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In addressing the debate on the role & function of nation-states in environmental politics, a collection of essays focuses on the relationship between globalization, the environment, & the state. Three domains in the studies & debates on globalization & governance are emphasized: (1) conceptualizing the changing nature of the state & its role in global environmental governance; (2) stressing the environmental dimension as critical to the dynamics of globalization & governance; & (3) assessing the consequences of globalization & the changing role of the environmental state for understanding the concept of the environment. After discussing the conceptualization of the environment in terms of environmental flows, focus turns to the essay's theoretical basis, starting with a review of the sociological & political science literature on environmental governance & global modernity. Attention is given to the notion of "hybrid arrangements." Contributions are introduced in closing. Figures, References. D. Edelman

In addressing the debate on the role & function of nation-states in environmental politics, a collection of essays focuses on the relationship between globalization, the environment, & the state. Three domains in the studies & debates on globalization & governance are emphasized: (1) conceptualizing the changing nature of the state & its role in global environmental governance; (2) stressing the environmental dimension as critical to the dynamics of globalization & governance; & (3) assessing the consequences of globalization & the changing role of the environmental state for understanding the concept of the environment. After discussing the conceptualization of the environment in terms of environmental flows, focus turns to the essay's theoretical basis, starting with a review of the sociological & political science literature on environmental governance & global modernity. Attention is given to the notion of "hybrid arrangements." Contributions are introduced in closing. Figures, References. D. Edelman

The global decline in freshwater ecosystem health has prompted governments to return water to rivers to restore natural flow regimes. Adequate volume, temporal variability and spatial connectivity of flows are essential requirements for maintaining freshwater ecosystem integrity. However, a major challenge is integrating environmental flow requirements into regulated river systems historically managed for water supply and flood mitigation. In my thesis, I aimed to: (1) evaluate operational opportunities and challenges for the allocation, release and delivery of environmental flow in regulated rivers; and (2) support environmental flow management capacity building through decision support tools and techniques. I focused on two inland river systems in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin, the Gwydir River and the Macquarie River, where unprecedented environmental water investment aims to rehabilitate degraded semi-arid floodplain wetlands of international significance: the Gwydir wetlands and the Macquarie Marshes. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the global importance, progress and challenges of integrating environmental flows into regulated rivers. Chapter 2 outlines the development and application of a long term daily decision support tool for explicit simulation of environmental water allocation and flexible specification of water management rules. Chapter 3 demonstrates the importance of management and biophysical factors in influencing long term availability of environmental water. Chapter 4 examines operational implications of different environmental water release strategies, illustrating the need to include operational opportunities and risks together with ecological outcomes in a strategic environmental watering planning framework. Chapter 5 examines techniques for efficiently and effectively identifying floodplain earthworks built for irrigation and flood mitigation which often fragment spatial flow connectivity and interrupt delivery of environmental flows to target floodplain assets. Results demonstrated ...

Employing the works of Spaargaren and Mol, the intersections of "environmental flows," including both material flows (the extraction, transportation and exportation of oil) as well as non-material flows (community and environmental campaigns), are examined along an oil supply chain. Four communities in Ecuador are studied in order to reveal how a community's spatial and social dimensions influence its response to the construction of an oil pipeline as well as its establishment of advocacy networks. By holding constant the point of contention, these cases reveal that grassroots and professional organizations in communities most integrated in petroleum's commodity chain are least coupled with transnational campaigns. In contrast, environmental groups in areas least experienced in the environmental and health burdens associated with residing near oil facilities establish denser international ties. From these findings, this article calls for the insertion of community deliberation and community monitoring as necessary links in the flow of oil.

Employing the works of Spaargaren and Mol, the intersections of "environmental flows," including both material flows (the extraction, transportation and exportation of oil) as well as non-material flows (community and environmental campaigns), are examined along an oil supply chain. Four communities in Ecuador are studied in order to reveal how a community's spatial and social dimensions influence its response to the construction of an oil pipeline as well as its establishment of advocacy networks. By holding constant the point of contention, these cases reveal that grassroots and professional organizations in communities most integrated in petroleum's commodity chain are least coupled with transnational campaigns. In contrast, environmental groups in areas least experienced in the environmental and health burdens associated with residing near oil facilities establish denser international ties. From these findings, this article calls for the insertion of community deliberation and community monitoring as necessary links in the flow of oil. Adapted from the source document.

International audience ; The Rio Grande/Bravo is an arid river basin shared by the United States and Mexico, the fifth-longest river in NorthAmerica, and home to more than 10.4 million people. By crossing landscapes and political boundaries, the Rio Grande/Bravo bringstogether cultures, societies, ecosystems, and economies, thereby forming a complex social-ecological system. The Rio Grande/Bravosupplies water for the human activities that take place within its territory. While there have been efforts to implement environmentalflows (flows necessary to sustain riparian and aquatic ecosystems and human activities), a systematic and whole-basin analysis of theseefforts that conceptualizes the Rio Grande/Bravo as a single, complex social-ecological system is missing. Our objective is to addressthis research and policy gap and shed light on challenges, opportunities, and success stories for implementing environmental flows inthe Rio Grande/Bravo. We introduce the physical characteristics of the basin and summarize the environmental flows studies alreadydone. We also describe its water governance framework and argue it is a distributed and nested governance system across multiplepolitical jurisdictions and spatial scales. We describe the environmental flows legal framework and argue that the authority over differentaspects of environmental flows is divided across different agencies and institutions. We discuss the prioritization of agricultural usewithin the governance structure without significant provisions for environmental flows. We introduce success stories for implementingenvironmental flows that include leasing of water rights or voluntary releases for environmental flow purposes, municipal ordinancesto secure water for environmental flows, nongovernmental organizations representing the environment in decision-making processes,and acquiring water rights for environmental flows, among others initiatives. We conclude that environmental flows are possible andhave been implemented but their implementation has not ...

International audience ; The Rio Grande/Bravo is an arid river basin shared by the United States and Mexico, the fifth-longest river in NorthAmerica, and home to more than 10.4 million people. By crossing landscapes and political boundaries, the Rio Grande/Bravo bringstogether cultures, societies, ecosystems, and economies, thereby forming a complex social-ecological system. The Rio Grande/Bravosupplies water for the human activities that take place within its territory. While there have been efforts to implement environmentalflows (flows necessary to sustain riparian and aquatic ecosystems and human activities), a systematic and whole-basin analysis of theseefforts that conceptualizes the Rio Grande/Bravo as a single, complex social-ecological system is missing. Our objective is to addressthis research and policy gap and shed light on challenges, opportunities, and success stories for implementing environmental flows inthe Rio Grande/Bravo. We introduce the physical characteristics of the basin and summarize the environmental flows studies alreadydone. We also describe its water governance framework and argue it is a distributed and nested governance system across multiplepolitical jurisdictions and spatial scales. We describe the environmental flows legal framework and argue that the authority over differentaspects of environmental flows is divided across different agencies and institutions. We discuss the prioritization of agricultural usewithin the governance structure without significant provisions for environmental flows. We introduce success stories for implementingenvironmental flows that include leasing of water rights or voluntary releases for environmental flow purposes, municipal ordinancesto secure water for environmental flows, nongovernmental organizations representing the environment in decision-making processes,and acquiring water rights for environmental flows, among others initiatives. We conclude that environmental flows are possible andhave been implemented but their implementation has not ...