well.

1.3. Coral Reef Ecosystem in the Marine Parks of Terengganu and Tioman Coral reefs on Tioman (Figure 1.2) are generally fringing reefs scattered along the coast and separated by sandy patches.

(source: www.ukm.my/ahmad/tesispelajar/seaweedtiomangenting.htm). Figure 1.2. Tioman Island.


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(source: www.virtualmalaysia.com/redang-island). Figure 1.3. Redang Island.

Larger patches of reefs can be found within bays where there is more protection from wave action such as in Tekek, Kador, Salang and Bugis Bays. Smaller islands off Tioman such as Renggis, Soyak, Sepoi, Chebeh, Labas, and Tumuk also have vast healthy fringing coral reefs that span from depths of 3 to 15 m (Yewdall, 2013). In addition to the island reefs there are also several isolated submerged reefs. On Redang Island (Figure 1.3), shallow fringing coral reefs are scattered along coastal areas which are sheltered from the seasonal monsoon while on the windward north-eastern side, steep, rocky coast dominates. Off the shores of Redang there are seven smaller islands (Paku Kecil, Paku Besar, Lima, Ekor Tebu, Kerengga Besar, Kerengga Kecil and Ling) as well as several submerged rocky outcrops. Though commonly referred to as Perhentian Island (Figure 1.4), two separate islands Perhentian Besar and Perhentian Kecil make up the Perhentian islands. They are separated by a shallow, sandy channel running in a northsouth direction.


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(source: www.pahangoutdoor.com/packages/perhentian-island). Figure 1.4. Perhentian Island.

Both islands have long sandy beaches and shallow fringing coral reefs which are concentrated off the bays and coves. Coral reefs play a vital role in the MP Islands, providing economic benefits via tourism, physical protection of the coastline and sustaining offshore fisheries. Villagers rely on fish as their main source of protein and many have switched from fishing to tourism as their main source of income. This is most obvious in Tioman and Perhentian islands where locals run small chalets, operate snorkeling trips and run restaurants catered to tourists. Larger resorts often hire locals as cooks, boatmen, gardeners and housekeepers.

2. METHODOLOGY 2.1. Site Selection in the Marine Parks Sites were selected based on reefs that were most commonly visited by divers. These sites were also areas with high coral cover and a high diversity of marine life. In 2007, these sites were visited and evaluated before sites were selected for the establishment of permanent transects. In 2008, 7 permanent sites were chosen at Tioman (Figure 2.1), 6 at Perhentian (Figure 2.2) and 6 at


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Redang (Figure 2.3). These sites (Table 2.1) were marked with metal stakes and coordinates were recorded using a hand held GPS. Permanent sites were revisited and monitored for the following 6 years. Table 2.1. List of survey sites Site Name Batu Layar Batu Nisan D' Lagoon Sea Bell Shark Point Tanjung Besi Chagar Hutang East P. Kerengga Besar P. Lima Southern Tip P. Paku Besar P. Paku Kecil Redang Kalong HR Pirates Reef Renggis North Soyak North Batu Malang Tumuk Chebeh Teluk Kador

Island Perhentian Perhentian Perhentian Perhentian Perhentian Perhentian Redang Redang Redang Redang Redang Redang Tioman Tioman Tioman Tioman Tioman Tioman Tioman

Coordinate 5 54 43.69 N 102 45 00.28 E 5 55.265 N 102 43.508 E 5 55.929 N 102 43.396 E 5 54.532 N 102 42.574 E 5 53.075 N 102 44.812 E 5 55.414 N 102 45.498 E 5 49 3.58 N 103 00 37.30 E 5 45 14.03 N 103 01 44.07 E 5 46 18.1 N 103 03 32.8 E 5 46 37.43 N 103 02 30.33 E 5 46 18.1 N 103 02' 20.5 E 5 45 44.14 N 103 01 42.43 E 2 49.428 N 104 09.445 E 2 48.594 N 104 08.183 E 2 52 33.59 N 104 08 53.03 E 2 54.139 N 104 06.148 E 2 47 32.61 N 104 7 22.89 E 2 55 56.76 N 104 05 48.87 E 2 54.891 N 104 06.507 E

Figure 2.1. Surveyed sites in Tioman.


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Figure 2.2. Surveyed sites in Perhentian.

Figure 2.3. Surveyed sites in Redang.

2.2. Survey Techniques – Data Collection Surveys were conducted along two depth contours when possible (3 to 6 m and 6 to 12 m depth). A 100 m transect line is deployed and four 20 m transects are surveyed along it, each separated by 5 m (Figure 2.4). This provides four replicates per transect (8 per site). Four types of data were collected. (i) Fish surveys were followed by (ii) invertebrate, (iii) substrate and (iv) human impact surveys.


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Figure 2.4. Transect line.



Fish abundance: the fish survey is carried out by swimming slowly along the transect line counting the indicator fish within each of the four 20 m long x 5 m wide x 5 m high corridors

A lag period of 15 minutes elapsed before starting the visual fish survey . This allowed fishes to resume normal behaviour after being disturbed by the diver laying the transect tape (Hodgson et al., 2006). Fish species commonly targeted by fishermen and aquarium collectors observed within 2.5 m either side of the tape and up to 5 m above the tape were counted and recorded. The indicator fish are Butterflyfish (Chaetodontidae), Sweetlips (Haemulidae), Snappers (Lutjanidae), Barramundi cod (Cromileptes altivelis), Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulates), Bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum), Parrotfish (Scaridae; over 20 cm), Moray Eel (Muraenidae) and Grouper (Serranidae; over 30 cm) (Hodgson et al., 2006). 

Invertebrate abundance: divers counted the indicator invertebrates along the same four 20 m x 5 m belts used in the visual fish survey

The invertebrate survey was similar to the fish visual survey; however, data collection was not stopped at every 5 m (Hodgson et al., 2006). Invertebrates commonly targeted as food species or collected as curios were counted and recorded. The indicator species were: Banded Coral Shrimp


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(Stenopus hispidus), Long-spined Black Sea Urchins (Diadema spp.), Pencil Urchin (Eucidaris spp.), Collector Urchin (Tripneustes spp.), Sea Cucumbers (Thelenota ananas, Stichopus chloronotus, Holothuria edulis), Lobster (all edible species), Triton (Charonia tritonis) and Crown of Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster planci). 

Substrate cover: collected by the Point Intercept method (Hodgson et al., 2006) whereby the substrate category such as live coral is noted every 0.5 m.

The category of substrate was recorded at 0.5m intervals along the same transect used for fish and invertebrate surveys. The categories used according to standardized Reef Check definitions were: hard coral (HC), soft coral (SC), recently killed coral (RKC) or coral that is dead but skeletal structure and corallites are still obvious, nutrient indicator algae (NIA), sponge (SP), rock (RC), rubble (RB), sand (SD), silt (SI) and other (OT) which includes sessile organisms such as giant clams, gorgonians and anemones. 

Impact: the impact survey involves the assessment of damage to coral along the same four 20 m x 5 m belts

During the invertebrate survey, human impacts were also assessed. These included coral damage by boats or their anchors, dynamite, and ‘other’ damage. Trash was categorized as either fish nets or general trash. The scale of these impacts were described using a numeric scale (0 = none, 1 = low, 2 = medium, 3 = high). The percentage of coral cover affected by bleaching and disease was also assessed during the surveys (Hodgson et al., 2006).

2.3. Site Description Each site was described according to observations made during and after the survey and from previous knowledge of the site. The description included how sheltered or exposed the site was and the levels of various impacts acting upon it. The impacts were given a ranking from ‘None’ to ‘High’. In addition, the distance to the nearest settlement and river was recorded using Google Earth and a GPS waypoint of the site was recorded. All data were collected by teams of RC EcoDivers that have gone through an intensive RC training and


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examination procedure. A RC staff member coordinated and supervised the surveys and data collection.

2.4. Reef Rehabilitation Technique “Reef rehabilitation is the act of partially or, more rarely, fully replacing structural or functional characteristics of an ecosystem that have been diminished or lost, or the substitution of alternative qualities or characteristics than those originally present with the proviso that they have more social, economic or ecological value than existed in the disturbed or degraded state” (Edward, 2010). The objective of this project was to rehabilitate a badly damaged reef. The intention of rehabilitation was to create a mini-ecosystem by transplanting corals to a secure and solid platform. Knowledge of the ecological dynamics of the coral reef ecosystem is needed to properly plan rehabilitation activities. The design of the rehabilitation methodology for a particular area will depend on the existing environment prior to disturbances. This can be extracted from historic records or through interviews with local communities. A general survey of adjacent reefs will also provide vital information regarding the original condition and species composition of the region. It is important to note, however, that there is no point rehabilitating a coral reef unless the local stressors that were the original reason for the decline are addressed. Rehabilitation activity should therefore go hand in hand with rigorous management.

Site Selection Donor, nursery and rehabilitation sites were situated adjacent to each other such that the water conditions at the three sites were similar. An area of natural reef that had been affected by natural and anthropogenic impacts was selected as the final transplant site. The nursery site was constructed adjacent to the reef for convenience, and to maintain a consistent physiological environment and thereby reduce transplant shock. Coral nubbins were collected from surrounding healthy reef for the same reasons. Transplanting Method Live broken coral fragments (regardless of growth form and species) were carefully collected from reefs surrounding the nursery site to minimise handling. The coral fragments were then quickly attached to the nursery platform using cable ties (Figure 2.6).


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Figure 2.6. Attaching coral fragments to frame with cable ties.

2.4.1. Coral Nursery This study approach focused on creating a “mini-ecosystem”, in which individual coral fragments were grouped to form a mini-ecosystem, rather than transplanted as individual coral nubbins. The process of gathering coral fragments stresses the corals, weakening them and reducing the chances of their survival if transplanted directly to a new site. Keeping coral fragments in a nursery stage for six months to one year before transfer to the final transplant site (rehabilitation site) allows the coral fragments time to rest, recover and grow. The nursery was located where it could easily be serviced to control silt and algae, thereby enhancing chances of survival and increasing growth rates. It also allowed success rates to be monitored (Hyde et al. 2013). The nursery was constructed from plastic (PVC) pipe with a diameter of 1 inch, of the type commonly used for water distribution. This material was selected for the following reasons:     

It is low cost It is readily available It is easy to cut and assemble It is lightweight and therefore easy to deploy It is relatively inert and a suitable surface onto which new corals will recruit


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Figure 2.5. Frame design.

The design was a matrix of pipes measuring approximately 80 cm X 30 cm in size and 30 cm in height (Figure 2.5). The nursery frame was moored to the seabed using angle iron.

Maintenance and Monitoring Maintenance of the nursery was carried out immediately following nursery construction. Initially this was conducted twice a week, becoming less frequent as the nursery becomes established. Maintenance involved simple methods such as brushing the frame to avoid the build-up of silt and algae that would smother and kill the coral fragments. Encrusting organisms, such as barnacles, oysters, ascidians and hydroids, on or around the coral fragments were removed. Monitoring was conducted monthly to assess the progress of the nursery. Survival and growth rates of the coral fragments were recorded. Growth rates were calculated by measuring the length of a representative selection of the coral fragments from the base to the tip of each nubbin. Rehabilitation After a period of 12 months of consistent monitoring, the nursery was dismantled and individual nursery frames were moved to a nearby degraded reef area (the rehabilitation site). Nursery frames were attached to existing natural substrate using cable ties, and where necessary, rocks were brought in to the area from nearby degraded reef to provide additional substrate and anchoring points. Once frames were in place, additional coral colonies were added to resemble, as far as possible, a natural reef (Hyde et al. 2013).


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Four locations were selected from which photographs of the rehabilitated area would be taken monthly, to continue to monitor site development.

2.5. The Malaysian Bleaching Response Plan In 2010, Malaysia suffered a major coral bleaching event that saw the decline of reefs at Tioman, Redang and Perhentian (Tan & Heron, 2011). The bleaching event also caused confusion among reef managers, dive operators and divers as there was a lack of communication and coordination with regard to appropriate mitigation steps. Many dive sites were randomly closed to divers and this caused a major decrease in tourism to the islands and thus loss of income to tourist operators. In 2011, Reef Check Malaysia (RCM) commenced a Bleaching Response Plan (BRP) to avoid repetition of the problem faced in 2010 and to improve communications between reef managers, tourist operators and tourists. The BRP defined a set of pre-determined actions to be implemented in response to bleaching-related events. The goal was to employ a simple mechanism to respond to bleaching with timely and appropriate information and actions. More specifically, the objectives of the plan were to: a) Raise awareness among key stakeholders of the possible impacts of mass coral bleaching b) Formulate guidelines for actions to respond to coral bleaching and establish a bleaching reporting/information system for public networking and information sharing c) Set up a coral bleaching response committee involving government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and universities that will encourage immediate and long term actions to reduce local stressors. The main components of the BRP were: 1) Early Warning System: increasingly, bleaching is being monitored on an international basis. Information is available from a variety of sources that provides early warning of climate conditions that favour bleaching. This helps to predict bleaching events (Figure 2.7) 2) Response Triggers: bleaching is not uniform, nor is its progress predictable or consistent. The plan therefore includes a number of triggers that result in programmed actions, providing flexibile


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Chris Wetzelhuetter, Alvin Chelliah and Sue Yee Chen implementation, and adaptive management for different scenarios (Figure 2.7). 3) Management Actions: local managers can implement a variety of actions to reduce or eliminate local threats to coral reefs, enhancing the survivability of coral reefs to bleaching events (refer Figure 2.7 and the relevant step in The Plan flowchart). 4) Communications: a significant element of the plan involves communications with various stakeholder groups. The provision of timely, accurate information helps stakeholder groups understand what is happening, increasing the likelihood they will cooperate with management in its efforts to reduce the impacts of coral bleaching events (Figure 2.7).

Figure 2.7. Bleaching Response Plan Flow Chart.


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2.6. Impacts Factors on the Condition of Coral Ecosystem 2.6.1. Pollution Numerous sources of pollution can have impacts on coral reefs, including run off from agriculture and oil palm, municipal waste and industrial activities. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen from fertilisers used on oil palm plantations is a threat to reef quality and with bleaching of corals already a problem, a transition to algae-dominated reefs becomes a possibility. Sewage pollution is a particular concern. Levels of NIA recorded in some survey areas indicate the presence of excessive nutrients, and it is likely that one source of nutrients is sewage effluent. This observation is supported by water quality testing conducted in 2009 for Perhentian and Tioman island as well as in 2011 at Perhentian island (Reef Check Malaysia, 2012). 2.6.2. Crown-of-Thorns (COT) Outbreaks In some areas, COT predation is a problem. The cause of COT outbreaks is still not well understood, but recent research links population explosions to a combination of fresh water inflow and nutrient pollution (Fabricius, 2010). Large scale COT removal programmes have shown some success, but continued efforts are required to reduce numbers of this coral predator. 2.6.3. Waste The high number of tourists visiting Malaysia’s coral reefs puts significant strain on waste collection and disposal systems. Many resorts areas rely on transportation of waste to municipal facilities, often some distance from the resort itself. Tioman has waste incinerator in the island to burn the waste, however the huge amount of waste generated per day is exceeding the carrying capacity of the incinerator (Tukirin, 2013.). In Perhentian however, there is no incinerator to burn the waste. In the past, bags of solid waste were dumped onto floating pontoons located few metres away from the shore and the pontoons were emptied twice a week. However wave action sometimes pushed the bags off the pontoons and into the sea. The stench from these pontoons also deterred tourist from going into the water. In 2010 RCM introduced a daily collection system. Resort operators agreed to pay a fee for solid waste to be collected directly from each resort and shipped back to mainland on a daily basis.


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2.6.4. Tourist Impacts Physical damage caused by divers and snorkelers can be a significant source of impacts on coral reefs. Some research suggests maximum numbers of visitors that a given reef can tolerate before the inevitable physical damage begins to degrade the reef. One further controversial issue relating to tourist impacts concerns fish feeding. Many tourists feed fish while visiting the islands, and there is growing evidence that this is not healthy for fish populations. Fish feeding may also be an unintended source of nutrient that encourages algae growth. At the Redang Marine Park Centre, for example, large numbers of snorkelers visit daily and feed fish. A type of calcareous algae, Halimeda, was observed to be overgrowing the branching corals in the area, possibly reacting to the excess nutrient from fish feeding (Reef Check Malaysia, 2012). 2.6.5. Construction and Development Tourism is a major industry in Malaysia, and an important source of revenue and jobs. However, as tourist numbers continue to raise, increased construction of resorts and tourism infrastructure can have negative impacts on reefs, if not properly controlled. Construction projects, some of which are poorly planned, often lack the implementation of appropriate mitigation measures to protect the environment. Construction on the islands, especially works that involve land clearing or construction in the sea, can cause sedimentation of nearby reefs if control measures, such as silt curtains, are not adequately used and maintained. If poorly managed, such developments can have a significant impact on coral reefs closest to shore such as D’ Lagoon, Batu Nisan, Batu Layar and Sharkpoint at Perhentian, Renggis North, Soyak North, Pirate Reefs and Tumuk at Tioman and Chagar Hutang East, and Redang Kalong House Reef at Redang island. More broadly, sediments also come from the river outflows around the coasts Although silt levels on RC surveys do not show up as a major substrate effect, observations during surveys detected significant amounts of silt on dead coral, as well as and in patches on live coral. Comments from dive operators indicate that water quality is deteriorating from year to year, perhaps an indication of increasing amounts of silt from mainland waters spreading to the islands. This issue needs further investigation. 2.6.6. Fisheries There are regular complaints of illegal fishing within the MP areas from the tourists and dive operators. These often occur during the monsoon season


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when visitor numbers are much lower and enforcement patrols more difficult due to sea conditions. Another cause for concern is waste disposal by fishing boats seeking shelters in islands. In Tenggol, for example, the only sheltered bay on the island is used as a mooring point for fishing boats throughout the year, and they discard huge amounts of trash (a cleanup in November 2011 yielded, among others, discarded oil filters, batteries, food cans, tyres and an air conditioner compressor). There is also concern amongst divers and local fishermen about commercial trawler fishing occasionally sweeping up fish from the reefs in some areas.

2.7. Implementation of the Malaysian Bleaching Response Plan into Marine Park Strategy A Malaysian Coral Reef Bleaching Response Committee (CRBRC) was established, comprising representatives of the key coral reef management agencies in Malaysia: Department of Marine Park Malaysia (DMPM), Sabah Parks (SP) and Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC). Reef Check Malaysia (RCM) was also be a member and Secretariat for the Committee. The Committee is responsible for day to day implementation of the BRP, in the event of a bleaching event. This includes monitoring NOAA Bleaching Watch alerts, circulating information to stakeholders and issuing press releases. The Committee meets as often as circumstances dictate. The Committee is supported by an Advisory Panel. The Panel has wider membership, including representatives of other Government departments, universities, State Economic Planning Units and other institutions, as deemed appropriate by the Committee.

3. RESULTS 3.1. Surveys 2008 to 2013 Data Presentation RC data are primarily used for monitoring coral reef health and comparisons of data over time can highlight significant changes and indicate potential problems. The sections below provide details of the health of selected coral reefs in Perhentian, Tioman and Redang over six years, from 2008 to


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2013. Only sites that were surveyed every year over the six year period are included in this section: six in Perhentian, seven in Tioman and six in Redang:   

Perhentian: D’ Lagoon, Sea Bell, Tanjung Besi, Batu Nisan, Batu Layar and Sharkpoint Tioman: Batu Malang, Renggis North, Soyak North, Teluk Kador, Pirate Reefs, Chebeh, Tomok Redang: Chagar Hutang East, Pulau Lima Southern Tip, P. Paku Kecil, P. Paku Besar, Redang Kalong House Reef, P. Kerengga Besar

3.1.1. Perhentian The data from the surveys conducted on the Perhentian Island over the last six years show that there has been substantial variation in the health of the reefs (Figure 3.1). HC cover increased from 2008 to 2009, continuing a recovery (noted in 2007) from a very strong and damaging monsoon season in 2006. A subsequent decrease in HC cover over the next three years from 51% (2009) to 34% (2011 probably reflects the impact of the major bleaching event experienced in 2010. This is mirrored by concomitant changes in RKC and RC over the period. The data are consistent with HC killed by the 2010 bleaching event being reclassified first as RKC (large increase from 2009 to 2010 and declining in 2011) and then RC (highest level in 2011).

Figure 3.1. Substrate composition for Perhentian Islands 2008-2013.


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The 2012 surveys then show a substantial recovery, with level of HC increasing to the highest recorded in the Perhentian islands since regular surveys started in 2007 (just under 60%). The HC level however declines again in 2013 to 47%. The inconsistent factor is the level of NIA detected during surveys. From 2008 to 2013 (except in 2012) the level of NIA remained in the range 5-10%, reaching its highest level in 2011. These relatively high levels of NIA are probably indicative of raised levels of nutrient in the waters around the islands. This is supported by water testing data (2009) that indicate the presence of sewage pollution around Perhentian, and a review of sewage treatment systems (2011) that highlighted the inadequate sewage treatment systems at many resorts (Reef Check Malaysia, 2012). In 2012 the level of NIA recorded was at its lowest over the five year period. From a management perspective, this wide variation presents some challenges as it suggests that the reefs, while being damaged by anthropogenic impacts (particularly sewage pollution) can recover quickly once stressors (e.g., bleaching) are removed. Control of development and improving sewage treatment could have significant benefits for coral reefs around the islands.

3.1.2. Tioman The data from the surveys conducted on Tioman over the last six years show that there have been no significant changes over that period (Figure 3.2). The overall condition of the coral reefs surveyed around Tioman Island has been consistently good, with LCC above 50%, a rating of “good” according to the Coral Reef Health Criteria, with the exception of 49% of LCC in 2011.

Figure 3.2. Substrate Composition for Tioman.


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There was a considerable decrease in HC cover from 66% in 2010, to 50% in 2011. The decrease of HC is likely due to the 2010 mass bleaching event. In 2012, LCC increased to 67%, possibly showing the reefs are relatively resilient, being able to recover from the destructive effect of bleaching. However, in 2013 the level of LCC decreases by around 6% to 60%. In 2012, there was a need to look into the decrease of HC cover and increase of NIA in Chebeh, as it was a considerable decrease from 25% in 2011 to 14% in 2012 for HC and increase from 0% in 2011 to 4% in 2012 for NIA. The situation has improved in 2013. The level of HC has recovered, recording 28% in 2013, and the level of NIA has decreased back to 0%. This situation still needs to be monitored continuously to ensure no continuing proliferation of algae as it could have a negative impact on the corals over the long term.

