Adaptive Environmental Management Research Articles

What would environmental impact assessment look like if we started from scratch today? Designing better EIA for developed neoliberal nations

ABSTRACT After more than five decades of practice, environmental impact assessment (EIA) has failed to convince sceptics that it represents value for money. It increasingly overlaps with constantly emerging sustainability requirements. The completed assessments are extremely long, exceed the cognitive capacities of decision makers to assimilate information, cannot address motivated reasoning, and therefore inevitably lead to trade-offs that threaten the very environmental components EIA was designed to protect. In this paper, for the minority of nations with highly developed existing environmental legislation and management only, we propose three radical approaches that include: (1) the adoption of ‘satisficing’, to deliver a streamlined assessment that is good enough; underpinned by (2) better application of ‘acceptable harmrules’ embedded in existing environmental legislation in many jurisdictions to prevent significant harm to environmental media; and (3) an ‘externalities charge’ on developers (irrespective of whether EIA is required) to force more aggressive scoping through market incentives and to fund a shift towards adaptive environmental assessment and management that manages environmental outcomes. Better environmental protections could be delivered using a far more streamlined EIA process, associated with the creation and maintenance of more accurate and comprehensive datasets that can provide better evidence for emerging artificial intelligence tools.

A geospatial approach to identifying and mapping areas of relative environmental pressure on ecosystem integrity

The influence of increasing anthropogenic pressure on ecosystem integrity, such as land use change, is resulting in many ecosystems experiencing a decline in their ability to maintain balanced functions and services. Identifying and quantifying these pressures over different scales is challenging and thus impacting the achievement or maintenance of key environmental outcomes. In this study, a GIS-based and scalable tool was developed, the Relative Environmental Pressure (REP) Tool, to address these challenges. The REP tool combines an ecosystem integrity conceptual framework with a weighted linear combination analysis to quantify and rank relative environmental pressure across the scale of interest. The REP Tool was developed as an automated Python-based model in a PyCharm working environment using ArcGIS Pro Arcpy scripting. The REP Tool was applied to spatially contiguous geospatial data for the Province of Alberta, Canada and dynamically scaled relative to Hydrologic Unit Codes at level 8 (HUC8) along with regional and sub-regional scale sub-watersheds. Both cumulative and individual relative pressure levels were calculated and mapped for specific ecosystem integrity framework-derived Environmental Pressure Groups (EPGs) including Atmospheric Alteration, Sedimentation, Habitat Alteration, Hydrologic Alteration, and Social Pressure. Data driven Jenks natural breaks were then applied to classify the relative environmental pressures into a nine-level ranking system. The resulting visualization and data outputs from the REP Tool clearly show that the highest cumulative relative environmental pressure values align with the distribution of major population centres, zones of intense agriculture and major industrial activity. These regions reflect the physiography of Alberta with the Rocky Mountain and Boreal natural regions dominated by low relative environmental pressure. As scales become smaller and more refined, the location of the higher relative environmental pressure levels typically become more subdivided with greater spatial precision where higher pressured areas are located. These patterns are repeated when looking at individual EPGs but with enhanced differentiation of pressure as scales are refined. The framework and geospatial science driven approach behind the REP Tool can be universally applied to support enhanced understanding of relative environmental pressures in, or between regions, as well as informing adaptive environmental resource management and monitoring activities.

