Adaptive Management at the
Graduate School of the Environment
(Macquarie University, Sydney)

An approach to the evaluation and solution of environmental management problems known as Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management (AEAM) or Adaptive Management was developed by a group at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada in the 1970s.

Adaptive management explicitly recognises (Holling 1978):

The need for management decisions to examine economic, social and environmental values in an integrated way.

The presence of many, diverse, stakeholders in environmental management issues; and.

The uncertainty inherent in environmental processes.

Adaptive management encourages an exploratory, experimental approach to management problems, and emphasises the value of continuous monitoring and periodic adjustment of management regimes. The adaptive management approach begins with acknowledgment that different players or stakeholders in an environmental system have different perspectives and it provides a bridge to bring them together to explore the ramifications of policies and development proposals. The workshops are intended to bridge the gaps between the views of different disciplines and the competing perceptions of best resource use.

Adaptive Management Consultants at the GSE

Consultant	Background	Email contact
Prof Alistair Gilmour	Environmental Impact Assessment Environmental Conflict Resolution Total Catchment Management	agilmour@gse.mq.edu.au also see Alistair's web link
Dr. Ian Armstrong	Urban Stormwater Management Waste Water Management Environmental Health Public Policy and Communication	ianlarms@zip.com.au
Dr. James Scandol	Environmental Modelling Systems Analysis Natural Resource Management	jscandol@bio.usyd.edu.au

Go to the GSE Home Page

Recent Adaptive Management Projects Completed at the GSE

The Tuggerah Lakes Adaptive Management Process (Wyong Shire Council)

Review of Access to Sydney Water Catchments (Sydney Water Corporation)

Review of Recreational Access to Prospect Reservoir (Sydney Water Corporation)

Other Infomation

References

The Tuggerah Lakes Adaptive Management Process)

The Tuggerah Lakes and their catchment constitute the major part of Wyong Shire. The Lakes and the activities carried out around them are important to the economic life of the area. The health of the Lake system depends almost totally on:

activities in the catchment,
to a much lesser extent on activities in the Lake, and
on the biology of the system and the natural forces of the sea, rainfall, sun and wind.

Major blooms of macroalgae, or seaweeds, combined with detached seagrasses accumulated on a number of popular beaches, and other shoreline areas, in the 1980s causing unpleasant conditions for visitors and residents alike. These excessive growths of aquatic plants are thought to have been the direct result of the discharge of septic sewage effluent, and of stormwater run-off from urban and agricultural areas. These discharges go either to the Lakes from the immediate catchment, or to the river systems and then to the Lakes from the upper catchment.

The Wyong adaptive management project brief was to develop a modelling tool to assist both Council and the community to evaluate potential management strategies in the light of a significant increase in population growth in the catchment over the next twenty or so years.

The project started with a series of workshops attended by community representatives, Councillors and staff, officers of a number of selected government agencies, and invited specialists. It involved:

a three day Scoping Workshop to define the main issues and to agree the boundaries of the problem.
seven two day Technical Workshops which agreed the actions, indicators and processes to be used in the model development.
the development of the Wyong Adaptive Management Model, and
presentations to seven community meetings.

The workshops evolved the outline of a systems model which has been further developed by the consultants into a tool to assist in the management of the Lakes and their catchment.

The main issues identified by workshop participants in the Tuggerah Lakes region are:

increasing intensification of human use of the catchment, most notably increasing population;
changing land uses, for example the advent of turf farms and the demise of dairying; and
changing technologies, for example improved sewerage systems in urban areas.

The structure of the lakes and catchment as an environmental system has a range of significant implications for management. Eutrophication, or Îover-fertilisationâ, was seen by the adaptive management workshop participants as the main ecological risk confronting the lakes. Thus the main thrust of the project was on the sources, fate and management of nutrients, and the eroded sediment they are associated with, in the catchment and the lakes.

Click to see a screen dump of the Tuggerah adaptive management model (71K)

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Review of Access to Sydney Water Catchments

Adaptive management methods were applied to the Review of Access to the Special Areas under the management of Sydney Water Corporation and the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service . Six workshops were held to evaluate the issues, explore management principles and make recommendations to the Joint Sponsors. Some 30 stakeholders, managers and scientists attended these workshops. After documenting the issues, defining boundaries of the issues and identifying proposed recreational activities, the workshop participants discussed the relationships between current and potential activities and their consequent impacts on the values of the catchments. These include stored water quality, ecological integrity and other values. Suitable indicators were also recorded for identifying many of these impacts.

Relationships between activities and impacts on catchment values are complex. Published literature was used to supplement information provided by participants on these relationships. Uncertainty exists about the relationships between recreational impacts and stored water quality, water treatment and public health. Workshop participants interpreted this uncertainty in different ways according to their value judgements regarding risk.

Two strategies exist for progressing consideration on these issues:

collecting and interpreting additional information to reduce the uncertainty of activity-impact relationships;
community consultation on the risks, costs and benefits of recreational access decisions.

