Mitigating water-related risks through local stewardship
Exploring how local-centred stewardship can mitigate water-related risks and provide long-term outcomes.
Words by Dark Matter Labs | published in EWSC Research & Insight
Key Takeaways:
This article delves into the opportunities of a broadened spectrum of land assets through local-centred stewardship to mitigate water-related risks and provide long-term outcomes.
- The local community plays a vital role in Integrated Water Management, acting as both a local knowledge provider and a long-term steward of local assets contributing to sustainable local asset management over time.
- A Community Land Trust (CLTs) serves as a successful community-led stewardship mechanism that utilises multiple benefits for the local community.
- The potential of broadening land assets to include natural assets, such as soil, water, and green infrastructure, presents opportunities to enhance local assets and community resiliency by diversifying funding streams and generating wider benefits.
- Establishing partnerships among the stakeholders involved in land assets can unlock multiple benefits through the delivery of local land asset management and their associated outcomes.
1. Context: The growing need for community stewards
In the UK, the interplay between public participation and Integrated Water Management (IWM) becomes crucial in water management, particularly in housing development. The UK has been experiencing increasing significant flood risks, and the flood damage costs around £1.3 billion each year (Flood Risk and the UK, 2022). The Flood and Water Management Act 2010, provides a legal framework to enhance water management practice in order to address these challenges. Furthermore, the Water Strategy for England, published by DEFRA, emphasises the necessity of collaborative efforts across private and public to tackle increasing water scarcity and water quality issues. A single organisation cannot tackle such issues alone.
“We all need to take responsibility for ensuring that we achieve our objectives and work collaboratively to protect and enhance our water resources and manage them in more sustainable ways” — From the Water Strategy for England, DEFRA (2008)
However, the Flood and Water Management Act has lead to fragmentation in flood governance as flood risks are distributed among various institutions with divergent responsibilities. This fragmented approach impedes gauging the potential of integrated water management. For example, while Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDs) can achieve multiple objectives, their planning and implementation do not effectively integrate the mitigation of various risk measures, including flood risks and cooling effects provided by green infrastructure (Gimenez-Maranges et al., 2020).
Additionally, multiple institutional mechanisms are aimed at addressing flood risk management for planning and implementation. However, the misalignment in policy objectives, instruments and action details among different levels of institutions hampers these mechanisms’ effective implementation and outcomes. The integration of a broad level of objectives across multiple institutional levels throughout their life cycle can enhance coherence. Calibrating coherency between institutional objectives and instruments (e.g., regulations) could facilitate coordination between implementing institutions of different scales, converging required outcomes. Local-level communities can play a critical role in providing details about the highly contextual needs of local-level outputs (Benson & Lorenzoni, 2017).
Recent Catchment-Based Approaches (CaBA) to water management have been introduced, emphasising the role of local-level actors, such as local communities, public sector organisations and business, that share the common aim of the implementation (See case studies in Best Practice Showcase for the Catchment Based Approach by Westcountry Rivers Trust — Issuu, 2014). And the role of national agencies could play a supporting and facilitating role, in this approach. Adopting such an approach can align multiple objectives and achieve a broader range of benefits, like improving ecological status. These approaches prioritise public participation, recognising them as key beneficiaries of the outcomes (Harris, 2013).
The fundamental of participation activities in CaBA highlights the importance of an ongoing process that combines local knowledge and perspectives with scientific knowledge. Utilising less formal participation, such as a locally controlled website or blog to document the entire process from planning to implementation, can serve as an effective example of ongoing community engagement. The approach transcends the traditional role of residents as mere local information providers and actively involves them as participants in the decision-making process, ensuring their engagement extends to longer term outcomes after implementation (Rollason et al., 2018, p. 268).
The Localism Act 2011 aimed to involve local communities in environmental issues like flood risk planning. The guidance from CIRIA titled, “Delivering better water management through the planning system(C797)” emphasised the needs for early engagement among the stakeholders across local authorities (Local planning authorities and lead local flood authorities), regulators, developers, local communities and water and sewage companies. By fostering locally sensitive partnerships and engagement, this approach aims to deliver multiple benefits to all the stakeholders. However, despite these efforts, engaging the local community and empowering them to contribute to new housing development often falls short of achieving its goals. Inclusivity and diversity were undermined by inadequacies in policy, which does not reflect the needs of local people, and also limit the longer-term outcome creation (Fainstein, 2013). To achieve long-term strategic planning for climate mitigation, it is essential to foster collaborative partnership among stakeholders with shared interests from early stage and innovate local policy mechanisms.
