No abstract

There is a growing awareness of the role that natural resources such as water, land, forests and environmental amenities play in our lives. There are many competing uses for natural resources, and society is challenged to manage them to improve social well being. Furthermore, there may be dire consequences to natural resources mismanagement. Renewable resources such as water, land and the environment are linked, and decisions made with regard to one may affect the others. Policy and management of natural resources now require an interdisciplinary approach including natural and social sciences to correctly address our societal preferences.This series provides a collection of works containing the most recent findings on economics, management and policy of renewable biological resources such as water, land, crop protection, sustainable agriculture, technology, and environmental health. It incorporates modern thinking and techniques of economics and management. Books in this series will combine knowledge and models of natural phenomena with economics and managerial decision frameworks to assess alternative options for managing natural resources and the environment.

Los Papeles de Agua Virtual conforman una serie de documentos de trabajo creados al amparo del proyecto de investigación Análisis de la Huella Hidrológica y del Comercio de Agua Virtual en España, financiado por la Fundación Marcelino Botín dentro del convenio entre la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid y esta fundación, en el que participa también como codirector científico externo el Profesor y Académico Ramón Llamas Madurga.La creciente utilización de los conceptos de agua virtual y de huella hidrológica ha propiciado la realización de un estudio en profundidad aplicado a España. Con la finalidad de evaluar la aplicación de ambos conceptos a la gestión de los recursos hídricos y someterlos a debate, los Papeles de Agua Virtual (PAV) recogen parte de los resultados obtenidos durante la investigación. Esta nueva colección de documentos, que sucede a la de Papeles de Aguas Subterráneas (PAS) también auspiciada por la Fundación Marcelino Botín entre 1999 y 2004, recoge los desarrollos metodológicos y los resultados obtenidos del estudio sobre el comercio de agua virtual y la huella hidrológica. Los PAV siguen así la estela de los PAS, que tanta influencia y repercusión tuvieron en España. Además de contribuir al debate científico sobre la política del agua, los PAV tienen como objetivo más importante orientar los resultados del estudio hacia aspectos prác-ticos que sean de aplicación para hacer más eficiente el uso de los recursos hídricos, teniendo en cuenta los procesos de cambio global y las relaciones comerciales de España con la UE y el resto del mundo. En esta serie se incluye también un PAV sobre la huella hidrológica de la cuenca del Guadiana que corresponde a un estudio realizado conjuntamente entre este proyecto y el caso de estudio de la cuenca del Guadiana que dirige el profesor M. Ramón Llamas dentro del proyecto de la Unión Europea llamado NeWater.Los PAV se pueden descargar gratuitamente de las páginas web

Diffuse water pollution from agriculture (DWPA) is a major environmental issue worldwide causing eutrophication, human health problems, increased water treatment costs and reducing the recreational potential of water bodies. In addition to penalties and provision of incentives, policy efforts are increasingly focusing on raising land managers’ awareness regarding diffuse pollution under the expectation that this would influence behaviours and thus increase uptake of best management practices that would, in turn, improve water quality. Given the multimillion financial investments in these awareness-focused approaches, a good understanding of the awareness–behavioural change–water quality pathway is critical to set the basis for assessing the real potential of these policy interventions. We systematically review the evidence across the full pathway drawing on published peer-reviewed papers from both the social and natural sciences, with a focus on Europe and North America. Results indicate that there is no one study that looks at the pathway in full, evidencing the paucity of research on the topic. For the limited studies that focus on the different components of the pathway, we find mixed evidence for the relationship between awareness and behaviour, and behavioural change and water quality. Furthermore, complexity within the pathway (e.g., through the study of factors mediating and moderating such relationships) has hardly been addressed by the literature. An in-depth understanding and analysis of this complexity—through an integrative model covering the entire pathway—could help in the design and implementation of effective policy strategies to encourage best land management practices and ultimately improve water quality.

Despite several decades of research and financial commitment, diffuse water pollution remains a major problem threatening the health and resilience of social-ecological systems. New approaches to tackle diffuse pollution emphasise awareness raising and provision of advice with the aim of triggering behavioural change. However, empirical evidence on the effectiveness of this approach remains scarce and mixed, with most studies relying on smaller datasets and case studies. Using one of the largest datasets (N=1,995) with this information, this study seeks to establish quantitatively the relationship between farmers' stated awareness of diffuse pollution mitigation measures and their compliance with them, through the analysis of Scotland's pioneer advice-driven approach. Results from a conditional process modelling suggest awareness might not directly determine compliance but influences it indirectly through the mediating effect of other environmental management practices (in this study reflected in participation in agri-environmental schemes). This mediated relationship appears to be contingent on farm type and location. This would indicate that while public efforts in awareness creation is important, awareness alone is not sufficient to improve compliance; farmers may need to consistently engage in environmental management practices to develop a deeper understanding of the problem and action strategies. In this context, agri-environmental schemes appear to provide an opportunity for the creation of tacit knowledge and understanding of diffuse pollution mitigation measures through experiential learning which may also lead to the creation of new values.