3.1.3. Redang The data from surveys conducted on Redang since 2008 show that there have been no significant changes over that period (Figure 3.3). Despite the lack of data for 2010, we can still see that there has been an increase of HC cover, with the exception of a slight decline between 2008 and 2009. However, the overall condition of coral reefs around Redang Island has been good, with average LCC above 50%, with the exception in 2009 which recorded 50% LCC.

Figure 3.3. Substrate Composition for Redang 2008-2013.


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There is a need to investigate the increase of RKC in 2013 as it increased significantly from 0.1% in 2012 to 5% in 2013. The sites of most concern are Pulau Paku Besar and Pulau Kerengga Besar where over 7% RKC was recorded during the survey. Other sites of concern are Chagar Hutang, Pulau Lima Southern Tip, and Pulau Paku Kecil.

3.2. Priority and Resilience Areas Among all the sites surveys, Renggis North, and Soyak North (Figure 3.4) recorded the highest resilience scores for Tioman. The key resilience factors for these two sites were:  

  

Very high levels of live coral cover, indicating healthy reef environments. Soyak also has very high diversity of coral species. High topographical complexity at both micro and macro levels. Reefs at these locations are highly rugose (having a complex 3-dimensional structure), providing vast areas for coral recruitment and a range of habitats for marine life. Canopy corals and physical shading are abundant, adding to rugosity and providing areas in which water is likely to be cooler. Healthy fish populations, with high numbers of predators and above average numbers of herbivores. High recovery rates from previous bleaching events.

Figure 3.4. Most resilient sites for Tioman.


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Figure 3.5. Most resilient sites for Redang Island.

Figure 3.6. Most resilient sites for Perhentian.

As for Redang, Chagar Hutang East and Pulau Paku Kecil (Figure 3.5) recorded the highest resilience scores. The key resilience factors were: 1) Above average levels of live coral cover, indicating healthy reef environments. 2) Diverse coral populations with high levels of recruitment of new coral colonies and wide variety of colony size. 3) High topographical complexity at both micro and macro levels. Reefs at these locations are highly rugose (having a complex 3-dimensional


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structure), providing vast areas for coral recruitment and a range of habitats for marine life. 4) Near to deep water and strong currents, which enhance mixing of water and help to keep water temperature low. 5) Moderate abundance of canopy corals and physical shading, adding to rugosity and providing areas in which water is likely to be cooler. 6) Moderate recovery rates from previous bleaching events. Resilience surveys have not been completed for Perhentian islands. However, based on preliminary site visit, D’ Lagoon and Batu Layar (Figure 3.6) were considered priority sites for Perhentian, due to the following factors: 1) Above average levels of live coral cover, indicating healthy reef environments. 2) High topographical complexity at both micro and macro levels. Reefs at these locations are highly rugose (having a complex 3-dimensional structure), providing vast areas for coral recruitment and a range of habitats for marine life. 3) Moderate abundance of canopy corals and physical shading, adding to rugosity and providing areas in which water is likely to be cooler. 4) Moderate recovery rates from previous bleaching events.

3.3. Transplanting for Reef Rehabilitation Details The change in mortality rate per month did not fluctuate much throughout the nursery period (Figure 3.7). The big increase in the change of mortality rate in the 4th month (July) was probably due to the impact of the Southwest monsoon and the relatively smaller increase in the 11th month (February) was due to the impact of Northeast monsoon. Rough water conditions and heavy rain during these monsoon seasons, together with increased sedimentation and turbidity in the water column, stressed the corals and caused increased mortality. The decrease in the change of mortality rate per month after the monsoon seasons indicates that the corals were able to recover from this stress, helped by immediate repairs to the damaged frames and regular cleaning whenever the weather permitted during the monsoon seasons and twice weekly outside monsoon seasons. Pictures of the nursery at 0, 3, 6 and 9 month are shown in Figure 3.8.


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Figure 3.7. Change in mortality rate per month. s

s

s

s

Figure 3.8. Nursery at 0, 3, 6 and 9 months.


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During each monitoring, it was observed that coral fragment started to overgrow the cable tie and establish itself by building calcium carbonate cement around it and also onto the PVC. Recruits were also seen to settle onto the PVC and establish themselves on the PVC (Figure 3.9). More recruits were seen during each monitoring and grew larger over time. The nursery had also successfully created a mini ecosystem with fish and invertebrate taking up residence.

Figure 3.9. Natural recruits settled onto the PVC frame. s

Figure 3.10. Rehabilitation site.

Table 3.1. Summary of Nubbin Survival Rates Nubbin Survival (%) After: 3 months 6 months 85% 58%

9 months 46%

12 months 38%


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The survival rate of the nursery at 3, 6, 9 and 12 month is shown Table 3.1. By November 2011, the nursery were substantially stabilized and transplanted to the rehabilitation site nearby to the nursery site (Figure 3.10).

4. DISCUSSION 4.1. Condition of Corals Reefs in the MP Coral reefs within the marine park appear to be in good condition. Legal protection of all marine life and the restrictions on human activities within the marine park has allowed coral reefs to maintain their structural integrity and ecological functional roles. The average coral cover for reefs within these marine parks were 60% compared to 45% for reefs outside marine parks.

4.2. Rehabilitation of Corals Reefs Outcomes 2013 The nursery had successfully created a mini ecosystem with fish and invertebrate taking up residence and attracting many recruits to settle on the nursery. The study demonstrated that this reef rehabilitation programme has numerous benefits beyond simply rehabilitating areas of reef. The rehabilitation programme has successfully involved local communities in the project and provided numerous employment, education and awareness opportunities. Notwithstanding, the project encountered numerous problems (e.g. siltation, securing the frames to withstand bad weather conditions, high mortality rates, and predation by damsel fish). Future rehabilitation programmes will take into account the location of territorial damsel fish habitat and ensure the nursery sites are located far from their habitat and a better way to secure the frames will be sought. Although it is widely accepted that protection of coral reefs should remain the focus of management efforts due to the high cost of reef rehabilitation projects, it is also recognised that rehabilitation can contribute to at least slowing the rate of decline and at best increasing coral cover, with recovery of the associated ecosystem. RCM will continue its experiments with coral nurseries and coral reef rehabilitation to improve upon the existing methodology, and to test


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alternative approaches suitable to local conditions. The focus will remain on community-based, low cost approaches to rehabilitation.

4.3. Recommendations to the MP Management Based on the Outcomes of This Study Sewage Management Most resorts (and households) in coral reef areas rely on a septic tank system for sewage treatment which, if not correctly designed and maintained, can overflow, releasing sewage effluent into the sea. It is recommended that State Governments establish a system for regular de-sludging of septic tanks, to ensure they operate effectively. This will be a lower cost and less disruptive solution than the construction of large scale, centralised sewage treatment facilities. Waste Management There is a need to promote waste segregation and recycling, composting of organic wastes and separation of hazardous and toxic wastes (such as used engine oil and batteries). This will reduce the load on waste collection and transportation systems. A well designed system should also generate revenue from the sale of recyclables and compost. Finally, education and awareness campaigns should be implemented to promote better waste management and reduce littering, particularly among local communities as well as tourists. Managing Future Construction and Development Construction on the islands needs to be properly controlled and planned with adequate and appropriate mitigation measures to protect the environment. The location of jetties needs to be carefully planned so that they are not built directly on reefs and have the least possible impact on water movement. Resort development should be managed to ensure minimal land clearing. Managing Tourism Impacts Awareness campaigns should be implemented to educate all reef users on correct “reef etiquette”, to encourage them to minimise their impacts. This should be targeted both directly at tourists (public displays of information) and at tourist operations (dive and snorkel operators), to ensure adequate supervision of tourists in the water. Such campaigns for tourists should be holistic, incorporating guidance on minimising their impacts in general,


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including waste recycling and water and electricity conservation. It is also recommended that awareness materials be developed for tourists and snorkelling guides on the fish-feeding issue, to encourage visitors not to feed fish.

Managing Fisheries Activities There is a need to carry out stricter enforcement to stop illegal fishing within the Marine Park areas. Closer monitoring of the activities of fishermen is required, as well as education to reduce the amount of trash discarded onto the reefs when they seek shelter in islands and to encourage them to trawl far away from the reefs. Monitoring As stated in “Reefs at Risk”, additional monitoring of coral reefs across Southeast Asia is essential to provide details of where and how coral reefs are threatened. This conclusion is supported by the paucity of historical information available in Malaysia. Although coral reef surveys are being conducted by various institutions (government, academia, NGOs), lack of coordination means that:  

no standardised method is applied, as a result of which data from different surveys are often not easily compared data are distributed between various institutions, preventing a clear picture from emerging.

Establishing a comprehensive, coordinated monitoring programme which also includes monitoring reefs outside of the MP would have the following benefits: 





improved management of marine protected areas: better information on the current status of reefs, particularly within MPs, would assist managers to design more appropriate management interventions fisheries: monitoring reef health provides an indication of the health of fish stocks on the reef, creating better management decisions on fishing policies economic development: tourism is an important industry in Malaysia, and the country’s marine resources are a key part of the attraction to


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visitors. Conserving coral reefs will protect this sector and produce further growth  stakeholder engagement: the involvement of local communities, tourism operators and tourists in monitoring enhances the sense of ownership and responsibility while creating awareness about the reefs. It also allows large amounts of data to be collected at a lower cost. It is clear that there is a need for many more sites to be surveyed regularly before a detailed understanding of the status of coral can be established. More permanent transects need to be placed at selected sites on each island to ensure regular monitoring of the same reef areas. By supporting additional EcoDiver training in Malaysia, not only will the numbers of educated snorkelers and divers increase, but more will be available to participate in surveys of Malaysia’s most valuable marine resource, the coral reefs.

4.4. Outlook for the Future Development of the Coral Reef Ecosystem in the MP Conditions of coral reefs within Perhentian, Tioman and Redang Islands have not changed significantly over the last 6 years. However with the even increasing pressure from tourism and development coupled with global threats such as climate change, we cannot be sure that these coral reefs would be able to maintain the integrity and functional roles if they are not given increased attention and protection from local threats.

4.5. Recommendations for Future Marine Park Management The following general recommendations apply to all coral reef areas: 

 

Increase number of sites covered by survey programmes in both Peninsular and East Malaysia, and including sites outside existing MPs Encourage more dive operators to participate in monitoring programmes and train staff as EcoDivers Establish Permanent Transects for surveys and disseminate details widely among dive operators and government agencies.


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Chris Wetzelhuetter, Alvin Chelliah and Sue Yee Chen 







  

Install better signage (where relevant) to ensure that visitors realize that ALL waters surrounding the islands form part of the MP, rather than only the area immediately adjacent to the marine park centre; include signs of “do’s and don’ts” in coral reef areas Make available information to be given to each visitor to coral reef areas (e.g. “do’s and don’ts” and how and where to report any offense observed) Implement more education and awareness campaigns and talks for visitors and operators in coral reef areas. Encourage resorts and dive operators to apply Responsible Tourism guidelines to their operations and improve management practices Establish a rating system for resorts operating in coral reef areas, to provide information to customers on the degree to which operators care for the environment Encourage wise usage of fresh water (storing rainwater from roofs, recycling water for watering plants etc.) Install recycling bins and improve collection of rubbish in all areas. Educational programmes for local populations to reduce instances of overfishing and destructive fishing, and to create awareness of the economic importance of reefs for future generations.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION The health of reefs within Tioman and Redang MP has not differed much from 2008 to 2013. However in Perhentian there were periodic blooms of algae on reefs which affected coral cover. Coral reefs within these three MPs were mainly impacted by local threats such as pollution, crown-of-thorns outbreaks, inadequate solid waste management, expanding tourism, development, and illegal fishing. All three MPs were also affected by the regional change in water temperature in 2010 which caused mass coral bleaching at the study sites. However recovery rates were high and coral cover returned to levels similar to post bleaching by 2012. After the mass coral bleaching event in 2010, a Malaysian Coral Reef Bleaching Response Committee was formed and a Malaysia Bleaching Response Plan was developed. The committee consisted of DMPM, Sabah Parks, Sarawak State Forestry and RCM. The Committee was made


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responsible for day to day implementation of the plan, and is supported by an Advisory Panel consisting of other governmental departments and universities. In order to better prepare reefs for future global events a series of resilience surveys were conducted and highly resilient sites were identified for extra protection. These sites were identified based on 61 key factors including, high live coral cover, high topographical complexity at both micro and macro levels, complex 3-dimensional reef structure which provide vast areas for coral recruitment and a range of habitats for marine life, abundant natural shading, and high recovery rate from previous bleaching events. Reefs that were severely damaged during the 2010 bleaching event were also rehabilitated to promote recovery. The reef rehabilitation programme had numerous objectives beyond simply rehabilitating areas of reef, principally the involvement of local communities in the project, including tourism operators, and creating opportunities for raising education and awareness on the islands. Although problems have been encountered, ongoing regular maintenance and monitoring has improved survival rates. Corals have overgrown cable ties and frames, many natural recruits have also settled on the frames, fish and invertebrates have taken up residence at the nursery and rehabilitated sites. This programme has shown that proper maintenance and monitoring can improve the success of reef rehabilitation efforts.

REFERENCES Aikanathan, S. & Wong F. H., 1994. Marine Park Island Management Conceptual Plan for Peninsular Malaysia. Department of Fisheries Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. Bahagian Pemuliharaan dan Pengurusan Alam Sekitar. 2006a. Laporan Tahap Tampungan dan Garis Panduan Pembangunan Pulau Tioman. Jabatan Perancangan Bandar dan Desa Semenanjung Malaysia. Putrajaya. Bahagian Pemuliharaan dan Pengurusan Alam Sekitar. 2006b. Laporan Tahap Tampungan dan Garis Panduan Pembangunan Pulau Redang. Jabatan Perancangan Bandar dan Desa Semenanjung Malaysia. Putrajaya. Ch’ng K. L., 1990. National Marine Parks Malaysia- Policy and Concepts. Fish. Bull. No.40. Department of Fisheries Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. Edwards, A.J. (ed.) (2010). Reef Rehabilitation Manual. Coral Reef Targeted Research & Capacity Building for Management Program: St Lucia, Australia. ii + 166 pp.


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Fabricius, K. E., Okaji, K. De’ath, G. 2010. Three lines of evidence to link outbreaks of crown-of-thorns seastar Acanthaster planci to the release of larval food limitation. Coral Reefs 29:593-605. Hodgson, G., J. Hill, W. Kiene, L. Maun, J. Mihaly, J. Liebeler, C. Shuman, R. Torres 2006. Reef Check Instruction Manual: A guide to Reef Check Coral Reef Monitoring, pp. 86. California, USA: Reef Check Foundation. Hyde, J., Chelliah, A. J & Chen S. Y. 2013. Reef Rehabilitation Experiments: A Review of Results & Lessons Learned. Reef Check Malaysia. (https:// issuu.com/alvin_chelliah/docs/reef_rehabilitation_experiments/11?e=0). Jabatan Taman Laut Malaysia. 2012. Laporan Tahunan 2012. Kementerian Sumber Asli. Putrajaya. Reef Check Malaysia. 2012. Annual Survey Report 2012. wwwreefcheck.org.my. Tan, C. H & Heron, S. F., 2011. First observed mass coral bleaching in Malaysia, Greater Coral Triangle.Galaxea, Journal of Coral Reef Studies 13: 27-28. Tukirin, Nazratul Azra Bt, 2013 Tioman Development Agency, personal communication. Yewdall, K. 2013. Paradise in peril: studying & protecting reefs, sharks, dolphins and turtles of the Pulau Tioman Marine Park, Malaysia. Biosphere Expedition Report. www.biosphere-expeditions.org/reports.




Chapter 4

THE LAND COVER CHANGES AS TOOLS TO SUPPORT THE PRESERVATION OF NATURALNESS AT THE SELE COASTAL PLAIN (SOUTHERN ITALY) I. Alberico*1, M. Fagnano2, A. Dal Piaz3, E. Anzalone1, R. Barra4, L. Ferraro 1, L. Giordano1, V. Di Fiore1 and E. Marsella1 1

*

Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero (IAMC), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) Calata Porta di Massa, Napoli, Italy 2 Dipartimento Ingegneria Agraria e Agronomia del Territorio, Università degli Studi ‘‘Federico II’’ di Napoli, Portici, Italy 3 Dipartimento di Progettazione Urbana e di Urbanistica, Universita` degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy 4 Associazione Comitato Ev-K2-CNR, Napoli, Italy

Corresponding author: Ines Alberico, Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero (IAMC), ConsiglioNazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) Calata Porta di Massa snc, 80133 Naples, Italy, e-mail: [email protected]


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ABSTRACT The effects of changes of land-cover on biodiversity at Sele coastal plain (Southern Italy), together with the use of the green infrastructures have been evaluated. First, we briefly comment on the territorial system evolution during the last 150 years, a fundamental step to understand the causes which lead to the urban sprawl and the agricultural vocation of this area. Afterwards, we analyze the present planning tools to preserve the environmental and landscape quality and the urban liveability as well. This analysis evidences that the Sele coastal plain still has areas with a good degree of naturalness, some of which located in protected zones. However, the agricultural crops represent the dominant scenery. The grain cereals and vegetable plants, with a medium degree of naturalness, are the most common land-cover classes, representing the 50% of the whole area. We aim at illustrating how the use of agricultural practices, as identified in the new Common Agricultural Policy [1], hedges, beetle banks and rows of trees, and old infrastructures of the area, could improve the biodiversity framework of the area.

1. INTRODUCTION Coastal zones have always been chosen by humans as a good place to live, these areas host a population whose average density is three times major than the global one [2]. Over the last forty years the human pressure has caused a strong variation of land use, wild areas have been consumed by agriculture, roads and settlements. The main causes of the ecosystem loss are the coastal erosion (about 65%) and the sprawl of infrastructures and economic sites (16%). From 1990 to 2000 the European artificial surfaces have increased by 7.5%, this trend has also characterized the period from 2000 to 2006 with an expansion rate of about 4,9%, highlighting an acceleration of the annual rate from 0.75% to 0.82 [3]. Currently, the urban sprawl is the dominant urban growth paradigm in several regions, it is the result of a dynamic settlement uncontrolled by the planning tools. This model does not always spread along the existing transport network, it leads to a further fragmentation and consumption of soil. The fragmentation has two main effects: 1) the deconstruction of the urban fabric and 2) the fragmentation of the landscape, this last effect damages the natural environment and determines the loss of biodiversity. The loss of naturalness has begun to have a relevant importance only recently when the Territorial Plans have focused on the conservation and on a


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better management of ecosystems. In fact their healthy status enhances the full potential of goods and services improving the human well-being [4,5,6]. In the last century the scientific literature concerning the ecosystem services aiming at integrating this concept into the decision making processes has increased [7, 8, 9], because the knowledge of how ecosystems undergo changes by the anthropogenic pressure and the consequent ecosystem changes for human well-being are fundamental to define the actions needed to promote the conservation and the sustainable use of ecosystems. According to Hermann et al. [10], we assume the Landscape Science as a key concept because it is focused on spatial patterns and scales [11], which are primary elements to know the distribution of natural zones, and anthropogenic activities to understand their relations as well. The data mapping is a remarkable tool to show the environmental status through indicators and indexes, and to communicate clear and concise information to stakeholders about the naturalness of coastal areas, the role of natural cites as basic factors of the territory to preserve the biodiversity and the human health. Within this framework, starting from the work of Giordano et al. [12] which describes the natural landscape status of the Sele coastal plain (Southern Italy), we analyse again the naturalness concept to illustrate how the land cover changes, the use of “low input farming systems” and of “ecological infrastructures” makes it possible to promote the coexistence of natural areas and anthropogenic activities, in areas still characterized by a good level of naturalness. In this paper we illustrate the key role of land-cover changes and green infrastructures to improve and preserve the biodiversity. Firstly, a review of planning tools in force in the study area is proposed. Secondly, we describe how the territorial evolution of last 150 years influenced the present territorial status and then, the quantitative analysis of land-covers prevailing in the area and of possible effects of changes. All the information has been organized into a geo-database in order to simplify the environmental data integration as a useful tool to evaluate, to map and to communicate the coastal ecosystem status.

2. STUDY AREA The Sele River plain (Campania Region, Southern Italy) is one of the widest alluvial coastal plains of the Central-Southern Italy and the Sele River, about 75 km long, drains a catchment area of about 3.236 km2 (fig.1). This


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plain represents the emerged continental portion of a large triangular-shaped morphotectonic depression, whose origin is related to the opening and the expansion of the Tyrrhenian Basin [13, 14], which started during the Upper Miocene [15]. The specific geographic position of these areas enjoy the Mediterranean climate type and a mean annual precipitation ranging from 700 to 2000 mm [16]. In this area the following three dominant landform types are recognizable: (a) the northern Lattari, Picentini, Alburni and Soprano-Sottano Mesozoic carbonatic mountains, covered by Miocene terrigenous deposits and Quaternary sediments mostly pyroclastics, derived from the explosive activity of Campania volcanic district, and with a mean elevation of about 1000 a.s.l, (b) the silico-clastic Cilento hills formed by a very thick, and coarse clastic wedge, known as Eboli Conglomerate, dated back to the lower-middle Pleistocene and with a mean elevation of 400 m a.s.l., (c) an alluvial plain, which is the target area in the present work.

Figure 1. (a) Location map of the study area. (b) Main morphological features of the Sele coastal plain, (c) 3D visualization, the dune systems (1 Sterpina, 2 Laura, 3 Aversana-Arenosola, S. Cecilia, Gromola) and the back dune areas (4) .

