Collective Action Research: Policy Effectiveness ~ Coastal Construction Vs Coastal Er
- Ayaamina Solutions
- Feb 3, 2016
- 4 min read
Cluster of new coastal construction in critically eroding area
Watch this space (blog category label - CAR) for more action research from our friends, colleagues and any other research we can find which is relevant to a Better Caribbean.
Research Tags – Coastal. Erosion. Construction. Protected Areas. Climate Change. Environmental Enforcement. Pollution Reduction.
Q.Who did this research?
A.This was my Master’s research project (Ariana Marshall) and I was advised by Dr. Larry Robinson and Dr. Marcia Allen Owens. My advisors and I wrote the peer-reviewed article referenced at the end of the blog.
Q.Who funded this research and when?
A. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Environmental Cooperative Science Centre (ECSC) at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) 2006 -2009
Q. What problem was your research designed to explore?
A.Problem – Coastal construction influences the width of beaches, causes pollution, disrupts ecosystems and displaces creatures/plants.
Exploration - We wanted to explore the relationship between coastal construction and coastal erosion. Our goal was to analyze coastal erosion rates and the occurrence of new coastal construction in an area bordered by an reserve which was internationally protected due to its’ unique ecosystem value.
Q. What was your plan?
A.We planned to analyze whether there was a spatial relationship between coastal erosion areas and construction permits after reviewing all relevant policies which govern coastal protection and construction.
Our hypothesis was based on the existence of policies to prevent the occurrence of harmful beach changes due to coastal construction. However it was unclear how the effectiveness of policies was measured quantitatively. We wanted to explore indicators of effectiveness such as the number and density of new construction permits in areas considered critically eroding.
Q. What did you actually do?
A.We collected data from government agencies on coastal erosion rates, critical erosion areas and coastal construction permitting in three Florida counties. We used Geograhic Information Sytems (GIS) and Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient to do our analysis. Our collection of coastal construction permits was narrowed down to permits for new construction. A “new construction permit” allows the conversion of undeveloped land to developed land, which represents an immediate ecosystem change, rather than permits for construction add-ons.
Q. What did you observe?
A.In one of the three counties, there was a significant positive correlation between designated critical erosion areas and the issuance of construction permits for new construction. This meant that over the time period of the study, as the number of critical erosion miles increased so did the number of new construction permits. This finding contradicts what should occur based on the policies. A negative correlation was expected – as the number of critical erosion miles increased, the number/density of permits should decrease. However, there were no quantitative limits/measures at the state legislation/policy level to measure effectiveness. There were measures at the local level however. We also observed that there were clusters (10 + permits) of new construction permits issued in areas designated as critically eroding (all 3 counties studied) during a 20 year period.
Q. What did you learn from this research? (Ariana Marshall)
A. I learned that even though policies may be designed to prevent the harmful effects of pollution, the density and occurrence of construction in fragile areas further complicates the issue of preventing pollution. I also learned about how research like this could inform how governments or citizen groups measure the effectiveness of environmental enforcement.
Our research showed that legally, clusters of new construction still occurred in fragile areas. So the questions we still had were - why, how and what else can be done to reduce how construction causes coastal issues (water pollution, coastal squeeze, species loss) which are increased by climate change. The results of this study formed the questions which were explored for my dissertation.
Q. What actions can we take based on your work?
A.Quite simply even though coastal construction may be allowed in areas where ecosystem or climate changes can occur – developers/homeowners/renters can ensure that their residences reduce the impervious surfaces on the property (e.g. cement/asphalt) and increase the use of green spaces (including gardens), mulch, gravel and or other porous surfaces. Porous surfaces reduce the volume of rainwater which accumulates on the property and flooding on nearby roads.
We can also reduce residential sources of pollution such as overflowing garbage, emptying chemicals onto the grass or oil leaks from cars.
As governments evaluate the cost-effectiveness of their operations - partnerships with students conducting research can be formed and shaped in order to complete quantitative evaluations of policies. That way, the results of their research can be directly used to improve environmental enforcement effectiveness.
Citizen groups, organizations and anyone from the public can also do this research by joining an NGO or directly approaching the government with data requests. The ease of doing this is influenced by whether there is also legislation to encourage government transparency and also, the quality of the relationship between an NGO and the government.
Q. How can this work be applied throughout the Caribbean?
A.The findings from this research give an example of how government agencies can inform policy changes through student partnerships. This methodology can be applied, with the use or creation of different quantitative indicators based on the policy language and existing data-sets available in each island.
Any other information to share?
You can read the peer-reviewed article on this work here - http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11852-010-0120-5
Research Location – Florida
Applicable – In any coastal location.
コメント