Hettiarachchi, Missake, Mcalpine, Clive, and Morrison, Tiffany (2013) Governing the urban wetlands: a comparative case study of ecology, ecosystem services and government policy. In: Presentations from the Society of Wetland Scientists Annual Meeting. From: Society of Wetland Scientists Annual Meeting, 2-6 June 2013, Duluth, Minnesota, SA.

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Abstract

Urban wetland governance is a policy area with global causes and consequences, that hasn't gained the deserved attention in environmental research. Rapid global urbanization of coastal areas has endangered many important wetland systems. These wetlands provide essential ecosystem services and their degradation put large urban communities at significant risk. This paper investigates the characteristics of urban wetland governance systems and related policy development across four globally spread cases: New York, Tokyo, Kolkata and Colombo. The cases were analyzed using selected policy analysis criteria and discussed within the context of global policy trends, urbanization patterns and environmental change. Despite the apparent diversity of the cases we observed many similar characteristics among the existing institutional arrangements and common policy drivers. However the local factors such as property markets, national or state level urban development polices and community wetland use had the decisive sway over policy and institutional development. We conclude that trying to set globally-applicable normative policy directives or universal ecological reference points are bound to fail in urban wetland governance. The strengths and weaknesses of some important institutional features in the four cases are compared in the analysis and the possible ecological consequences are discussed. The analysis also derives some common lessons for urban wetland governance in major urban areas.

Item ID:	40093
Item Type:	Conference Item (Presentation)
Keywords:	urban wetlands; policy; ecosystem services; governance and institutions
Related URLs:	Organisation
Date Deposited:	08 Sep 2015 06:51
FoR Codes:	16 STUDIES IN HUMAN SOCIETY > 1606 Political Science > 160603 Comparative Government and Politics @ 35% 05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050205 Environmental Management @ 35% 16 STUDIES IN HUMAN SOCIETY > 1604 Human Geography > 160404 Urban and Regional Studies (excl Planning) @ 30%
SEO Codes:	94 LAW, POLITICS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES > 9402 Government and Politics > 940204 Public Services Policy Advice and Analysis @ 50% 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9609 Land and Water Management > 960911 Urban and Industrial Land Management @ 50%
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