59 research outputs found
Knowledge co-creation as a means to support the implementation of the European water framework directive in Denmark
No full textPublic information and consultation for the elaboration, revision, and updating of River Basin Management Plans are encouraged in article 14 of the Water Framework Directive. In Denmark, there’s a need to engage with the public and stakeholders, and failure to do so might result in coordination problems between the central and local levels of the government. Water councils were therefore re-appointed in 2019 to improve stakeholder involvement. These groups are engaged, with Danish municipalities, in the co-creation – collaborative process to produce knowledge – of measures to restore streams for the 2021-2027 management cycle River Basin Management Plans. As such, the re-introduction of water councils consists in a step towards more co-governance, i.e., shared decision right between government institution and other associations, in stream management in Denmark. This thesis examines the framework surrounding water councils and their function in the decision-making process in Denmark using the following research hypothesis: Water councils play a key role for the Danish co-governance system.
The research is based on a case study of three water councils. The collaborative process of assisting municipalities in developing restoration measures for the government conducted by water councils was assessed employing an analytical framework proposed in the co-production literature encompassing four principles: pluralism, goal orientation, contextualization, and interactivity. Data was collected via an online questionnaire and interviews, and resulting textual data analyzed based on a deductive coding approach reflective of the analytical knowledge co-production framework.
Results indicate that researched water councils will most likely reach the objectives of the third consultation cycle thanks to the experience and relationship of the group developed throughout previous consultation cycles. However, there is room for improvement regarding the tools and diversity used in the process. Results also showed that water councils have no legal power and authority in decision-making and are delegated narrowed responsibility – i.e., their task in the 2019-20 consultation cycle focused on the physical characteristics of streams. The latter approach occults chemical and biological aspects or the opportunity of operating at a higher scale, both leading to a more holistic approach in water management, which is a hallmark of the WFD.
Despite reaching their objective of advising municipalities in developing measures proposals for River Basin Management Plans, water councils play a restricted role in the Danish water governance system. Conclusions point out to a missing regional level in the Danish decision-making system, which could support an increased holistic approach to stream restoration and bridge the gap between central and local authorities. There is room and need for further investigation but enlarging water councils’ powers and responsibilities could be a means of addressing this gap, benefitting from existing arrangements and experienced groups
Review of regional scale models in the EU and methods commonly used when modelling outcomes of the implementation of the climate change mitigation policies
No full textManagement of Nitrogen (N) losses and the related greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most important environmental issues related to agriculture. This report shows examples of an integrated model tool, developed to quantify the N‐dynamics at the complex interface between agriculture and the environment, and quantify effects of different management practices. Based on results from the EU funded research projects NitroEurope (www.NitroEurope.eu) and MEAscope (www.MEA‐scope.org), examples from the quantification of farm N‐losses in European agricultural landscapes are demonstrated. Applications of the dynamic whole farm model FASSET (www.FASSET.dk), and the Farm‐N tool (www.farm‐N.dk/FarmNTool) to calculate farm N balances, and distribute the surplus N between different types of N‐losses (volatilisation, denitrification, leaching), and the related greenhouse gas emissions, show significant variation between landscapes and management practices. Moreover, significant effects of the nonlinearities, appearing when integrating over time, and scaling up from farm to landscape, are demonstrated. Finally, perspectives for stakeholder involvement is included and general recommendations for landscape level management of farm related nitrogen and greenhouse gas fluxes are made, and discussed in relation to ongoing research in the European research projects
Historical Transition of a Farming System towards Industrialization: A Danish Agricultural Case Study Comparing Sustainability in the 1840s and 2019
No full textA Danish pre-industrial farming system is reconstructed and compared to its modern industrialized farming system equivalent to evaluate agricultural performance in a sustainability perspective. The investigated Danish farm system and its contributing elements have undergone significant transformations. The intensity of contemporary agriculture shows that high productivity levels have been achieved by increasing the input of energy using modern machinery. At the same time, the energy efficiency (calculations based on energetic indicators) diminishes over time as the degree of dependence on fossil fuels increases. The results from this study show significant changes in the farming system, specifically inputs from agricultural land use, livestock, and energy systems. From being highly circular, the system changed to being a clear linear farming system with highly increased productivity but less efficient at the same time, questioning the relationship between productivity and efficiency and resource utilization in modern farming systems. Through utilizing an agroecological historical approach by comparing system performance over time, the results offer opportunities to explore how agricultural farming systems evolve over time and help to describe the complexity of the system level in a sustainability perspective
Nitrate Management Discourses in Poland and Denmark—Laggards or Leaders in Water Quality Protection?
No full textThe most significant source of nitrate pollution in the European Union (EU) is attributed to agricultural activities, which threaten drinking water, marine, and freshwater resources. The Nitrates Directive is a key feature of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), which seeks to reduce nitrate pollution from agricultural sources. Yet, weak compliance by Member States (MS) diminishes the legitimacy of the EU environmental acquis and undermines efforts to achieve environmental objectives. This study examines the nitrate management discourse in Poland to identify influencing factors that impact governance capacity and overall compliance performance. The empirical investigation is based on nine stakeholder interviews, three written correspondences, and a literature review that collectively comprise an evaluation study. A comparison in governance approaches between Poland and Denmark provides a calibration in assessing performance respective to another MS. The findings categorize both Poland and Denmark as “laggard” in WFD compliance. This case contributes new insights in identifying 6 enabling and 13 constraining factors affecting the ability of MS to fulfill their implementation duties. The findings demonstrate that divergent stakeholder views based on historical and cultural norms require a differentiated approach tailored to domestic conditions for effective fulfillment of the objectives set forth in EU environmental legislation
An approach to sustainability management within partnerships between heterogeneous actors – example from a Danish water catchment, dominated by dairy farms
No full textIn this paper we present an approach to sustainability management within partnerships between heterogenous actors. This multi-disciplinary approach is also relevant for the assessment of climate change adaptation and mitigation in the context of www.macsur.eu; and especially in areas with dairy farming hot-spots. Established approaches within this field such as Adaptive Co-Management and Social Learning focus on social-material interactions, feedback mechanisms, knowledge integration and institutional change as drivers in sustainable development. However, the role of micro-scale power dynamics as part of these processes have received less attention. In a case study of land-water management in a Danish water catchment, dominated by dairy farms, we analyze how dynamics of power within knowledge integration processes interacts with institutions at different scales. Thereby, we show ways in which power-knowledge dynamics shape development outcomes. Finally, we propose how increasing reflexivity of power-knowledge dynamics might contribute to institutional change and sustainable development
Stakeholder Engagement and Knowledge Co-Creation in Water Planning: Can Public Participation Increase Cost-Effectiveness?