The coastal alluvial plain is closed landwards by the Tyrrhenian beachdune ridges of Gromola, Santa Cecilia, Arenosola and Aversana and seaward by a younger coastal sector, including a dunal sandy system elevated from 1 to 5 meters a.s.l. The dune system has a scattered heath vegetation, while the back dune area is characterized by a pine forest (Pinus pinea and Pinus



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halepensis) with confined areas of Mediterranean scrub and holm oaks (Quercus ilex). The narrow scrub between the dunes and the pine forest shows a diversified structure and floristic composition (Pistacia lentiscus, Nerium oleander, Juniperus communis, Myrtus communis, and Ceratonia siliqua are dominant species) as well as a rich fauna (annelids, molluscs and seabirds). The first evidence of important anthropic modifications of the plain dates back to the about 2500 y B.P. when Greek colonists moving from Sibari, on the Ionian coasts of the southern Italy, established in the southern Sele plain and built the town of Poseidonia on a travertine platform which offered a safe position naturally extended few meters above the alluvial plain. The Greek town in the 273 B.C. passed under the Roman influence and took the name of Paestum. It flourished from the the VI to VII B.C. Afterwards Paestum and the Sele plain were largely abandoned because of adverse climatic conditions and the town became partly covered by fluvial and soft travertine deposits (VIII-IX cen. A.C, d’Erasmo 1935). Between the 5th and the 8th centuries A.D. in the Sele plain a dispersion of population occurred, due to diffused swamping in the Sele plain and to piracy attacks from the sea. This dispersion was moderately restrained by the Longobards and then Norman invasion in Campania (1130-1189). So Paestum was forgotten, and its stony blocks of travertine carved nearby were partly removed to be used as building materials for churches and castles. With the subsequent Anjou ruling, the Naples Kingdom (1268-1435), the Sele plain villages, as well as those of the nearby Cilento, not being linked to Salerno or Naples by roads, commercial roads, with their limited cultivated lands, remained poor and isolated for a long period. This situation changed at the time of the vast reclamation works carried during the Bourbon era (17341806). It was not before 1870 that this area started to be urbanized, the unique evidences of human activity since then result in the drainage channel network [17].

3. THE PLANNING TOOLS The environmental and landscape quality, the urban liveability, the sustainable development and the territorial cohesion are relevant issues in the current historical phase and deserve priority within the territorial policies both at global and local levels. Clear guidelines concerning these fields are contained in several proceedings and documents of the European Union in recent years, like the


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Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, the Development Scheme of the European Community space [18], the Lisbon European Council [19], the Gӧteborg European Council [20], the Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament for “Strategic Environmental Assessment [21], the EU's 2020 Biodiversity Strategy [22]. The Territorial Coordination Plan of the Salerno Province [23] has been prepared in accordance with the regulatory programs produced recently (table 1). Table 1. The planning tools in force at the Sele coastal plain Art.57 Legislative Decree n.112/98; Art. 20 Unique Test of laws concerning the local institutions, approved by Legislative Decree n.267/2000. The Campania Region law n. 16/04 (LRC16/04), concerning the "Provisions on the territorial government”, which disciplines the making and the contents of the Territorial Coordination Plan (PTCP), assigning it the role of main tool of territorial planning; followed by detailed plans (PSP), which have to be practiced by provinces in accordance to the regional planning and to the goals indicated in the Art. 2 of the same law. The Regional Territorial Plan (PTR), with particular reference to the Territorial Development Systems (STS) and to the Landscape Guidelines in Campania Region, approved by L.R. n.13/08; The existing sectorial plans and programs.

The L.R.C.16/04 has played a key role in the PTCP drafting process assigning the following roles to the provincial planning: landscape plan, nature protection plan, environmental plan, water plan, soil defense plan and natural resources protection plan, basin plan, territorial park plan, urban and industrial zoning plan. The PTCP of the Salerno Province [23] is based on the reduction of soil consumption through the recovery and the requalification of existing settlements in order to safeguard the physical integrity of the territory and of the landscape (Art.131 Legislative Decree n° 42/2004 "Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape", Legislative Decree n. 157/06 providing corrections and additions to the Legislative Decree n. 42/04). In accordance with the Art.1 of the European Landscape Convention [24], ratified by the Italian government through the Law 14/06, the Plan considers the whole territory as landscape, interpreted as it is perceived by people, whose characters result from natural and/or anthropic relationships.



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Moreover the Salerno PTCP [23] derives from the PTR [25] the need purpose of enhancing the environmental and landscape resources, considered as physical and social elements of identity. From the above derives the strong need to safeguard these elements in the frame of a development system. In such framework it may be assigned a dynamic value to the concept of landscape, in order to transform a territory, without depriving it. Starting from these concepts, the Plan subdivides the Salerno territory in Territorial Identities Areas, identified with reference (a) to the Landscape Units, derived from the Landscapes Map, and (b) to the Systems of Territorial Development or STS [25], which manage the development on the basis of the territorial resources. Our study area consists of two Identity Areas called Sele Plain and Salerno-Irno Valley-Picentini Metropolitan Area. The Sele Plain consists of two STS called Sele Plain and Magna Graecia, while the Salerno-Irno ValleyPicentini Metropolitan Area encompasses the urban area of Salerno. The above STS are in turn divided into six landscape units, of which the only Sele Plain, Paestum Plain and the Sele river mouth unit fall within the study area (Fig. 2).

Figure 2. The Territorial Identity Areas and the Systems of Territorial Development identified by the Provincial Territorial Plan of Salerno.


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4. THE RECENT EVOLUTIONARY FRAMEWORK OF SETTLEMENTS, FROM THE SERVICE CENTERS OF RECLAMATION TO THE EARLY SIGNS OF URBAN SPRAWL The settlement structures in the Sele Plain have undergone remarkable changes over the last 150 years. At the time of the Italian unification all the towns placed on the hills, at the edges of the plain (Faiano, Eboli, Altavilla, Albanella, Capaccio e Giungano), which was largely characterized by wetlands and marshes (Fig. 3).

Figure 3. The territorial evolution of the study area from the Italian unification to the first signs of urban sprawl.

The first impulse towards the changes has been generated by the construction of the Naples to Reggio Calabria and to Taranto railway. Their junction in Battipaglia led this rural village to grow steadily turning in the largest urban center of the plain, already in the second half of the nineteen century. According to the “integral reclamation” criteria of the first half of the 900’s, the hydraulic accommodation led to a territorial policy of dismember



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the drained lands into standard farm residences, assigning them to families moved here from other regions. The program also included a windbreak pine forest onto coastal public lands and the building of some urban cores with the essential services ("service centers") in the remediated plain. In recent years, these scattered settlements grown after the reclamation have completely changed their nature: many homes have no longer a rural use and some service centers have disappeared. In the northern part of the plain the development of tobacco crops, a governmental monopoly, led to the construction of several tobacco manufactories in both urban and rural locations. This stimulated in the ‘60s the first urban industrialization in the Battipaglia-Eboli area (“Industrial Development Area agglomeration”), which still today consists of a number of manufacturing plants. The dairy industries producing the typical buffalo mozzarella have instead kept a scattered organization on the territory, despite their substantial growth, also in relation to the proliferation of buffalo herds, once characterizing few landowning companies operating in the plain since the eighteenth-nineteenth centuries, which used to be enriched by manors of great architectural interest. The discovery of the Greek-Roman town of Paestum by tourists dates back to the mid-twentieth century, mainly due to the interest expressed by foreigners and perhaps to an unexpected deferred effect of the war in 1943, during which the Anglo-American armies fought against the German army in the plain. The farsighted commitment of the archaeologist Umberto Zanotti Bianco was able to achieve the approval of a law for the protection of Paestum [26] which imposed the ban of building up on a band of 1,000 meters around the ancient city's walls. In fact the noticeable substantial development of Capaccio Scalo is attributed mainly to the proliferation of hotels, connected with Paestum but outside the buffer zone in north-western area (city of Laura) in conjunction with a good accessibility to the station, and then to the increasing secondhome subdivisions in the southeastern area (city of Licinella), concerning buildings sometimes located illegally in the protected zone. The fundamental matrix of the settlement development was the network of the interurban routes. In particular, along the State Road 18 various trading and crafting occupancies have sometimes originated for new residential cores. Another arterial road which has promoted these occupancies has been the so-called "coastal road" which from the south-eastern suburbs of Salerno reaches Agropoli, growing mostly on the inner edge of the long coastal pine forest. Here the settlements have a touristic use (camping sites, hotels,


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restaurants, second homes), with very frequent unauthorized building. This is the case of the several shacks or “pseudo-villas” located downstream of the "coastal road" on the public territory of Eboli, and only in the 90’s demolished by order of the Municipality. In the latest years an urban sprawl has begun to occur even in the Sele Plain, with a relative greater concentration in the territory of Pontecagnano, the closest to Salerno, and in the adjacent towns of Bellizzi and Battipaglia as well. The peculiar structure of the Italian market of urban housing, with a price system dominated by parasitical income from house and land properties, determines high settlement costs in the central urban areas and relatively minor costs in the structured suburban regions. Within this framework, a part of housing demand, often oriented towards the detached houses with garden, determines settlement solutions totally lacking of services and sometimes of the basic infrastructures, like sewers in the countryside or in the marginal fringes at the edge of the "rur-urban suburbs". The overall effects of this type of urbanization process are economically devastating, forcing highly productive agricultural lands to be wasted for a relatively small urban income. In terms of ecology (the soil consumption is insane and the hydrogeological and air pollutions are impressive), in terms of urbanization (the imbalance between the population distribution and the services availability is unbridgeable), in terms of the public administration (e.g. the costs of waste management or of postal services are too high).

5. LAND COVER AND COASTAL SYSTEM MANAGEMENT The land-cover map of Campania Region, at 1:25.000 scale, is a thematic map that shows the use of the territory according to the European Union CORINE Land Cover Project [27]. For the Sele coastal zone 25 land cover classes have been identified, the grain cereals and vegetable plants representing the 50% of the study area. It is followed by the fruit trees, the horticultural and fruit crops for about 9%. These cropping systems are characterized by high chemical inputs and environmental impacts. Furthermore there are many greenhouses used for intensive crops with very high chemical and energetic inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, soil tillage). The spatial distribution of these classes together with the urbanized areas are shown in figure 4.



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Figure 4. Principal land covers characterizing the Sele coastal zone.

The map of land cover was used to identify the suggested land-cover changes towards the most suitable ones in order to rise the naturalness of the coastal ecosystem.

5.1. The Naturalness of Land-Cover The landscape of the Sele coastal plain evidences a good degree of naturalness, for both the inhabitants and tourists. Sites of “Community Importance” [28], Protected Zones [29], Natural Reserve and Oasis characterize the area even if the agricultural crops are the dominant scenery (fig.5).


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Figure 5. Natural protected zones and land-covers with a high degree of naturalness.

According to Giordano et al. [12], which defines the natural landscape status of the Sele coastal plain as the sum of naturalness of land cover, protected areas, ecological corridors and ecosystem fragmentation indexes, we have investigated the naturalness of the land-cover classes to define those which should be changed and the practices to adopt to improve their biodiversity. This analysis uses spatial and non-spatial data recorded in the Sele Coastal Plain geo-database implemented by Giordano et al [12] and here upgraded with new information on recent evolutionary framework of settlements, from the service centers of reclamation to the first signs of urban sprawl and on the



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regulations devoted to the biodiversity improving. Thanks to the algorithms available in a Geographic Information System framework, we have quantified the extent of each land-cover class, their percentage over all the coastal plain, the extent of land covers which could be changed into green infrastructures and their possible location. Deciduous and coniferous forests, natural pasture, bushes and shrubs, sclerophyllous vegetation are the land-cover classes, with a high degree of naturalness and represent only the 8% of the coastal plain (fig. 6). In contrast, the horticultural and fruit crops class is characterized by the lowest naturalness of the study area. The grain cereals and vegetable plants, with a medium degree of naturalness, are the most common land-cover classes, they represent 50% of the whole area (Fig. 6). The latter are the classes which should be changed to improve the biodiversity.

Figure 6. The land cover was ranked into six classes, for each we reported the extension (a). To clearly show the extent of the land-covers pertaining the single natural classes we used two diagrams: the first concerning the classes with a low degree of naturalness while the second regarding the ones with a high degree of naturalness.


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5.2. Land-Cover Changes to Improve the Biodiversity Status The need to guarantee stable and affordable food supply for a growing world population, and to meet the increasing demand for biomass to achieve the EU bioenergy targets within the 2020, it is difficult to halt completely the intensive farming system [30, 31]. The preservation and promotion of naturalness at the Sele coastal plain could be reached increasing the presence of “low input farming systems” and of “ecological infrastructures”. The “low input farming systems” include the integrated farming, the precision farming, the conservation agriculture, the organic farming and the farming-forestry combined systems (“silvopastoralism”). These types of farming aim at enhancing the biological soil fertility and the natural resistance of the agricultural production to perturbations such as plant diseases and climatic changes [32]. The “ecological infrastructures” include hedges, small ponds, beetle banks and other habitats that, introduced into intensely farming systems, enhance the landscape complexity of the agro-ecosystems providing a mosaic of habitats for species. These infrastructures combined with agricultural practices (such as long and diverse rotations, a more heterogeneous regional distribution of crops and a better adjustment to the natural soil fertility) contribute to increase the biodiversity, allowing at the same time to maintain a high level of productivity [33,34]. At the Sele coastal plain, the biodiversity of plants, which in Southern Italy are normally cultivated in short rotations (3 crops per year), could be improved by adopting organic farming systems which reduce the chemical inputs thanks to the use of organic fertilizers. Among the latter, the compost allows to increase C storage into the soil from 2 to 7 t CO2 ha-1 per year [35]. The increase of soil organic carbon also leads to the reduction of the soil erodibility [36] and to the increase of the soil microbial biodiversity [37]. The adoption of these measures could be potentially very high (+10% per year from 2015) since they are reported in the new addresses of Common Agricultural Policy [1]. As regards cereal crops, the new CAP [1] guidelines suggest to adopt at least the 3 years rotation. Therefore the biodiversity degree of cereal crops will increase by 10% per year since 2015 when the new CAP will start, thanks to the rotations with legume or forage crops, which have a high level of naturalness since they do not require fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides. In this area, the rows of windbreak trees bounding the fruit trees reduce the evapotranspiration and the water use, also protecting the orchards from the



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sea-spray aerosol. This old ecological infrastructure could have other positive effects on the environmental quality, improving the biodiversity in agroecosystems, and on the landscape quality, as well, conserving the historical cropland design made during the Roman times (the so-called centuriatio) [38]. This ecological infrastructure together with hedges could be adopted to enrich biodiversity. According to the “High Nature Value farmland-Characteristics, trends and policy challenges” report [39], the intensive agricultural system at Sele coastal plain could be changed to promote the biodiversity [40], reaching at least the 20% of semi‑natural vegetation on farmland, as suggested by several ecologists [33].

Figure 7. The two main agricultural crops of the coastal plain, the grain cereals (green color) and the vegetable plants (pail orange) are reported on the topographic map of the study area. The black box is magnified in the two sketch maps on the right: in the upper map we illustrate the integration of current agricultural systems with hedges along the network (orange lines), in the lower map the location of beetle banks.

The 20% of vegetable plants and grain cereals distribution area is represented by 18 km2. Firstly, we define a buffer areas 5 meters wide around


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the road network, including the country roads and a channel network to host hedges and trees, subtracting a total area of about 3.5 km2 to the farming (fig.7). Afterwards, a regular distribution of about 40 small areas with an extension of about 200 m2 each (total area= 8 km2) should be included within the farming areas to host beetle banks.

CONCLUSION The achievement of a balance between agricultural productivity and biodiversity is vital to halt the loss of biodiversity in Europe and at a global scale, also to ensure enough healthy food. We have illustrated how changes in grain cereals crops, one of the main cultivation of the Sele coastal plain, could increase the biodiversity of the study area. The rotation with legume or forage crops favors the replacement of chemical inputs with organic fertilizers, contributing to the decrease of the pollution of the groundwater and of the soil erodibility. Furthermore, we have showed how is possible to reach a better biodiversity status through the use of green infrastructures in two stages. Within the next three years, the development of a natural area 3.5 km2 wide could be favored through the introduction of hedges along the country roads and the main channel network, linear elements communicating among them and with the river network. In the two years following the above step, the achieved degree of biodiversity could be improved through about 40 beetle banks, increasing the extent of the natural areas of about 8 km2. All the information has been illustrated into maps in order to easily communicate to stakeholders how the ecological integrity of coastal ecosystem and the urban liveability could be achieved through land use changes.

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I. Alberico, M. Fagnano, A. Dal Piaz et al. case of Sele plain, southern Italy. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei. 24,113–126 DOI 10.1007/s12210-013-0236-2. Bartole, R., Savelli, C., Tramontana, M. & Wezel, F. (1984). Structural and sedimentary features in the Tyrrhenian margin of Campania, Southern Italy. Marine Geology, 55, 163-180. Cinque, A, Romano, P, Budillon, F. & D’Argenio, B. (2009) Note illustrative della carta geologica d’Italia 1:50,000, Foglio 486, SalernoISPRA, Roma. Brancaccio, L., Cinque, A., D'angelo, B., Russo, F., Santangelo, N. & Sgrosso, I. (1987). voluzione tettonica e geomorfologica della Piana del Sele (Campania, Appennino meridionale). Geogr. Fis. Dinam., Quat. 10, 47-55. Diodato, N., Fagnano, M. & Alberico, I. (2009). CliFERM – Climate Forcing and Erosion Response Modelling at Long-Term Sele River Research Basin (Southern Italy). Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 9, 16931702. Alberico, I., Amato, V., Aucelli, P P C., Di Paola, G., Pappone, G. & Rosskopf, C M. (2012). Historical and recent changes of the Sele River coastal plain (Southern Italy): natural variations and human pressures. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 23,3-12 DOI 10.1007/s12210-011-0156-y. European Spatial Development Perspective - Towards Balanced and Sustainable Development of the Territory of the European Union (ESDP), agreed at the Informal Council of Ministers responsible for Spatial Planning in Potsdam, May 1999. Available at: http:// ec.europa. eu/regional_policy/sources/docoffic/official/reports/pdf/sum_en.pdf [Accessed 10 November 2013]. Lisbon European Council, 23 and 24 March 2000. Available at: www. europarl.europa.eu/summits/lis1_en.htm.[Accessed 10 November 2013]. Gӧteborg European Council 2001, 15 and 16 June 2001. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/governance/impact/background/docs/goteborg_concl _en.pdf [Accessed 10 November 2013] Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment http://eur-lex.europa.eu/ LexUriServ/ LexUriServ.do? uri=CELEX:32001 L0042:en:NOT EU biodiversity strategy to 2020' as tabled by the European Commission in May 2011. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/info/ pubs/docs/brochures/2020%20Biod%20brochure%20final% 0lowres.pdf [Accessed 10 November 2013]



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[23] PTCP, Provincial Territorial Plan of Salerno (2012). Available at http://www.provincia.salerno.it. [Accessed 10 November 2013]. [24] The European Landscape Convention 2000 also known as the Florence Convention, adopted on 20 October 2000 in Florence (Italy) and came into force on 1 March 2004 (Council of Europe Treaty Series no. 176). Availableathttp:www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/heritage/ Landscape/. [Accessed 10 November 2013]. [25] PTR, Regional Territorial Plan (2006). http://www.sito. regione. Campania. Available at it/PTR2006/PTRindex.htm [Accessed 10 November 2013]. [26] Law n. 220/1957. Costituzione di una zona di rispetto intorno alla antica città di Paestum e divieto di costruzione entro la cinta muraria. [27] Commission of the European Community, CORINE Land Cover (1994). [28] Directive, 92/43/CEE ‘‘On the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora’’ Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/ LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31992L0043:EN:NOT. [Accessed 5 May 2012]. [29] Directive, 79/409/CEE ‘‘On the conservation of wild birds’’. http:// ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/legislation/birdsdirective/.Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX: 31979 L0409:FR:NOT. [Accessed 5 May 2012]. [30] Firbank, L. G. (2005). Striking a new balance between agricultural production and biodiversity. Annals of Applied Biology 146(2), 163-175. doi:10.1111/j.1744-7348.2005.040078.x. [31] EEA, European Environmental Agency. (2009). Distribution and targeting of the CAP budget from a biodiversity perspective. EEA Technical report No 12/2009. European Environment Agency, Copenhagen. Available www.eea.europa.eu/ publications/ distribution-andtargeting-of-the-capbudget-from-a-biodiversity-perspective?&utm_campaign=distribution-and-targeting-of-the-capbudget-from-a-bio-diversityperspective&utm_medium=mail&utm_source=EEASub-scriptions [Accessed 10 August 2013]. [32] Biala, K., Terres, J.-M., Pointereau, P. & Paracchini, M.L. (eds.), 2008. Low Input Farming Systems: an Opportunity to Develop Sustainable Agriculture. Proceedings of the JRC Summer University Ranco, 2-5 July 2007. JRC Scientific and Technical Reports. European Communities, Luxembourg. Available at: http://agrienv.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/ pdfs/LIFS_final.pdf [Accessed 19 Nov 2013].


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[33] Le Roux, X., Barbault, R., Baudry, J., Burel, F., Doussan, I., Garnier, E., Herzog, F., Lavorel, S., Lifran, R., Roger-Estrade, J., Sarthou, J.P, & Trommetter, M. (2008). Agriculture and biodiversity. Benefiting from synergies. National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), Paris. Available at: www.international.inra.fr/content/ download/2363/30241/ version/3/file/EscoABdminisynthese- eng-rev2.pdf [34] Cooper, T., Hart, K. & Baldock, D. (2009). Provision of Public Goods through Agriculture in the European Union. Institute for European Environmental Policy, Brussels. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/ agriculture/analysis/external/public-goods/index_ en.htm [Accessed 7 September 2013]. [35] Alluvione, F., Fiorentino, N., Bertora, C., Zavattaro, L., Fagnano, M., Quaglietta, Chiarandà F. & Grignani, C. (2013). Short-term crop and soil response to C-friendly strategies in two contrasting environments. Eur. J. Agron. 45, 114-123. [36] Diodato, N., Fagnano, M., Alberico, I. & Chirico, G.B. (2011). Mapping soil erodibility from composed dataset in Sele River Basin Italy. Natural Hazards, 58, 445-457. [37] Fagnano, M., Merola, G., Zena, A., Quaglietta, Chiarandà F., Moschetti, G., Protopapa, A & Piccolo A. (2003). Apporti di sostanza organica in un ordinamento orticolo ad agricoltura biologica: risultati preliminari sugli effetti di breve periodo. Rivista Agronomia, 37, 133-138. [38] Fagnano M. (2010) Ruoli dei Paesaggi agrari nei territori fortemente urbanizzati: il caso della Provincia di Napoli. In: Patrimonio culturale e paesaggio: un approccio di filiera per la progettualita’ territoriale (Mautone M. Ronza M., Eds.). Gangemi Editore, Roma. 141-146. [39] EEA, 2004. High nature value farmland. Characteristics, trends and policy challenges. EEA report No 1/2004. European Environment Agency, Copenhagen. Available at: ww.eea.europa.eu/ publications /report_2004_1 [Accessed 10 September 2013]. [40] Paracchini, M. L.; Petersen, J.-E.; Hoogeveen, Y.; Bamps, C.; Burfield, I. and van Swaay, C., 2008. High Nature Value Farmland in Europe. An estimate of the distribution patterns on the basis of land cover and biodiversity data. JRC Scientific and Technical Reports. European Communities, Luxembourg. Available at: http://agrienv.jrc.ec. europa. eu/ activities_HNV.htm [Accessed 7 September 2013].