In the following section, we will explore the Community Land Trust as a successful community-led stewardship mechanism and examine its potential for expansion to create additional opportunities.
2. Opportunity: Community-led Asset Stewardship
Community Land Trusts (CLTs) have demonstrated a successful model of stewarding assets for a wide range of benefits encompassing social, economic, and environmental aspects for a specific community, often defined by a geographical boundary. CLT is a mechanism of community-led housing, where land is collectively owned through various sources of investments, including public and private. As a non-profit and democratic organisation, CLT is owned by and for a broad community, holding land on behalf of the local residents.
The primary objective of this approach is to remain housing affordable in perpetuity. The model involves active asset management, with strong involvement and contributions from the local community, fostering a sense of ownership and control over their local resources. As long-term stewards, CLT oversees various assets, including community gardens, civic buildings and energy schemes (Wilson, 2017). The incorporation of the mechanism varies depending on diverse contexts, such as initiators, purposes and partnership types. The Community Land Trust handbook recommends engaging with organisations and institutions that share similar focuses and goals, including local authorities and local organisations.
The legal definition of CLTs in the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (England and Wales) has served as a useful policy tool in delivering affordable housing. This legal framework has served myriad advantages, including access to funding opportunities and supports from local planning policies. The CLT mechanism has demonstrated success in incorporating the community’s vision, ensuring inclusively, and effectively translating their needs into development. Moreover, numerous pieces of research show that CLT provides a wide scope of additional benefits, including improving community health and well-being. This has been proven in papers, reports , and government publications.
However, to achieve such multiple benefits over time, the funding scheme plays a critical role in sustaining assets and their management. There would be significant benefits to broadening this focus and considering the stewardship of diverse assets that can contribute to community resilience and utilise wider benefits. Nevertheless, other types of assets, like natural assets have not received as much attention, as there has been a primary emphasis on affordable housing in the UK model.
Including natural assets, such as soil, water, and green infrastructure, as part of land assets can create a wide range of opportunities for economic, social and environmental benefits. Some funding may be available from local authorities or charities to support the establishment of CLTs, but relying solely on a single organisation or funding source is not feasible. Therefore, it becomes essential to explore diversified funding sources across the project development and after the implementation.
Developing the business plans that approach all on-site assets holistically for the benefit of residents can create resilient income streams over time. This could involve implementing a mixed-used space that includes a café, restaurants, workspace, community allotments and event space(e.g., weddings, parties).
The example of Traditional Dream Factory, a community land trust in Portugal, highlights the expansive scope of “land”, beyond housing. The project focuses on soil regeneration around a small rural village, an aim which primarily utilises tree-planting as a water-management strategy. Land management activities are supported by income streams around multiple assets associated with the land, such as event management, accommodation for eco-tourism, restaurant operations, and startup business hosting. The diversification of revenue enhances the financial resilience of the community land trust and delivers multiple benefits to the local communities, creating a positive ripple effect.
There has been a growing trend in generating income from energy generation in recent years. For example, Climate Innovation District in Leeds, a large-scale private-sector-led housing development developed by Citu, supplies income through an on-site solar grid. All the profits generated from energy production are retained within Community Interest Company (CIC), a not-for-profit company controlled by the residents, and are used for community projects.
By recognising and leveraging the potential of natural assets within land stewardship, integrating a community-led strategy can provide effectiveness in Integrated Water Management (IWM) SuDs. For example, the delivery of, SuDs, such as ponds, permeable pavement, or basins, offer pivotal resources that generate numerous benefits for the community. What if land trusts expand their asset portfolio by incorporating a wide range of diverse assets and scaling them up? Could this approach lead to increased revenue flows, the attraction of more members and improved management?
3. Proposition: Unlocking the multiple benefits of a comprehensive view in land assets
Utilising the multiple benefits of community-led land stewardship requires a set of essential components across the stakeholders involved. The following components are crucial for implementing community-led land stewardship and maximising multiple benefits with partners who share visions and goals:
- Building aligned agreements on land use and objectives among the stakeholders who share common interests;
- Promoting the interconnected impact of nature’s function and acknowledging the cultural significance of the land to strengthen community ties and harness the maximum benefits, including ecosystem services;
- Developing a clear and unified organisational purpose and identity that reflects the community’s values and facilitates networking with potential partners;
- Creating multiple business portfolios that enable the long-term resilience of both the local area and the community.
