Academic literature on the topic 'Coastal public action'

Purpose In recent years, the manifestation of the effects of climate change in coastal zones has prompted governments to mobilize and propose adaptation measures to reduce the vulnerability of their populations. For the governments responsible for the implementation of climate policies, adaptation still represents a novel field of action. The purpose of this paper is to show, via the example of Quebec’s coastal zone, how the transformation of public action relating to adaptation remains difficult. Design/methodology/approach For this case study, a qualitative method which combines documentary analysis and semi-directed interviews was selected. Findings The study shows how adaptation becomes a new issue in public action for the different authorities dealing with the effects of climate change in Quebec’s coastal zone. However, the results show that, as with other public policies, path dependence and incrementalism can be observed and limit the scope of public action and of the transformational processes in the field of adaptation. The technical–scientific approach to risk management is dominant, and the adaptation is not approached in a transversal way, despite its importance. Finally, concrete adaptation initiatives appear to be mostly relegated to the local scale, in an informal decentralization process. Originality/value This study contributes to improve climate action by favouring a reflection on the consideration of the conceptual and theoretical framework in the climate change adaptation literature and offers decision-makers and practitioners keys to the understanding of mechanisms underlying public action in the field of adaptation.

Abstract The Trump administration pursued eighty-four energy reversal actions between 2017 and 2020, the majority of which through executive action. In this article, we evaluate the effectiveness of such an administrative presidency in its ability to withstand political and legal challenges. We first set the context of U.S. energy policy predating the Trump administration, and then synthesize the administration’s reversal actions according to the mechanisms, the beneficiaries, and the legal process through which each evolved. We then analyze four reversal case studies that highlight how stakeholders responded to such actions, and the resulting variation in outcomes: the rollback of coal ash standards; the proposed coastal oil and gas auctions; the revocation of California’s vehicle emissions waiver; and the replacement of the Clean Power Plan with the Affordable Clean Energy rule. We find that the administration’s executive approach was regularly checked through litigation by states, interest groups, and industry, or had limited impact due to the high level of regulatory uncertainty that it fostered. We draw implications for ongoing state and federal dynamics and for the lasting durability of the Trump administration’s energy reversal legacy.

School Disaster Risk Reduction Management (SDRRM) plays a crucial role in ensuring that learners, teachers and other school personnel are safe on the school premises. This study evaluated how well coastal schools in Cluster VII of the Division of Pampanga, Philippines had implemented a school disaster risk reduction management system. This study used the descriptive research method. Respondents to the study were seventy-four (74) public school teachers during the school year 2020-2021. In this research, the following findings were obtained: The respondents assessed safe learning facilities, school disaster management, risk reduction and resilience education and coastal school safety procedures. However, among these categories “coastal school safety procedures” got the lowest overall mean score. Additional findings showed that there is no discernible variation in the degree of SDRRM implementation across the respondent schools. This means that these schools have uniformity in implementing school disaster risk reduction management. It is recommended that schools maintain uniformity in the implementation of DRR policies.

The Brazilian coast is over 7000 kilometers long with many different ecosystems. Among these, are the beaches, dominated by the high dynamism caused by the action of oceanographic agents (tides, waves and currents). Human occupation of the coast for living, and the economic use of the coast (ports, tourism, fishing), increase the possibility of damaging this ecosystem. Coastal vulnerability studies are an important tool for the management of these areas, predicting how an environment can cope or recover from extreme events, for example, the rising sea level. This study aims to improve vulnerability evaluation of coastal areas, contributing to a more efficient, accountable and sustainable coastal management. To test the concept, an area at coastal Maricá, a municipality in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, was used. This coastline is comprised of a long sandy beach limited by rocky coastal shores. A vulnerability index was calculated from GIS data analysis of geomorphology, coastal slope, shoreline migration, tidal range, maximum height of the waves, sea level change scenario evaluation, dune height, and urban density variables for the various coastline sectors. About a third (34.69%) of the coasts have very high vulnerability, while have 34.03% high vulnerability, 25.33% have moderate and 5.95% have low vulnerability. Results obtained contribute to the planning and management of the study area, providing a tool for local environmental analysis, and establish a ranking of priorities for public action, based on different levels of vulnerability found to shoreline of Maricá.

Lack of public support for coastal adaptation can present significant barriers for implementation. In response, policy makers and academics are seeking strategies to build public support for coastal adaptation, which requires a deeper understanding of peoples’ preferences for coastal adaptation and what motives those preferences. Here, we conduct a systematic literature review to understand preferences for coastal adaptation options and the factors influencing these preferences. Ninety peer-reviewed publications meet the inclusion criteria. The findings revealed that hard protection options were often the most frequently preferred, likely due to a desire to maintain current shoreline, for the protection of recreational spaces and private property, and a perceived effectiveness of hard protection options. Soft protection, including nature-based approaches, accommodation, and no action were the next most preferred options. Finally, retreat options were the least preferred, often due to strong place attachment. We identify twenty-eight factors that could influence preferences, with risk perception, place attachment, and financial considerations occurring most frequently in the literature. In the conclusion, we outline the most significant research gaps identified from our analysis and discuss the implication for adaptation research and practice.

Marine debris has become a serious threat for the coastal and marine environment. Their presence can degrade the quality of marine environments and also has negative impact on several aspects of people lives especially public health and aesthetics. Several efforts have been made, both short (to mitigate the impacts) and long terms (to manage them properly) efforts. Strategic action in waste management is very important in order to manage marine debris in Manado City; this is the objective of the research. In order to achieve the objective, several aspects on situation and condition of marine debris in Manado Bay has been described, and this include composition and density of debris at the coastal area, the quantity of the debris, waste management on land, the status of public awareness, the impact and degradation of marine debris in nature, institutional regulation, and waste management and planning. These aspects were analyzed to identify strengths and weaknesses before strategic actions for management are developed. The results showed that the composition, density, and quantity of marine debris in Manado Bay increased from 2017 to 2019. Waste management on land has been going well, the government institutions dealing with waste have been adequately arranged. Five strategic actions for waste management in Manado City to prevent the input of the waste to Manado Bay are proposed, they are: a) encouraging people to reduce the use of plastic-based products; b) involving people and community institution in waste management on land; c) increasing the activities of the community and community institution in keeping the environment (river, beach) clean; d) inviting the community and community institutions in working together to develop action programs which will be implemented jointly; and e) improvising the waste management according to existing regulations which include marine debris in specific management target and also incorporating rivers and other areas in waste management according to regulation.

ABSTRACT Following the passage of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) and increased public demands for action in the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, many states are now aggressively redefining and expanding their marine safety and marine environmental protection programs. The U. S. Coast Guard is developing a program to coordinate these efforts with the aim toward minimizing duplicative requirements, leveraging resources, and eliminating barriers to marine transportation due to widely differing federal and state regulations.

