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NEW CONCEPTS FOR SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF RIVER BASINS, edited by P.H. Neinhuis, R.S.E.W. Leuven and A.M.J. Ragas, Backhuis Publishers, Leiden, Netherlands. 374 pp. US$111.00. ISBN 90-73348-81-1. This is a timely contribution from a significant source. The book is derived from a symposium held to celebrate 5 years of the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of Nijmegen; however, it reads more like the fanfare for the EU Water Framework Directive, carefully targeting the three main themes of that legislation: habitat quality (11 chapters), water quality (eight chapters) and integrated river basin management (five chapters). These chapters comprise the symposiumâs plenary sessions and workshop materialâunfortunately the quality of reading to the international palate varies markedly between these categories. It is vitally important that we listen to the Dutch voice in sustainable river basin management, not only because of their vulnerable position in relation to the sea and the fact that 85% of their water comes from transboundary sources. In the reviewerâs experience, the Dutch have the radicalism to integrate new notions (such as habitat quality) into public policy and the rigour to implement (but also review and debate) environmentally sound policies. This is nowhere more evident than in the early chapters of the book in which the âconfrontationâ between policy and ecological theory is revealed. Among the topics which fascinated the British reviewer (perhaps because of the relatively low profile debate which has been conducted in the UK) are the need for a disciplined and accountable approach to river restoration and the essential role of river corridors in linking Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) under Natura 2000. Restoration needs both a pre-disturbed reference image but also an ideal (target) image, set in ecological terms and dominated by process considerations. Rehabilitation and assisted recovery are listed as sub-components of the restoration theme. Elsewhere in the first section the themes are more prosaic in supplying the essential surveys and modelling for the conservation and threading together of the ecotope bases for the Dutch treatment of river systems. The copious references to the Rhine system again make this a welcome and accessible source to an international audience for the pioneering work on this huge and complicated system. The water quality section sets out to compare and contrast many aspects of emission controls and water quality objectives in managing river pollution. A recurring theme is that of channel â floodplain links, with the floodplain frequently referred to as the âwinterbedâ â a habit which might well be adopted by fluvial geomorphologists! Unfortunately, until water quality (particularly nutrient loading) is improved, we are unlikely to see high floristic diversity return to ârestoredâ floodplains. The editors suggest in their introduction that the title of their volume is âpretentiousâ and in some ways this is sensible self-criticism. Indeed, there are but five chapters on the eventual goal of integrated management (if by integrated we mean the joint consideration of ecological, economic and social goals). One chapter title describes the Netherlands as being âon the way toâ such management but the others tend to fall away into case studies (the Vistula in Poland) or single topics such as the albeit highly readable material on environmental law. The editors set out their stall on page 5 with the view that, âto conserve, enhance and, where appropriate, restore the total river environment through effective land and resource planning, across the whole catchment area, is the means to reach sustainabilityâ. Brave words and a book to reach for from the shelf when we are feeling daunted: parts of it are excellent, most of it is useful, all of it helps. It remains to be seen if the same can eventually be said of the Water Framework Directive! MALCOLM NEWSON Department of Geography, Uni6ersity of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK THE BIOLOGY OF STREAMS AND RIVERS by Paul S. Giller and Bjorn Malmqvist, Oxford University ¨ Press, Oxford, 1998. 296 pp. Price £19.50. Paperback ISBN 0-19-854977-6. This book is one in a series of publications appearing under the banner Biology of Habitats intended to CCC 1052â7613/2000/010073â03$17.50 Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. provide âan integrated overview of the design, physiology, ecology and behaviour of the organisms in given habitatsâ. It is written primarily as an undergraduate text for students in the biological, ecological and environmental sciences, but also the aims to provide an introductory context for those embarking on a career in freshwater biology or in the water industry. It only
Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems – Wiley
Published: Jan 1, 2000
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