Chapter 5

IMPLICATIONS OF OFFSHORE OIL EXPLORATION IN THE BRAZILIAN COASTAL ZONE Etiene Villela Marroni1,* and Milton L. Asmus2,† 1

Laboratory of International Policy and Management of Oceanic Spaces, GIS Technology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil 2 Institute of Oceanography, Federal University of Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Brazil

ABSTRACT The economic consequences of increased trade and foreign investment, as a result of greater economic integration between countries, are on the global agenda. The interaction between coastal environment and the external sector is one of the most challenging topics. The convergence of these themes has being provoking a heated debate among people which are favorable and contrary to the thesis of the incompatibility between increased trade and maintaining a pattern of economic development and sustainable environment. Thesis expanded to the possible incompatibility between the movement of international financial capital and foreign direct investment and sustainability. * †

E-mail: [email protected]. E-mail: [email protected].


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Etiene Villela Marroni and Milton L. Asmus Categorically, this applies to exploration and production (E & P) of oil in the Brazilian Pre-Salt formation. Brazil must inspect and monitor any process of exploration, mainly offshore, in the coastal territory of its jurisdiction. In this respect, it is noteworthy that PETROBRAS (the lead oil company in the country) has become the technology leader in deep and ultra-deep waters, which guarantees to Brazil at the time, the control of its maritime rich resources relating to exploration and exploitation of oil and natural gas. Thus, we recognize the issue of technological competition as a determinant for the productive internalization process. This process, especially among developed countries, should be understood as the result of technological capability, which multinational companies are able to appropriate due to the existence of "overflows" from the system. Therefore, we intend to clarify the extent to which Brazilian law "protects" the exploitation of natural resources, especially hydrocarbons, from a coastal environment approach.

Keywords: Brazilian Coastal Zone; Hydrocarbons; Brazilian Pre-Salt Formation

1. GOVERNANCE IN THE OCEANIC SPACE: THE III UNCLOS Most coastal states have ratified the III United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea, aiming the regulation of their “maritime” spaces in face of the “greed” for natural resources, or, simply, to protect its oceanic territory. The United States of America, the hegemonic power, did not sign the Convention, mainly because it does not agree with the innocent passage of foreign ships in its waters. According to John Bellinger [5], by that time a legal adviser of the National Security Council in the Bush administration, who was at the head of the reviews of all the still-not-ratified Treaties running through analysis in the US Senate, the Clinton administration had classified the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea as a priority. For this reason, the biggest problem faced during the Bush administration was to keep this classification. The author stresses the numerous benefits for the USA, which justify the support to the Convention. First of all, the UNCLOS represents the interests of the USA regarding the national security, for it ensures ships and aircrafts (military as well as commercial ones) the right and freedom of navigation in all of the world’s oceans, including the Right of Innocent Passage (art. 17)


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through territorial seas and international straights. Secondly, the UNCLOS [33] stands for something that is of paramount importance in economical terms for the USA: the natural resources. Once the Convention is ratified, the USState would have control over all the resources inside the 200 miles Exclusive Economic Zone (as authorized by the Convention) in both their oceanic coasts, over and under the sea bed outside the territorial sea of 12 nautical miles. It is important to make clear that the UNCLOS gives rise to an institution – The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (linked to the United Nations) – which allows the coastal state the opportunity to maximize the international recognition and the legal security regarding the augment of its Continental Shelf beyond the 200 nautical miles. This is a valuable resource which would maximize the legal security regarding the rights of the USA to exploit the energy sources on vast offshore areas (maritime and oceanic prospecting), including areas that could go, at least, up to 600 km to the north of Alaska. Nevertheless, the most important thing is to acknowledge that the UNCLOS establishes an extensive legal framework and basic obligations in order to protect the maritime and oceanic environment from all the pollution sources and from the economic exploitation of its resources. This framework allocates regulatory and executive authority in order to balance the interests of the coastal state to protect the maritime environment and its natural resources with the rights and freedoms of navigation of all states. One should not forget that the economic consequences [22] of the increase of foreign trade and investments, because of the greater economic integration between countries is on top of the global agenda. The interaction between environment and external sector is one of the most challenging topics. The convergence of these themes has lead to intense disputes between people who are for and against the thesis of incompatibility of the increase of trade and the maintenance of a standard of economic and environmentally sustainable growth. This thesis gets deepened up by the potential incompatibility between the moving of international financial capital and the direct foreign investment in sustainability. The interaction between environment and external sector includes, as well, the possibility of trade restrictions (international trade regime) in order to establish environmental goals (international environmental regime). For this reason, it is necessary to take the effects of the growth of international trade over environmental issues and natural resources into account. Each country needs to fully realize and oversee the spatial distribution of direct foreign investment in its territory, in contrast to the


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frantic search for environmental paradises for multinational companies and the so called race to the bottom.

2. THE COASTAL-MARITIME ENVIRONMENT AND ITS POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS: THE CASE OF BRAZIL The term “Blue Amazon”, coined by the Brazilian Navy, refers to an extraordinary repository of natural resources which is available to Brazil in its immense coastline which stretches over 8.200 kilometres with an area of more then 4 million square kilometres in its Exclusive Economic Zone. However, in the 21st century, we cannot talk about “sources” of resources without first mentioning the environmental issues which are connected to the exploitation of the wealth of resources spread along the vast Brazilian coastline. The Brazilian state is going through a period of “economic growth” which reflects on the social and economic development, which, in turn, demands several initiatives on the side of government and society in order to maintain, in a sustainable way, the generation of jobs and income and the social welfare. As the “State” grew, so did the possibilities of new investments in several sectors of the Brazilian economy. One of such sectors involves a whole set of companies and professionals focused on the sea. Although Brazil, along its history, has had the availability of a coastal line with great potential for navigation, a great source of fishing resources and other natural resources which are relevant for the development of the country, it was the oil prospecting activities on the Legal Brazilian Continental Shelf that turned the country into a destination for several types of investors, be it local or international ones. According to Lojenga and Oliva [19], [...] the role of investors in conservation, and particularly, in the sustainable use of the biodiversity still needs to be more analysed and developed. Many economic and industrial sectors depend largely on biodiversity, such as its actions may cause great impact on ecosystems and biological resources.

It is true that the Brazilian state is one of the few countries in the world that have a significant governmental policy for the protection of the environment. If it is the case that it has been put to practice in a rational way is another story. Notwithstanding, we must acknowledge that Brazil follows all



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International Conventions regarding the environment, being one of the first countries in the world which, following the Stockholm Convention of 1972, has created a Special Environment Secretary of State (in 1973), by that time connected to the Presidential office. The creation of this Secretary became a landmark in the institutional history regarding the environment in the country. A year later, the Inter-Ministry Commission of for Sea Resources (CIRM) came to life. Its goal was to coordinate topics that would lead to a Brazilian coastal area national policy by means of the Directive nr. 74 577, from 12th September 1974 [11]. Keeping up with its ongoing commitment to the environment, especially through international agreements, Brazil ratified the III UNCLOS in 1988. In this way, it was able, furthermore, to apply, at the Commission on Continental Platform Boundaries for the expansion of its jurisdiction at sea. Article 144 [33], however, states that every coastal country which owns natural resources which are essential for the development of its maritime/oceanic territory and does not possess enough means and technology to exploit such resources should allow another country, which possesses such technologies, to exploit such resources. In this respect, it is remarkable that Petrobras – the Brazilian main oil company  has become a leader in terms of deep water technology, which ensures Brazil, at the present, the control over its maritime wealth regarding the exploitation of oil and natural gas. It is noticeable, therefore, that the issue of technological competition [15] is largely conditioning of the process of productive internalisation. This process, especially between developed countries, should be understood as a consequence of the technological qualification which multinational companies are able to get hold of because of “leakages” in the system. Technological evolution has revealed other perspectives in sea bed and maritime subsoil exploitation, making it clear for nations that the sea hides relevant sources of wealth of fundamental strategic importance as a supplier of raw materials, in this way establishing the maritime space as one of the pillars of an international globalized economy. Inexorably, the sea is perceived as of fundamental importance for the development and survival of nations. Given this scenario, it becomes a necessity to delimitate maritime spaces, the sovereignty and State jurisdiction of coastal states [20].


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In this regard, the new Legal Framework [21] for the exploitation of the Brazilian Pre-Salt Layer22, currently under evaluation at the National Congress, contains plans of a new Social Funds, which will invest resources originated from the oil and gas extraction in the development of projects which will bring a better quality of life to the Brazilian population. It is necessary to invest in education and new technologies in order to walk in the direction of development without falling into the “traps of system leakage”. As Amaral Júnior [3] states, “the dominating interests of each age actually guide the governmental policies, which will only be altered through local/national and international changes”. In this way, the coastline acquires an even greater strategic value for Brazil because of the discovery of the Pre-Salt Layer. For this reason, it is imperative to “look behind” in order to analyze the way governmental policies of protection of the Blue Amazon by the Brazilian state and how new policies and directions for new national and foreign investments have come about regarding already exploited and still not-exploited areas of this resource, which is vital for the development of nations. According to the Brazilian Navy [6], the Brazilian maritime territory extends through around 4 million square kilometres. It is an extensive oceanic area next to the continent, what has been called the “Blue Amazon” because of its biodiversity in natural resources. This territory is composed by the Territorial Sea and the Continental Shelf which form, together, the Exclusive Economic Zone. There is a basic difference between the Territorial Sea, the Contigouos Zone, the Continental Shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone. The Territorial Sea ranges up to 12 nautical miles from the coastline. By the end of the 17th century, the coastal states possessed a maritime sovereignty of only 3 nautical miles. This demarcation was set according to the distance a cannonball, from the land, could hit a target at the sea. The maritime sovereignty of 3 nautical miles was kept until the decade of 1940. Relevant technological progress and necessities generated at the outset of World War II brought about a new consideration of the sea. Until that date, it was only essential to control the sea “from above”, and nations tried to protect the rights of navigation and fishing. From 1945 onwards, the possibility and/or necessity to control it “from below” was added, leading to claims for the sea bed, its soil and subsoil [1].

22

The Pre-Salt Layer is a geological formation on the continental shelves. In Brazil the Pre-Salt Layer accumulates huge oil and gas formations in deep sediments.



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Therefore, after 1945, it was thought that all countries could exploit resources beyond the 3 miles zone (by that time it meant mainly fishing resources). With the end of World War II and because of it, the instability of resources and the strategic potentialities of oceans (namely the underwater potentialities) lead many countries to enlarge their jurisdiction. The old conception of the limitless availability of oceanic resources began to be put to practice. The Contiguous Zone is the legal extension of the territory which is defined for each country. It is an area where nations possess ruling powers and police control. In the case of Brazil and of most other countries, it is established that this area goes up to 24 miles from the coast. The Continental Shelf is a “physical structure”, being the extension of the Continent over the ocean and corresponding to a geographic unit. The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is an area defined by the International Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is a zone where the country has priority to exploit resources when it can prove to the UNO that it is able to do so. Otherwise, the country can be obliged to open its exploitation to the international community [29]. We must stress that the Pre-Salt Layer lies within Brazil’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The application for the extension of Brazilian jurisdiction beyond 200 nautical miles (established by the UNCLOS) is due to possible new discoveries beyond the EEZ. For this reason, the Brazilian government, by means of the LEPLAC (Survey Plan for the Brazilian Continental Shelf) [29] results persists on its efforts at the United Nations Commission on Continental Platform Boundaries for the complete augmentation of the controlling limits of the shelf. In order to better clarify this question, we must stress that, through the claim of the year 2004 at the United Nations Commission on Continental Platform Boundaries, Brazil obtained an increase of its “blue” area of around 770 thousand square kilometres, which corresponds to an EEZ area of 4.7 millions of square kilometres. Brazil has reissued a new application to the Commission in order to obtain the rest of the claimed area. The Proposal of the Exterior Boundary of the Brazilian Continental Shelf was brought to the United Nations Commission on Continental Platform Boundaries on the 17th May 2004, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On April 2007, after concluding its appreciation of the proposal, the Commission brought its recommendations to the Brazilian government. Such recommendations did not correspond to the Brazilian claim in its totality and the country did not agree with them. Thus, from the total of approximately 960 thousand square kilometres of claimed area beyond 200 nautical miles, the Commission did not agree with 190 thousand square kilometres. As a


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Etiene Villela Marroni and Milton L. Asmus result, the CIRM decided to draft a new proposal of the Exterior Boundary of the Brazilian Continental Shelf beyond the 200 miles, which would be brought to the Commission in the appropriate time. Without any doubt, the definition of the external boundaries of the continental shelf will be a key legacy for the next generations of Brazilians, which will have wider discovery possibilities of new oil fields, the exploitation of the biodiversity and mineral marine resources in great depths, which, by the time being, is economically not feasable. [6]

Because of the new claimed area, it is desirable that the Brazilian society develops the indispensable awareness in order to undertake actions for its occupation, the knowledge of it and its defense. It is therefore necessary to have a structure which is able to support the rights over the Brazilian sea and, as well as the definition and implementation of policies for the rational and sustainable exploitation of the wealth of the Blue Amazon. Furthermore, the means for an adequate surveillance and protection of the Brazilian interests at sea must be allocated. It is important to underline that, in its oceanic space, Brazil boasts significant and different interests. Around 95% [6] of the international trade crosses our seas, making use of more then 40 harbours for import and export activities. On the other hand, it is from the maritime subsoil, within the limits of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and, in the future, within the boundaries of the extended continental shelf that Brazil extracts most of its oil and natural gas, fundamental pieces of the country’s development. Furthermore, it is also relevant for the fishery activities that allow retrieving biological resources rich in protein. Although the future is promising but uncertain, Brazil will be able to exploit and make use of the mineral resources from the maritime soil and subsoil. Among them, for instance: polymetallic nodules and sulphides, manganese crusts, gas hydrates and cobalt crusts. There exists a growing pressure in the political, economic and environmental scenes towards the control of activities in adjacent maritime spaces at the coastlines of coastal States. The more technologically developed countries have already taken concrete measures. However, the coordination task of maritime areas seems to be manifold. A single segment of the Brazilian nation would not be enough to carry it on. The incorporation of the new area into the Brazilian Legal Waters will expand the wealth of the nation bringing about, at the same time, an immense responsibility. Thus, the CIRM [12] (Inter-Ministry Commission for Sea Resources), has established four central issues for the systemic study concerning the protection and evaluation of the Blue Amazon: economic, environmental, scientific, and



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regarding sovereignty. In short, one must take the economic evaluation into account, without loosing the focus on the environmental issues, the scientific research and, most importantly, on the national maritime sovereignty. Although it is already a common-place to state that 95% of the international trade goes through the seas, very few are aware of what this figure really means. The international trade (the sum of exports and imports) amounted around US$ 229 billion [6] in 2010. It must be underlined that the Brazilian State is in a disadvantaged position as far as the transportation of these goods goes. The Brazilian Merchant Marine is actually weak and, for this reason, 97% of the imported and exported goods are transported by foreign flag ships. Obviously, this is harmful for the country in many aspects: incomes and direct jobs are lost. In other words, direct foreign investments are lost, for it is known that Brazil does not have a naval tradition, like France, Russia, China, England or the USA. Therefore, the technological transfer in this domain, through direct foreign investment in the shipping field would raise the capacity of logistic supplying the Brazilian Merchant Navy needs. Oil and natural gas are two other sources of wealth. With the sustainable self-sufficiency, Brazil generates more then 85% of its oil in the sea (offshore production). Regarding natural gas, the large deposits discovered in the Santos Basin and on the coastline of the Espírito Santo state assure the consolidation of this product. According to Petrobras [6], Brazil is in a very privileged position. It is a country with a large consumer market, with diversified energy sources – including renewable sources – a sound industry landscape, high-tech oil exploitation techniques aside from the political, institutional, economic and legal regime stability. Thanks to the discovery of the Pre-Salt Layers, it will continue being self-sufficient for many years, and, in the future, it will be an important actor in the world oil scene, as an exporter of derivatives and crude. Thereby, the Brazilian scenario of sustainable exploitation through the new oil discoveries will guarantee energy security from the oil-self-sufficiency; income generation through exports, increase of the trade surplus; accumulation of financial reserves (which would help the sustainable aspect of economic growth and a better risk assessment) and a larger amount of foreign investment in the country. Brazil has made efforts to be noted abroad and the process of consolidation of the economic stability has contributed to it. Indeed, the basis of this process gives rise to an elevated degree of confidence in the investors, which reflects, directly, in the investments decisions. However, we notice some degree of downturn caused by the current scenario of international economic instability. Several companies are suffering losses in operations in


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the external markets, motivated by the low of economic activity in the more developed countries. For this reason, in search for more dynamic markets, they come to Brazil, considered one of the main emerging economies. Thus, we must go back to the energy resources, regarded as “drivers” of growth and development. A country without investment in the energy sector is a country adrift. We must underline the significance of this issue, which has given rise to studies and debates among politicians, in the academy, company owners and also in the civil society. It suffices to say that, today, coal, oil and natural gas stand for 93% of the energy consumed in the world. It is estimated that, in the last 55 years, more then half of all the coal, oil and gas was used by the population, mainly in the industrialized countries. Notwithstanding, these consume figures are becoming higher then ever, growing at alarming rates [6, 9, 10, 11]. Thus the necessity of protecting the energetic resources of the Brazilian coastline.

3. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ENERGY ISSUE IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS The oil from the Pre-Salt-Layer [24] is a major economic-strategic asset for Brazil and it has attracted a growing amount of foreign investments. Despite the large investments in the country’s oil industry, with technology transfers, financial inputs, and the opening of thousands of new jobs in the oil and gas sector, it must be stated here that one has to stay aware that we are dealing with a natural, limited resource. For this reason, the sustainable development of the energy sector must be observed. The United Kingdom, for instance, utilizes three times more not-renewable energies then the world average [35]. High energy consumption is usually associated to a (theoretically) high standard of living. When a “low energy” society [31] comes into contact with a “high level” society, the advantage stays with the latter. This consumption difference resulted in a gap between a minority of people, who live in “high energy” countries and the majority of peoples who live in “low energy” areas. Right now, the so called “underdeveloped countries” (of low energy) are finding it difficult to keep up with the minority of “energetically blessed” because of the process of transition from low energy consumption to high energy consumption. It is noted that almost all countries with “low energy” boast a high population density. The energy consumption is closely related to the standards of living of the population. According to data



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from the UNO’s HDI23, the development index of countries with an energy surplus correspond to the standards of living of its population. There are exceptions, nevertheless, as with the case of Nigeria, an African country that boasts a big oil industry. The institutions and socio-political estates of the Nigerian State (armed forces, police, justice and so on) are weak and destabilised and unable to keep the inner stability of the State, compromising sovereignty. The State, due to “endemic” corruption as pointed out by Transparency International, did not apply the generated resources in the improvement of the standards of living of its populations, especially in the southern region of the country (the main producing area), bringing an intense dissatisfaction of local ethnic groups. It has giving rise to many armed groups that seek more participation in the profits and in the control of oil exploitation, contributing to the instability of the State [17].

For this reason, whenever the issue of energy security is brought about, one must take the challenges imposed by development models to the exploitation of oceanic resources. Furthermore, one must not ignore the race for claims of sites at the ISBA [16]. Once the regulations of exploitation for the Pacific and Indic Oceans are formulated, attention (foremost in emerging countries) will be directed towards the Southern Atlantic at the limits of the Continental Platform, at the boundaries of the Brazilian Continental Shelf. This prospect requires urgent measures, not only in order to claim new areas, but, as well, for the continuity of surveys for attracting foreign offshore investments. Such undertaking could represent the flow of billions of dollars to the Brazilian GDP. In this sense, the partnership with African countries as well as with the other BRICS countries could be an interesting option, in so far as it promotes, in a first step, the building up of capacities in the continent, followed by the creation of institutional ties between research centres, allowing the flow of information. The resources which were identified in the area called Blue Amazon represent an immense economic potential, aside from the advances that will follow in the field of biotechnology. The fishing industry represents yet further potentials. In Brazil, fish farming is the main drive of the fishing industry, with different species being cultivated along the coastal line as well as in inland farms. Maritime mineral resources represent another great economic niche. There is even potential of a less tangible sort, 23

An annual report that shwos a picture of the global situation of nations and its peoples. .


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like the sea bed polymetallic nodules which are, basically, concentrations of iron and manganese oxides. According to Kaiser [16], in countries of recent industrialisation, like China and South Korea, the demand for nickel and manganese has increased, giving rise to companies specialised in the exploitation of polymetallic nodules. Despite the market perspectives, a preliminary analysis shows that only sand, gravel and carbonates are a feasable option in a near future. These economic possibilities, however, depend on the cooperation with developed countries (DCs), which detain the necessary technologies for the extraction of such resources. This is the case of Japan, France and Scandinavian countries. This would still require the building of partnerships whereas, in terms of inner politics, it must be attained to the level of countries capacities in legal terms and in terms of infra-structure for the extraction activities to be undertaken, respecting the principles of environmental protection. Amaral Júnior [3], makes clear that alternative options other then the frantic devastation of nature do exist. In this case, the solution could lie in the collection of environmental taxes, which would fill an important space which was, in the last years, made strong by the deepening of environmental awareness all around the world. Planning to exploit an immense oceanic territory, free of environmental taxes would be such a carelessness for Brazil, a country that needs its natural resources in order to keep up with its development process. Brazil needs to learn the process of economic“feedback” respecting the limits of the environment. However, in a globalized world, totally dependent on not renewable energies, the beliefs in sustainability get lost in the wind. Once the importance of the sea for the development of Brazil is recognized, the disclosure of the General Directives of its National Policy for the Sea Resources (PNRM) [28, 29], drafted by the Inter-Ministry Commission for Sea Resources is justified. Such Directives contain the basic directions that should guide all the efforts in the areas of education, research, and exploitation of sea resources. The goals are the development of national technologies, in order to manufacture, right in Brazil, the required equipments for maritime activities. For this, support from the private sector must be sought after. It is necessary to guarantee the participation of Brazilians in every activity that includes foreign cooperation and to make sure that the national body of technicians and scientists educated in related areas is included. Professional training and the broadening of this body through courses and opportunities must be supported at all times. At the present, it became indispensable the continuous uphold of incentives to the creation of education and research bodies about the sea, its resources and the activities related to it.