Accelerating environmental flow implementation to bend the curve of global freshwater biodiversity loss

Environmental flows (e-flows) aim to mitigate the threat of altered hydrological regimes in river systems and connected waterbodies and are an important component of integrated strategies to address multiple threats to freshwater biodiversity. Expanding and accelerating implementation of e-flows can support river conservation and help to restore the biodiversity and resilience of hydrologically altered and water-stressed rivers and connected freshwater ecosystems. While there have been significant developments in e-flow science, assessment, and societal acceptance, implementation of e-flows within water resource management has been slower than required and geographically uneven. This review explores critical factors that enable successful e-flow implementation and biodiversity outcomes in particular, drawing on 13 case studies and the literature. It presents e-flow implementation as an adaptive management cycle enabled by 10 factors: legislation and governance, financial and human resourcing, stakeholder engagement and co-production of knowledge, collaborative monitoring of ecological and social-economic outcomes, capacity training and research, exploration of trade-offs among water users, removing or retrofitting water infrastructure to facilitate e-flows and connectivity, and adaptation to climate change. Recognising that there may be barriers and limitations to the full and effective enablement of each factor, the authors have identified corresponding options and generalizable recommendations for actions to overcome prominent constraints, drawing on the case studies and wider literature. The urgency of addressing flow-related freshwater biodiversity loss demands collaborative networks to train and empower a new generation of e-flow practitioners equipped with the latest tools and insights to lead adaptive environmental water management globally. Mainstreaming e-flows within conservation planning, integrated water resource management, river restoration strategies, and adaptations to climate change is imperative. The policy drivers and associated funding commitments of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework offer crucial opportunities to achieve the human benefits contributed by e-flows as nature-based solutions, such as flood risk management, floodplain fisheries restoration, and increased river resilience to climate change.

The recovery of river chemistry from acid rain in the Mississippi River basin amid intensifying anthropogenic activities and climate change

Acid rain has degraded the environmental health of many regions worldwide since the Industrial Revolution. Signatures of river chemistry recovery from acid rain since the Clean Air Act and similar legislation have been reported extensively in small streams but are often subdued or masked in large rivers by complex, co-occurring drivers. Here we assess the recovery of river chemistry from acid rain deposition in the Mississippi River Basin (MRB), the largest river basin in North America. We combine analysis of temporal trends of acid rain indicator solutes with Bayesian statistical models to assess the large-scale recovery from acid rain and characterize effects of anthropogenic activities. We found evidence of river chemistry recovery from acid rain; however, the effects of other anthropogenic activities, including fertilizer application and road salting, and changing climate, are likely intensifying. Trends of pH, alkalinity and SO4 export suggest acid rain recovery at large in the MRB, with stronger evidence of recovery in the historically afflicted eastern region of the basin. The concentrations of acid rain indicators generally correlate positively to NO3 and Cl, indicating that N-fertilizer application may have significantly increased weathering, and possibly acidification, and road salt application likely increased cation loss from catchments and contributed to SO4 export. Temperature correlates positively with solute concentrations, possibly through respiration-driven weathering or evaporation. The concentrations of acid rain indicators correlate negatively and most strongly to discharge, indicating discharge as a predominant driver and that lower discharge during droughts can elevate concentrations of riverine solutes in a changing climate. Using long-term data, this study represents a rare, comprehensive assessment of the recovery from acid rain in a large river basin, taking into consideration the entangled effects of multiple human activities and climate change. Our results highlight the ever-present need for adaptive environmental management in a constantly changing world.

Bridging adaptive management and reinforcement learning for more robust decisions.

From out-competing grandmasters in chess to informing high-stakes healthcare decisions, emerging methods from artificial intelligence are increasingly capable of making complex and strategic decisions in diverse, high-dimensional and uncertain situations. But can these methods help us devise robust strategies for managing environmental systems under great uncertainty? Here we explore how reinforcement learning (RL), a subfield of artificial intelligence, approaches decision problems through a lens similar to adaptive environmental management: learning through experience to gradually improve decisions with updated knowledge. We review where RL holds promise for improving evidence-informed adaptive management decisions even when classical optimization methods are intractable and discuss technical and social issues that arise when applying RL to adaptive management problems in the environmental domain. Our synthesis suggests that environmental management and computer science can learn from one another about the practices, promises and perils of experience-based decision-making. This article is part of the theme issue 'Detecting and attributing the causes of biodiversity change: needs, gaps and solutions'.

