Matching stakeholder concerns and scientific data for floodplain wetland management: a rapid assessment approach

T. J. Ralph, P. Harvey

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference abstract

    Abstract

    Stakeholder and community consultation can be a powerful tool to help identify environmental issues and site-specific areas of contemporary and historical concern. Matching stakeholder observations and concerns with environmental issues and threatening processes identified by scientific studies can be problematic, however, due to misaligned spatial and temporal scales of consideration and sometimes competing outcomes (e.g. conservation versus publication). Ecosystem health in the Macquarie Marshes (a large Ramsar-listed wetland system in New South Wales, Australia) is often contested, and key threatening processes such as water (un)availability and channel erosion are not ubiquitous, meaning that it is difficult to ascertain the full extent of deleterious change in the wetlands based on stakeholder accounts or historical research. We assessed known hotspots of channel change using a rapid assessment technique to determine whether anecdotal and scientific information matched at multiple sites within a connected system. We developed a prioritised list of sites for further detailed investigation that accurately reflects the concerns of key stakeholders. Together with ongoing stakeholder engagement, rapid assessment allows a broad-scale, targeted approach to erosion and sediment management and development of common goals to promote water and wetland conservation.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationBritish Society for Geomorphology Annual Meeting 2018
    Subtitle of host publicationProgramme and Abstracts
    EditorsT. Irvine-Fynn, S. Tooth
    PublisherAberystwyth University
    Pages72
    Number of pages1
    Publication statusPublished - 10 Sept 2018
    EventBritish Society for Geomorphology Annual Meeting -
    Duration: 10 Sept 201812 Sept 2018
    http://geomorphology.org.uk/meetings/bsg-annual-meeting-2018

    Conference

    ConferenceBritish Society for Geomorphology Annual Meeting
    Period10/09/1812/09/18
    Internet address

    Keywords

    • erosion assessment
    • channel change
    • integrated management
    • wetlands in drylands

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Matching stakeholder concerns and scientific data for floodplain wetland management: a rapid assessment approach'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this