The world is facing a depletion of marine resources that threatens entire cultures and endangers the very life of the planet. Reports indicate that over 80 per cent of world fish stocks are heavily exploited or depleted, yet close to 200 million people continue to depend on the fishery for livelihood (FAO 2008). The vast geographical range of many marine fish populations calls for public participation, communication and coordination on a large scale. The need for public participation is particularly acute in those countries where both government services and marine management infrastructure are limited. In the Philippines, public participation has been identified as a priority strategy to promote sustainable development of coastal resources (Republic Act 8435, Akester et al. 2007). Given the lack of empowered stakeholders and a functional government body that can appropriately address the challenges of coastal resource management through public participation, catalyst institutions need to step in. This role is being undertaken by the Aurora State College of Technology (ASCOT), located in Aurora Province on the northeast coast of Luzon Island, Philippines. ASCOT has adopted a holistic approach that offers a model for responsive education with a focus on participation and representative leadership. This article outlines ASCOT’s ongoing programs as an example of a ‘catalyst institution’ in action, with a focus on responsive education through the establishment of strategic partnerships and public participation. It also reports on research conducted with the local fisherfolk of Aurora Province and Pamana, a national alliance of fisherfolk Marine Protected Area (MPA) managers. Key words: fisherfolk empowerment, participative education, catalyst, bioregional planning

Abstract As changes in coastal and marine environments are expected to negatively affect Brazilian ecosystems, the importance of Marine Environmental Education (MEE) comes to the fore. However, so far only 32 contributions related to this issue have been published in Brazil. The MEE workgroup of ReBentos aims at promoting EE and the communication of marine ecological research to the scholastic public as a whole, as well as to groups which exert an influence on general perception, such as the media, politicians, and scientists. This paper presents an overview of the initiatives of MEE in Brazil, with emphasis on the ReBentos projects and guidelines. The conceptual background of action is based on the Rio'92 Treaty on Environmental Education, thereby implying an MEE with Transdisciplinar, emancipatory and reflexive characteristics, directed to changes in values, principles and attitudes. During the period 2011 to 2015, 10 projects were developed from Alagoas to Santa Catarina States, involving the development, implementation and testing through scientific research of 16 MEE activity-models. The didactic material subsequently produced comprised three books and 21 book-chapters. A public of around 6,500 Conservation Unit visitors, 250 public school teachers and 800 high school students have been impacted to date. To act as monitors and multipliers, 250 undergraduate students and professionals were trained. Research project evaluation generated the publication of nine papers. As a further step, the need for protocol elaboration for each model is placed in evidence, in order to direct and facilitate future initiatives.

Les territoires littoraux français sont révélateurs de la complexité des enjeux liés à l’Anthropocène. À la fois attractifs et fragiles, ils doivent faire face à des pressions naturelles comme anthropiques venant de la terre et de la mer. Dans ce contexte, se pose la question de la capacité de la gestion de l’action publique littorale à maintenir l’habitabilité de ces territoires ; elle-même est remise en cause dans ses paradigmes (New Public Management) par des travaux critiques en sciences de gestion. Notre problématique est ainsi formalisée : comment l’Anthropocène impacte et modifie l’action publique littorale ? À travers une étude comparative et qualitative, nous étudions plusieurs intra-cas communs aux deux agglomérations littorales de la Rochelle et du Pays Basque pour ensuite analyser les pratiques des acteur·trice·s territoriaux. La méthode des cas permet d’appréhender dans sa globalité, et par des unités d’analyse, pour ainsi comprendre une situation de gestion. Les résultats de cette recherche exposent un cadre de fonctionnement originel ancien, des modifications par incrémentalisme de l’action publique et mettent en lumière des approches par la co-construction qui permettraient de faire face aux situations complexes de l’urgence écologique. Organiser et animer la collaboration, par effet d’entraînement entre les différents acteur·trice·s, et tenant compte des questions scientifiques et écosystémiques, permet de faire émerger des solutions de moins en moins simples. Cette thèse démontre l’intérêt de l’usage d’un nouveau paradigme de New Public Governance, en capacité de renouveler le fonctionnement de l’action publique littorale et de répondre aux enjeux de l’Anthropocène
The French coastal territories reveal the complexity of the issues related to the Anthropocene. Both attractive and fragile, they must face natural and anthropic pressures from the land and the sea. In this context, a key subject has to do with the management capacities of coastal public action in order to sustain livable territories; its paradigms (New Public Management) are being questioned by critical works in management sciences. Our problem is thus formalized: how does the Anthropocene impact and modify coastal public action? Through a comparative and qualitative study, we study several intra-cases common to both local coastal authorities of La Rochelle and the Pays Basque and then analyze the practices of territorial actors. The case method makes it possible to apprehend in its totality, and by units of analysis, to thus understand a situation of management. The results of this research outline a long-established operating framework as well a sincremental changes in public action, and highlight co-production approaches that could help facing the complexity entailed by the ecological emergency. Organizing and facilitating collaboration, through a ripple effect between different actors, and considering scientific and ecosystem issues, allows for the emergence of increasingly complex solutions. This thesis demonstrates the interest of using a fresh paradigm called New Public Governance, capable of renewing the functioning of coastal public action and meet the challenges of the Anthropocene

Depuis les années 1980, les dispositifs participatifs se sont multipliés de par le monde, sans pour autant qu’ils n’aient permis de démocratiser la vie politique. Alors que l’adoption de tels dispositifs est souvent pensée comme un impératif, en particulier pour les pays en développement et dans le domaine de l’environnement, cette thèse s’applique à expliquer la construction de la participation environnementale en Afrique du Sud, à l’aide d’une démarche visant l’identification des acteurs impliqués, l’analyse de leurs motivations et de la manière dont ils l’influencent. Notre cadre d’analyse propose d’étudier le comportement de catégories d’acteurs au travers de quatre dimensions : la compétition entre acteurs politiques ; le poids des structures administratives ; le profil des prestataires professionnalisés ; les combats des acteurs sociaux. Notre enquête s’appuie sur des entretiens semi-directifs, l’observation de réunions, la littérature grise ainsi que la collecte d’archives. Au terme de notre thèse, nous constatons un faible intérêt des acteurs politiques pour les dispositifs participatifs environnementaux en Afrique du Sud. Cela engendre un manque d’incitation à la prise en compte de la voix du public par les structures administratives, conduisant généralement à une organisation a minima de la participation du public par les consultants, qui ne permet qu’à une minorité de la population sud-africaine de s’exprimer. Des fonctionnaires qui ne sont pas soutenus par les structures administratives avec lesquelles ils devraient collaborer cherchent toutefois à les contourner en s’appuyant sur le public pour mettre en œuvre leur mandat de préservation de l’environnement. Afin de trouver une place sur le marché sud-africain de la participation dominé par des consultants environnementaux, des consultants indépendants choisissent également de se spécialiser dans la participation publique et de favoriser l’organisation de dispositifs participatifs adaptés aux contextes locaux
Since the 1980s, participatory processes have proliferated all over the world, without having enabled for a democratization of political systems. While the adoption of such processes is often thought has an imperative, in particular for developing countries and in the environmental field, this thesis seeks to explain the construction of environmental participation in South Africa, using an approach aiming at identifying the actors involved, analyzing their motivations and the way in which they influence it. Our analytical framework offers to study the behavior of groups of actors through four dimensions: the competition between political actors; the weight of administrative structures; the profile of professionalized service providers; the struggles of social actors. Our study relies on semi-structured interviews, meetings’ observations, grey literature and the collect of records. At the end of our thesis, we notice little interest from political actors for environmental participatory processes in South Africa. This causes a lack of incentive for administrative structures to take the public voice into account, usually leading to a low-cost organization by consultants, which does only allow for a monitory of the South African population to express itself. Civil servants who do not have the support of administrative structures with which they should collaborate try nonetheless to circumvent them by seeking public support so that they can implement their mandate for environmental preservation. In order to make their way into the South African participation market dominated by environmental consultants, independent consultants also choose to specialize themselves into the public participation field and to favor the organization of participatory processes adapted to the local context