Modeling and computation of cost-constrained adaptive environmental management with discrete observation and intervention

Cost-constrained stochastic control problems that arise in environmental engineering are formulated based on ergodic control with seasonal dynamics, which are subject to time-discrete observation and intervention. In this study, a novel adaptive Erlangization is introduced as a flexible intervention scheme, in which the sum of the intervention and observation costs is constrained in the sense of an expectation. The Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation is formulated by utilizing the method of Lagrangian multipliers as an optimality equation that is subject to the constrained expectation. We demonstrate that the HJB equation has a closed-form solution for a specific sand replenishment problem. This solution is used as a benchmark to verify a numerical algorithm for computing the HJB equation. Computational examples that focus on a sand replenishment problem in a river reach of a dam and a management problem of aquatic vegetation in a shallow lake are presented.

Changing Flows: Sociotechnical Tinkering for Adaptive Water Management.

The Western United States is experiencing historic drought, increasing pressure on water management systems. Agricultural production that relies on surface water flows is therefore imperiled, requiring new innovations and partnerships in order to adapt and survive. In Arizona, some agriculture continues to rely on historic, low-tech irrigation infrastructure such as hand-dug open ditches that divert river water to flood fields. These ditch systems are managed through both formal ditch companies and informal associations. To address changing water availability and needs, ditch users regularly "tinker" with water infrastructure, experimenting and making changes beyond the original infrastructure plans. Such changes are informed and driven by local social relationships and realities of the physical infrastructure. These dynamics are critical to understanding the adaptive capacity and flexibility of the water system; however, they are challenging to recognize and record. In this paper, we apply the emerging conceptualization of sociotechnical tinkering to examine the adaptive management of irrigation ditches in the Verde Valley of Arizona. We find evidence that water users frequently tinker with their water delivery and monitoring infrastructure to respond to and anticipate changes in water availability. Viewed through the lens of sociotechnical tinkering, these interactions are understood as the material manifestations of situated practice and actor agency within a water management system. This case study contributes to literature on adaptive environmental management and the hydrosocial cycle.

Influence of landscape heterogeneity on entomological and parasitological indices of malaria in Kisumu, Western Kenya

BackgroundIdentification and characterization of larval habitats, documentation of Anopheles spp. composition and abundance, and Plasmodium spp. infection burden are critical components of integrated vector management. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of landscape heterogeneity on entomological and parasitological indices of malaria in western Kenya.MethodsA cross-sectional entomological and parasitological survey was conducted along an altitudinal transect in three eco-epidemiological zones: lakeshore along the lakeside, hillside, and highland plateau during the wet and dry seasons in 2020 in Kisumu County, Kenya. Larval habitats for Anopheles mosquitoes were identified and characterized. Adult mosquitoes were sampled using pyrethrum spray catches (PSC). Finger prick blood samples were taken from residents and examined for malaria parasites by real-time PCR (RT-PCR).ResultsIncreased risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection was associated with residency in the lakeshore zone, school-age children, rainy season, and no ITNs (χ2 = 41.201, df = 9, P < 0.0001). Similarly, lakeshore zone and the rainy season significantly increased Anopheles spp. abundance. However, house structures such as wall type and whether the eave spaces were closed or open, as well as the use of ITNs, did not affect Anopheles spp. densities in the homes (χ2 = 38.695, df = 7, P < 0.0001). Anopheles funestus (41.8%) and An. arabiensis (29.1%) were the most abundant vectors in all zones. Sporozoite prevalence was 5.6% and 3.2% in the two species respectively. The lakeshore zone had the highest sporozoite prevalence (4.4%, 7/160) and inoculation rates (135.2 infective bites/person/year). High larval densities were significantly associated with lakeshore zone and hillside zones, animal hoof prints and tire truck larval habitats, wetland and pasture land, and the wet season. The larval habitat types differed significantly across the landscape zones and seasonality (χ2 = 1453.044, df = 298, P < 0.0001).ConclusionThe empirical evidence on the impact of landscape heterogeneity and seasonality on vector densities, parasite transmission, and Plasmodium infections in humans emphasizes the importance of tailoring specific adaptive environmental management interventions to specific landscape attributes to have a significant impact on transmission reduction.Graphical abstract

