Coastal Water Bodies : Nature and Culture Conflicts in the Mediterranean

Addressing the links between science and the real world with a sound scientific baseline, Coastal Water Bodies targets researchers of various disciplines whose interest lies in the integrated sustainable management of coastal water bodies. The main topic of this book is not the ecology according to its accepted meaning, but rather the ‘places and people’ concerned – the coastal zones of the Mediterranean that are rich in ecological value and the local people who survive thanks to these environmental resources. Integration is the joint consideration of different aspects of water uses and values, and new ways of understanding and managing conflicts around water use are needed if people are to benefit from integration. Sustainability of the ecological and socioeconomic environments requires a climate in which conflicts, if they need to exist, are properly managed in a non-destructive manner. The case studies examined throughout the book differ from one another in both the environmental as well as the social aspects. The results of the research show that in each case the potential solution to conflicts about water use requires a threefold comparison between: 1) the various environmental values present in the site; 2) the competing social interests; 3) the emerging environmental and social values from point 1) and 2). Whichever solution is applied can be subjective, but is not necessarily arbitrary and solutions may differ from case to case. Coastal Water Bodies Editors Acknowledgements Contents Contributors List of Figures List of Tables Chapter 1: Mediterranean Coastal Areas at Risk Between Conservation and Development 1.1 Issues of the Mediterranean Coastal Zone and the Challenge of Integration 1.2 The WADI Project Approach 1.3 Nature and Culture Conflicts at Study-Site Level 1.3.1 The Egyptian Case-Study 1.3.2 The Italian Case-Study 1.3.3 The Tunisian Case-Study 1.3.4 The Spanish Case-Study 1.3.5 The Moroccan Case-Study 1.4 Shared Expertise and Policy Making 1.5 Lessons Learnt from the WADI Experience References Chapter 2: Wetland Socioeconomy: The Case of Lake Maryut (Egypt) 2.1 Conceptual Framework 2.1.1 Socioeconomic Contexts 2.1.2 Socioeconomic Structure in Wetland Areas 2.1.3 Economic Valuation of Wetland Functions 2.1.3.1 Economic Value of the Environment 2.1.3.2 Economic Valuation Concept 2.1.3.3 Techniques of Economic Valuation 2.1.4 Towards an Integrated Socioeconomic and Ecosystem Perspective 2.2 The WADI Experience on Maryut Study Site 2.2.1 Socioeconomic Contexts: A Background 2.2.2 Main Issues 2.2.3 Economic Valuation of Lake Ecosystem 2.2.3.1 Market Value of Fish from the Lake6 2.2.3.2 Value of the Lake Function as a Deterrent to Urban Expansion 2.3 What Should Be Done? References Chapter 3 Integration of the Gender Dimension into Socioeconomics Analysis 3.1 Introduction 3.1.1 The Water Issue and the WADI Contribution 3.1.2 Gender Approach: From an Overall Methodology to the WADI Case-Studies Box 3.1. An example of gender bias in data collection 3.1.2.1 Italy: the Ombrone River Low Plain and ‘Agritourism’ (In-Farm Vacations) 3.1.2.2 Morocco: the Oued Laou Valley and the Pottery of Fran Ali 3.1.2.3 Tunisia: the Majerda River Low Plain and ‘Ramli’ Agriculture 3.2 Results: From the Case-Studies to an Overall Perspective 3.2.1 Ombrone River Low Plain 3.2.2 Oued Laou Valley 3.2.3 Oued Majerda Low Plain 3.3 Common Issues 3.4 Common Driving Forces 3.5 Lessons Learnt in a Wider Perspective References Chapter 4 Environmental Conflicts and Conflict Management: Some Lessons from the WADI Experience at El Hondo Nature Park (South-Eastern 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Background on Conflict and Conflict Analysis 4.3 The Importance of Defining ‘Conflict’ 4.4 The Central Role of Conflicts in the Rationale of WADI 4.5 Narratives as Necessary Results of WADI 4.6 El Hondo as a Conflictive Site: Science and Integrated Science and the Reframing of Conflicts 4.6.1 The Study Site 4.6.2 Methodological Issues 4.6.3 The ‘Malvasia Case’: The Risks of Objective Scientific Advice 4.6.4 When Scientific Advice Can Cause Conflicts and Unsustainability 4.6.5 The Case of the ‘Lemonium’, or the Difference Between Competitive and Cooperative