L’élévation des niveaux marins accélérée par le changement climatique fait l'objet d'uneattention soutenue au niveau international depuis les années 1990. L’adaptation des littorauxau changement climatique est désormais en voie d’institutionnalisation de l’échelleinternationale jusqu’au niveau local. La thèse analyse les processus de mise en politique del’adaptation au changement climatique sur les littoraux français, à partir de deux cas d’étudecontrastés dans leur histoire, leurs politiques d’aménagement et leurs configurations sociales,mais traversés par des processus analogues d’attractivité et de vulnérabilité face auxsubmersions marines et à l’érosion côtière : la côte aquitaine et le littoral martiniquais.La thèse soutient que la mise en politique de l’adaptation au changement climatique en zonescôtières procède d’une gouvernance performative, définie comme un ensemble de dispositifset d’énoncés visant à faire advenir des mesures d’adaptation en les mettant à l’épreuve duréel. La thèse propose de montrer qu’entre une planification par intégration du changementclimatique dans les politiques littorales existantes (plan national d’adaptation, plans deprévention des risques littoraux…), et des formes d’expérimentation de nouvelles optionsd’adaptation (relocalisation des biens et des activités ou repli stratégique), émerge une« nouvelle gestion publique des risques » littoraux. Pour cette dernière, le concept de stratégied’action publique rend compte de ces formes d’instrumentation qui visent à encadrer, àrationaliser et à faire émerger de nouveaux référentiels gestionnaires (comme l’adaptation etla préparation) par de l’expertise scientifique et technique, par des procédures collaborativeset de la concertation citoyenne en vue d’une responsabilisation individuelle et collective desacteurs locaux.L’analyse des discours, des logiques d’acteurs et des instruments visant à légitimer une actionpublique guidée par l’anticipation et la préparation face aux risques et aux menaces, mobilisela sociologie de l’action publique, la sociologie des sciences et de l’expertise, et la sociologiepragmatique des problèmes publics. Des enquêtes par observation directe de situations denégociation et de concertation, par entretiens et par analyse de documents d’expertise et deplanification ont été menées sur chaque terrain d’étude ; une enquête par questionnaire a étéconduite sur la commune de Lacanau afin d’appréhender l’expérience des citoyens-usagersriverainsface à l’évolution et au recul du trait de côte
Sea level rise accelerated by climate change is of major concern at international scale since the 1990’s. From now on, climate change adaptation is institutionalized from global to local scales. I analyze policy making processes related to climate change adaptation in French coastal areas. Two qualitative case studies are at the heart of the thesis: Aquitaine coastline and Martinique Island (French West Indies). They are contrasted in their history, their coastal planning policy and their social dynamics, though they share common processes of attractiveness and vulnerability to submersion and coastal erosion. I analyze discourses, actors and policy instruments in the legitimization of anticipation and preparation as guiding principles to cope with coastal risks and threats. The theoretical framework builds on political sociology of science and policy, as well as insights from pragmatic sociology. Direct observation of local, regional and national consultation and steering committees, semi-structured interviews and documentation analysis are the key methodological approaches. A questionnaire survey has been conducted in the coastal town of Lacanau, on Aquitaine coastline, in order to analyze the way in which residents and users experiment coastal retreat. The main line of argumentation advanced in this thesis is that coastal adaptation to climate change proceeds with performative governance, by which policy devices and narratives are geared towards building adaptation policies upon their interpretive effects. I demonstrate how climate adaptation mainstreaming and planning (adaptation and coastal risks prevention plans…) is combined with experimentalist forms to govern new adaptation options (like planned retreat) and with a new public risk management in which political and institutional risks are as important to prevent as socio-ecological vulnerabilities. The concept of “public action strategy” is built to better capture these forms of managerial policy instruments used for framing, rationalizing and performing a governance of preparedness and adaptation, by means of expert knowledge, collaborative procedures and concertation to render local actors accountable for their own security. State steering practices and decentralization policies are key processes shaping coastal adaptation and risk regulation. This new public risk management strengthens expert configurations for defining and operationalizing coastal risks policy strategies

As of March 2016, GRID Alternatives’ 179 solar electric system installations on low-income housing contributed 103 metric tons of carbon (MT CO2e) emissions reduction for the climate action plans’ Energy or Renewable Energy climate action measures that pertain to solar electric installations in the cities of: Arroyo Grande, Atascadero, Paso Robles, and San Luis Obispo and San Luis Obispo County. In 2007, the San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District (APCD) created a team of government agencies to design climate action plans (CAP) that met the emission reduction goals set out by AB 32 and the 2008 Climate Change Scoping Plan (Rincon Consultants, 2014, p. 1-2). Each CAP outlines its greenhouse gas (GHG) baseline emissions and GHG emissions reduction targets in metric tons of carbon (MT CO2e) and identifies climate action measures to reach GHG emissions reduction targets. The climate action measure that pertains to Energy or Renewable Energy, specifically solar electric system installations, is examined in this study. GRID Alternatives, a non-profit solar installer that implements its Solar Affordable Housing Program, was selected by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in 2008, to serve as the statewide program manager for the California Solar Initiative’s $108 million incentive program called the Single-family Affordable Solar Homes (SASH) program, which is the country's first dedicated solar rebate program for low-income families (GRID, 2016a, p. 2). In 2010, GRID Alternatives opened its Central Coast office in Atascadero to serve five central coast counties and tracks CO2 emission reductions for each installation. My objective is to determine the impact that GRID Alternatives’ solar electric installations in the cities of Arroyo Grande, Atascadero, Paso Robles, and San Luis Obispo and in San Luis Obispo County have on their respective CAPs’ GHG emissions reduction targets for the Energy or Renewable Energy climate action measure that pertains to solar electric installations.

Bus priority treatments such as busways, bus lanes and bus priority at traffic signals are all utilised in Australian metropolitan areas. These treatments are designed to reduce the travel time for buses and make this transportation mode more efficient and attractive. The common applications of such treatments for Australian conditions are assessed in this research to identify the travel time impacts of introducing bus priority. This will assist in the selection of bus priority measures on arterial roads for Australian conditions. The methodology applied here entails the identification of optimum conditions for using typical bus priority treatments. This research identifies the number of bus passengers necessary to justify various forms of bus priority treatments with varying traffic conditions. The traffic conditions modelled varied from low through to high degree of saturation for general purpose traffic on the road network. The resultant analyses demonstrated that as the degree of saturation increases, higher numbers of bus passengers are necessary to justify reducing the capacity by introducing bus priority. It is concluded however that an economic analysis using travel time costs should not be the only criteria used to identify the appropriate bus priority treatment. It is suggested that bus priority should be part of an overall traffic management approach in conjunction with cost disincentives to cars and appropriate marketing for public transport. The current trends in bus priority treatments are addressed by considering a case study for the Gold Coast Highway located on Queensland's Gold Coast. This work provides an evaluation of bus priority treatments and conditions for justification for such measures. The research summarises the impact of introducing bus lanes, transit lanes, bus priority at traffic signals and improved passenger information and ticketing systems for the Gold Coast Highway. The analysis indicates that journey time saving for buses of up to 20 percent may be achieved with these bus priority treatments.