Learning Together for and with the Martuwarra Fitzroy River

Co-production across scientific and Indigenous knowledge systems has become a cornerstone of research to enhance knowledge, practice, ethics, and foster sustainability transformations. However, the profound differences in world views and the complex and contested histories of nation-state colonisation on Indigenous territories, highlight both opportunities and risks for Indigenous people when engaging with knowledge co-production. This paper investigates the conditions under which knowledge co-production can lead to improved Indigenous adaptive environmental planning and management among remote land-attached Indigenous peoples through a case study with ten Traditional Owner groups in the Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) Catchment in Western Australia’s Kimberley region. The research team built a 3D map of the river and used it, together with an interactive table-top projector, to bring together both scientific and Indigenous spatial knowledge. Participatory influence mapping, aligned with Traditional Owner priorities to achieve cultural governance and management planning goals set out in the Fitzroy River Declaration, investigated power relations. An analytical framework, examining underlying mechanisms of social learning, knowledge promotion and enhancing influence, based on different theories of change, was applied to unpack the immediate outcomes from these activities. The analysis identified that knowledge co-production activities improved the accessibility of the knowledge, the experiences of the knowledge users, strengthened collective identity and partnerships, and strengthened Indigenous-led institutions. The focus on cultural governance and management planning goals in the Fitzroy River Declaration enabled the activities to directly affect key drivers of Indigenous adaptive environmental planning and management—the Indigenous-led institutions. The nation-state arrangements also gave some support to local learning and decision-making through a key Indigenous institution, Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council. Knowledge co-production with remote land-attached Indigenous peoples can improve adaptive environmental planning and management where it fosters learning together, is grounded in the Indigenous-led institutions and addresses their priorities.

Reflecting on, and revising, international best practice principles for EIA follow-up

Follow-up is a vital component of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), being essential for understanding assessment outcomes. Long-standing international best practice principles for EIA follow-up are reviewed, and revisions proposed, based on workshops with academics and practitioners, literature review and self-reflection. The proposed revision of EIA follow-up principles will feature an introduction with a simple definition and explanation of objectives for follow-up, and 15 principles. The revised principles address: objective; context; early establishment; project life-cycle; transparency; accessibility; accountability; performance criteria provision; enforcement; learning; adaptive environmental management; flexible or adaptive approach; tiering; cumulative effects and overall performance evaluation. Through publishing this proposal, it is hoped to simultaneously inform or inspire EIA practitioners to enhance their own follow-up knowledge and practices, and to seek input for further refinements that might lead to a revised set of international best practice principles for EIA follow-up.

Is ecological protection and restoration of full-array ecosystems conducive to the carbon balance? A case study of Hubei Province, China

The ecological protection and restoration of full-array ecosystems (EPRFE) is crucial for improving ecological environments in many respects. However, whether EPRFE can contribute to the carbon balance in terms of reducing carbon emissions and increasing carbon sequestration remains unclear. In this study, an indicator system is conducted to assess EPRFE levels, a net carbon emission accounting method is applied to measure carbon balance, and a coupling coordination model is employed to explore the relationship between EPRFE levels and net carbon emissions of cities in Hubei Province from 2013 to 2017. The results showed that Jingzhou and Jingmen achieved high EPRFE levels, whereas Shennongjia and Ezhou exhibited relatively low EPRFE levels. Moreover, the Wuhan Urban Agglomeration achieved higher net carbon emissions than western Hubei. Overall, EPRFE projects had positive effects on reducing net carbon emissions. The coupling degree between EPRFE levels and net carbon emissions was significantly high (0.85); however, the coordination degree was moderate (0.68) and needs further improvement. The results of this study can be an effective reference for improving EPRFE management strategies through adaptive environmental assessment and management to achieve low-carbon development.