Conflicts in Environmental Managemen 4.7 WADI in the Boxing Ring of El Hondo: Testing the Role of Integrated Research in Re-Framing of Conflicts References Chapter 5 Soil Salinisation in the Grosseto Plain (Maremma, Italy): An Environmental and Socio-Economic Analysis of the Impact on the A 5.1 Introduction 5.2 The Grosseto Plain: A Recent Landscape with an Age-Old History 5.3 The Agricultural Structure of the Grosseto Plain 5.4 Salinity Hazard in the Grosseto Plain 5.5 Soil Salinisation and Agronomic Management of the Irrigated Land of Maremma References Chapter 6 Evolution, Impacts and Management of the Wetlands of the Grosseto Plain, Italy 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Origins and Evolution of the Grosseto Plain 6.2.1 Geomorphologic Characteristics 6.2.2 Erosion and Salinisation 6.2.3 Land Reclamation and the Rural Property Act 6.3 Diaccia Botrona Provincial Nature Reserve 6.3.1 Ecosystem Description: General Features and Water Quality 6.3.2 Botanical Features 6.3.3 Faunal Features 6.3.4 Aquaculture 6.4 The Maremma Regional Park 6.4.1 Ecosystem Description: General Features, Water Quality and Coastal Erosion 6.4.2 Botanical Features 6.4.3 Faunal Features 6.4.4 Management Plan 6.5 The Other Coastal Wetlands of the ‘Maremma Wetland Complex’ 6.6 General Considerations on Management Strategies and Conclusions References Chapter 7: The Ombrone Delta and the Two Chief Systems of the World Today: Environmentalist and Economicist 7.1 The Occasion: How Geographers Have Studied the Ombrone Delta 7.2 The Construction: How the ‘Park’ Has Formed 7.3 The Alienation: How Society Has Reformed Nature 7.4 The Infatuation: How the Sentimental Animalism has Asserted Itself 7.5 The Discrimination: How the Antithesis Between Protected and not Protected Areas has been Imposed 7.6 The Mystification: How Scientific Data on Climate Have Become a Trendy Bias 7.7 The Subornation: How Scientific Data on the Environment Have Become a Political Passkey 7.8 The Falsification: How Scientific Data on the Environment Have Become an Economical Deceit 7.9 The Suggestion: How to Appreciate the Historical and Literary Antecedents of Environmentalism 7.10 The Conversion: How Suggestive the Philosophical Roots of Environmentalism Are 7.11 The Confusion: How Environmentalism and Economicism Eventually Merge 7.12 The Camouflage: How to Go Back to the Story of the Delta and the Park 7.13 The Revelation: How Environmentalism Can Exploit Religion Too 7.14 The Resignation: How Not to Deceive Oneself References Annotation Addressing the links between science and the real world with a sound scientific baseline, Coastal Water Bodies targets researchers of various disciplines whose interest lies in the integrated sustainable management of coastal water bodies. The main topic of this book is not the ecology according to its accepted meaning, but rather the €˜places and people€™ concerned €“ the coastal zones of the Mediterranean that are rich in ecological value and the local people who survive thanks to these environmental resources.Integration is the joint consideration of different aspects of water uses and values, and new ways of understanding and managing conflicts around water use are needed if people are to benefit from integration. Sustainability of the ecological and socioeconomic environments requires a climate in which conflicts, if they need to exist, are properly managed in a non-destructive manner Mediterranean coastal areas at risk between conservation and development / Felicita Scapini Wetland socioeconomy : the case of Lake Maryut (Egypt) / Mohamed A. Abdrabo and Mahmoud A. Hassan Integration of the gender dimension into socioeconomics analysis / Lucia Fanini Environmental conflicts and conflict management : some lessons from the WADI experience at El Hondo Nature Park (south-eastern Spain) / Carlos Martín-Cantarino Soil salinisation in the Grosseto Plain (Maremma, Italy) : an environmental and socio-economic analysis of the impact on the agro-ecosystem / Camillo Zanchi and Stefano Cecchi Evolution, impacts and management of the wetlands of the Grosseto Plain, Italy / Isabella Colombini and Lorenzo Chelazzi The Ombrone Delta and the two chief systems of the world today : environmentalist and economicist / Gabriele Ciampi.