I investigated the past, present and possible futures of Australia’s ocean pools, over a hundred public seawater pools sited on rocky surfcoasts, so that waves wash over their walls. My interdisciplinary analysis informed by actor-­‐network theory explored their contributions to surf, beach, pool and body cultures and recreational coasts. Ocean pools have since the nineteenth century been far more significant in the surf, beach, pool and body cultures of Australia and South Africa, than in those of Britain and the United States. Most of Australia’s ocean pools lie within state of New South Wales, and my work strengthens the case for recognising Australian and NSW ocean pools as having distinct collective identities and affinities with their South African counterparts. Ocean pools are sites of social and environmental learning that challenge efforts to establish human mastery over wild natures and depictions of coastal environments as mere stages for enacting human activities unconstrained by non-­‐human nature. They also challenge the notion that people prefer to swim and bathe at patrolled beaches or in private or public pools far less wild than an ocean pool. They are evidence that supervision by suitably trained and equipped lifeguards or lifesavers is not the only or the most satisfactory way to adequately safeguard bathers and swimmers from the dangers of the sea. Australia’s ocean pools demonstrate that regardless of race, class, gender, age or ability, people can and do make themselves at home in pools shared convivially with wild nature and well-­‐suited for sustained, unsupervised recreation and sport on rocky surfcoast. Ocean pools serve as places of refuge, therapeutic and restorative environments, adventure playgrounds, convivial public spaces, visually appealing cultural landscapes, brands, icons and symbols. Australia’s ocean pools are unified by their sites, their affordances and core actor-­‐ networks linked to their fundamental and enduring identity as ‘wild but safe enough surfside pools’. Rocky shores and coastal waters characterised by surf, sharks and rips are among the most persistent macro-­‐actors in these networks that include bathers, swimmers, tourism and transport networks, news media, local councils and progress associations. Australian ocean pools that gained a further identity as ‘public pools for competition and carnivals’ acquired additional actor-­‐networks strongly linked since the late nineteenth century to amateur swimming clubs and schools, and since the twentieth century to surf lifesaving clubs and winter swimming clubs. Those ocean pools nevertheless, remained predominately recreational facilities. As other types of public pools became more affordable, Australia’s ocean pools remained popular despite gaining new identities as an ‘unusually hazardous type of public pool’ and ‘a type of facility no longer created’. The growing threats to ocean pools and their actor-­‐networks are a further unifying factor. As sport and recreation venues cultivating healthy, convivial relationships with wild nature and possessing unrealised potential as centres for community engagement, learning and research, ocean pools are worth emulating on other rocky shores and in other public places. My work strengthens efforts to sustain and create ocean pools and supports further studies on seawater pools and their actor-­‐networks.

This PhD thesis in environmental science aims to contribute to the theoretical and empirical understanding of the relation between participation and legitimacy in multi-level environmental governance. It is widely assumed that actor involvement has great potential to improve the legitimacy of nature conservation through long-term acceptance and target achievement. However, local resource conflicts problematize the way a relation between participation and legitimacy is depicted on other administrative levels. Studies exploring the effect that participation has on legitimacy are relatively rare, especially in multi-level arrangements of coastal conservation. In this thesis the relation between participation and legitimacy on the local level is examined, as well as how this relation is conditioned by multi-level governance and power. The relation is empirical studied with two local implementation processes of the Helsinki Convention’s network of marine protected areas (HELCOM MPAs). The cases are located in Sweden. Sweden and the Baltic Sea region are in the forefront of participation in nature conservation, and therefore act as a strong case for the exploration of institutional participation. However, despite apparent political will and international support, the efficiency of actor involvement for nature conservation has been questioned, also for the HELCOM MPA and especially on the local level. Based on the results of this study, I question the assumption that weak legitimacy predominantly is an issue of insufficient information sharing. The findings show that involving actors to legitimize the adoption of strict adherence to a pre-established model of conservation likely fails to create long term support for conservation. Instead, relocation of power to the affected actors seems essential in order to make participation establish legitimacy. It appears important to create room for local influence in the design, management and implementation of a particular conservation area in the particular place/context. In both examined cases, there are elements of participation that support legitimacy, for example the development of a shared vision. There are also elements that hamper legitimacy, such as, for example, the high expectations different actors have on participation to reach consensus on protective values. These unmet expectations seem to fuel conflicts of interests among actors on different levels.
Världens hav är i kris. Med ett stort internationellt tryck för att skydda dem har den svenska regeringen satt ambitiösa mål för etablering av marina reservat. Beslutsfattare och forskare har höga förväntningar på att lokalt deltagande underlättar etableringen. Men utan verkliga möjligheter för lokalt deltagande att påverka besluten så verkar förväntningarna orealistiska, med allvarliga konsekvenser för legitimitet av miljöskydd. Avhandlingen undersöker relationen mellan deltagande och legitimitet i svensk östersjöförvaltning genom att studera samrådsprocesserna för Gräsö marina naturreservat och St Anna-Missjö marina skyddsområde. Studien visar på både positiva och negativa samband mellan deltagande och legitimitet, beroende på kvalitén av deltagande. Olika lokala aktörer är djupt engagerade i resursfrågor och vill ha möjlighet att diskutera dessa med staten. Lokala aktörer uttrycker besvikelse och frustration om samråden har en begränsad inverkan på faktiska beslut. Besvikelsen kan underminera stödet för naturskydd och försämra relationen mellan stat och lokala aktörer i längden. I ett av de undersökta fallen var de lokala aktörerna engagerade i att formulera en gemensam vision för området tillsammans med myndigheterna, något som annars är ovanligt. Det visade sig ha en mycket positiv effekt på samrådsprocessen och legitimiteten av naturskyddet.

Depuis les années 1980, les dispositifs participatifs se sont multipliés de par le monde, sans pour autant qu’ils n’aient permis de démocratiser la vie politique. Alors que l’adoption de tels dispositifs est souvent pensée comme un impératif, en particulier pour les pays en développement et dans le domaine de l’environnement, cette thèse s’applique à expliquer la construction de la participation environnementale en Afrique du Sud, à l’aide d’une démarche visant l’identification des acteurs impliqués, l’analyse de leurs motivations et de la manière dont ils l’influencent. Notre cadre d’analyse propose d’étudier le comportement de catégories d’acteurs au travers de quatre dimensions : la compétition entre acteurs politiques ; le poids des structures administratives ; le profil des prestataires professionnalisés ; les combats des acteurs sociaux. Notre enquête s’appuie sur des entretiens semi-directifs, l’observation de réunions, la littérature grise ainsi que la collecte d’archives. Au terme de notre thèse, nous constatons un faible intérêt des acteurs politiques pour les dispositifs participatifs environnementaux en Afrique du Sud. Cela engendre un manque d’incitation à la prise en compte de la voix du public par les structures administratives, conduisant généralement à une organisation a minima de la participation du public par les consultants, qui ne permet qu’à une minorité de la population sud-africaine de s’exprimer. Des fonctionnaires qui ne sont pas soutenus par les structures administratives avec lesquelles ils devraient collaborer cherchent toutefois à les contourner en s’appuyant sur le public pour mettre en œuvre leur mandat de préservation de l’environnement. Afin de trouver une place sur le marché sud-africain de la participation dominé par des consultants environnementaux, des consultants indépendants choisissent également de se spécialiser dans la participation publique et de favoriser l’organisation de dispositifs participatifs adaptés aux contextes locaux
Since the 1980s, participatory processes have proliferated all over the world, without having enabled for a democratization of political systems. While the adoption of such processes is often thought has an imperative, in particular for developing countries and in the environmental field, this thesis seeks to explain the construction of environmental participation in South Africa, using an approach aiming at identifying the actors involved, analyzing their motivations and the way in which they influence it. Our analytical framework offers to study the behavior of groups of actors through four dimensions: the competition between political actors; the weight of administrative structures; the profile of professionalized service providers; the struggles of social actors. Our study relies on semi-structured interviews, meetings’ observations, grey literature and the collect of records. At the end of our thesis, we notice little interest from political actors for environmental participatory processes in South Africa. This causes a lack of incentive for administrative structures to take the public voice into account, usually leading to a low-cost organization by consultants, which does only allow for a monitory of the South African population to express itself. Civil servants who do not have the support of administrative structures with which they should collaborate try nonetheless to circumvent them by seeking public support so that they can implement their mandate for environmental preservation. In order to make their way into the South African participation market dominated by environmental consultants, independent consultants also choose to specialize themselves into the public participation field and to favor the organization of participatory processes adapted to the local context