Менеджмент окружающей среды и экология водоемов в поисках ответов на вызовы времени

Currently, the destruction of landscapes is taking place with a decrease in the sustainability and productivity of natural ecosystems. One of the main reasons for this is inadequate environmental management, which, as a rule, is based on inadequate outdated theoretical ecological concepts. The totality of accumulated data shows that real ecosystems can be in several alternative states and demonstrate relatively rapid changes in the regime of existence with significant, abrupt and permanent changes in structure and functioning. In this regard, the main ecosystem paradigm is currently being revised. From the theoretical concept of the unicity of the ecosystem stable state, ecology moves to the concept of the multiplicity of stable states in the ecosystem. The dynamics of ecosystems can be represented, according to K. Holling, in the form of an adaptation cycle with the alternation of four phases, the features of which are considered. The importance of no return points and possible uncertainty in the dynamics of ecosystems are shown. Ecosystems, in a certain sense, have memory, which is the reason for the hysteresis effect during multidirectional changes in systems. The necessity of developing approaches of adaptive ecosystem management based on this concept is shown. Which is especially important in cases of rapid transformation of natural ecosystems, such, as an example, in the Crimea after the cessation of the supply of Dnieper water to the North Crimean canal. The difficulties of transition to adaptive environmental management in modern conditions are analyzed.

The alternative saline lake ecosystem states and adaptive environmental management

Our sustainable environmental management must be based on adequate ecological concepts. The question arises: what concept is better to use for understanding and management of ecosystems? To look for an answer, we concentrate our attention on saline lakes. Every ecosystem has several alternative stable states and may demonstrate regime shifts, which are large, abrupt, persistent changes in the structure and function of a system. To understand the dynamics of ecosystems the Concept of Multiplicity of Ecosystem Alternative Stable States as a new ecological paradigm has been developed recently. The author analyzes the emerging paradigm using the case of saline lakes, and discusses how to base our adaptive environmental management on the developing paradigm. Different issues of development of the concept and its application to salinology as a scientific basis of an integrated management of a saline lake and its watershed are discussed. The concept may serve as one of the key theoretical elements of the scientific basis in sustainable environmental management.

Using an Adaptive Environmental Management Framework to Regulate the Unconventional Gas Industry: A Case Study of Queensland, Australia

AbstractAustralia has just witnessed one of the longest resources booms in the country's history. But who benefited? Was the rapid expansion managed in such a way to protect affected communities, ecosystems, and water resources? And what legislative approach has delivered the best outcome? Unconventional gas has been touted as the great saviour in terms of energy, providing a transitional resource that will enable the global economy to shift from a non‐renewal hydrocarbon‐based economy to renewable energy sources. The development of the unconventional gas industry in the state of Queensland has created opportunities for the significant capital investment, job creation, and the beginnings of a massive liquefied natural gas export industry within the State. During the period of expansive development, water and environmental legislation was often at odds with both the industry and the community. Successive governments grappled with the best approach for capturing community concerns and supporting the development of a new industry that promised significant benefits to the State through jobs, taxes, and royalties. This paper evaluates the adaptive environmental management approach adopted by Queensland to manage the new unconventional gas industry and whether this has been successful.

Informing Environmental Water Management Decisions: Using Conditional Probability Networks to Address the Information Needs of Planning and Implementation Cycles.

