7377

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7377
• Author: Kusler, J. A. and S. Daly.
• Title: Wetlands and River Corridor Management.
• USFW Year: 1989.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

have adopted rigorous policies for projects that
carry an environmental impact. In their case the
rise of the Green Party in Germany and the
associated rise in public awareness of green
issues has been a major spur. A West German Bank
may refuse to fund a project thought likely to
cause: an adverse environmental impact, such as
part of the water pipeline to divert freshwater
away from Lake Ichkeul in Tunisia (Hollis 1986).
However, other agencies either step in immediately
to provide partial funding or the probability
arises that the government will find other
agencies willing to assist with the project.
Rivers and wetlands that straddle international
and regional boundaries are especially at risk
because there are always upstream winners and
downstream losers. In Nigeria, Borno State has
been highly critical of the irrigation schemes
promoted by Kano State which has the headwaters of
the Eladejia River. Niger, whose border follows the
lower course of the river has been engaged in a
number of local border conflicts and high level
international diplomacy in an endeavor to secure a
greater flow in the lower parts of the river. In
Spain, there is now an experimental release of
water for their Daimiel National Park from the
Tajo-Seguria interbasin transfer scheme. One
covert contributory factor in the decision is the
belief in La Mancha, which has both the headwaters
of the Tajo and the Daimiel Park, that it should
retain its own water resources rather than seeing
them diverted for lucrative irrigation schemes in
other, provinces. The city of Rotterdam has
recently adopted a particularly innovative
approach to the management of the Rhine upstream
in Germany, France and Switzerland. Dutch
pollution legislation decrees that the material
dredged from the shipping lanes in Rotterdam is
toxic chemical waste which must be treated before
disposal. Following the principle that the
"polluter must pay" the city has monitored
discharges into the Rhine from a boat in
international waters on the river and is now
threatening civil action in the courts against any
polluter who does not dramatically reduce his
discharges. The damages which will be sought in
court, if persuasion fails, will be a proportion
of the cost of cleaning up the harbour at
Rotterdam (Dogterom 1989).
Sectoral thinking in decision making is always
bad for wetlands because they can be affected by a
large range of human activities and decisions.
However, in many countries the situation is far
worse than simply sectoral thinking; there is
often deep-rooted rivalry between different
sectors of the government service and in some
cases there is outright personal rivalry between
senior individuals in different departments. In a
country where there are only a handful of people
working for wetland conservation, the spectacle of
two of the most senior individuals devoting
considerable energy to attacking their perceived
rival can be very dispiriting.
Similarly, there is usually a deeply rooted
aversion to multi-disciplinarv studies and
approaches to problem solving. To some extent
formal training in "hard" sciences is responsible
because this often teaches people a reductionist
method. The reality of inter-disciplinary work is
that it is stimulating and rewarding and capable
of reaching heights which are beyond individuals
or individual disciplines. In general two things
assist in developing cross-sectoral and inter-
disciplinary approaches. The first is the
existence in the group of lawyers or geographers
because they tend to bring a wider vision of most
problems. The second requirement is for the use of
circular tables where round table discussions can
be held. Nothing substitutes for getting all of
the parties together in one room for a focused
discussion of the broad ramifications of the
problem.
A very positive factor for wetland management
is international assistance and international
pressure. The Ramsar Convention has grown in
stature and effectiveness since the Regina
Conference of the Contracting Parties agreed to
the establishment of a Budget, a Bureau and a
Standing Committee (Ramsar Bureau 1987). The
subsequent implementation of a monitoring proce-
dure for listed sites has been a major step
forward but many areas of the Convention's work
can be improved further. There is presently only a
limited role for NGOs in the Convention's
operations. More seriously, the Convention is
linked in most countries to the ornithological
branch of the nature conservation agency. There is
a need for the Convention to be associated with a
wider range of agencies such as those responsible
for water management. In addition, in some
countries, federal agencies operate nature conser-
vation whilst state governments are responsible
for land use. This situation has led in the past
to vigorous opposition to the implementation of
the wise use provisions of the Convention simply
because federal groups do not want to dilute their
power base with state representatives.
International concern with a threatened site,
international assistance in training and planning,
and international funds for conservation activi-
ties bring very beneficial results. In some cases
where local groups and national NGO's are unable
to make significant progress in protecting wetland
resources, the dispatch of an international team
to review the problem and to make recommendations
based upon their technical expertise and
detachment from the local politics can be a very
useful vehicle. A review of the effects of
groundwater abstraction around the Donana National
Park in Spain by an international team was
organised by IUCN (International Union for the
Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, but
soon to be renamed World Conservation Union) and
funded by the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature).
The report has been debated in the Andalusian
Parliament and is assisting ADENA (WWF-Spain) in
its efforts to protect this site of global
significance. The team (Hollis et al. 1989)
consisted of a British hydrologist experienced in
Mediterranean wetland work, a French ecologist who
had undertaken an EIA for Donana in 1970 on behalf
of FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations), and an American hydrogeologist
specializing in digital modelling.
Socio-Economic Features in Wetland Management
In almost all cases the pressure upon wetland
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