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As far as the “implementation” policy goes, the Brazilian government keeps for itself the right to guide, coordinate and control research and exploitation of living, mineral or energy resources, understood as water column, soil and subsoil, respectively. Strategically speaking, the sea is of vital importance for Brazil. Besides the financial value associated to maritime activities, the country is in such a large extent dependent on the maritime transportation, that it becomes one of its most vulnerable points. This occurs because, in these globalization times, the Brazilian industry utilizes so many imported inputs, that any disturbance of the free transit of goods across the seas would lead Brazil to a collapse. The case of the oil extracted from the continental shelf is identical. Without oil, an energy and inputs crisis could bring the country to stand still, raising doubts over Brazilian’s ability to keep self-sufficient in terms of energy. The geopolitical agenda, the economic and political significance of the mineral resources policy and the strategic planning of power have changed, along the time, by means of national or international relations and reflexes of the world economy. A mineral resource becomes strategic in shortage times and potentially vital for development. The conflict point of the geopolitics of mineral resources is due to the asymmetry in its distribution, when there is abundance in some territories and shortage in others in face of the national demands. “Because of the unique role hydrocarbonates (oil and natural gas) have in the world scenario and because of its geographical distribution, they were turned into political weapons at some points in history” [30]. With the discovery of new oil fields on the Brazilian coastline, the reorganization of policies and regulations regarding its use and exploitation needs to be reconsidered in order to establish a protection system of this mineral resource. The Survey Plan for the Brazilian Continental Shelf (LEPLAC) comes out of a program by the Brazilian government called REMPLAC (Programa de Avaliação da Potencialidade Mineral da Plataforma Continental Jurídica Brasileira / Program for the Evaluation of the Mineral Potential of the Legal Continental Brazilian Shelf), created by Decree 95.787, of 7th March 1988, and updated afterwards by Decree 98.145, of 15th September 1989. Its goal is to establish the outer boundary of the Brazilian Continental Shelf from a legal perspective. LEPLAC’s activities (which began on July 1987, by means of the REMPLAC) were developed in cooperation with the Brazilian Navy and Petrobras [6, 25, 26]. The goal of REMPLAC was the evaluation of the mineral potential of the Legal Continental Brazilian Shelf (PCJB – Plataforma Continental Jurídica Brasileira). Its objectives translated into systematic geological and


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geophysical surveys of the Continental Shelf, which pinpoint sites of geoeconomic interest with the evaluation of its mineral deposits. The LEPLAC [6] executive committee manages operations regarding the Continental Shelf survey. Its head office is at the Navy's Board of Hydrography and Navigation (DHN – Diretoria de Hidrografia e Navegação). The Committee is made up by representatives from following institutions and segments of society: CIRM, DHN, Petrobras, National Department of Mineral Production (DNPM – Departamento Nacional de Produção Mineral), Scientific Community and the Coordinator of the Geology and Geophysics Program (PGGM – Programa de Geologia e Geofísica Marinha). Petrobras is responsible for the coordination and supervising of activities regarding acquisition, processing and integration of sismic data, gravimetry and magnetometry, which are used in determining the density of sediments. By the end of the analysis of the data originated from the continental border of Brazil it was possible to quantify and to present the achieved results.

4. PRE-SALT: A NEW MODEL OF EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION (E&P) OF OIL IN BRAZIL The Brazilian Government is, at the present time, proposing changes in the current oil and natural gas Exploration and Production (E&P) model on account of the prevailing legal framework given by the Law nr. 9.478 from 1997 (Petroleum Law), drafted in a time when Brazil was still dependent on oil imports in order to supply its internal market. In the decade of 1990, the exploratory risks were considered high in Brazil. In 2007 the situation changed after the discovery of oil and natural gas in deposits located under a thick salt layer in the Santos Basin. Now, Brazil is at the merge of being an oil and derivatives exporting country, in a world scenario that grants high value to reliable suppliers. This is the reason for the paramount significance of a study of the reorganization of oil policies and regulations in the new context of Pre-Salt Layer. What are the effects of the discoveries of the Pre-Salt in the national and international political contexts? How does one establish the Brazilian policy that will protect these resources? The Petroleum Law24, signed by former president 24

Provides for National Policy, the activities related to the oil monopoly. Establishing the National Council for Energy Policy and the National Petroleum Agency (ANP). .



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Fernando Henrique Cardoso in 1997, determined that the exploration of this product, in Brazil, would lie within the exclusive competence of Petrobras. However, in 1997, it was not possible to verify the existence of the Pre-Salt Layer oil in the Brazilian Continental Shelf. The news was very recent and has lead to surveys by LEPLAC. It must be stressed that 80% of the Pre-Salt-Layer oil is located within the Exclusive Economic Zone (ZEE – Zona Econômica Exclusiva). However, there exists the possibility of further discoveries of deposits in an even larger distance from the coastline. Thus, the boundaries of the legally defined Brazilian waters, as circumscribe in multilateral treaties, secure economic rights and, at the same time, they generate duties of political, environmental and public security nature over an area of more then 4 million square kilometres. Nevertheless, there are other policies connected to the Pre-Salt boom which came about prior to its discovery. The Brazilian policy for the seas should be considered within its historical and political context. The National Policy of Sea Resources (PNRM – Política Nacional para os Recursos do Mar), from 1981, was designed in the period of military rule and it boasted strong nationalist tendencies. This characteristic, associated with Brazil’s concern of attaining the International Convention on The Law of the Sea gave rise to a maritime policy focused on national security issues and geopolitical interests. In those times there was a strong concern towards the evaluation and safeguarding of rights over the exploitation and ownership of maritime resources by the Brazilian population and to ascertain internationally recognized boundaries for its territorial sea. Hence, the first Brazilian sea policy can be regarded as a national milestone because it defined the maritime territory in the context of the International Convention on The Law of the Sea. Thereafter, and with the new discoveries of hydrocarbons in the vast Brazilian coastal zone, Government has come to the conclusion that the country was in need of a specific legislation in order to regulate the exploitation of these reserves. The Pre-Salt Regulatory Framework [34] was designed by a Commission formed by Ministers of State, in July 2008. It was divided in four large sections that are being analysed separately, since August 2009 by the National Congress. They are as following: the exploration model, the creation of the Petro-Salt, the capitalization of Petrobras and the creation of a new Social Fund. The Government’s explanation is that Brazil is in lack of a plan in order to know how to exploit the oil from the deposits, how to attract reliable investors, the dynamics adopted by Petrobras for the exploitation and, mainly, the destination of a part of the collected values. Until now, the Brazilian oil exploitation model has been the concession regime. The


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Government auctions an area and a company (or companies) pays royalties and taxes for the State (the special participation is an example). In the new Framework, government proposes the Production Sharing model in which the companies involved agree in delivering a percentage of the oil produced in the field to the State. Moreover, a new Social Fund [26] has been stipulated. It will concentrate State resources from oil revenues from the Pre-Salt area. The Fund will be linked to the Presidential Office and will be a source of income for projects and programs in areas like the fight against poverty, education improvement, culture, science, technology and environmental sustainability. The collection will be carried on by means of signing bonus of sharing agreements; Federal Government’s royalties, once specific allocations are deducted; revenues from the trade of the State’s oil and gas share and financial investments. The current financial crisis stated clearly the worldwide importance of a strong and regulatory State, and this points out the urgent need of changes in the Petroleum Law, aside from the new Regulatory Framework for Brazil. The potentialities and complexity of Pre-Salt mean a great challenge for the Brazilian Government. The efforts on a new Regulatory Framework, focused on oil exploration, refining and use is of great importance for the whole nation. The Constitution guarantees the State monopoly over Brazilian reserves and does not contain any reference to concessions [22, 26]. The Petroleum Law allows the concessionary company some privileges, like the ownership of this service. This is a very controversial issue because the concession system, as the term expresses, is a concession granted by the State and not an estate to be passed over to concessionary companies. For this reason, the Petroleum Law is subject of discussions and disputes in the political and academic fields. It is never too much to underline that it was drafted prior to the discovery of the Pre-Salt oil fields. The model that the Government proposes [22] is not the return of the Petrobras monopoly. It is a mixed system of sharing and concessions. Both the sharing and the concession models allow the participation of private companies in the exploration and production. Taking into consideration that Petrobras is a Brazilian company with significant technical knowledge for deep waters operations, it was granted some prerogatives and obligations in the Pre-Salt area. However, this has nothing to do with a supposed return of its monopoly. Brazil will not alter the existing concession contracts and will not change the concession model for areas outside the Pre-Salt. The new model will be applied only on the exploitation and production of new areas, which



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haven’t been granted by concession so far, in the Pre-Salt Zone and in others which are considered of strategic significance. Both models should be adapted to the rules and to the previously laid down objectives. The sections which were already granted by concession will continue to be ruled by the Law Nr. 9.478/1997 (Petroleum Law), as far as regulations and the prevailing contractual clauses go. The National Petroleum Agency (ANP – Agência Nacional de Petróleo) will receive the role of regulating and supervising the sector, remaining as the body responsible for the observation of the best practices in the oil industry by contracted companies, and thus guaranteeing a better use of the natural resources. The attributions will be similar to the ones already existing in the current model of the Concession Agreement, in which the Agency will have the duties of overseeing and regulating activities of Exploration and Production (E&P) which take place under the production sharing regime. The main characteristic of the production sharing regime is the partition, between the Union and the contracted party of the oil and natural gas extracted from a specific area. According to this model, during the exploratory period, the contracted party assumes, all by itself, the risks of not discovering. In case the search turns out successful, its costs will be paid back by the Federal Government in form of oil/gas (the costs are calculated in oil), following what is established by the contract. Once investments and extraction costs are deducted, the remaining amount of oil will be shared between the Federal Government and the contracting party. In the case of concession agreements, the concessionaire assumes the risks of the exploratory activities but is granted, however, the ownership of all oil and gas produced. He pays royalties and other government participations as established by Law Nr. 9.478 (signing bonus, special participation, area occupation fees). The strategic and economic importance of the Pre-Salt Layer oil guarantees safety against occasional world energy crisis. Furthermore, there will be a significant growth of Brazil’s economic and geopolitical importance in the international system, supported by the strengthening of its economy, which will lead the country to expand the financial assets in the fields of health care, education, housing, innovation, scientific and technological research and infrastructure. The Federal Government will not take risks in Exploration and Extraction activities (E&P) in the case of sharing agreements. Here, the necessary costs and investments will be carried in its totality by the other contracting party. Nevertheless, it must be stressed that the Federal Government, by means of a special fund to be created by law can have participation in investments on Exploration and Production (E&P) activities in


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the Pre-Salt zone and in other strategic areas, and in this case it will assume the risks related to its participation.

CONCLUSION As far as States are concerned – and using the Brazilian case – the finding of solutions to guarantee energy has become a fundamental element for the sustainment of their economies. And, in this context, oil and gas have a vital role. Although there are efforts to increase the energy efficiency and investments in new technologies in this area, oil and natural gas will have priority, for many years, in world politics. It has been observed that a greater development entails a larger consumption of such energetic resources in the short-term. “The economic growth of some States like Brazil, (or other BRIC) has brought a higher energy demand, causing impact on the energy market. The amount of usable hydrocarbons reserves depends on the ability and efficiency in the extraction of these resources by States” [2]. It depends also on the discovery of new methods to obtain energy at feasable costs, without interfering in the standard of living of the population. A high energy intake has always been a requirement for political power. A nation that controls its energy resources in an efficient way tends to be dominating over others, hence the necessity of planning and managing the country’s oceanic resources, working with specific policies for its protection.

REFERENCES [1]

[2] [3] [4]

Albuquerque, L. & Nascimento, J, (2002). The Principles of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982. Sequence Journal. 23(44). ISSN: 0101-9562 (publication of the Graduate Program in Law UFSC). Albuquerque, R.C. & Velloso, J.P.R. (2008). In Global Crisis, how to be the best of BRICS. Rio de Janeiro: Elsevier. Amaral JR. A. (2011). International Trade and Protection of the Environment. São Paulo: Atlas Publisher. Asmus, M.L.; Marroni, E.V. & Vieira, G.G. (2005). Brazils National Ocean Policy. In: Cicin-Sain, Biliana, Vanderzaag, David; Balgos, Miriam C. (Editors). Integrated National and Regional Ocean Policies.



[5]

[6] [7] [8]

[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]

[16]

[17]

[18] [19]

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Comparative Practices and Future Prospects. Tóquio: Nippon Foundation. Bellinger, J.B. (2008). The United States and the Law of the Sea Convention III. Law of the Sea Institute. Occasional Paper #5. Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State. Brazilian Navy. (2008). National Plan for the Survey of the Brazilian Continental Shelf. Chossudovsky, M. (1999). The Globalization of Poverty: Impacts of IMF Reforms and the World Bank. São Paulo: Moderna. CIRM. (2003). Inter-Ministry Commission for Sea Resources. The Brazilian model for the development of activities for the resources of the sea. . CIRM. (2007). Inter-Ministry Commission for Sea Resources. VII Sectorial Plan for the Resources of the Sea. . CIRM. (2010). Inter-Ministry Commission for Sea Resources. . CIRM. (2011). Inter-Ministry Commission for Sea Resources. . CIRM. (2011). Inter-Ministry Commission for Sea Resources. Decree No. 74577 of September 12, 1974. . CLSC. (2010). Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. Disponível em: . Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil. (1998). Brasília: Senate - Center Graphic. Curado, M. & Cruz, J.V. da. (2008). Foreign Direct Investment and Industrialization in Brazil. R. Econ. Contemp. Rio de Janeiro, 12 (3):399-431, sept./dec. Interview with published Kaiser Gonçalves de Souza, Chief, Division of Marine Geology at the Geological Survey of Brazil. http://ictsd.org/i/ news/pontes/68931/. Larson, D.F. (2004). Uncertainty and the Price for Crude Oil Reserves. Social Science Research Network. World Bank Development Research Group. . Law 9.478/1997. Petroleum Law. . Lojenga, R.K. & Oliva, M.J. (2009). Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity: how to ensure the involvement of the private sector? Pontes Journal – Other Multilateral Issues 5(6): 5-6, dec. 2009/jan.2010. .


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[20] Martins, E.M. (2010). Pre-Salt, Sovereignty and Maritime Jurisdiction. . [21] MFA. (2010). Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Disponível em: [22] MME. (2009). Ministry of Mines and Energy. . [23] Nogueira, J.M. (2010). Economics and the Environment: integration and sustainability of the Americas. Centre for Studies in Economics, Environment and Agriculture. . [24] Opportunities to Attract Foreign Businesses in Brazil. Daily Commerce, Industry and Services. . [25] Petrobras. (2009). Brazil's oil. Technical Bulletin of Petrobras. 51 (1-3). . [26] Petrobras. (2009). Pre-Salt and Regulatory Framework for Exploration and Production of Oil and Gas. Petrobras. [27] PNMA. (1980). National Environment Policy. . [28] PNRM. (1980). National Policy for Sea Resources: General Guidelines. Brasília: Inter-Ministry Commission for Sea Resources. [29] PNRM. (2005). National Policy for Sea Resources: General Guidelines. Brasília: Inter-Ministry Commission for Sea Resources. [30] Souza, J.M. de. (1999). Territorial Sea, Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf? Brazilian Journal of Geophysics.. 17 (1). São Paulo. march.ISSN:0102-261X. [31] Susick, S. (Coord.). (2001). Regulation in Oil and Natural Gas. Campinas, SP: Publisher Unicamp. [32] UNCED. (2010). United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. . [33] UNCLOS. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (2011). . [34] Understand the Regulatory Pre-Salt. (2010). The Journal of Brazil. 11 June. .



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[35] Xavier, A.T. dos S. (2009). Africa and the Geopolitics of Oil: Nigeria Strategic Actors. International Scenario Journal. . ISSN: 1981-9102. [36] Xavier, R. (1994). The Coastal Management in Brazil and International Cooperation. Brasília: IPRI. (Collection International Relations, 25).

Reviewed by: Marcus Polette, PhD; Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Rua Uruguai 458 – Fazenda, Postal Code 883.022-02, Itajaí, SC, Brazil. Email: [email protected]; Homepage: http://www.univali.br.





Chapter 6

PRINCIPLES OF DREDGING ECO-MONITORING IN THE EASTERN GULF OF FINLAND Julia Lednova and George Gogoberidze Russian State Hydrometeorological University (RSHU), St. Petersburg, Russia

ABSTRACT The Strategy of port’s infrastructure development to 2030 is passed in Russia in 2012. This document includes the main principles of development and enhancement of ports and adjacent coastal zone represented in conception of technospherical safety of activity extension. The program of Ecological Monitoring of Dredging and Reclamation (EMDR) is suggested for searching of main influences on the environment conditions. The principal questions and goals of the EMDR are formulated. As results of ecological monitoring in the Eastern Gulf of Finland before and after cessation of construction works of hydrotechnical objects, the main factors of influence on benthic communities and coastal zones in whole were determined. On the basis of the field works the results laboratory experiments for determine a level of effect of turbidity, thickness of sedimentation and frequency of discharging on benthic communities were made.

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Email: [email protected]


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Julia Lednova and George Gogoberidze

INTRODUCTION The Eastern Gulf of Finland is one of the most actively developing marine regions in Russian Federation. The Strategy of Russians sea port’s infrastructure development to 2030, which was passed in Russia in 2012, is supposed to development and modernization ports [1]. Currently, construction and enlargement of new and existing ports in the Eastern Gulf of Finland are made. For example, it is avantport “Bronka”, “Ust-Luga” and etc. [2]. Port construction, approach channels and land creation for port infrastructure is intimately connected with dredging and land reclamation works [3]. Hydrotechnical works are carried out to involve to significant reorganization of ecosystems in adjacent zones of engineering works [4, 5]. Ignoring the influence of construction works to environment might bring to losses of breeding and feeding sites of fish and another valuable biological species of fishery. Dredging and coastal zone reclamation works are integrated part of the construction of new and reconstruction of existing facilities for hydraulic engineering. The underestimating to impact on the environment and environmental factors by this type of work can be result of significant environmental and economic losses [6]. Previous investigations of dredging were shown significant physical, chemical and biological effects in dredging area and adjacent water [3, 5]. An assessment of disturbance effects and recovering time [4, 7] are helped to find the best ecological safety technologies of dredging works in the Eastern Gulf of Finland. Realization of the previous engineering construction projects related to dredging works had the significant influence on the ecological condition in the Eastern Gulf of Finland. Understanding of dredging work influences on the ecosystems of the Eastern Gulf of Finland will be helped to prevention of significant anthropogenic impact in case of new construction and renovation of existing ports and man-made territories. Moreover, prediction of quality and quantity of disturbances on the environment before and after cessation of dredging works is needed for purposes of ecological friendly engineering construction in the Eastern Gulf of Finland. Realization of regular monitoring is helped to assess substantial influences of dredging works on the environmental conditions and its conservation in case of development dredging and hydrotechnic construction industry taken into account minimization of influence in the Eastern Gulf of Finland.


Principles of Dredging Eco-Monitoring in the Eastern Gulf …

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On the base of the results of investigations, which took place during 14 years in the coastal zone of the Eastern Gulf of Finland, the team of experts of the Russian State Hydrometeorological University (RSHU), St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University (SPbSPU) and A.P. Karpinsky Russian Geological Research Institute (VSEGEI) had been analyzed the environmental effects of dredging, reclamation and dumping of the soils / dredging materials on the underwater bottom deposit sites (EMDR) [8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13].

ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS OF THE EASTERN GULF OF FINLAND The Gulf of Finland is one of the largest gulfs of the Baltic Sea. It extends 420 km from west to east [14]. By the Eastern Gulf of Finland the water area between the islands of Kotlin and Hogland is usually meant. From east this brackish water area is now separated from freshwater Neva Bay by a dam protecting St. Petersburg from floods [14]. Traditionally, the Russian (Eastern) zone of the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea is subdivided into Neva Bay, the freshwater and shallow (depths average 3.5–4 m) upper part of the inner estuary; the inner estuary, a shallow (up to 25 m) region in the Eastern Gulf of Finland, or the lower inner estuary with a surface water salinity of 1.5–5 ‰; and the outer estuary, a deep (up to 45 m) region in the Eastern Gulf of Finland with a surface water salinity of 3– 8 ‰ (Figure 1) [15]. The anchors are shown the main ports of the Eastern Gulf of Finland. The bottom relief of the Eastern Gulf of Finland is uneven. A characteristic feature is a large number of reefs, coastal and island banks [10, 12, 14]. The salinity increases from east to west. In Neva Bay the water is fresh. Near Hogland Island the salinity averages 3-4 ‰ on the surface and 6-7 ‰ at the bottom in summer [14]. In the eastern shallow area from Kotlin Island to the Shepelevo-Ozerki transect the depth is less than 30 m. In a deep-water zone to the west of this transect the depth in open sites exceeds as rule 30 m and at the western border of the area near Hogland reaches 60-70 m [14].


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Figure 1. Map of the Baltic region and the Neva River estuary in the eastern Gulf of Finland [15].

The coastal zone of the Eastern Gulf of Finland is actively changed under the influence of complicated natural and anthropogenic factors [16]. High anthropogenic impact comes from intensive dredging activity connecting with creations of new building lots and passenger terminal in the Neva Delta. Considerable amounts of bottom sediments and sand drag from the bottom in the eastern part of the Neva Bay, part of them suspends in the water decreasing its transparency and pass to the western part of the bay and even in the lower brackish part of the Neva Estuary [17].

