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TRIPLE-VALUE SIMULATION MODELING CASES TACKLE NUTRIENT AND WATERSHED MANAGEMENT FROM A SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE
Citation:
ten Brink, Marilyn Buchholltz, G. Foley, A. Bassi, N. Tanners, W. Berry, K. Heinemann, M. Nicholson, P. Niedzwiecki, V. Salazar, M. Flight, E. Ruder, AND J. Fiksel. TRIPLE-VALUE SIMULATION MODELING CASES TACKLE NUTRIENT AND WATERSHED MANAGEMENT FROM A SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE. Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) 24th Biennial Conference, Providence, RI, November 05 - 09, 2017.
Impact/Purpose:
The Triple Value (3V) scoping and modeling process allows stakeholders and decision makers to utilize a systems approach to understand complex environmental problems, incorporate local knowledge, and allow exploration of policy scenarios. Highlights from five 3V cases in coastal estuaries will be presented at the conference for discussion among coastal and estuarine scientists and resource managers
Description:
Decision makers often need assistance in understanding dynamic interactions and linkages among economic, environmental and social systems in coastal watersheds. They also need scientific input to better evaluate potential costs and benefits of alternative policy interventions. EPA’s Triple Value (3V) scoping and modeling process utilizes a systems approach to understand complex environmental problems, incorporate local knowledge, and allow decision-makers to explore policy scenarios. This leads to better understanding of feedbacks and outcomes to both human and environmental systems. We present five coastal watershed cases that use 3V methods to examine social-ecological systems interconnections and to explore effects of interventions to mitigate the effects of excess nitrogen (N) loading and population pressures in the watersheds. For each case, stakeholders generated a problem statement and developed a causal loop diagram that defined the scope of subsequent quantitative modeling. We include and highlight important system interactions that impact social and economic well-being, such as enjoyment and recreational uses, climate impacts, and changes in income and revenues from tourism and local fisheries. The simulation models quantify economic, ecological, and other social indicators and their relationships to explore possible policy options and scenarios on measures of health, the economy, equity, water, energy, and land use. We present highlights from 3V projects in Narragansett Bay Watershed (RI/MA), Cape Cod (MA), eastern Long Island (NY), the Delmarva Peninsula (DE/MD/VA) and the Snohomish River watershed (WA).