{"title":"Changing Course: Water Management in the Demer Valley, 1950s–1990s","authors":"Eline Lathouwers, Y. Segers, G. Verstraeten","doi":"10.3197/096734023x16702350656951","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Transformations in river management that manifest diverse forms of (increased) human interference, evidenced by hydraulic ingenuity and associated ecosystem disturbance, are usually explained as successive water regimes. Researchers then analyse factors that triggered regime shifts and discuss (un)successful attempts by policymakers to juggle conflicting interests. Few studies, however, centre on medium-sized rivers that are nevertheless characterised by fragmented policies in which multiple stakeholder parties have a say. We discuss, through a close reading of archival records, the evolution of post-war water management in the Demer valley, Flanders. We conclude that agricultural interests prevailed until the 1970s, notwithstanding an early exploration of the valley’s industrial and recreational potential, whereupon nature organisations put forward an alternative approach that led to changing policies in the early 1990s. These conclusions do not fit into the reportedly global transferable, river management model proposed by Wolf et al.* By showcasing the Demer’s unique management developments and emphasising the individual aspects of the essentially rural Demer valley, we scrutinise the model’s generalisability and argue that it is especially valid for industrialised rivers. * S. Wolf et al., ‘Influence of 200 years of water resource management on a typical central European river: Does industrialization straighten a river?’ Environmental Sciences Europe 33, 15 (2021).","PeriodicalId":45574,"journal":{"name":"Environment and History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environment and History","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3197/096734023x16702350656951","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Transformations in river management that manifest diverse forms of (increased) human interference, evidenced by hydraulic ingenuity and associated ecosystem disturbance, are usually explained as successive water regimes. Researchers then analyse factors that triggered regime shifts and discuss (un)successful attempts by policymakers to juggle conflicting interests. Few studies, however, centre on medium-sized rivers that are nevertheless characterised by fragmented policies in which multiple stakeholder parties have a say. We discuss, through a close reading of archival records, the evolution of post-war water management in the Demer valley, Flanders. We conclude that agricultural interests prevailed until the 1970s, notwithstanding an early exploration of the valley’s industrial and recreational potential, whereupon nature organisations put forward an alternative approach that led to changing policies in the early 1990s. These conclusions do not fit into the reportedly global transferable, river management model proposed by Wolf et al.* By showcasing the Demer’s unique management developments and emphasising the individual aspects of the essentially rural Demer valley, we scrutinise the model’s generalisability and argue that it is especially valid for industrialised rivers. * S. Wolf et al., ‘Influence of 200 years of water resource management on a typical central European river: Does industrialization straighten a river?’ Environmental Sciences Europe 33, 15 (2021).
河流管理的转变表现出各种形式的(增加的)人为干扰,水力独创性和相关的生态系统干扰证明了这一点,通常被解释为连续的水制度。然后,研究人员分析了引发政权更迭的因素,并讨论了政策制定者平衡利益冲突的(不)成功尝试。然而,很少有研究集中在中型河流上,这些河流的特点是政策分散,多个利益相关者都有发言权。通过对档案记录的仔细阅读,我们讨论了战后法兰德斯德默尔山谷水管理的演变。我们得出的结论是,尽管对山谷的工业和娱乐潜力进行了早期探索,但直到20世纪70年代,农业利益仍占主导地位,因此自然组织提出了另一种方法,导致了20世纪90年代初政策的变化。这些结论并不符合Wolf等人提出的全球可转移的河流管理模型。*通过展示Demer独特的管理发展,并强调本质上是农村的Demer山谷的个别方面,我们仔细审查了该模型的普遍性,并认为它特别适用于工业化河流。* S. Wolf等人,《200年水资源管理对一条典型中欧河流的影响:工业化是否使河流变直?》欧洲环境科学33,15(2021)。
期刊介绍:
Environment and History is an interdisciplinary journal which aims to bring scholars in the humanities and biological sciences closer together, with the deliberate intention of constructing long and well-founded perspectives on present day environmental problems. Articles appearing in Environment and History are abstracted and indexed in America: History and Life, British Humanities Index, CAB Abstracts, Environment Abstracts, Environmental Policy Abstracts, Forestry Abstracts, Geo Abstracts, Historical Abstracts, History Journals Guide, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Landscape Research Extra, Referativnyi Zhurnal, Rural Sociology Abstracts, Social Sciences in Forestry and World Agricultural Economics.