FACTORS AND COMPONENTS OF NATURE AND DREDGING. ECOLOGICAL MONITORING OF DREDGING AND RECLAMATION (EMDR) Complex of dredging works is included the next following components [3]: 1) excavation of sediments; 2) lifting; 3) transportation;



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4) treatment; 5) usage or dumping in the underwater deposit site. Moreover, all of this influences of dredging and reclamation works on the environment can be divided on the general groups by its types:    

physical; chemical; biological; toxicological.

Also, each factor could have direct and indirect impact on the environment in both regions immediate in work area and adjacent water and coastal zone. The program of Ecological Monitoring of Dredging and Reclamation (EMDR) is suggested for monitoring and assessment environmental conditions and impaction on the environment dredging and reclamation. This program was developed and realized in the Eastern Gulf of Finland for purposes of investigations and assessment of water body and adjacent regions quality in areas of dredging works and soil disposal to underwater disposal sites. Principal questions and goals of the EMDR are [11, 12, 18]: 1) revealing of the short- and long-term environmental effects from dredging and reclamation, and establishing the difference between the natural and anthropogenic trends of the coastal ecosystems near the dredged material deposit sites; 2) estimation of reversibility / irreversibility of trends / changes in coastal ecosystems due to influence of dredging and reclamation; 3) finding the ways of minimizing and compensation of negative effects on the coastal environment. On the base of realization EMDR the scientific group of researches [8, 18] the rank of assessment of relative sensitivity of different ecological components to dredging and reclamation works was developed. Sensitivity of ecosystem components to disturbance of the environment is shown in table 1. The important role has the field investigations which were made and some specific impaction on the environment in the Eastern Gulf of Finland were found. By the field works results, it's possible to state that large volumes of suspended materials are carried out by currents, entering in the coastal zone, as a result of spoil disposal and creation of the new territories [13]. Due to field


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research it is revealed that a number of coastal and benthic plants are died because of increasing of suspended materials, as benthic communities changes. As was shown in previous investigations there are different types of impacts dredging work on biota of bottom communities and coastal zone through removal fine-grain sediment into adjacent waters of dredging works. For example, in adjacent region of dredging works coastal macrophytes don’t give shoots, because of its siltation. Table 1. Relative Sensitivity Coefficient of the ecosystems of the Eastern Gulf of Finland to dredging works [18] Ecosystem component Phytoplankton Zooplankton Algae Vascular plants Benthos Fishes (spawn, fry) Fishes (full-grown fishes) Birds Whales Seals

Relative Sensitivity Coefficient Increasing suspension Dredging 3 1 4 1 5 5 1 2 3 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 1 1 2 1

Benthic communities, benthic macroalgae and coastal macrophytes are an important elements of bottom and coastal ecosystems, which maintenance and preservation has a significant importance as feeding and breeding sites of fishes and birds communities in the Eastern Gulf of Finland. It's necessary to consider the most interesting results of field observations and laboratory experiments for quality evaluation effect of increasing turbidity in adjacent regions on benthic communities and waterweed. Laboratory experiments with benthos were made with typically species of underwater deposit sites of the Eastern Gulf of Finland. Laboratory experiments with waterweed were made with widespread species of the coastal zone of adjacent region to dredging works in the Eastern Gulf of Finland.

Benthic Communities In 2011, at the eastern coast of Bolshoy Berezoviy island (Primorsk harbour) in the silty fine sand with a lot of plant detritus formed typical for the



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northern coast of the Gulf community of oligochaetes and chironomids, a characteristic feature of the community is the emergence of invasive species – a major polychaete marentsellerii (Marenzelleria neglecta), were observed. On the "reference station" is distant from the sources of pollution, in a sandy soil a community with low values of abundance and biomass was found. This was – the only community where there were particularly sensitive to pollution small crustaceans, amphipods Monoporeia = Pontoporeia affinis. In the area of the former fishing port on a sandy soil with a mixture of gravel was observed a community, but there were no small amphipods, but there were small mussels Dreissena polymorpha, it was obvious that attach to the particles of gravel. On leaves distinctly were traced silt sediment on the thallus after sedimentation of resuspention fine soil fractions. Based on the EMDR program laboratory experiments with bioindicators of Chironomus plumosus and Elodea canadensis were made for determine influence of turbidity, thickness of sedimentation and its frequency on benthic communities in case of soil discharge [6]. Previous field investigations were shown that increasing suspended matter in the water, with the prevailing fine fraction is led to siltation of plants, which have an adversely affects on its growth, development and survival skills. Also areas with high turbidity may reduce light penetration. All with factors can lead to deterioration of coastal macrophytes communities down to changes in species diversity.

Elodea canadensis Determination of the effects of mechanical suspension on macrophytes and algae were performed in 2 aquariums. For the experiments the algae were planted in the ground, selected in the Gulf near the port of Primorsk. The soil was filled in two aquariums in which the subsequent supernatant was poured by fresh water. After water in the water column slurry was rose and deposited during the night before transplanting algae into the soil. Full slurry sedimentation was completed during 3 days. As a model system for the experiment was selected common macrophyte of coastal zone of Neva Bay Elodea canadensis. It was cultivated in two tanks with different turbidity conditions. In the first aquarium water was transparent and was not stirred up. During the experiment, clean supernatant water was added to the aquarium. In the second aquarium water regularly stirred up (every day except Sunday) at the


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same time it also pours clear supernatant water. The duration of the experiment was more than 3 weeks and was lasted after 25 days. Elodea canadensis is continued to vegetate in both aquariums. In the first ("transparent"), the aquarium has been extensive growth E. canadensis. In the second ("turbidity") aquarium an increase was less pronounced, there was a strong sedimentation of algae. As a result of laboratory investigation was shown an overtop effect to Elodea canadensis. Increased turbidity is led to decrease the amount of light entering to the bottom layer and therefore ability of photosynthetic capability of macrophytes is decreased. Also fine grained particles of suspended materials are blocked the stomata of macrophytes, which is led to reduce of supplied oxygen. But it is also depends on the depth and composition of suspended material. In shallow water suspended material, nutrients rich, may have a positive influence on the growth and distribution of macrophytes.

Chironomus plumosus In vitro experiments were conducted for assessment of ability of benthic organisms to dig out due to periodical filling of sediment. The experiments were made with chironomidae (Chironomus plumosus) which is one of the most abundant groups of benthic communities, bioindicator and important feeding group for fish in the Eastern Gulf of Finland. The day before the start of the experiment at the preparatory stage Chironomus plumosus was put into a container with soil to 1 cm from one of the station near port of Primorsk and is filled with water, 1 cm thick water previously been to defend the two days. In the next day soil from other stations near port of Primorsk were taken to every 3 containers and poured to the level of 3 cm. After that on 10 items of the active Chironomus plumosus were placed in each containers. After this Chironomus plumosus was filled with soil to 2 cm on the next day, in each container the number of individuals who have chosen out of the ground and was on the surface or in the upper 0.5 cm layer of soil was calculated. After registration, the number of individuals who have overcome 2 cm soil layer, Chironomus plumosus was re-filled 2 cm of the soil. The next day, a registration of the number of individuals digging out to the surface was made. Backfill the soil is no longer made. The next day, digging out units were again calculated. The experiment was conducted for each soil in three containers (3 times per each soil).



159

The most stressing effects of the dredging projects are (1) increasing of suspended material in the water, and (2) destroying of the bottom biotopes. The effect of the uncontrolled activity on the deposit sites has the negative influence on the coastal environment, including coastline change and destruction, pollution of marine waters and sediments, changing the composition of biological communities and growing down of fish stocks. After the experiment, about 30 % of the Chironomus plumosus in the total capacity were viable and lead an active life. Important, the appearance of the surface of Chironomus plumosus is not in an hour or two, and typically goes on the 2-3 days, after backfill soil in case of it thickness is 2 cm.

IMPACT AND INFLUENCE OF DREDGING Environmental monitoring is an integral part of the engineering works in the area. As demonstrated by the research and experience of EMDR activities and comparison of long-term data in the areas of dredging and deposition of dredged spoil in the underwater deposit site in the Eastern Gulf of Finland the short and long-term impacts could not only lead to environmental degradation, but it could have a significant economic losses associated with directly or indirectly influences of dredging. By the works it's state that the direct impacts of dredging are:     

contamination of water with suspended solids and chemical elements as a result of deposition sediments into the water of the bay, deterioration of water transparency, increased of turbidity, deposition of soil on the bottom of the waters, the deterioration of the conditions of existence of the benthos is caused to death of benthos; and etc.

Indirect effects of dredging are:   

destruction of fish and waterfowl feeding habitats, reduce of the number of fish fauna by reducing the amount of spawning habitat and forage fish, reduction in waterfowl populations, by reducing the food supply and the deteriorating conditions and nesting sites,


160

Julia Lednova and George Gogoberidze 





the accumulation of contaminants in sediments in areas of education turbidity plumes are several times higher than in the undisturbed areas; deterioration and changes of coastal macrophytes communities as a result of deposition fine-grained sediments on the macrophytes leaves and prevention to photosynthetic activity and decreasing of its growing potential; and etc.

Accounting for short-and long-period effects of dredging in the construction and reconstruction of ports and other hydraulic structures will be reduced the impact on the environment, thereby helping to attract of stakeholders in the Eastern of the Gulf of Finland, and will be also contributed to the economic development of the region as an integral part of sustainable development. So, on the base of conception the EMDR-program it's possible to divide the negative and positive indicators of dredging impaction in the Eastern Gulf of Finland. Negative (stressed) influences are [13]:        

Blurring and siltation aquatic and semi-aquatic substrata; Suspended material increasing; Water turbidity increasing; Resuspension of fine-grained bottom sediments; Composition change of bottom sediments; Restructuring of aquatic communities and vegetation reduction of vascular plant of coastal zone; Decreasing of tourist potential in the coastal zone by water quality deterioration; and etc.

Positive influences are [13]:   

Decontamination of coastal zone of the high content brought to the substances resulting from human activities, including toxic; Creation of new habitats on the site lost due to contamination by chemicals in the region; Construction of new objects of coastal marine activities;


Principles of Dredging Eco-Monitoring in the Eastern Gulf …     

161

Coastal erosion protection; Flooding protection of estuarine zones; Creation of new facilities of recreation and tourism; Contribution to strengthening of technosphere regional reliability; and etc.

CONCLUSION In 1999 - 2013 the experts from the RSHU, SPbSPU and VSEGEI developed and used in practical work the program of the Ecological Monitoring of Dredging and Reclamation (EMDR) for the Baltic Sea region. Principal questions and goals of the EMDR are: (1) revealing of the short- and long-term environmental effects from dredging and reclamation, and establishing the difference between the natural and anthropogenic trends of the coastal ecosystems near the dredged material deposit sites; (2) estimation of reversibility / irreversibility of trends / changes in coastal ecosystems under influence of dredging and reclamation; (3) finding the ways of minimizing and compensation of negative effects on the coastal environment. The monitoring of the influences is needed to conduct in order to preservation / conservation coastal zone and its unique landscapes and fish spawning grounds. Special programs should be developed for dredged areas, located in adjacent waters of the major ports, where the protection areas are planned. As an example of necessity to provide of such control is establishment of protected areas “Ingermanlandskiy” on the islands in the Eastern Gulf of Finland [6]. As the main results it's possible to note such positions: 1. The prolonged effects of dredging on the higher aquatic vegetation can lead to change in species composition and bring to restructurezation of biocenoses in general. 2. Decrease of water transparency has maximum impact on macrophytes as a result in decreasing of photosynthesis. Swamping processes are intensified inside of macrophyte scrubs that together with sedimentation are led to decrease of macrophyte part in the vegetation composition and as a result – to depletionof fisheries and birds. 3. Survival rate of organisms are varied by identical physicochemical environmental conditions of stressful influence on benthic


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Julia Lednova and George Gogoberidze communities. It is depend of classifying organisms according to systematic or ecologic groups. 4. Dredging operations is able to help for optimization in the development and maintenance of the coastal zone infrastructure. For the successful completion conditions of conservation and sustainability of the coastal zone in the implementation of dredging it is necessary to take into account following aspects [13]:   



Completeness of information on natural conditions, received as a result of design research; Taking into account the features of natural conditions; Compliance with international requirements and standards in the field of construction and compliance with standards established by the legislation; Reclamation / restoration of damaged areas / area after work.

Under these requirements any project will have predominantly positive effects on the key characteristics of coastal ecosystems. 5. Benthic communities in regions of underwater bottom deposit sites are characterized by lowest biomass ability index, low biodiversity and rising a number of saltish water polychaetes with short-time life cycle and fast to exposure to high turbidity. 6. Ability of benthic communities to overcome of stress influence of covering of dredging material has not direct connection with survival rate in bottom ecosystem, transformed in result of dumping usually. Evidently it is depend with complex combine effect of different factors.


The Strategy of Russians sea port’s infrastructure development to 2030, 171, (2012) (in Russian). Official web-site of “The Big Port of Saint-Petersburg”, DOI: http://www.pasp.ru/ R.N. Bray, Environmental aspects of dredging, IADC / CEDA, 386, 2008.


Principles of Dredging Eco-Monitoring in the Eastern Gulf … [4] [5] [6]

[7] [8] [9]

[10]

[11] [12]

[13] [14] [15] [16] [17]

[18]

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S.E. Boyd, D.S. Limpenny, H.L. Rees and K.M. Cooper, ICES Journal of Maine Science, 62, 145-162, 2005. D.R. Hitchcock and S. Bell, Journal of Coastal Research, 20 (1), 101– 114, 2004. Ju. Lednova, A. Chusov and M. Shilin, Proceedings of the Global Congress on ICM: Lessons Learned to Address New Challenges, EMECS 10 – MEDCOAST 2013 Joint Conference, 30 Oct – 03 Nov, Marmaris, Turkey, 2, 1023-1034, 2013. S. Olenin, Proceedings 12th Baltic Marine Biologist Symposium, International Symposium Series, 119-123, 1992. V.B. Pogrebov and M.B. Shilin, Basic concepts of modern coastal management, 95–123 (2009) (in Russian). Ju. Lednova, S. Luk’yanov, M. Mamaeva and M. Shilin, Materials of XXIII International Coastal Conference in commemorating of the 100'th Anniversary of professor Vsevolod Zenkovich “Coastal evolution studies: traditions and modern concepts” October 5—9, 2010 RSHU, 347-348, (2010) (in Russia). D.A. Golubev, V.M. Zaitcev, K.A. Klevannui, Ju.A. Lednova, S.V. Luk’yanov, D.V. Ryabchuk, M.A. Spiridonov and M.B. Shilin, Engineering survey, 5, 36–42 (2010) (in Russian). M. Shilin, S. Luk’yanov, O. Zhakova, M. Mamaeva and Ju. Lednova, 8th Baltic sea Science Congress, 221, 2011. M. Shilin, A. Chusov, Ju. Lednova, V. Anosov, M. Spiridonov and D. Ryabchuk, 2-nd International conference “Construction of the artificial lands in the coastal and offshore ares, 379-381 (2011) (in Russian). Chusov, Ju. Lednova, M. Shilin, 2012 IEEE/OES Baltic International Symposium, Klaipeda, Lithuania 8-10 May 2012, 70-74, 2012. Maximov, Proc. Estonian Acad. Sci. Biol. Ecol., 52, 4, 378-393, 2003. A.F. Alimov and S.M. Golubkov, Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 78 (2), 115-125, 2008. D. Ryabchuk, L. Sukhacheva, M. Spiridonov, V. Zhamoida and D. Kurennoy, Estonian Journal of Engineering, 15, 3, 151-167, 2009. S. Golubkov, Dynamics of biodiversity in the eastern Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea): the role of climatic and anthropogenic factors /ICES CM 2007, 2007. V.B. Pogrebov, Basic concepts of modern coastal management, 43–80, (2010) (in Russian).





Chapter 7

ESTIMATION OF THE MARINE ECONOMY POTENTIAL AND THEIR CALCULATION FOR THE COASTAL REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION George Gogoberidze and Julia Lednova† Russian State Hydrometeorological University (RSHU), St. Petersburg, Russia

ABSTRACT Marine economy potential is a parameter, which characterizes marine economic, political and military power of the coastal region with comprehensive estimations of socio-economic, political, environment and military profits (damages) from coastal planning decisions. In the paper the principles of estimation of the marine economy potential are described and the results of assessment of status of the coastal regions of the Russian Federation, on the basis of official information are viewing, including the indicators comparison of the coastal regions of the state on 01.01.2006 and 01.01.2011. It is shown that it's possible to group the coastal regions of the Russian Federation into 3 categories by the level of socio-economic development. The results of the statistical processing and analysis of  †

E-mail: [email protected]. E-mail: [email protected].


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George Gogoberidze and Julia Lednova indicators and integrated indicators, which including correlation analysis of integrated indicators for coastal regions of the Russian Federation, as well as the relationship of the coastal regions of the Russian Federation, are interesting also.

INTRODUCTION In modern age, the coastal areas are the areas where territorial geopolitical significance and potential is pronounced, on the one hand, and there are the most severe socio-economic contradictions, on the other hand. Proceeding from the concept of long-term planning of the socio-economic development of coastal areas and taking into account the complexity of the processes occurring in the coastal areas, it is appropriate to offer a system of assessments of their marine economic potential, using indicator methods for the analysis and development of the strategy of the coastal region and its maritime infrastructure [1]. The use of the method of assessment of the marine economic potential of the coastal region allows to estimate the marine economic potential, gives the opportunity to show hierarchy of the coastal regions and assess their weaknesses and the opportunities for further development.

INDICATOR METHOD OF THE MARINE ECONOMIC POTENTIAL ASSESSMENT A comprehensive value (VC) reflecting socio-economic situation of the coastal regions can be considered as a set of three groups of indicators [2]. Group of indicators of the common economic development (integral value of common economic development, VCED):     

the indicator of gross regional product (IGPD); indicator of investments (II); indicator of foreign-economic activity (IFEA); indicator of economic growth (IEG); indicator of environmental sustainability (IES).


Estimation of the Marine Economy Potential …

167

Group of socio-demographic indicators (integral value of sociodemographic development, VSDD):  the indicator of labor resources (ILR);  indicator population growth (IPG);  indicator unemployment (IUE);  the indicator of educational and health facilities (IEHF);  the indicator of infant mortality (IIM);  the indicator of the amount of wages and the subsistence wages (IASW);  Gini indicator (IG). Group of resource indicators (integral value of resource development, VRD):       

indicator of mineral resources (IMR); indicator of marine bio-resources (IMBR); indicator harbor cargo(IHC); the indicator of industrial production (IIP); indicator of transport infrastructure development (ITID); indicator tourist significance (ITS); indicator of Navy development (IND).

The indicator approach may be used as for factor as for marine economy potential estimations [2, 3]. Assumptions that can be used in the development of indicator subsystems and methods for indicators calculating can be summarized as follows:  

indicator value must be dimensionless and takes values ranging from 1 to +1; requires the rejection of the use of weight functions in the calculation of integral indicators, as this will lead to ambiguity and controversy in assessing the importance of each indicator.

There are four main groups of methods to determine the values of various indicators [2, 3]. 1) Method of the indicator calculation based on the approximate degree of the parameter value to the maximum value. The maximum value


168

George Gogoberidze and Julia Lednova can be defined the maximum value of this characteristic of all coastal zone of the relevant spatial level. Indicator values are always between 0 and 1. 2) Method of the indicator calculation based on the deviation degree of the parameter from the average value. As the average value may be taken under consideration the average value of all coastal areas of the relevant spatial level. Indicator values are always more than -1, without loss of the upper limit. 3) Method of the indicator calculation based on the deviation degree of the parameter specific values from the specific values of similar parameters of higher spatial level. For example, as a parameter of a higher spatial level it's possible to have value with the same characteristic of the Russian Subject coastal zone, if the considered parameter refers to the level of the coastal Regional Municipality of the Russian Federation, etc. As a norm-referenced values can be taken, for example, the population of the corresponding level, area square, etc. Indicator values are always more than -1, without loss of the upper limit. 4) Method of the indicator calculation based on the deviation degree of the parameter from the extreme values. As the extreme values can be taken maximum and minimum values of the characteristic of all coastal areas of relevant spatial level. Indicator values are always in the range from -1 to +1.

Certainly, for the construction and use of indicator systems can be combined by the methods of calculating the indicator values. According to the presented methodology, the socio-economic development level of the coastal regions of the Russian Federation, on the basis of official information of Federal Ministries and Agencies, including statistical offices and Governments of the coastal Subjects were assessed. The results of the indicators calculation are presented in Tables 1-2, including the results of calculations of the indicators on 01.01.2006 and 01.01.2011. Table 2 provides the following integral values for 2006 and 2001:    

integral value of common economic development, VCED; integral value of socio-demographic development, VSDD; integral value of resource development, VRD; comprehensive value of the socio-economic development level of the coastal regions of the Russian Federation, VC.