The Coastal Collection of Paraná: territories and perspectives and especially in its fifth volume: DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC POLICIES AND HEALTH is an initiative headed by the Postgraduate Program in Sustainable Territorial Development – PPGDTS at the Federal University of Paraná - UFPR. It is a collective effort among knowledge agents, that is, research teachers, students engaged in research, public agents and local community actors, and aims to add value to the production of knowledge about the regional reality, in a plot that expresses the activities of research, teaching and extension carried out in a synergic and cooperative manner along the coast of Paraná State. The volume consists of 16 chapters, organized in three parts: Development, territory and job, University, inclusion and Regional development, and Territory and health. It is the result of the efforts of a team of teachers and students already in the middle of consolidating their capacities as educators and researchers. The approaches presented result from a long and dense practice of reflections, interactive actions among academic and community agents, within an epistemic and methodological perspective, compatible with the current forms of cooperative production among several disciplines. It is an important and vigorous exercise of knowledge production, in line with a university project that reaffirms its vocation and mission focused on regional and local development, by valuing the rescue of knowledge and community practices, by encouraging and invitation to the dialogue of academic knowledge with the rich cultural heritage of coastal populations.

Part III of the book focusses on Zvërnec, a small village located in the southern part of the Lagoon of Nartë, on a promontory over a small gulf (Gjiri i Vogël), which looks like a miniature of the ‘great’ Gulf of Vlorë (Gjiri i Vlorës). Zvërnec is part of the Protected Landscape Vjosë-Nartë and is well-known for the suggestive island which hosts the Byzantine church of the Dormition of Mary (Category I Cultural Monument), which every year attracts many faithful and tourists alike, both Albanian and foreign. In the first chapters, the importance of the intangible heritage is stressed. In Zvërnec the cultural traditions in the lagoon area play a pivotal role, especially the fishing tradition together with the culinary tradition connected to sea products. In the following chapters, the multiple aspects of the tangible heritage are analysed. The protected landscape of Vjosë-Nartë requested a special attention. It includes a number of habitats, which constitute one of the most significant assets in terms of biodiversity at a national level. Unfortunately, both active and dismantled industrial sites present in the area as well as questionable development policies, threaten the fragile and delicate lagoon landscape. As far as the built heritage is concerned, the Church of the Dormition of Mary, traditional dwellings and the abandoned military heritage were thoroughly analysed. For each of the aforementioned issues, the theoretical and historical analysis are closely bound to an evaluation of those features of the cultural heritage that could be enhanced to guarantee a sustainable tourism development of the area. Each chapter ends with a consistent set of specific intervention strategies. They are substantive tools for action aimed at public and private local actors.

AbstractTransformative change involves the integration of different social dimensions and the involvement of a multiplicity of actors resulting in high levels of complexity. Considering all this, our work addresses the development of green infrastructure (GI) to improve the conservation of biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services from two different approaches and scales: regional and local.From the regional level, a GI strategy was promoted by the regional government of Galicia (NW Spain) through institutional efforts following a multidisciplinary approach including public participation processes. On the other hand, a local, participative perspective is exemplified in the Neighbourhood Association of the Parish of Chapela (Redondela, Galicia), a peri-urban, coastal area where intensive forestry and urban expansion threatens the availability of accessible multifunctional ecosystems for the local communities.Both approaches are indicative of seeds for a transformative change yet to happen. Nevertheless, they differ in their visions, values and goals: the regional level is statutory-oriented and focused on the accomplishment of administrative objectives; the local level is based on the communities’ wellbeing aims and calls-for-action. Differences are also detected in the risks and barriers to transformative processes, from the inertia of administrative procedures to the limitations of local action to face environmental and developmental problems. Exploration of these contrasting perspectives leads to the identification of needs for institutional change, the emergence of new governance systems, and the development of new perspectives for strategic planning and management.

AbstractThe overall goal of nature-positive production is to reconcile the need for the production system to meet the demands resulting from growing populations and rising prosperity with the necessity of restoring the environment, improving the quality of soil, conserving biodiversity, and sustainably managing land, water and other natural resources. The strategy is to protect, manage and restore ecosystems: to “produce more from less” and set aside some land and water for nature. In this context, action at the landscape scale is key, extending beyond individual production fields to the watershed, the entire river basin, and the coastal area influenced by the change of land use and river discharges (IPCC Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems [PR Shukla, J Skea, E Calvo Buendia, V Masson-Delmotte, H-O Pörtner, DC Roberts, P Zhai, R Slade, S Connors, R van Diemen, M Ferrat, E Haughey, S Luz, S Neogi, M Pathak, J Petzold, J Portugal Pereira, P Vyas, E Huntley, K Kissick, M Belkacemi, J Malley (eds)], 2019). Nature-positive landscape-level interventions include system-based conservation agriculture, agroforestry, river basin management, bio-inputs, integrated soil fertility management, soil and water conservation and nutrient recycling. In particular, maintaining trees in landscapes, avoiding deforestation and promoting landscape restoration are critically important for preventing soil erosion, regulating water resources, and protecting environmental services essential for sustaining production at multiple scales, from the regional to the global. Such nature-positive approaches are best based on bottom-up and territorial processes, strengthened by scientific innovations and enabling policy environments. Translating science into transformative action also requires system-level governance and policy interventions that enable and provide incentives for farmers and land managers to adopt nature-positive practices. Greater public and private sector investment in research and innovation is needed if we are to develop solutions and adequately scale the adoption of nature-positive production systems. Furthermore, a realignment towards nature-positive food systems requires awareness and empowerment on the part of producers and consumers. These concepts must be introduced to farmers through robust extension programs, with special attention paid to woman farmers. They must be taught in schools and broadcast to consumers. Ultimately, the aim should be to foster a five-way dialogue among academic institutions, farmer and citizen groups, industry and policymakers to translate scientific knowledge into viable action.

This chapter includes an assessment of physical vulnerability of the coast, including a coastal vulnerability index composed of 9 physical variables—elevation, distance to shore, tide amplitude, significant wave weight, erosion/accretion rates, geology, geomorphology, ground cover vegetation, and anthropogenic actions—followed by a quantification of coastal recession and the data of special report on emissions scenarios (SRES) developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the rise in average sea level. It includes an estimate of the economic value of an area of recreation based on the travel cost method. Finally, a bibliographic review is made to assess strategies and responses to the impacts of sea level rise in order to make comparisons and to develop a road map of interventions for shoreline protection. The proposed methodology was applied to a case study on the Portuguese coast corresponding to the beaches of Costa de Caparica, Almada.