The project recommended studies that corresponded to these strategies. Until these studies produce credible information indicating that it is safe and socially acceptable to do otherwise, the current Regulation for dealing with Access to the Special Areas should be retained. This report also emphasises the importance of stakeholder participation in the review of management of the Special Areas.

Click to see a map of the Warragamba Special Areas (118K)

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Review of Recreational Access to Prospect Reservoir

The New South Wales State Government has proposed increased recreational use of Prospect Reservoir and catchment. The site currently attracts up to 500 000 visitors annually to utilise the picnic facilities and enjoy the water views. Since the commissioning of the Prospect Filtration Plant, Prospect Reservoir no longer plays a major role within the water distribution network. The reservoir, however, is not completely "offline". Sydney Water Corporation expects that water will be drawn from Prospect Reservoir with an average frequency of five days every five years.

Four workshops hosted by Sydney Water Corporation were facilitated by Macquarie Research to explore the issues associated with increased recreational access to the area. Workshop participants included agency and local council staff, recreation club representatives, members of local historical societies, epidemiological and water quality experts and Sydney Water personnel. The first workshop reviewed the general scope of the issues. The second workshop explored the impacts associated with particular activities whilst the third workshop focused upon management strategies that might be applied. This report was finalised and agreed by all participants at the fourth workshop.

The major issues discussed in the workshop series were the:

human health consequences of using the Prospect site for recreation;
appropriate regional context for recreational opportunities at Prospect;
need for integrated planning of the proposed Nature Reserve with the recreational opportunities offered by Sydney Water; and
requirement that the recreational facilities offered should be managed on a cost-effective basis whilst not compromising the existing uses and values of the area.

A wide list of possible activities was examined. After discussion the participants further considered the following land and water based activities:

Land based Activities	Water based Activities
Interpretive Opportunities Picnicking Walking Cycling Shore Fishing Special Events Catering/Retail Outlets Rowing	Canoeing Fishing Sailing Model Boats Special Events

There was consensus that Prospect is a valuable regional recreational resource and that effective design and management of the site were critical to its success. Recognition was given to the role that Prospect Reservoir had and still has in Sydney's water distribution network and the public health obligations of Sydney Water Corporation.

A microbial risk assessment was carried out in conjunction with this workshop process. A key finding of this assessment is that any activity with the potential for body contact has increased human health risks from water drawn from the Reservoir. Furthermore, this risk will necessitate additional water quality monitoring which will increase the costs associated with this type of recreational access.

After examining the impacts and management of the above recreational activities it was recommended that moves towards increasing recreational opportunity at Prospect be initiated. Participants believed that the issues associated with health risks, current and future uses of the Reservoir, the Nature Reserve and regional concerns could be addressed by preparing a site plan with detailed criteria for recreational access which took into account the findings of the microbial risk assessment The site plan will be placed on public display to allow for additional community input.

Click to see a map of the Prospect Site (31K)

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References

Burton, J. 1990. Conflict: Resolution and Provention. Macmillan Press, Basingstoke. pp 295.

Fisher, R & Urey, W. 1981. Getting to Yes: Negotiating agreement without giving in. Hutchinson, London.

Gilmour, A.J. and Geering, D. 1991. The Application of Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management Techniques to the Management of the Macquarie Marshes, New South Wales, Transactions of Multi-Disciplinary Engineering GE 15(2), 121-125.

Gilmour,AJ; and Walkerden,G. 1994a. A Structured Approach to Conflict Resolution in EIA: the Use of Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management (AEAM). In: Proceedings of the IFIP TC5/WG5.11 Working Conference on Computer Support for Environmental Impact Assessment, CSEIA 93 Como, Italy, 6-8 October, 1993. Eds: Guariso,G; Page,B Elsevier Science B.V., North Holland, 199-210.

Gunderson, L.H. Holling, C.S. & Light, S.S. (Eds). 1995. Barriers and Bridges to the Renewal of Ecosystems and Institutions. Columbia University Press, New York.

Healey,MC; and Hennessey,TM. 1994. The utilisation of scientific information in the management of estuarine ecosystems. Ocean and Coastal Management 23, 167-191.

Holling, C.S. (Ed), 1978. Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.

McLain,RJ. And Lee,RG. 1996. Adaptive Management: Promises and Pitfalls. Forum, Environmental Management, 20 (4): 437-448.

Trudgill, S. 1990. Barriers to a Better Environment, Belhaven Press, London.

Walkerden,G; and Gilmour,AJ. 1996. Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management (AEAM) Program for the Tuggerah Lakes System and Associated Catchments. Final Report. Report for Wyong Shire Council. Macquarie Research, Sydney.

Walters, C. 1986. Adaptive Management of Renewable Resources. Macmillan Publishing Co., New York.

Walther, P. 1987. Against Idealistic Beliefs in the Problem-Solving Capacities of Integrated Resource Management. Environmental Management, 11: 439-446.

Wieringa, M.J. and Morton, A.G. 1996. Hydropower, Adaptive Management, and Biodiversity. Environmental Management, 20: 831-840.

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