169

Table 1. Values of indicators reflecting the socio-economic situation of the coastal regions of the Russian Federation, 2011 Region Murmansk Oblast Republic of Karelia Arkhangelsk Region YamaloNenets Autonomous Okrug Krasnoyarsk Krai Sakha (Yakutia) Republic Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Magadan Oblast Kamchatka Krai Khabarovsk Krai Primorsky Krai Sakhalin Oblast Astrakhan Oblast Republic of Kalmykia Republic of Dagestan Krasnodar Krai Rostov Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast St. Petersburg Region

IGRP 0,13

II

IFEA

IEG

IES

ILR

IPG

IUE

IEHF

IIM

-0,06 -0,43 -1,00 -0,33

1,00

-0,56 -0,48

0,25

0,29

-0,24 -0,39 -0,41 -0,04 -0,38

1,00

-0,33 -0,42

0,07

0,35

0,12

0,87

0,07

-0,83 -0,35

0,43

-0,37

0,00

0,00

0,09

1,00

1,00

-0,74

1,00

-0,07

1,00

0,14

0,33

0,27

-0,63

0,42

0,42

-0,10

0,26

0,01

0,68

0,12

0,10

0,05

-0,23

0,54

1,00

-0,21 -0,65

0,34

-0,28

0,08

-0,14

0,68

0,04

1,00

1,00

-0,28 -1,00 -0,01

1,00

-1,00

0,50

0,47

-1,00

0,43

0,61

-0,65 -0,04 -0,13

1,00

-0,91

0,02

0,49

-0,24

0,17

0,40

-0,50 -1,00

0,00

1,00

-0,09 -0,19

0,28

-0,25

0,00

0,75

-0,63

1,00

-0,08

0,95

-0,19 -0,32

0,05

-0,40

-0,09

0,89

-0,24

1,00

-0,48

0,49

-0,36 -0,36 -0,01 -0,28

1,00

1,00

1,00

0,74

0,34

1,00

-0,57 -0,38

0,07

0,21

-0,45 -0,10 -0,84 -0,54

0,08

-0,17

0,07

-0,10

0,06

-0,03

-0,68 -0,57 -0,92 -1,00 -0,40 -0,52 -0,17 -0,85

0,24

-0,27

-0,63 -0,39 -0,97 -0,22

0,11

-0,27 0,71 -0,62 -0,43 -0,52 -0,61

0,35 0,39

-0,18 -0,66 0,32 0,14 -0,40 -0,18

0,16 0,00

-0,21 -0,03

1,00

0,65

0,00

0,36

0,10

-0,48 -0,09

0,40

0,25

0,75

0,20

-0,14 -0,95

0,21

0,55

0,28

0,19

-1,00

0,72

-0,58 -0,03 -0,91


-0,12 0,31 -0,10 -0,01

-0,08

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George Gogoberidze and Julia Lednova Table 1. (Continued) Region

IASW

IG

IMR

IMBR

IHC

IIP

ITID

ITS

IND

-0,10

0,64

-0,12

0,07

-0,64

-0,18

-0,95

-0,16

1,00

-0,27

1,00

-0,46

-0,98

-1,00

-0,40

-0,71

0,47

-1,00

-0,17

0,90

0,89

-0,71

-0,90

-0,39

-0,94

-0,10

0,19

0,32

-0,24

1,00

-0,97

-1,00

0,04

-0,99

-0,92

-1,00

-0,14

-0,14

0,46

-1,00

-0,99

0,57

-0,82

-0,83

-1,00

-0,22

0,48

0,14

-1,00

-1,00

-0,82

-1,00

-0,95

-0,66

0,07

0,40

0,42

-0,90

-0,99

-0,91

-1,00

-0,99

-0,83

-0,07

0,33

0,03

-0,80

-0,99

-0,82

-1,00

-0,94

-0,91

-0,31

1,00

-0,49

-0,02

-0,97

-0,26

-0,99

-0,95

1,00

-0,19

0,81

-0,29

-0,92

-0,68

-0,50

-0,98

-0,64

-0,78

Primorsky Krai -0,21

0,83

-0,66

0,05

-0,16

-0,62

-0,87

0,62

0,76

0,07

0,12

0,30

0,13

-0,75

-0,65

-1,00

0,10

-0,19

-0,12

0,50

-0,81

-0,96

-0,94

-0,69

-0,95

0,87

-0,72

-0,52

1,00

-0,96

-1,00

-1,00

-0,97

-0,97

-0,24

-1,00

0,03

0,62

-0,99

-0,99

-0,94

-0,95

-0,96

1,00

-0,54

Krasnodar Krai -0,09

0,14

-0,85

-0,94

0,79

-0,54

1,00

1,00

0,61

Rostov Oblast

-0,17

0,57

-0,98

-0,97

-0,78

-0,38

-0,85

1,00

-0,78

Kaliningrad Oblast

-0,14

1,00

-0,79

-0,53

-0,84

0,77

-0,92

1,00

1,00

St. Petersburg Region

0,10

0,19

-0,97

-0,84

1,00

0,88

0,35

1,00

1,00

Murmansk Oblast Republic of Karelia Arkhangelsk Region YamaloNenets Autonomous Okrug Krasnoyarsk Krai Sakha (Yakutia) Republic Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Magadan Oblast Kamchatka Krai Khabarovsk Krai

Sakhalin Oblast Astrakhan Oblast Republic of Kalmykia Republic of Dagestan



171

Table 2. Integral values of the socio-economic situation of the coastal regions of the Russian Federation, 2006 and 2011 Region Murmansk Oblast Republic of Karelia Arkhangelsk Region Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Krasnoyarsk Krai Sakha (Yakutia) Republic Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Magadan Oblast Kamchatka Krai Khabarovsk Krai Primorsky Krai Sakhalin Oblast Astrakhan Oblast Republic of Kalmykia Republic of Dagestan Krasnodar Krai Rostov Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast St. Petersburg Region

VCED -0,01 0,01 0,03

2006 2011 VSDD VRD VC VCED VSDD VRD VC -0,36 0,14 -0,07 -0,34 0,15 -0,14 -0,11 -0,46 -0,52 -0,33 -0,29 0,20 -0,58 -0,22 -0,27 -0,32 -0,19 -0,02 0,13 -0,28 -0,06

0,38

0,19

0,01

0,44

0,17

-0,55

0,26

-0,38 -0,74 -0,28

0,20

0,06

-0,51 -0,08

0,43

-0,20 -0,76 -0,18

0,20

0,09

-0,75 -0,15

0,50

-0,03 -0,64 -0,06

0,14

0,06

-0,74 -0,18

-0,22 -0,13 0,04 -0,13 0,95 -0,18 -0,30 -0,30

-0,48 -0,21 -0,38 -0,49 -0,25 -0,35 -0,45 -0,31

0,04 0,09 -0,78 -0,19 0,20 -0,38 0,21 0,10 -0,68 0,22 0,02 -0,13 0,82 0,07 -0,29 -0,37 0,03 -0,60 -0,71 -0,16 -0,88 -0,42 -0,16 -0,63

-0,14 -0,17 0,17 0,44

-0,17 0,21 -0,03 0,00 0,01 0,15 0,05 -0,33 -0,58 -0,36 -0,20 -0,04 -0,53 -0,26 -0,24 -0,17 -0,08 0,28 0,17 -0,05 0,13 -0,07 0,24 0,20 0,25 0,04 0,34 0,21

-0,54

-0,80 -0,24 -0,53 0,25 -0,15 -0,56 -0,65 -0,57

-0,50 -0,19 -0,29 -0,13 0,18 -0,36 -0,47 -0,40

0,02

-0,21 -0,12 -0,12 0,04 0,20 -0,31 -0,58 -0,40

SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT LEVEL OF THE COASTAL REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS By the comprehensive values of the socio-economic development level, it is possible grouping of the coastal regions of the Russian Federation on 3 groups: 

regions of sustainable socio-economic situation and development of the marine economic potential (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug,


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George Gogoberidze and Julia Lednova





Primorsky Krai, Sakhalin Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, Kaliningrad Oblast, St. Petersburg Region); regions of unstable socio-economic situation and development of the marine economic potential (Murmansk Oblast, Republic of Karelia, Arkhangelsk Region, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Magadan Oblast, Kamchatka Krai, Khabarovsk Krai, Astrakhan Oblast, Republic of Dagestan, Rostov Oblast); regions of unfavorable socio-economic situation and development of the marine economic potential (Republic of Kalmykia).

Correlation analysis of indicators and integral values for the coastal regions of the Russian Federation provides information on the relationship between the indicators and values. Statistical limit of the relationship is the value of the correlation coefficient of 0.7. The most interesting results are follows. 1) The value of GRP of the coastal regions has the direct link to values of investments to the region, as well as with the potential of mineral resources and sustainable development of the region resource base. The first relationship is logical and natural, but the second shows a considerable resource dependence of the coastal regions welfare (example – Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug) and the great opportunity of implementation of the geological exploration activities in the region. 2) GRP and investments values are logically connected with the integral value of the common economic development of the coastal regions. 3) The intensity of the foreign-economic activity of the coastal regions has a direct link with a comprehensive value of socio-economic development level of the coastal regions, which confirms the desire of foreign partners to have contacts and activities with economically strong regions of the Russian Federation. 4) The value of labor resources of the coastal regions has a direct link with the integral value of social-demographic development of the region. 5) Paradoxical (on first view) feedback link of the educational and health facilities development with the level of transport infrastructure development is quite clear. By the conditions of the inaccessibility of social facilities due to poor development of infrastructure, there is



6)

7)

8)

9)

173

need to create your own social facilities in remote places (especially for the Arctic and far Eastern regions). Thus there is increased density of objects of social value simultaneously with low density of transport infrastructure in the region, and that gives feedback value of the correlation coefficient. An feedback link between wages and the Gini index reflects the possibility of the strong social stratification with the increase the different between the budget wages and salaries in commercial structures in the region. Feedback link of potential of mineral resources and sustainable development of the resource base of the region with the degree of development of transport infrastructure of the coastal regions also quite understandable for the conditions of the Russian Federation. The largest explored reserves of natural resources and increased geological exploration work is typical for the coastal regions of the Arctic, which are characterized by very low transport infrastructure development. Direct link of harbor cargo with the tourism industry is explicable by the fact that the harbor activities means the developed historic city center of the region, as well as the presence of the passenger terminal, which gives a significant attractiveness to potential tourists. Direct link of harbor cargo and the Navy development level with the integral value of resource development suggests that these two types of maritime activities are dominant in terms of implementation and sustainable development of resource capacity of the coastal region.

It is important to note that the definition of a comprehensive indicator of the level of socio-economic development and the maritime activities capacity of the coastal region bases mainly on the macroeconomic and resource integral values. It's necessary also to attend to the relationships of the coastal regions of the Russian Federation by the values and spatial variability of indicators and integral values of socio-economic development level and maritime activities capacity. Correlation analysis of the regions is shown in Table 3 in the form of the correlation matrix, provides information on the links between regions. In this case, the statistical level for the relationship will have the value of the correlation coefficient 0.8, because only such strong relationships may make any conclusions on the principles of joint development of the regions. Significant results of this analysis can be formulated in the following.


174

George Gogoberidze and Julia Lednova

Table 3. Correlation matrix of the relationship of the coastal regions of the Russian Federation by the values and indicators of socio-economic development Region Murmansk Oblast (1) Republic of Karelia (2) Arkhangelsk Region (3) Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (4) Krasnoyarsk Krai (5) Sakha (Yakutia) Republic (6) Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (7) Magadan Oblast (8) Kamchatka Krai (9) Khabarovsk Krai (10) Primorsky Krai (11) Sakhalin Oblast (12) Astrakhan Oblast (13) Republic of Kalmykia (14) Republic of Dagestan (15) Krasnodar Krai (16) Rostov Oblast (17) Kaliningrad Oblast (18) St. Petersburg Region (19)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1,00

0,41

0,63

0,05

0,07

0,27

0,40

0,42

0,86

0,22

0,41

1,00

0,47

0,31

0,41

0,33

0,35

0,58

0,33

0,65

0,63

0,47

1,00

0,43

0,46

0,68

0,71

0,63

0,63

0,45

0,05

0,31

0,43

1,00

0,89

0,59

0,70

0,78

0,22

0,75

0,07

0,41

0,46

0,89

1,00

0,59

0,62

0,70

0,25

0,67

0,27

0,33

0,68

0,59

0,59

1,00

0,75

0,73

0,50

0,55

0,40

0,35

0,71

0,70

0,62

0,75

1,00

0,89

0,55

0,57

0,42

0,58

0,63

0,78

0,70

0,73

0,89

1,00

0,53

0,81

0,86

0,33

0,63

0,22

0,25

0,50

0,55

0,53

1,00

0,41

0,22

0,65

0,45

0,75

0,67

0,55

0,57

0,81

0,41

1,00

0,40

0,39

0,32

0,15

-0,04

0,12

0,15

0,33

0,41

0,59

0,31

0,39

0,51

0,53

0,48

0,50

0,58

0,67

0,31

0,59

0,25

0,72

0,37

0,13

0,15

0,41

0,23

0,32

0,24

0,40

0,38

0,72

0,43

0,05

0,11

0,55

0,28

0,38

0,45

0,43

-0,01

0,40

0,10

0,01

-0,06

0,25

-0,04

0,00

0,07

0,26

-0,27 -0,05 -0,22 -0,33 -0,46 -0,15 -0,35 -0,31 -0,26 -0,08 -0,02

0,68

0,08

0,08

0,10

0,15

-0,03

0,17

-0,04

0,40

0,38

0,48

0,26

-0,11

0,09

0,00

-0,14 -0,02

0,31

0,25

-0,24 -0,21 -0,26 -0,48 -0,37 -0,29 -0,44 -0,54 -0,28 -0,35



175

Table 3. (Continued) Region

11

Murmansk 0,40 Oblast (1) Republic of 0,39 Karelia (2) Arkhangelsk 0,32 Region (3) Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous 0,15 Okrug (4) Krasnoyarsk -0,04 Krai (5) Sakha (Yakutia) 0,12 Republic (6) Chukotka Autonomous 0,15 Okrug (7) Magadan Oblast 0,33 (8) Kamchatka Krai 0,41 (9) Khabarovsk 0,59 Krai (10) Primorsky Krai 1,00 (11) Sakhalin Oblast 0,48 (12) Astrakhan 0,36 Oblast (13) Republic of 0,29 Kalmykia (14) Republic of 0,36 Dagestan (15) Krasnodar Krai 0,27 (16) Rostov Oblast 0,40 (17) Kaliningrad 0,55 Oblast (18) St. Petersburg 0,07 Region (19)

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

0,31

0,25

0,38

-0,01

-0,27

-0,02

0,38

-0,24

0,39

0,72

0,72

0,40

-0,05

0,68

0,48

-0,21

0,51

0,37

0,43

0,10

-0,22

0,08

0,26

-0,26

0,53

0,13

0,05

0,01

-0,33

0,08

-0,11

-0,48

0,48

0,15

0,11

-0,06

-0,46

0,10

0,09

-0,37

0,50

0,41

0,55

0,25

-0,15

0,15

0,00

-0,29

0,58

0,23

0,28

-0,04

-0,35

-0,03

-0,14

-0,44

0,67

0,32

0,38

0,00

-0,31

0,17

-0,02

-0,54

0,31

0,24

0,45

0,07

-0,26

-0,04

0,31

-0,28

0,59

0,40

0,43

0,26

-0,08

0,40

0,25

-0,35

0,48

0,36

0,29

0,36

0,27

0,40

0,55

0,07

1,00

0,15

0,08

-0,05

-0,38

0,12

0,31

-0,37

0,15

1,00

0,79

0,83

0,28

0,86

0,41

0,07

0,08

0,79

1,00

0,68

0,10

0,62

0,33

-0,08

-0,05

0,83

0,68

1,00

0,38

0,78

0,38

0,19

-0,38

0,28

0,10

0,38

1,00

0,31

0,04

0,63

0,12

0,86

0,62

0,78

0,31

1,00

0,54

0,25

0,31

0,41

0,33

0,38

0,04

0,54

1,00

0,38

-0,37

0,07

-0,08

0,19

0,63

0,25

0,38

1,00


176

George Gogoberidze and Julia Lednova 1) Direct link between the Murmansk Oblast and the Kamchatka Krai. This relationship is primarily due to the similar unsustainable of macroeconomic situation and the principles of resource development of the regions. Both regions have major port complexes, which are the port gateway of the Russian Federation in the Far East and the North of the European part of the country, which in recent years more and more lose their significance. For both regions it's characterized by a relatively high level of biological resources production and the poor development of the tourist complex. Accordingly, both regions are border and have a considerable military and strategic potential, while low foreign-economic attractiveness. It is difficult to say that these regions is a «locomotives» for each other, primarily due to the extreme mutual remoteness. However, it is possible to speak about similar issues and principles for the development of these regions. 2) The relationship of socio-economic situation and development potential of Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug with Krasnoyarsk Krai, and Magadan Oblast with Kamchatka Krai and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug are primarily due to the economic and geographic proximity of these regions, and also the same underdevelopment and purely unilateral level of resource development and the capacity of these coastal regions. 3) The most interesting seems the close link of the Astrakhan Oblast with one region of the Caspian region (Republic of Dagestan) and the Rostov Oblast. In this case, in addition to the similarity of their relatively low macroeconomic situation and resource capacity, as well as the geographical proximity of regions, probably it is necessary to speak about the close relationship further development of a unified South geo-region, which includes the Caspian and Black Sea regions. Development of the Astrakhan Oblast will give a push and will be a «locomotive» for development and neighbors on this geo-region. Note that the depression and the backwardness of the Republic of Kalmykia have led to the fact that its links with its neighbors destroyed.

CONCLUSION For the analysis of the socio-economic situation in the coastal regions it's justified to use the indicator system for the marine economic potential assessment. This approach allows to update the economic, socio-demographic



177

and resource potential of coastal areas, wider and more effective use of internal and external reserves and resources. In addition, this method will allow to create a dynamic database on the basis of parameters characterizing the different socio-economic changes, as a tool for decision-making support in environmental management of coastal areas. On this basis it will be possible to make predictions of the socio-economic condition of the coastal regions as a response to the existing or planned management decisions and implementation of projects on environmental management of coastal areas.


G. Gogoberidze, Problems of modern economics, 2, 266, (2008) (in Russian). G. Gogoberidze, Journal of the St. Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics, 3, 142, (2008) (in Russian). G. Gogoberidze, Journal of Coastal Conservation, 16 (3), 251, 2012.



INDEX

2 21st century, 132

A access, 36, 37 accessibility, 117 accommodation, 116 accounting, 4 adaptation, 48, 49, 50 adjustment, viii, 31, 32, 45, 48, 51, 54, 55, 58, 66, 67, 70, 122 administrators, 60, 64 adverse effects, 42 aesthetic, 41, 48 Africa, 149 age, 49, 134, 166 agencies, 93, 105 Agricultural Research Service, 28 agriculture, vii, 41, 49, 91, 110, 122, 128 Alaska, 131 algae, 85, 87, 88, 91, 92, 96, 106, 157, 158 anchoring, 88 annual rate, 110 aquarium, 84, 157, 158 aquifers, 17

architects, 37 armed forces, 139 armed groups, 139 Asia, 104 assessment, viii, ix, xi, 3, 31, 32, 33, 42, 49, 57, 59, 65, 66, 76, 85, 125, 126, 137, 152, 155, 158, 165, 166, 176 assets, 35, 37, 42, 145 asymmetry, 141 attribution, 66 Austria, 75 authorities, 60, 68, 79 authority, 78, 131 autonomy, 60, 63, 64, 68 awareness, 59, 89, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 136, 140

B backwardness, 176 ban, 117 banks, x, 110, 122, 123, 124, 153 bargaining, 47 base, 3, 4, 10, 15, 32, 47, 88, 103, 153, 155, 160, 172, 173 batteries, 93, 103 benefits, 81, 95, 102, 104, 130 biodiversity, ix, 38, 110, 111, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 126, 127, 128, 132, 134, 136, 147, 162, 163


180

Index

bioenergy, 122 bioindicators, 157 biomass, 122, 157, 162 biosphere, 108 biotechnology, 139 birds, 127, 156, 161 Black Sea region, 176 bleaching, ix, 76, 85, 89, 90, 91, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99, 106, 107, 108 branching, 92 Brazil, x, 129, 130, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149 breeding, 78, 152, 156 Britain, 72 buffalo, 117 burn, 91

C calcium, 101 calcium carbonate, 101 calibration, viii, 2, 10, 11, 13, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 26 campaigns, 103, 106 CAP, 122, 127 carbon, 122 case studies, 51, 52, 58, 59 case study, 49, 58, 125 catchments, viii, 2, 6, 13, 15, 18 CEC, 47, 70 CEE, 127 Census, 43 certification, 64 challenges, 61, 95, 123, 128, 139 chemical, 4, 118, 122, 124, 152, 155, 159 chemicals, 160 China, 137, 140 circulation, 3, 13 cities, ix, 32, 48, 49, 50, 54, 55, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68 citizens, 32, 46, 67 City, 50, 63, 70, 73 civil society, 138

classes, ix, 4, 110, 118, 120, 121 classification, 33, 55, 58, 66, 130 cleaning, 99 cleanup, 93 climate, vii, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 15, 76, 89, 105, 112, 125 climate change, 76, 105 CO2, 122 coal, 138 coastal ecosystems, 155, 156, 161, 162 coastal management, 163 coastal region, xi, 165, 166, 168, 169, 171, 172, 173, 174, 176 cobalt, 136 color, iv, 123 commercial, 93, 113, 130, 173 communication, 89, 108 communities, viii, x, 31, 32, 33, 49, 58, 59, 60, 63, 64, 67, 68, 79, 86, 102, 103, 105, 107, 151, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 162 community, 33, 49, 51, 52, 58, 59, 67, 103, 135, 157 compensation, 155, 161 competition, x, 55, 59, 72, 130, 133 competitors, 55 complexity, 33, 35, 40, 67, 97, 98, 99, 107, 122, 144, 166 compliance, 36, 45, 47, 162 composition, 86, 94, 113, 158, 159, 161 compost, 103, 122 composting, 103 conception, x, 135, 151, 160 conditioning, 133 conference, 61, 62, 63, 64, 163 conflict, 39, 51, 52, 54, 59, 60, 69, 141 Congress, iv, 134, 143, 163 consensus, 37, 38, 45, 51 consent, 37 conservation, ix, 48, 69, 76, 79, 104, 110, 111, 114, 122, 127, 132, 152, 161, 162 conserving, 123 consolidation, 137 constituents, 4


Index Constitution, 61, 144, 147 construction, x, 40, 49, 53, 54, 55, 59, 88, 92, 103, 116, 117, 151, 152, 160, 162, 168 consumption, 38, 41, 43, 65, 110, 114, 118, 138, 146 containers, 158 contamination, 159, 160 Continental, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 139, 141, 142, 143, 147, 148 control measures, 92 controversial, 66, 92, 144 convergence, x, 129, 131 conversations, 52, 59, 60, 61 cooperation, 26, 32, 44, 45, 66, 140, 141 coordination, 36, 43, 65, 66, 67, 89, 104, 136, 142 copyright, iv Copyright, iv coral reefs, ix, 75, 76, 77, 80, 81, 90, 91, 92, 93, 95, 96, 102, 104, 105 correlation, xi, 4, 11, 22, 166, 172, 173 correlation analysis, xi, 166 correlation coefficient, 4, 11, 22, 172, 173 corruption, 139 cost, 37, 51, 87, 102, 103, 105 Council of Europe, 41, 42, 47, 70, 127 Council of Ministers, 126 covering, 3, 33, 162 crop, 128 crops, ix, 110, 117, 118, 119, 121, 122, 123, 124 crown, 106, 108 cultivation, 124 cultural heritage, 35, 37, 42, 60, 69 culture, 144 customers, 106 CV, viii, 32, 51, 52, 55, 58, 59, 60, 66

