No abstract

Solutions to current complex environmental challenges demand the consultation and involvement of various groups in society. In light of the WFD’s requirements of public participation, this paper presents an analysis of the establishment and development of nine different multi-actor platforms (MAPs) across Europe set up as arenas for long-term engagements to solve water quality challenges in relation to agriculture. The MAPs represent different histories and legacies of engagement; some are recent initiatives and some are affiliated with previous government-initiated projects, while other MAPs are long-term engagement platforms. A case study approach drawing on insights from the nine engagement processes is used to discuss conditions for enabling long-term multi-actor engagement. The perceived pressure for change and preferred prioritization in complying with mitigating water quality problems vary within and among the MAPs. The results show that governmental and local actors’ concern for water quality improvements and focusing on pressure for change are important for establishing meaningful multi-actor engagement when concerns translate into a clear mandate of the MAP. Furthermore, the degree to which the MAPs have been able to establish relationships and networks with other institutions such as water companies, agricultural and environmental authorities, farmers, and civil society organizations influences possibilities for long-term meaningful engagement.

While the role of forestry in mitigating climate change is increasingly subject to political commitment, other areas, such as water protection, may be at risk. In this study, we ask whether surface waters are sufficiently safeguarded in relation to the 2015 launch of a series of measures to intensify forest management for mitigation of climate change in Norway. First, we assess how impacts on water are accounted for in existing regulations for sustainable forestry. Secondly, we provide an overview of the impacts of forestry on water quality relevant to three support schemes: afforestation on new areas, increased stocking density in existing forests, and forest fertilisation. Lastly, we assess the uncertainties that exist with regard to surface waters in the implementation of these measures. We find that the safeguards in place are adequate to protect water resources at the point of initiation, but there is a large degree of uncertainty as to the long-term effect of these mitigation measures.

Land restitution has become an important means to rectify South Africa's skewed property relations after decades of racially discriminatory laws and practices. The Dukuduku forest in KwaZulu-Natal is subject to one such claim to land restitution, which remains unsettled more than a decade after it was lodged. While being planned for incorporation into the adjacent wetland park and World Heritage Site, the forest has over the last decades become home to an increasing number of predominantly subsistence farmers, some of whom form part of the group of land claimants. This study of the Dukuduku forest attempts to explore the interplay of community and authority in a setting where claims for historical redress materialises both in processes of land restitution and in the acquisition of land through 'illegal squatting'. Land restitution at Dukuduku involves the restoration of lost rights to land and resources and the formalisation of these rights. Overlapping and differently founded claims, however, drawing differently on the past and the present, form a complexity that defies such straightforward processes. The struggle over the Dukuduku forest is one over different interpretations of what constitutes authority and community. The land claim process feeds into existing struggles and creates new ones, and in this way, the larger cause of the land claimants -to obtain recognition of property claims and land belonging -is infused by conflicts external and internal to the community of claimants.

No abstract