<em>Abstract.</em> —The Coquille watershed contains the largest coastal river originating within the Coast Range of Oregon. The Coquille River presently supports over 57 species of fish including coho salmon <em>Oncorhynchus kisutch</em> , spring and fall chinook salmon <em>O. tshawytscha</em> , resident and sea-run cutthroat trout <em>O. clarki</em> , winter steelhead trout <em>O. mykiss</em> , and a remnant population of chum salmon <em>O. keta</em> . Coho salmon have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Many factors including habitat alterations, harvests, hatchery introductions, and ocean conditions have led to the decline of many Coquille River fish stocks. Habitat changes since European settlement began in the mid- 1800s include logging and log transport, road building, draining and diking for agriculture, and urbanization, which have all contributed to the decline of fish stocks and water quality within the watershed. The recognition of habitat problems as a key limiting factor for fish production and water quality led to the formation of the Coquille Watershed Association (CWA) in early 1994. The formation of the CWA was another step in a 20-year local effort to address habitat problems through restoration of natural processes. The CWA is organized as a nonprofit corporation and is governed by a 26-member executive council representing landowners and stakeholders within the watershed. The goals of the CWA, which arrives at decisions through consensus, include creating water quality conditions that will meet Clean Water Act standards and enhancing native fish survival and production through public and private partnerships. To reach those goals, the CWA has organized a technical advisory group and developed an Action Plan that address limiting factors and sets priorities for identifying, prioritizing, coordinating, accomplishing, and monitoring restoration projects and educational efforts. To date the CWA has generated over US$2.5 million in public and private funding to implement projects including riparian restoration through fencing and planting, wetland development, the addition of large-channel wood and rock, off-channel livestock watering, and over 40 educational tours.

<em>Abstract.</em> —The Coquille watershed contains the largest coastal river originating within the Coast Range of Oregon. The Coquille River presently supports over 57 species of fish including coho salmon <em>Oncorhynchus kisutch</em> , spring and fall chinook salmon <em>O. tshawytscha</em> , resident and sea-run cutthroat trout <em>O. clarki</em> , winter steelhead trout <em>O. mykiss</em> , and a remnant population of chum salmon <em>O. keta</em> . Coho salmon have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Many factors including habitat alterations, harvests, hatchery introductions, and ocean conditions have led to the decline of many Coquille River fish stocks. Habitat changes since European settlement began in the mid- 1800s include logging and log transport, road building, draining and diking for agriculture, and urbanization, which have all contributed to the decline of fish stocks and water quality within the watershed. The recognition of habitat problems as a key limiting factor for fish production and water quality led to the formation of the Coquille Watershed Association (CWA) in early 1994. The formation of the CWA was another step in a 20-year local effort to address habitat problems through restoration of natural processes. The CWA is organized as a nonprofit corporation and is governed by a 26-member executive council representing landowners and stakeholders within the watershed. The goals of the CWA, which arrives at decisions through consensus, include creating water quality conditions that will meet Clean Water Act standards and enhancing native fish survival and production through public and private partnerships. To reach those goals, the CWA has organized a technical advisory group and developed an Action Plan that address limiting factors and sets priorities for identifying, prioritizing, coordinating, accomplishing, and monitoring restoration projects and educational efforts. To date the CWA has generated over US$2.5 million in public and private funding to implement projects including riparian restoration through fencing and planting, wetland development, the addition of large-channel wood and rock, off-channel livestock watering, and over 40 educational tours.

Plastic pollution is a global transboundary threat to the planet's marine resources. Tracking pollution is crucial to implement effective marine management strategies on coastal and island regions, where mismanaged plastics are most at risk of entering the ocean. However, the uncertainty of sources and pathways of marine litter poses a major challenge to the assessment of marine pollution. This chapter reviews the principal sectors and human activities contributing to plastic pollution, the mechanisms by which plastic enters the ocean, and some possible drivers of marine litter, including the growing role of coastal tourism on small developing islands. It also outlines future directions for meaningfully integrating research, material accounting, and prevention actions to mitigate the infiltration of plastic pollution in the marine environment, via proper monitoring, assessment, and reporting on plastic material flows from source to sink.

Even though the study of the commons has been expanding rapidly in the past years, and there have been multiple cases of successful local conservation initiatives, still, significant gaps in knowledge remain. The Social-Ecological Systems framework attempts to analyse the linkages between the “human system” (society) and the “natural system” (ecosystems). In every conservation attempt, the interactions and feedback between the two systems become evident. By examining thoroughly this relationship through the SES lens, we can develop a deep and holistic understanding of the processes that should be taken into consideration before the implementation of conservation actions. This study, through the exploration of the fisheries management procedures in Japan, attempts to develop an understanding of how the adoption of the Social-Ecological Systems approach could promote local development in the insular periphery of the developed world, in countries like Greece, where public participation in the decision-making processes is limited.

This chapter uses the divestment of the Royal African Company (1747–1752) to shed light on a central question posed by Paul Langford’s work: how did the eighteenth-century British Parliament reconcile its primacy within the British state’s regulatory apparatus with its role as the upholder of the sanctity of property? Between 1747 and 1752, a series of statutes dissolved the Royal African Company, divested it of its African properties (including forts and enslaved people) and transferred these assets to a new (non-corporate) body. Parliament distributed £112,142 of public funds to compensate the Company’s creditors (including several of its former officers) and proprietors. The chapter explores the distinctive challenges posed to the legislature of corporate property. It places the African Company divestment into the larger history of corporate dissolution across the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the ways in which constitutional changes altered that process. It uses the African Company case to challenge those who have depicted Parliament’s actions in undermining private property as compulsory. The chapter instead emphasizes the negotiations and compromises and the wilful leadership the Company took in the process of ending its life. The chapter offers a full prosopographical analysis of the recipients of compensation. The importance of former officers of the African Company in the list of major recipients confirms that public concern about Britain’s prestige on the African coast proved crucial to the passing of this legislation.

This chapter examines situations in which the incentives of partisanship can encourage a government to actively seek to exacerbate an existing policy failure rather than to repair it. Under these circumstances, the certain benefits of shaming the political opposition outweigh any potential rewards of improving specific policy outcomes. The chapter considers two cases of policy failure in the late 1990s in the transportation sector. The first case explores an effort by the British Columbia Ferry Corporation (BC Ferries), a public provider of marine transportation on Canada's west coast, to introduce a fleet of high-speed aluminium catamaran ferries (the ‘fast ferries’). The second case investigates a public–private partnership scheme to build and operate an urban rail link between the central business district and the airport in Sydney, Australia (the Sydney Airport Link). In both cases, policy options were presented that had the potential to mitigate financial losses and to redirect the project back toward the achievement of stated policy objectives. However, these options were rejected by decision-makers in favour of actions that did nothing for the success of the project but that did deliver some short-term political and electoral rewards.

Abstract After the discovery of pre-salt and the beginning of oil extraction in the coastal region of Brazil, many studies are being developed on this subject, mainly focusing on the exploration and production activities of oil and natural gas. However, in addition to studies on the technology used to extract oil from the pre-salt region, studies are also being conducted on the impacts that this activity will have. This project aims toshow the importance of studies on the reduction of environmental impacts. These impacts occur in the entire coastal region covered by the pre-salt, however the work focuses on the Santos Basin region and the environmental impacts resulting from the exploration and production activities of oil and natural gas in that region. It is necessary to analyze the impacts on environmental sustainability, as well as the social and economic impacts. Through this study, an action plan can be created and implemented and implemented through public policies and by private companies.