D Dagestan, 169, 170, 171, 172, 174, 175, 176 damages, iv, xi, 62, 110, 165

181 danger, 60 data collection, 84, 86 database, 8, 19, 111, 120, 177 decision-making process, 39, 44, 62 deconstruction, 110 deficiencies, 43 deficiency, 44 degradation, 159 delegates, 67 Delta, 154 demographic data, 53 deposition, 159, 160 deposits, 112, 113, 137, 142, 143 depression, 112, 176 depth, 15, 35, 37, 83, 153, 158 derivatives, 137, 142 destruction, 159 detachment, 4 detention, 4 developed countries, x, 130, 133, 136, 138, 140 deviation, 168 dialogues, 52, 60 direct foreign investment, 131, 137 direct investment, x, 129 directives, 48 discharges, 22 disclosure, 140 diseases, 122 dispersion, 113 dissatisfaction, 139 dissolved oxygen, 4 distribution, 5, 47, 87, 111, 118, 122, 123, 127, 128, 131, 141, 158 diversity, 81, 97, 157 DOI, 126, 162 draft, 46, 136 drainage, vii, 1, 3, 5, 13, 25, 113 drawing, 45 drought, 20, 25 dumping, 153, 155, 162

E early warning, 89


182

Index

echoing, 40 Ecological Monitoring of Dredging and Reclamation (EMDR), x, 151, 155, 161 ecology, 118 economic activity, 138, 166, 172 economic change, 177 economic consequences, x, 129, 131 economic development, x, xi, 41, 43, 50, 104, 129, 132, 160, 165, 166, 168, 171, 172, 173, 174 economic evaluation, 137 economic growth, 43, 132, 137, 146, 166 economic integration, x, 129, 131 economic losses, 152, 159 economics, 177 ecosystem, vii, 86, 87, 101, 102, 110, 111, 119, 120, 124, 125, 155, 162 education, 49, 102, 103, 104, 106, 107, 134, 140, 144, 145, 160 EEA, 124, 127, 128 effluent, 91, 103 electricity, 104 e-mail, 109 empirical studies, viii, 32 employment, 50, 54, 102 endangered, 63, 78 endangered species, 78 energy, 131, 137, 138, 139, 141, 145, 146 energy consumption, 138 energy efficiency, 146 energy security, 137, 139 enforcement, 43, 93, 104 engineering, 152, 159 England, 69, 137 enlargement, 152 entrepreneurs, 59 environment, vii, ix, x, xi, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 42, 43, 49, 76, 78, 86, 92, 103, 106, 110, 126, 127, 129, 131, 132, 133, 140, 151, 152, 155, 159, 160, 161, 165 environmental awareness, 140 environmental conditions, 152, 155, 161

environmental degradation, 159 environmental effects, 153, 155, 161 environmental factors, 152 environmental impact, 118 environmental issues, 131, 132, 137 environmental management, 177 environmental protection, 140 Environmental Protection Agency, 2, 4, 26, 27, 28, 29 environmental quality, 123 environmental sustainability, 41, 42, 65, 144, 166 environments, 97, 98, 99, 128 EPA, 2, 28, 29 equality, 70 erosion, vii, 4, 110, 161 ESDP, 126 ethnic groups, 139 etiquette, 103 EU, 70, 114, 122, 126 Europe, 41, 42, 47, 70, 124, 127, 128 European art, 110 European Commission, 126 European Community, 68, 114, 127 European Parliament, 114, 126 European Union, 32, 43, 50, 68, 113, 118, 126, 128 evapotranspiration, viii, 2, 4, 10, 16, 18, 122 evidence, 48, 49, 57, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 92, 108, 113 evil, 61 evolution, ix, 110, 111, 116, 133, 163 exclusion, 33, 67 expertise, 34, 35, 36, 39, 55 exploitation, x, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 139, 140, 141, 143, 144 exporter, 137 exports, 137 exposure, 162 extraction, 134, 140, 145, 146 extracts, 136


Index

F fairness, 59 families, 67, 117 farmland, 123, 128 farms, 139 fauna, 113, 114, 127, 159 fears, 63 Federal Government, 144, 145 fertility, 122 fertilizers, 118, 122, 124 filters, 93 financial, x, 45, 54, 55, 58, 129, 131, 137, 138, 141, 144, 145 financial capital, x, 129, 131 financial XE "financial" crisis, 144 financial resources, 45, 54, 58 Finland, vi, vii, x, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 158, 159, 160, 161, 163 fish, ix, 76, 81, 84, 85, 92, 93, 97, 101, 102, 104, 107, 139, 152, 158, 159, 161 fisheries, 81, 104, 161 fishing, 79, 81, 92, 93, 104, 106, 132, 134, 135, 139, 157 floods, 153 flora, 114, 127 flow value, 15, 20, 25 food, 79, 84, 93, 108, 122, 124, 159 forage crops, 122, 124 force, 34, 45, 47, 49, 50, 52, 53, 111, 114, 127 forecasting, 3 foreign direct investment, x, 129 foreign investment, x, 129, 131, 134, 137, 138 formation, x, 130, 134 foundations, 50 fragments, 86, 87, 88 France, 69, 72, 137, 140 freedom, 63, 130 freshwater, vii, viii, 1, 2, 3, 25, 153 funding, 26 funds, 45

183

G GDP, 139 Geographic Information System, 121 geography, 7, 28 geology, 15 geometry, 8 Georgia, 26 GIS, 7, 47, 129 global scale, 124 globalization, 141 goods and services, 111 Google Earth, 85 governance, 39, 49, 126 governments, 43, 45, 46, 47 GPS, 82, 85 grants, 142 greed, 126, 130 greenhouses, 118 groundwater, 10, 11, 16, 18, 124 grouping, 171 growth, 17, 43, 49, 53, 86, 87, 88, 92, 105, 110, 117, 131, 132, 137, 138, 145, 146, 157, 158, 166, 167 growth rate, 49, 53, 87, 88 guidance, 29, 36, 103 guidelines, 89, 106, 113, 122 Gulf of Mexico, vii, 2, 3, 27

H habitat, 102, 159 habitats, 41, 65, 78, 97, 99, 107, 114, 122, 127, 159, 160 health, 77, 93, 94, 104, 106, 111, 145, 167, 172 health care, 145 height, 88 history, 132, 133, 141 homes, 117, 118 host, 110, 124 hotel, 51, 54 hotels, 43, 49, 53, 54, 55, 56, 117 House, 92, 94


184

Index

housing, 41, 52, 53, 55, 118, 145 human, vii, ix, 42, 75, 76, 77, 83, 85, 102, 110, 111, 113, 124, 126, 160 human activity, 113 human health, 111 humid subtropical drainage area, vii, 1 hurricanes, 25 hydrocarbons, x, 130, 143, 146 Hydrological Simulation Program, vii, 1, 3, 25, 26

I identification, 47 identity, 36, 37, 42, 43, 115 IMF, 147 imports, 137, 142 income, 50, 54, 79, 81, 89, 118, 132, 137, 144 incompatibility, x, 129, 131 individuals, 158 industrial sectors, 132 industrialisation, 140 industrialization, 117 industrialized countries, 138 industries, 117 industry, 49, 54, 55, 59, 60, 92, 104, 137, 138, 139, 141, 145, 152, 173 inequality, 47 infant mortality, 167 information sharing, 89 informed consent, 37 infrastructure, x, 54, 59, 76, 79, 92, 123, 145, 151, 152, 162, 166, 167, 172, 173 injury, iv insane, 118 institutions, 93, 104, 114, 139, 142 integration, viii, x, 31, 32, 39, 44, 46, 47, 65, 69, 111, 123, 129, 131, 142, 148 integrity, 102, 105, 114, 124 intensive farming, 122 interface, 7, 25 internalization, x, 130 international relations, 141

international trade, 131, 136, 137 invertebrates, 84, 107 investment, x, 129, 131, 137, 138 investments, 131, 132, 134, 137, 138, 139, 144, 145, 146, 166, 172 investors, 132, 137, 143 IRC, 10, 16, 17 Ireland, 69 iron, 88, 140 islands, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81, 89, 92, 93, 95, 99, 103, 104, 106, 107, 153, 161 issues, viii, 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 39, 41, 43, 52, 59, 65, 72, 78, 113, 131, 132, 136, 143, 176 Italy, v, vii, viii, ix, 31, 32, 33, 36, 41, 42, 46, 65, 70, 72, 73, 109, 110, 111, 113, 122, 126, 127, 128

J Japan, 140 jurisdiction, x, 49, 62, 63, 78, 130, 133, 135 justification, 34, 42, 44

K kill, 88 Korea, 140

L labor force, 49 landscape, ix, 33, 34, 35, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 53, 60, 61, 62, 65, 67, 69, 110, 111, 113, 114, 115, 119, 120, 122, 123, 125, 137 landscapes, 42, 47, 125, 161 Law of the Sea Convention, 147 laws, 39, 66, 67, 114 leaching, 76, 93, 106 lead, ix, x, 62, 110, 130, 131, 133, 135, 141, 143, 145, 157, 159, 161, 167 leakage, 134


Index legislation, 33, 65, 67, 69, 127, 143, 162 legislative proposals, 68 legume, 122, 124 level of education, 49 life cycle, 162 light, 52, 60, 68, 157, 158 Lithuania, 163 local authorities, 60 local community, 33, 49, 51, 52, 58, 59 local conditions, 103 local government, 45 local villagers, ix, 76 long term monitoring, ix, 76

M macroalgae, 156 magnitude, 5, 16, 44 majority, 25, 58, 67, 79, 138 Malaysia, v, ix, 75, 76, 77, 78, 89, 91, 92, 93, 95, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 man, 152 management, ix, 3, 8, 41, 42, 47, 68, 76, 77, 78, 86, 90, 93, 95, 102, 103, 104, 106, 111, 118, 125, 163, 177 manganese, 136, 140 manufacturing, 117 mapping, 111 mass, 89, 96, 106, 108 materials, 37, 104, 113, 133, 153, 155, 158 matrix, 88, 117, 173, 174 matter, iv, 157 measurement, 11 median, 20, 24 mediation, 48 Mediterranean, 69, 112, 113 Mediterranean climate, 112 membership, 36, 93 messages, 124 methodology, 72, 77, 86, 102, 168 Mexico, vii, 2, 3, 27 mild winters, vii, 2 military, xi, 130, 143, 165, 176

185 mineral resources, 136, 139, 141, 167, 172, 173 Miocene, 6, 112 Mississippi River, 1 mixing, 99 model system, 157 models, viii, 2, 3, 25, 139, 144 modernization, 152 modifications, 113 moisture, 10, 16 monopoly, 117, 142, 144 mortality, 99, 100, 102, 167 mortality rate, 99, 100, 102 mosaic, 122 multidimensional, 26 Multilateral, 147 multinational companies, x, 130, 132, 133 mussels, 157

N narratives, 52, 59 national policy, 133 national security, 130, 143 National Security Council, 130 NATO, 125 natural gas, x, 130, 133, 136, 137, 138, 141, 142, 145, 146 natural habitats, 114, 127 natural resources, x, 60, 69, 114, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 140, 145, 173 Natural Resources Conservation Service, 28 negative effects, 155, 161 neglect, 43 networking, 89 neutral, 40 next generation, 136 NGOs, 89, 104 nickel, 140 Nigeria, 139, 149 nitrogen, 4, 91 NOAA, viii, 2, 10, 20, 28, 93 nodules, 136, 140


186

Index

non-renewable resources, 41, 65 Northern Ireland, 69 NRCS, 6, 17, 28 nucleus, 49 nutrient, 85, 91, 92, 95 nutrients, 91, 158

O objective reality, 34 objectivity, 58 oceans, 130, 135 officials, 59 oil, vii, x, 1, 91, 93, 103, 130, 132, 133, 134, 136, 137, 138, 139, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 148 oil revenues, 144 omission, 45 open spaces, 56 operations, 3, 8, 103, 106, 137, 142, 144, 162 opportunities, 69, 102, 107, 140, 166 optimization, 162 organize, 46, 63 overlap, 38 ownership, 105, 143, 144, 145 oxygen, 4, 158 oysters, 88

P Pacific, vii, 2, 139 parallel, 46 park managers, ix, 76 Parliament, 114, 126 participants, 59 partition, 145 pasture, 121 percolation, 4, 11 permission, iv permit, 63 personal communication, 108 personal values, 34, 65 Petroleum, 142, 144, 145, 147

Philadelphia, 71 phosphorus, 4 photographs, 47, 89 photosynthesis, 161 physical structure, 135 physics, 2 phytoplankton, 4 Pinus halepensis, 113 piracy, 113 planning decisions, xi, 165 planning implementation code (PIC), viii, 32 plant diseases, 122 plants, ix, 106, 110, 117, 118, 121, 122, 123, 156, 157 platform, ix, 4, 7, 76, 86, 113 Pliocene, 6 police, 135, 139 policy, 60, 65, 116, 123, 126, 128, 132, 141, 142, 143 political power, 146 politics, 140, 146 pollutants, 25 pollution, ix, 76, 91, 95, 106, 124, 131, 157, 159 ponds, 122 population, 49, 53, 54, 91, 110, 113, 118, 122, 134, 138, 143, 146, 167, 168 population density, 138 population growth, 167 postal service, 118 poverty, 144 power relations, 36 precedent, 45 precipitation, vii, 2, 10, 16, 20, 22, 112 predation, 91, 102 predators, 97 preparation, iv, viii, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 46, 65, 66 preservation, vii, 122, 156, 161 president, 142 President, 50 prevention, 41, 152, 160


Index principles, vii, x, xi, 34, 41, 44, 46, 47, 66, 68, 72, 140, 151, 165, 173, 176 private sector, 39, 44, 140, 147 professionals, 32, 36, 65, 132 project, ix, 26, 76, 86, 102, 107, 162 proliferation, 96, 117 proportionality, 68 protected areas, viii, 31, 32, 76, 104, 120, 161 protection, 38, 41, 42, 46, 48, 60, 61, 67, 69, 76, 78, 80, 81, 102, 105, 107, 114, 117, 132, 134, 136, 140, 141, 146, 161 public administration, 59, 67, 118 public domain, 60 public officials, 59 public service, 54, 58 PVC, 87, 101

Q qualitative research, 35, 39 quality of life, 134

R race, 132, 139 rainfall, vii, 2, 4, 8, 10, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 77 rainforest, 77 raw materials, 133 RE, 11, 12 reading, 34, 38, 40 real estate, 54, 59 real time, 3 reality, 2, 34 recall, 62 recession, viii, 2, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 25 recognition, 32, 131 recommendations, iv, 105, 125, 135 reconstruction, 152, 160 recovery, 94, 95, 97, 99, 102, 106, 107, 114 recreation, 55, 60, 161

187 recreational, 51, 56 recycling, 103, 104, 106 reflexes, 141 reform, 67 regeneration, 41, 78 Regional Landscape Plan (RLP), viii, 31 regression, 22 regulations, 78, 121, 139, 141, 142, 145 rehabilitation, ix, 69, 76, 86, 87, 88, 102, 107, 108 rehabilitation program, 102, 107 rejection, 167 relevance, 22 reliability, 161 relief, 153 rent, 43 requirements, 162 researchers, 37 reserves, 137, 143, 144, 146, 173, 177 Residential, 50 resilience, ix, 76, 97, 98, 107 resistance, 122 resolution, 7 resources, x, 3, 33, 37, 38, 41, 45, 54, 58, 60, 65, 69, 78, 104, 114, 115, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 167, 172, 173, 176, 177 response, ix, 76, 89, 128, 177 restaurants, 81, 118 restoration, 48, 53, 60, 162 restrictions, 33, 102, 131 revaluation, 67 revenue, 92, 103 rights, iv, 54, 131, 134, 136, 143 risk, 36, 46, 47, 137 risk assessment, 137 risks, 42, 65, 66, 142, 145 root, 11, 13 roots, 59 rotations, 122 routes, 117 rules, viii, 31, 32, 34, 35, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 53, 55, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 145


188

Index

runoff, viii, 2, 4, 18, 25 rural areas, 49 Russia, x, 137, 151, 152, 163, 165

S safety, x, 37, 145, 151, 152 salinity, 153 scatter, 21, 22, 24 scatter plot, 21, 22, 24 science, 144 scope, 36, 40, 41 SEA, 32, 38, 42, 46, 65, 66 sea level, 6 sectoral policies, 46 security, 125, 131, 137, 139, 143 sediment, 4, 156, 157, 158 sedimentation, xi, 92, 99, 151, 157, 158, 161 sediments, 7, 25, 92, 112, 134, 142, 154, 159, 160 segregation, 103 self-sufficiency, 137 semi-structured interviews, 32, 37, 38 Senate, 130, 147 sensitive hydrologic parameters, viii, 2, 25 sensitivity, 15, 16, 155 septic tank, 103 services, iv, 54, 56, 58, 64, 111, 117, 118, 125 settlements, vii, 49, 53, 55, 66, 110, 114, 117, 120 sewage, ix, 76, 91, 95, 103 shelter, 104 shock, 86 shores, 80 shortage, 141 showing, 96 shrubs, 121 signs, 106, 116, 120 simulation, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 18, 20, 22 simulations, 4, 24 social activities, 44, 49 social development, 50, 69

social group, 36 social problems, 55 social programs, 50 social welfare, 132 society, 132, 136, 138, 142 software, 3, 4, 8, 11 solid waste, 91, 106 solution, 103, 140 South Korea, 140 Southeast Asia, 104 sovereignty, 133, 134, 137, 139 SP, 85, 93, 148 species, 17, 78, 84, 86, 97, 113, 122, 139, 152, 156, 157, 161 sponge, 85 St. Petersburg, 151, 153, 165, 169, 170, 171, 172, 174, 175, 177 stability, 137, 139 stakeholder groups, 90 stakeholders, viii, 31, 32, 33, 39, 44, 46, 89, 93, 111, 124, 160 standard deviation, 11 standard of living, 138, 146 state, xi, 5, 22, 78, 86, 131, 132, 134, 137, 155, 159, 165 states, vii, 2, 45, 50, 52, 53, 54, 67, 130, 131, 133, 134 statistical processing, xi, 165 stock, 55 stomata, 158 storage, 4, 10, 16, 17, 18, 122 storms, vii, 2, 3, 25 strategic planning, 32, 141 stratification, 173 stress, 99, 135, 162 stressors, 86, 89, 95 structure, 35, 43, 49, 50, 85, 97, 99, 107, 113, 118, 135, 136, 140 subsistence, 167 substitution, 86 substrate, ix, 76, 83, 85, 88, 92 subsurface flow, 4 success rate, 87 Sun, 27 supervision, 103


Index supplier, 133 suppliers, 142 surplus, 137, 139 surveillance, 136 survival, 87, 102, 107, 133, 157, 162 survival rate, 102, 107, 162 sustainability, x, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 65, 125, 129, 131, 140, 144, 148, 162, 166 sustainable development, 34, 40, 113, 138, 160, 172, 173 Sustainable Development, 70, 126 sustainable growth, 131

189 transformation, 42, 43, 47, 53 translation, 61 transparency, 44, 68, 154, 159, 161 transplant, 86, 87 transport, 4, 13, 110, 167, 172, 173 transportation, 91, 103, 137, 141, 154 treaties, 143 treatment, 38, 95, 103, 155 Treaty of Amsterdam, 68 triggers, 89 tropical storms, 3, 25 Turkey, 24, 163

U T tanks, 103, 157 target, 112, 134 taxes, 140, 144 teams, 85 techniques, viii, 2, 10, 137 technological progress, 134 technologies, 134, 140, 146, 152 technology, x, 130, 133, 138, 144 technology transfer, 138 temperature, 4, 10, 77, 99, 106 territorial, ix, 44, 62, 67, 102, 110, 111, 113, 114, 115, 116, 131, 143, 166 territory, x, 34, 44, 45, 48, 54, 60, 62, 66, 67, 111, 114, 115, 117, 118, 130, 131, 133, 134, 135, 140, 143 testing, 91, 95 thoughts, 51 threats, 90, 105, 106 time series, viii, 2, 4, 10, 13, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24 tobacco, 117 top-down, 66 tourism, ix, 33, 39, 43, 49, 50, 54, 65, 70, 76, 79, 81, 89, 92, 104, 105, 106, 107, 161, 173 toxic waste, 103 trade, x, 129, 131, 136, 137, 144 traditions, 163 training, 85, 105, 140

UK, 29 unemployment rate, 49, 55 unification, 116 uniform, 8, 89 United, vii, 2, 7, 10, 27, 69, 70, 71, 72, 130, 135, 138, 146, 147, 148 United Kingdom, 69, 70, 71, 72, 138 United Nations, 130, 135, 146, 148 United States, vii, 2, 7, 10, 27, 70, 71, 72, 130, 147 universities, 36, 89, 93, 107 urban, ix, 5, 32, 41, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 55, 59, 62, 63, 66, 68, 110, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 120, 124 urban areas, 118 urban renewal, 41, 52 urbanization, 69, 118 USA, 108, 130, 137 USDA, 6, 17, 26, 28 USGS, viii, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 13, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25

V validation, 11, 13, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 26 valuation, 72 Valuation, viii, 32, 33, 73 variations, 126


190

Index

vegetation, 17, 77, 112, 121, 123, 160, 161 vehicles, 56, 57 velocity, 17 vertical integration, 32, 46, 47 vision, 62 visions, 72 visualization, 112

W wages, 167, 173 Wales, 69 war, 117 Washington, 27, 29, 125 waste, ix, 76, 91, 93, 103, 104, 106, 118 waste disposal, 93 waste incinerator, 91 waste management, 103, 106, 118 water, viii, ix, 2, 3, 4, 6, 11, 13, 15, 18, 24, 25, 41, 76, 86, 87, 91, 92, 95, 97, 99, 103, 106, 114, 122, 133, 141, 152, 153, 154, 155, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162 water quality, 3, 4, 91, 92, 160 water resources, 3

watershed, vii, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 23, 24, 25, 61, 64 weakness, 43 wealth, 132, 133, 136, 137 weapons, 141 web, 162 websites, 69 welfare, 58, 132, 172 well-being, 111 wetlands, vii, 1, 5, 116 working groups, 35, 37 World Bank, 147 World War I, 134, 135 worldwide, 144

Y yield, vii, 1, 2 youth unemployment, 49

Z zooplankton, 4