In the following paragraphs, we outline the four components mentioned above, highlighting their key details and importance.
Build agreements on land use and shared objectives:
Establishing alignment among stakeholders on land use is the fundamental initial step in building trust and effective collaboration. This includes ensuring that all the parties understand the necessity and benefits of adopting a community-led steward approach. The community encompasses individuals, organisations and institutions who share common risks and interests. Thus, it also entails identifying strategies to address shared risks and actively engaging with diverse stakeholders to gain their support. Additionally, including ecological systems as a stakeholder pool will foster nature’s regenerative capacity and promote long-term sustainability.
Promote the systemic connectivity of nature’s function and acknowledge the cultural significance of the land:
Large-scale land assets, such as at the scale of the basin, play a vital role in facilitating sustainable infrastructure development to mitigate risks and capture significant ecosystem services. Ecosystem services from well-steward land can provide an opportunity to create a revenue stream. Environmental Farmers Group, launched in 2022 in the UK, is a hub developed by a group of farmers. The platform trades biodiversity credits, nutrients (phosphate and nitrate) offsets and carbon trading provided by a group of farmers. SuDs is an interconnected network of natural systems, including water bodies, green infrastructure and open spaces. A large-scale implementation, a combination of multiscale and multi-criteria SuDs planning, enables full drainage management and wider ecosystem services provision(Charlesworth et al., 2016; Lee et al., 2012). The prevailing focus on neighbourhood-scale initiatives in current community-led approaches may not fully harness ecosystem services or provide adequate funding for effective asset management, including hiring skilled professionals. This limitation hinders the opportunity for future improvement and expansion as well as the full utilisation of multiple benefits. Nevertheless, finding a balance that maintains a sense of connection within the community is also essential when considering the scale of assets. Excessive scaling, such as an entire bio-region, may lead to a loss of local connectivity and engagement.
Develop a coherent organisational identity:
The development of CLT requires support from various partners, encompassing aspects such as attaining information, securing planning consents, recruitment and financing. Throughout this process, the organisation’s name plays a vital role in accessing funds and attracting strategic partnerships that align with the community’s shared vision and goals. By effectively communicating a clear and purposeful identity, potential funders and partners can readily understand the organisation’s objectives and areas of focus, fostering a greater likelihood of collaboration and support.
Further, a cohesive understanding of the identity is essential for the project’s ongoing development. The chosen identity should embrace the community’s existing culture and social background, fostering a sense of belonging and ownership. Involving the community in establishing its identity plays a crucial role in shaping community-level stewardship, as it increases the community’s support and contribution to asset management. Further, adapting identity while maintaining coherency is necessary for its longevity as changes emerge.
Create comprehensive business portfolios:
If the community takes a comprehensive approach and diversifies its business opportunities, utilising assets across ecosystem services and community facilities, it can derive various income streams and additional benefits. Operating a comprehensive business portfolio can supply financial viability and strengthen the community’s resiliency. Yet, the existing practices often employ segregated approaches; sometimes, the community does not prioritise income generation. For example, car parks and cafes within the community can provide a significant income source. Woodlands are often recognised as unprofitable, resulting in their management being delegated to organisations like Wildlife Trust. However, well-steward woodlands can attract eco-tourism or serve as a location for a viewpoint while providing ecosystem services to trade. Organising different assets with integrity can create multiple business opportunities.
This article is written by Dark Matter Labs (DLM). DLM contributed towards developing a transition model pathway, given its experience in building and orchestrating systemic transitions. This article is one of five produced by DML, see: How to implement and benefit from a multi-value flow in local communities, Essential frameworks for the sustainable development of common goods, Mitigating water-related risks through integrated asset management, and Enhancing stewardship and decision-making for sustainable water management for more.
As Discovery research lead and series editor, Arup’s Transformation & Design Studio led the multi-partner research effort contributing public innovation and strategic design expertise.
This is one of a series of insight articles produced as part of the EWSC innovation programme, exploring how integrated water management can be delivered through innovative housing and stewardship models. For an overview of the project, latest news or to get in touch visit https://www.ewsc.org.uk/.