One important aspect of adaptive management is the clear and transparent documentation of hypotheses, together with the use of predictive models (complete with any assumptions) to test those hypotheses. Documentation of such models can improve the ability to learn from management decisions and supports dialog between stakeholders. A key challenge is how best to represent the existing scientific knowledge to support decision-making. Such challenges are currently emerging in the field of environmental water management in Australia, where managers are required to prioritize the delivery of environmental water on an annual basis, using a transparent and evidence-based decision framework. We argue that the development of models of ecological responses to environmental water use needs to support both the planning and implementation cycles of adaptive management. Here we demonstrate an approach based on the use of Conditional Probability Networks to translate existing ecological knowledge into quantitative models that include temporal dynamics to support adaptive environmental flow management. It equally extends to other applications where knowledge is incomplete, but decisions must still be made.

Indigenous ecological knowledge as the basis for adaptive environmental management: Evidence from pastoralist communities in the Horn of Africa

The proliferation of woody plants has been observed on rangelands globally and has significant impacts on subsistence livestock production. However, adaptation strategies to such environmental changes remain largely unexamined. This paper investigates pastoralists' adaptations to such environmental changes in the Borana zone of southern Ethiopia by integrating pastoralists' ecological knowledge, surveys of plant species composition, and census data on livestock holdings. The results indicated that a proliferation of woody plants and corresponding decline in herbaceous species would have negative impact on forage values for cattle and sheep, whereas goats would remain relatively unaffected, and camels would benefit. While census data showed declines in household herd size from 2000 to 2014, pastoralists have been adapting to the proliferation of woody plants by doubling their goat holdings, and wealthier households are investing in camels. These changes in livestock holdings based on indigenous ecological knowledge will mitigate the negative impacts of vegetation shifts on livestock production, and facilitate adaptive environmental management in the pastoral systems.

Early establishment response of different Pinus nigra ssp. salzmanii seed sources on contrasting environments: Implications for future reforestation programs and assisted population migration

Forest restoration constitutes an important issue within adaptive environmental management for climate change at global scale. However, effective implementation of these programs can only be achieved by revising current seed transfer guidelines, as they lack inherent spatial and temporal dynamics associated with climate change. In this sense, provenance trials may provide key information on the relative performance of different populations and/or genotypes under changing ecological conditions. This study addresses a methodological approach to evaluate early plantation performance and the consequent phenotypic plasticity and the pattern of the adaptation of different seed sources in contrasting environments. To this end, six seed sources of Salzmann pine were tested at three contrasting trial sites testing a hypothetical assisted population migration. Adaptation at each site was assessed through Joint Regression and Additive Main effect and Multiplication Interaction (AMMI) models. Most of the observed variation was attributed to the environment (above 90% for all traits), even so genotype and genotype by environment interaction (GxE) were significant. Seedlings out-planted under better site conditions did not differ in survival but in height growth. However, on sites with higher constraints, survival differed among seed sources and diameter growth was high. The adaptation analyses (AMMI) indicated that the cold-continental seed source ‘Soria’ performed as a generalist seed source, whereas ‘Cordilleras Béticas’, the southernmost seed source, was more adapted to harsh environments (frost and drought) in terms of survival. The results supported partially the hypothesis that assisted migration of seed sources makes sense within limited transfer distances, and this was reinforced by the GxE results. The present study could be valuable to address adaptive transfer of seedings in ecological restoration and to determine the suitable seed sources for reforestation programs and assisted population migration under climatic changes. The reported results are based on 3 years' data and need to be considered in this context.

A clean fight: environmental management strategies to drive growth, efficiency and competition in CSG

During the past 12 months, operators in LNG–CSG have had little option but to purely focus on cost efficiencies to remain profitable after the oil price crash of 2014 (Macdonald-Smith, 2015). This is set to continue with oil hovering around the $40 per barrel price mark, and as more CSG projects transition into operations in the next five years, an alternative approach to operating must be explored to further promote competitiveness and long-term sustainability in this volatile market (Cassidy and Kosev, 2015). The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse an approach to CSG operations that considers environmental aspects as an effective alternative in addressing the range of operational challenges to improve economic outcomes for operators. Essentially, the approach highlights opportunities to improve yields and further reduce costs along the gas extraction/processing value chain while meeting the critical compliance checklist in CSG. This paper outlines the key hallmarks of an effective adaptive environmental management approach from well site to water treatment operations. It then turns to consider each of the key components that make up this approach, including the role of leadership, contracting strategies, asset management methodologies, treatment technologies, effective remediation and recovery management, and the benefits that efficient operations deliver to surrounding communities. This paper also examines key case studies that are delivering substantial savings for CSG operations in the Bowen and Surat basins. These case studies share a similar theme in their intention to generate and implement improvements in efficiency and value delivered by effective water and environmental management, each within their own context.