On March 11, 2011, the northeastern coast of Japan was struck by 9.0-magnitude earthquake that triggered a devastating tsunami. Aside from the huge toll in people’s lives and severe damages to property, the tremor sent the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on a tailspin, causing hydrogen explosions in three reactors, and sending radioactive materials into the air and bodies of water. Declared the largest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, the crisis threatened neighboring countries, including China (International Business Times, 2011). On March 28, low levels of iodine-131, cesium-137 and strontium, believed to have drifted from Japan, were detected in the air over Heilongjiang province in the northeast part of China and in seawater samples collected in the eastern coastal areas (Qianjiang Eve News, 2011). Because these chemicals can enter the food chain and adversely affect human health (Ifeng.com, 2011), people became understandably anxious and the government had to avert panic. This study asks: How did the Chinese media report the risks attendant to this event? A content analysis of 45 straight news reports published by the Chinese press from March 16, 2011 to April 25, 2011 was conducted. The analysis focused on how the media explained the risk, portrayed potential harm, reported on government actions to safeguard public health, and provided suggestions to reduce public fear. The sources of information cited in the reports were also identified. The articles examined were collected from People.com, a comprehensive online archive of news reports, using “Fukushima” and “nuclear radiation” as search terms. The results indicated journalistic practices that left much to be desired in terms of risk reporting. First, the articles explained little about the technical aspects of the radiation leaks and failed to give audiences a general indication of levels of risk. Second, the media over-emphasized the government’s position that the environment was safe despite the more rampant word-of-mouth reports to the contrary, a slant that may have done nothing to allay public fear. Third, there was a dearth of information about what the government intends to do to alleviate the situation and suggestions about what people can do to protect themselves. The themes of news reports may be attributed to experts from research institutions and government officials who were the most frequently cited sources of facts, analyses, interpretations, and opinions. Scientists and nuclear experts were cited the most in the news reports.

Landslides are often a hazard to high-pressure gas transmission pipelines operating in hilly and mountainous terrain. Typical mitigation options include pipeline rerouting or removing the landslide from the pipeline, if possible. When rerouting or hazard removal is not a viable option due to terrain conditions or the size of the landslide loading the pipeline, directional bores can be used to place the pipeline beneath the active portion of the slope failure. As part of our study of the geotechnical viability of mitigation options for a pipeline impacted by coastal landslides, rerouting and landslide mitigation alternatives were fully investigated. Geologic interpretation of high-resolution, publicly available IfSAR and privately-flown LiDAR data were used to evaluate alternative routes around active and potentially active landslides. Geotechnical borings through the landslides ultimately provided sufficient information supporting directional drilling beneath the active landslides as the most efficient alternative, returning the pipeline to full service.

In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, Audubon has worked with local school systems to integrate climate science units into upper elementary and middle school curriculum. Pickering Creek Audubon Center worked closely with public schools to implement grade-wide climate programming with students in fifth and sixth grade. Through participation in the Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Education, Assessment, and Research project and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s Climate Stewards Education Project we are sharing these successes with statewide partners and working towards implementing climate change curriculum more broadly across the state. Through academic and teacher professional development programs, Pickering Creek Audubon Center educators train teachers on integrating climate science into their current lessons and review and collaborate on parts of the program teachers will lead in the classroom. Students are connected to climate change through a series of engaging in class and field activities over the course of several weeks. With the term “global climate change” making climate change seem more like a global problem and less like a local problem, Pickering Creek educators use wetlands and birds as examples of local habitats and wildlife impacted by climate change. Through these lessons led by Pickering Creek Audubon Center educators and augmented by material covered by classroom teachers, students get a thorough introduction into the mechanism of climate change, local impacts of climate change on habitats and wildlife, and actions they can take as a community to mitigate the effects of climate change.

