DCU and Imperial College London research highlights need for change in decision around water management
The new paper released by Imperial College London and Dublin City University recommends a whole systems approach to avoid unintended consequences when addressing environmental management challenges. This latest research has real policy implications which could shape our response to annual flooding events such as those in Midleton, Co.Cork.
The team calls for a more integrated approach, highlighting the importance of considering environmental capacity in decision making. This is particularly important when designing responses to water related issues such as flooding, where the tendency to forge ahead with a particular solution is particularly strong.
Dr Jimmy O’Keeffe said:
“As a society we face extremely complex challenges including climate change, an increasing population and a reduction in resources that are critical for our survival. Understanding the links and feedback between humans and the natural environment is critical to our long term sustainability.”
Global examples
- Adaptation effect: The reinforced flood defences reduced protection failures and 50% monetary damage in 2013 after the 2002 flood event in Elbe and Danube, Germany
- Safe development paradox: Raising levees over decades to protect a growing urban area in New Orleans has led to low-probability but catastrophic flooding
- Rebound effect: The application of water‐saving technology increased total water consumption in Xinjiang province, China
The research seeks to identify links between our complex human and environmental systems to provide a basis for systematic analysis and decision making. Though focused on human made interventions, it also calls for decisions which maximise the natural regulating effects of existing ecosystems.
The study examines numerous events across six different categories including measures such as raising existing levees in New Orleans, which the research found creates a false sense of security, and the introduction of water monitoring technology in China, which led to increased consumption. These unforeseen and unwanted outcomes are driven by external forces such as climate change but also by social development and other human influences.
These phenomena can be observed in all aspects of water management including floods, droughts, water infrastructure, technology and governance, and across at local, catchment and regional levels. Response to the recent flooding in Middleton, and campaigns against infrastructural responses to flooding in Cork city centre are two recent examples in Ireland.
These key insights are the culmination of years of research, and they have high level policy implications in the UK and Ireland. “We hope this research will highlight the need for a more integrated “systems approach“ to water and environmental management.” says Dr O’Keeffe.