Adaptive Management in Water Law: Evaluating Australian (New South Wales) and Canadian (British Columbia) Law Reform Initiatives

Sub-national jurisdictions are undertaking law reform that attempts to remedy the historic inflexibility in water law and to provide security in water use entitlements. These reforms respond to increasing hydrological variability in many watersheds where the volume of water available for consumption at the times of highest demand is decreasing and minimum environmental flows are a precursor to healthy ecological systems. Adaptive management is a foundational ecological and ecosystem-based management principle. Scholars and professionals from a myriad of disciplines are calling for legal and policy structures that allow adaptive environmental management regimes based on evolving watershed conditions. Adaptive management in a water context requires integrated decision- making that incorporates land use decisions with decisions about surface and groundwater, provision for minimum environmental flows, and the ability to alter water users’ entitlements when a water resource is either over-allocated or changing flow regimes results in insufficient water. The purpose of this paper is to compare the water law reforms of the state of New South Wales in Australia and the province of British Columbia in Canada as they attempt to incorporate legal and management tools for adaptive management and to address fixed entitlements for water use in favour of more responsive and watershed-specific management approaches. In New South Wales, adaptation in water law is based on a watershed plan and allocation of a fluctuating consumptive pool of water, which is the amount of water available for extraction under licence after environmental needs are taken into account. In British Columbia, the provincial government may adapt water licences over time through water sustainability planning and water licence review, as well as issue short-term orders restricting water diversions without needing to compensate licence holders for any damages owing from these orders. These reforms are leading the restructuring of water law to address conflicts between water users as well as between water users and the environment. These reforms are also at the forefront internationally as models for adaptive management. They provide some flexibility in accommodating environmental flows but decrease certainty for water users as hydrological systems change. Their relative successes in accounting for adaptation and healthy hydrological systems will be instructive to other jurisdictions as they move to align their water laws with principles of adaptive management.

Cumulative effects of developed road network on woodland—a landscape approach

Population growth, during the twentieth century, has increased demand for new farmlands. Accordingly, road networks have rapidly been developed to facilitate and accelerate human access to the essential resources resulted in extensive land use changes. The present study aims at assessing cumulative effects of developed road network on tree cover of Golestan Province in northern Iran. In order to detect changes over the study period of 1987-2002, the LULC map of the study area was initially prepared from the satellite images of Landsat TM (1987) and ETM+ (2002) using maximum likelihood supervised classification method. Afterwards, a total number of seven landscape matrices were selected to detect cumulative effects of the developed road network on woodland cover. The obtained results indicated that the fragile patches are mainly located at a distance of 171-342m from the roadside. Furthermore, the majority of the patches affected by cumulative effects of development activities are situated at a distance of 342-684m from the roadside, over an approximate area of 55ha. The analysis of landscape metrics revealed that the developed road network has increased the landscape metrics of "the number of patches" and "patches perimeter-area ratio". It has also followed by a decrease in metrics such as "patches area", "Euclidean nearest neighbor distance", "patches proximity", "shape index", "contiguity", and "mean patches fractal dimension". The road network has also increased the "number of patches" and decreased the "mean patches area" representing further fragmentation of the landscape. With identification of highly affected wooldland cover patches, it would be possible to apply adaptive environmental management strategies to preserve and rehabilitate high-priority patches.