In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, Audubon has worked with local school systems to integrate climate science units into upper elementary and middle school curriculum. Pickering Creek Audubon Center worked closely with public schools to implement grade-wide climate programming with students in fifth and sixth grade. Through participation in the Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Education, Assessment, and Research project and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s Climate Stewards Education Project we are sharing these successes with statewide partners and working towards implementing climate change curriculum more broadly across the state. Through academic and teacher professional development programs, Pickering Creek Audubon Center educators train teachers on integrating climate science into their current lessons and review and collaborate on parts of the program teachers will lead in the classroom. Students are connected to climate change through a series of engaging in class and field activities over the course of several weeks. With the term “global climate change” making climate change seem more like a global problem and less like a local problem, Pickering Creek educators use wetlands and birds as examples of local habitats and wildlife impacted by climate change. Through these lessons led by Pickering Creek Audubon Center educators and augmented by material covered by classroom teachers, students get a thorough introduction into the mechanism of climate change, local impacts of climate change on habitats and wildlife, and actions they can take as a community to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Aim/Purpose: This paper provides the results of the preliminary analysis of the findings of an ongoing study that seeks to examine the social media use, cultural and political awareness, civic engagement, issue prioritization, and social activism of Gen Z students enrolled at four different institutional types located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The aim of this study is to look at the group as a whole as well as compare findings across populations. The institutional types under consideration include a mid-sized majority serving or otherwise referred to as a traditionally white institution (TWI) located in a small coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean, a small Historically Black University (HBCU) located in a rural area, a large community college located in a county that is a mixture of rural and suburban and which sits on the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and graduating high school students enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) programs in a large urban area. This exploration is purposed to examine the behaviors and expectations of Gen Z students within a representative American region during a time of tremendous turmoil and civil unrest in the United States. Background: Over 74 million strong, Gen Z makes up almost one-quarter of the U.S. population. They already outnumber any current living generation and are the first true digital natives. Born after 1996 and through 2012, they are known for their short attention spans and heightened ability to multi-task. Raised in the age of the smart phone, they have been tethered to digital devices from a young age with most having the preponderance of their childhood milestones commemorated online. Often called Zoomers, they are more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation and are on track to be the most well-educated generation in history. Gen Zers in the United States have been found in the research to be progressive and pro-government and viewing increasing racial and ethnic diversity as positive change. Finally, they are less likely to hold xenophobic beliefs such as the notion of American exceptionalism and superiority that have been popular with by prior generations. The United States has been in a period of social and civil unrest in recent years with concerns over systematic racism, rampant inequalities, political polarization, xenophobia, police violence, sexual assault and harassment, and the growing epidemic of gun violence. Anxieties stirred by the COVID-19 pandemic further compounded these issues resulting in a powder keg explosion occurring throughout the summer of 2020 and leading well into 2021. As a result, the United States has deteriorated significantly in the Civil Unrest Index falling from 91st to 34th. The vitriol, polarization, protests, murders, and shootings have all occurred during Gen Z’s formative years, and the limited research available indicates that it has shaped their values and political views. Methodology: The Mid-Atlantic region is a portion of the United States that exists as the overlap between the northeastern and southeastern portions of the country. It includes the nation’s capital, as well as large urban centers, small cities, suburbs, and rural enclaves. It is one of the most socially, economically, racially, and culturally diverse parts of the United States and is often referred to as the “typically American region.” An electronic survey was administered to students from 2019 through 2021 attending a high school dual enrollment program, a minority serving institution, a majority serving institution, and a community college all located within the larger mid-Atlantic region. The survey included a combination of multiple response, Likert scaled, dichotomous, open ended, and ordinal questions. It was developed in the Survey Monkey system and reviewed by several content and methodological experts in order to examine bias, vagueness, or potential semantic problems. Finally, the survey was pilot tested prior to implementation in order to explore the efficacy of the research methodology. It was then modified accordingly prior to widespread distribution to potential participants. The surveys were administered to students enrolled in classes taught by the authors all of whom are educators. Participation was voluntary, optional, and anonymous. Over 800 individuals completed the survey with just over 700 usable results, after partial completes and the responses of individuals outside of the 18-24 age range were removed. Findings: Participants in this study overwhelmingly were users of social media. In descending order, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Tik Tok were the most popular social media services reported as being used. When volume of use was considered, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter were the most cited with most participants reporting using Instagram and Snapchat multiple times a day. When asked to select which social media service they would use if forced to choose just one, the number one choice was YouTube followed by Instagram and Snapchat. Additionally, more than half of participants responded that they have uploaded a video to a video sharing site such as YouTube or Tik Tok. When asked about their familiarity with different technologies, participants overwhelmingly responded that they are “very familiar” with smart phones, searching the Web, social media, and email. About half the respondents said that they were “very familiar” with common computer applications such as the Microsoft Office Suite or Google Suite with another third saying that they were “somewhat familiar.” When asked about Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard, Course Compass, Canvas, Edmodo, Moodle, Course Sites, Google Classroom, Mindtap, Schoology, Absorb, D2L, itslearning, Otus, PowerSchool, or WizIQ, only 43% said they were “very familiar” with 31% responding that they were “somewhat familiar.” Finally, about half the students were either “very” or “somewhat” familiar with operating systems such as Windows. A few preferences with respect to technology in the teaching and learning process were explored in the survey. Most students (85%) responded that they want course announcements and reminders sent to their phones, 76% expect their courses to incorporate the use of technology, 71% want their courses to have course websites, and 71% said that they would rather watch a video than read a book chapter. When asked to consider the future, over 81% or respondents reported that technology will play a major role in their future career. Most participants considered themselves “informed” or “well informed” about current events although few considered themselves “very informed” or “well informed” about politics. When asked how they get their news, the most common forum reported for getting news and information about current events and politics was social media with 81% of respondents reporting. Gen Z is known to be an engaged generation and the participants in this study were not an exception. As such, it came as no surprise to discover that, in the past year more than 78% of respondents had educated friends or family about an important social or political issue, about half (48%) had donated to a cause of importance to them, more than a quarter (26%) had participated in a march or rally, and a quarter (26%) had actively boycotted a product or company. Further, about 37% consider themselves to be a social activist with another 41% responding that aren’t sure if they would consider themselves an activist and only 22% saying that they would not consider themselves an activist. When asked what issues were important to them, the most frequently cited were Black Lives Matter (75%), human trafficking (68%), sexual assault/harassment/Me Too (66.49%), gun violence (65.82%), women’s rights (65.15%), climate change (55.4%), immigration reform/deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) (48.8%), and LGBTQ+ rights (47.39%). When the schools were compared, there were only minor differences in social media use with the high school students indicating slightly more use of Tik Tok than the other participants. All groups were virtually equal when it came to how informed they perceived themselves about current events and politics. Consensus among groups existed with respect to how they get their news, and the community college and high school students were slightly more likely to have participated in a march, protest, or rally in the last 12 months than the university students. The community college and high school students were also slightly more likely to consider themselves social activists than the participants from either of the universities. When the importance of the issues was considered, significant differences based on institutional type were noted. Black Lives Matter (BLM) was identified as important by the largest portion of students attending the HBCU followed by the community college students and high school students. Less than half of the students attending the TWI considered BLM an important issue. Human trafficking was cited as important by a higher percentage of students attending the HBCU and urban high school than at the suburban and rural community college or the TWI. Sexual assault was considered important by the majority of students at all the schools with the percentage a bit smaller from the majority serving institution. About two thirds of the students at the high school, community college, and HBCU considered gun violence important versus about half the students at the majority serving institution. Women’s rights were reported as being important by more of the high school and HBCU participants than the community college or TWI. Climate change was considered important by about half the students at all schools with a slightly smaller portion reporting out the HBCU. Immigration reform/DACA was reported as important by half the high school, community college, and HBCU participants with only a third of the students from the majority serving institution citing it as an important issue. With respect to LGBTQ rights approximately half of the high school and community college participants cited it as important, 44.53% of the HBCU students, and only about a quarter of the students attending the majority serving institution. Contribution and Conclusion: This paper provides a timely investigation into the mindset of generation Z students living in the United States during a period of heightened civic unrest. This insight is useful to educators who should be informed about the generation of students that is currently populating higher education. The findings of this study are consistent with public opinion polls by Pew Research Center. According to the findings, the Gen Z students participating in this study are heavy users of multiple social media, expect technology to be integrated into teaching and learning, anticipate a future career where technology will play an important role, informed about current and political events, use social media as their main source for getting news and information, and fairly engaged in social activism. When institutional type was compared the students from the university with the more affluent and less diverse population were less likely to find social justice issues important than the other groups. Recommendations for Practitioners: During disruptive and contentious times, it is negligent to think that the abounding issues plaguing society are not important to our students. Gauging the issues of importance and levels of civic engagement provides us crucial information towards understanding the attitudes of students. Further, knowing how our students gain information, their social media usage, as well as how informed they are about current events and political issues can be used to more effectively communicate and educate. Recommendations for Researchers: As social media continues to proliferate daily life and become a vital means of news and information gathering, additional studies such as the one presented here are needed. Additionally, in other countries facing similarly turbulent times, measuring student interest, awareness, and engagement is highly informative. Impact on Society: During a highly contentious period replete with a large volume of civil unrest and compounded by a global pandemic, understanding the behaviors and attitudes of students can help us as higher education faculty be more attuned when it comes to the design and delivery of curriculum. Future Research This presentation presents preliminary findings. Data is still being collected and much more extensive statistical analyses will be performed.

When Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast as a category 4 hurricane on August 25, 2017, it resulted in $125 billion in damage, rivaling only Hurricane Katrina in the amount of damage caused. It also resulted in the deaths of 88 people and destroyed or damaged 135,000 homes. Much of that devastation was the result of flooding. The storm dumped over 27 trillion gallons of rain over Texas in a matter of days. Some parts of Houston received over 50 inches of rainfall. The potential liability that dam and reservoir operators may face for decisions they make during storm and flooding events has now become a major concern for Texas citizens and its elected officials. Law suits have now been instituted against the federal government for its operation of two flood control reservoirs, as well as against the San Jacinto River Authority for its operation of a water supply reservoir. Moreover, the issues and concerns have been placed on the agenda of a number of committees preparing for the 2019 Texas legislative session. This report reviews current dam and reservoir operations in Texas and examines the potential liability that such operators may face for actions and decisions taken in response to storm and flooding events. In Section III, the report reviews dam gate operations and differentiates between water supply reservoirs and flood control reservoirs. It also considers pre-release options and explains why such actions are disfavored and not recommended. In Section IV, the report evaluates liabilities and defenses applicable to dam and reservoir operators. It explains how governmental immunity can limit the exposure of state and federally-run facilities to claims seeking monetary damages. It also discusses how such entities could be subject to claims of inverse condemnation, which generally are not subject to governmental immunity, under Texas law as well as under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In addition, the Section discusses negligence and nuisance claims and concludes that plaintiffs asserting either or both of these claims will have difficulty presenting successful arguments for flooding-related damage and harm against operators who act reasonably in the face of storm-related precipitation. Finally, Section V offers recommendations that dam and reservoir operators might pursue in order to engage and educate the public and thereby reduce the potential for disputes and litigation. Specifically, the report highlights the need for expanded community outreach efforts to engage with municipalities, private land owners, and the business community in flood-prone neighborhoods both below and above a dam. It also recommends implementation of proactive flood notification procedures as a way of reaching and alerting as many people as possible of potential and imminent flooding events. Finally, the report proposes implementation of a dispute prevention and minimization mechanism and offers recommendations for the design and execution of such a program.