No full textIn 2014, a radical shift took place in Danish water planning. Following years of a top-down water planning approach, 23 regional water councils were established to co-create and provide input to Danish authorities on the development of River Basin Management Plans (RBMP). The water councils advised local authorities on the application of measures to improve the physical conditions in Danish streams within a given economic frame. The paper shows the difference the use of water councils (public participation) made by comparing the final water council proposal included in the 2015 RBMP to the RBMPs proposed by the central government (Nature Agency) in 2014. The study concludes that the measures proposed by the water councils will generally deliver better results than the proposed Nature Agency plans, which do not include the same level of participation. Specifically, the water councils with stakeholder involvement proposed a much longer network of streams (3800 km), yielding a better ecological outcome than the shorter stream network (1615 km) proposed by the Nature Agency for the same budget. Having a structured and fixed institutional frame around public participation (top-down meeting bottom-up) can produce cost-effective results, but the results show that cost-effectiveness was not the only deciding factor, and that local circumstances like the practicalities of implementing the measures were also considered when developing the Programmes of Measures. The findings suggest that the use of water councils in water planning has significant advantages, including the fact that the knowledge of local conditions helps to identify efficient solutions at lower costs, which can be useful for administrators, policy-makers, and other stakeholders implementing theWater Framework Directive in years to come.In 2014, a radical shift took place in Danish water planning. Following years of a top-down water planning approach, 23 regional water councils were established to co-create and provide input to Danish authorities on the development of River Basin Management Plans (RBMP). The water councils advised local authorities on the application of measures to improve the physical conditions in Danish streams within a given economic frame. The paper shows the difference the use of water councils (public participation) made by comparing the final water council proposal included in the 2015 RBMP to the RBMPs proposed by the central government (Nature Agency) in 2014. The study concludes that the measures proposed by the water councils will generally deliver better results than the proposed Nature Agency plans, which do not include the same level of participation. Specifically, the water councils with stakeholder involvement proposed a much longer network of streams (3800 km), yielding a better ecological outcome than the shorter stream network (1615 km) proposed by the Nature Agency for the same budget. Having a structured and fixed institutional frame around public participation (top-down meeting bottom-up) can produce cost-effective results, but the results show that cost-effectiveness was not the only deciding factor, and that local circumstances like the practicalities of implementing the measures were also considered when developing the Programmes of Measures. The findings suggest that the use of water councils in water planning has significant advantages, including the fact that the knowledge of local conditions helps to identify efficient solutions at lower costs, which can be useful for administrators, policy-makers, and other stakeholders implementing theWater Framework Directive in years to come.</p
D2.1 Online inventory of promising NBS relevant for study sites
No full text<p>Within WP2, the objective of task 2.1 is to start the development and establish an online facility to collect descriptions/inventories of potential relevant NBS for the trans4num study sites. NBS innovations potentially relevant for the trans4num study sites will be based on internally available documents (deliverables 1.1 and 1.3) and outputs of EU projects, such as Lex4bio, Nutriman etc. The NBS will be characterised with respect to their biophysical, agronomic, and farm management implications at field and farm levels, and they will be assessed and ranked according to their potential for each of the NBS sites in close consultation with respective farmers and related stakeholder groups. The most promising NBS will be selected for field implementation and testing with farmers' participation. </p><p>Consequently, the inventory starts with a selection of already well-captured NBS and then gradually becomes both deepened in contents and extended in cases. These will be connected to the four NBS sites of the trans4num project. The online inventory will be presented at the trans4num website: htps://trans4num.eu/en/</p>
The challenge of legitimizing spatially differentiated regulation:Experiences from the implementation of the Danish Buffer zone act
No full textDifferentiating regulation is a promising approach to agri-environmental regulation that may potentially reduce the environmental impact of agriculture at the lowest possible costs for the farmers and society, but also possesses a number of challenges. In this article, we explore the challenges to the legitimacy of agri-environmental regulation that occurs when the regulatory regime changes from general regulation to differentiated regulation. The analysis is based on a case study of the implementation of the Buffer zone act in Denmark – a regulation that prevents agricultural production in a 10 (later 9) meter fringe around selected waterbodies. We distinguish between two different ways of legitimizing: Producing knowledge and participation. We conclude that to harvest some of the obvious benefits of differentiated regulation a number of challenges must be resolved, 1) ensuring legitimacy of differentiated regulation is crucial, 2) differentiated regulation imply that farmers are also differentiated, 3) differentiated regulation implies new uncertainties, 4) the current knowledge regime need to be reconfigured, 5) stakeholders feel that they are unevenly treated and 6) it is difficult to establish a win–win solution for all farmers on an individual level.</p
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