Fully integrated catchment management planning Catchment Advice Template and Exchange II (CATCH-II)

Project Team: JHI, University of Dundee and University of the Highlands and Islands - Scottish Association for Marine Science

Aims:

  • To establish a common understanding of the activities and objectives of established integrated catchment management (ICM) projects and policy-makers/implementers in Scotland,
  • To use the knowledge and experience of established ICM projects to identify opportunities and challenges to delivering Scotland’s policy commitments to water management at the catchment-level, and
  • To disseminate the key messages to ICM policy makers, agencies and practitioners in Scotland, in the UK, and to international audiences via the HELP basin network.

Background and policy/stakeholder relevance:

As the next step in river basin management plan (RBMP) implementation, the Scottish Government is interested in developing a strategic approach to integrated catchment management. Established initiatives have considerable knowledge and experience that could inform and support this proposed step change in catchment management in Scotland. Fully integrated catchment management planning is being undertaken by partnership bodies in several areas in Scotland (notably the Dee, Tweed, Spey and South Esk catchments). These projects (linked by the CATCH network) have a considerable depth of knowledge and experience but tend to lack visibility outside of their catchments. Increasingly, the catchment scale is being recognised by policy makers as the most appropriate and effective environmental management unit.

To deliver commitments to WFD and the Flood Risk Management Act agencies are increasingly aiming to operate at this resolution and adopting elements of catchment management. As these projects develop they can avoid duplication of effort by sharing in the experience of existing ICM projects, in turn these projects would benefit from greater visibility and access to policy makers to help them align and implement their activities. In the recent CATCH initiative, researchers from the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (now the James Hutton Institute) worked with the coordinators of Integrated Resource Management projects in Scotland. The result was the ‘CATCH handbook of catchment management planning’; the ‘CATCH’ network of catchment coordinators was also established.

Outputs

  • A start up meeting to establish common understanding of goals.
  • vCATCH webpages (as part of CREW’s website) will establish web support for the project’s activities:
    • Web-based version of the CATCH handbook.
    • Links to existing information on best practice, relevant policy information, established ICM projects, relevant research publications.
    • Talking heads clips from catchment project officers, ICM researchers, policy partners.
    • Short videos on ICM e.g. virtual tour of demonstration sites.
  • Interviews that will establish the needs of the three groups to inform presentations at workshop: Policy, Agency and catchment groups.
  • A workshop with the following attendees: ICM representatives, policy and agency partners, researchers (in catchment planning processes)
  • A policy brief on ‘Catchment-level delivery of national policy commitments to water management’.
  • Report for steering group that will include a synthesis of the workshop.

HEI partners with the relevant experience and expertise are contributing in the following ways:

  • Working on linking coastal and catchment planning. They will consult with Local Coastal Management Partnerships to determine to what extent the CATCH guidance is a practical model for coastal management, and how it could be adapted to fulfil that need. Outputs: report on utility of CATCH model and joint policy brief. Two way exchange on planning processes and connecting initiatives. Participate in the workshop.
  • Providing lessons learned from the HELP network (and similar initiatives). They will examine best practise in other governance structures (e.g. other places or fields) with a focus on how to align planning process and how to engage stakeholders. Undertake a review of the activities of HELP basins with an emphasis on approaches to delivery of national policy. Outputs: report and joint policy brief.
  • Working with JHI staff review ICM based approaches in the context of Ecosystem Services (and wider Ecosystem Approach) and how ICM fits in from an operational (rather than a theoretical) perspective.

Contact:

Susan Cooksley, JHI