Lowland wet grasslands support a wide range of biodiversity and provide important breeding grounds for many wader species. However, extensive drainage and conversion to arable cropping or intensively managed grassland has greatly reduced the abundance and quality of this habitat across Europe, and caused severe declines in many of the associated waders. Recent agri-environment initiatives provide opportunities to restore wet grasslands, but little is known about the key features necessary to support breeding waders and how these may conflict with commercial farming practises. For breeding waders, the re-introduction of water into the habitat is critically important, and this thesis examines methods of creating and managing within-field wet features and surface water, their impact on the distribution and breeding success of lapwing Vanellus vane/Ius, and the extent to which they are compatible with agricultural operations in the Broads, eastern England. Breeding lapwing are attracted to areas with extensive surface flooding. However, most surface water dries out during the breeding season. The creation of managed shallow wet features allowed water to be retained throughout the breeding season. Fields with higher wet feature densities attracted significantly more nesting lapwing and foraging chicks, and chick condition was significantly improved. Invertebrate biomass and chick foraging rates were higher in wet features than in the surrounding grazing marsh. Neither nest or chick predation rates were related to the proximity of wet features, but predation rates declined with density of lapwing in the vicinity, suggesting an influence of collaborative nest and brood defence. Farmers were keen to enter agri-environment schemes and to use shallow wet features, provided the design was not too complex. Wet feature installation is relatively simple, but maintaining sufficient water levels is critical, especially in the face of increasingly unpredictable water supplies associated with climate change. If managed correctly, shallow wet features offer a tool that may be both effective at improving breeding wader populations and practicable for commercial grazing marsh management.

This thesis answers the following questions. (i) What are the relationships between the values and functions of natural river floodplains? (ii) Under the complicated trade-offs among direct-use and indirect-use values, how should we use river floodplains? (iii) What are the institutions and incentives that are necessary for the optimal management? In this thesis, we (1) define the appropriate social optimisation problem for floodplain management, (2) provide theoretical models for the static and dynamic problems, (3) develop an applied model and calibrate parameter values from data on the Ouse catchment, and (4) carry out simulations in the context of the Ouse catchment in order to evaluate several policy scenarios. The thesis attempts to make three main contributions. First, it has tried to improve understanding the essential problems of floodplain management (two types of environmental externalities). Second, it has tried to clarify the policy options for the optimal floodplain management. Third, it has explored methods for integrating the hydrology, ecology and economics of floodplains. The crucial point is that we must take account of environmental externalities. There are two types of externalities. First, the development of floodplains has opportunity costs in terms of lost ecosystem services. Second, the development of floodplains increases flood risks to people downstream (imposes a unidirectional spatial externality). In policy simulations, we obtain the three main results. First, the impact of floodplain development on the expected cost of flood risk is substantial as compared with prices of developed lands, which implies the importance of relevant floodplain management. Second, based on an empirical analysis, floodplains in upstream zones currently tend to be overdeveloped because of unidirectional spatial externalities. Third, price policies relatively function well to internalise external costs and achieve the optimal path, and are robust to irreversibility and uncertainty.

Public participation is increasingly encouraged in decision-making as part of a growing shift from government to governance. Participatory GIS is an approach to public participation that relies on ma ps and focuses on community inclusion. Attractive but frag ile ecosystems, coastal urban areas are currently under pressure from climate change-induced sea-leve l rise and urban growth. Plan ning for t he (oast therefore requi res reassessing land uses that were once taken for granted - thus creating conflicts. This thesis investigates Participatory GIS techniques for coasta l land use conflict identification while exploring spatial awareness and map use. The novelty of the thesis resides in the investigation ofthe relationship between GISystems and Participatory GIS, arguing t hat GISystems can support participatory processes at the same time as Participatory GIS can inform map use. The research draws on debates around GIS-based participatory approaches, cartography, sustainable coastal planning, and governance. The discussion is based on extensive fie ldwork, involving the use of th ree custom-deSigned Participat ory GIS techniques (two on-site and one online) inspired by Rapid Rural/Urban Appraisal techniques, as well as stakeholder interviews. The particu lar conflict considered here is a nature reserve in a high-population density, low-lying city where recent coastal management decisions consider abandon ing a man-made terrestria l reserve to the sea to recreate disappearing int ertidal habitats; hereby drastically redu cing t he availability of already scarce open spaces in the city. The thesis invest igates the uses of the reserve by its users and its perceived value to both users and non-users. This is based on their use of local open spaces and their expressed open space and land use valuation. Uses and va lues were used to support inclusive confl ict identification. The thesis argues t hat participation is too often limited to a one-way process, eliciting information with limited feedback. It contends that t he current coastal management process - the Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) in England and Wales - is weakened by its non-statutory aspect, undermining its application. Its role is confined to stee ring debate, falling short in terms of exploring non-consensual issues as it focuses on bu ildi ng sea defences rat her t han taking a holistic approach to shoreline management that would consider both defences and pollution risks. It is also set out of local spatial planning in terms of budget, diminishing its flexibility and therefore impact on a long-term perspective. Finally, the lack of real investment in public flood risk awareness and public participation weakens its legit imacy. The thesis also argues that GISystems participate in knowledge production and 'places' questions into spatial and thematic context; thus Participatory GIS has a great potential to support effect ive participation in land use conflict. Participatory GIS, as a Rapid Rural/Urban Appraisal, therefore has the potential to participate into good governance. 4

The present study attempts a comprehensive environmental analysis of a 40km section of the East Anglian Coast between Winterton in Norfolk and Benacre in Suffolk. Changes along this section and the sediment volumes concerned are estimated by the use of maps and charts are used to study the offshore change. The results of wave data gathered over a twelve month period at the shoreline are discussed and compared with data gathered - outside the sand banks. Longshore wave energy values are related to wind data for the ten year period 1963-1972. Sediment movement is discussed in the light of tracer experiments conducted both on the beach and in the offshore zone. A wave refraction analysis by computer is related to accretion and erosion at the shoreline. Tidal current data are also analysed for the offshore region and related to the current data for the whole of the East Anglian Coast.

This thesis set out to address conflicts that arise when nature based tourism is present in coastal settings, by seeking to develop a management technique that reduces the negative impacts of tourism. Mandatory interpretation is a term used to describe scenarios whereby visitors are required to partake in an interpretative experience prior to gaining access to an area. This study considers the role and suitability of mandatory interpretation in reducing negative visitor impacts in coastal protected areas. The research aimed to explore mandatory interpretation as a visitor impact management tool, identifying circumstances under which it is appropriate and effective to develop a set of requirements or guidelines for the introduction of mandatory interpretation into the visitor impact management strategy of coastal protected areas. In order to achieve this aim the research was divided into two phases. Three key indicators were used in the assessment of the effectiveness of the mandatory interpretation programme at Hanauma Bay Nature Reserve, Hawai’i, United States of America. By comparing responses to questionnaires from pre- and post- visit samples, this study found that the mandatory interpretation programme added to visitor knowledge of the site and visitors’ intentions to behave in an environmentally appropriate manner. Observation and interviews with management, staff and volunteers added depth of understanding to the results obtained through the questionnaire survey. Furthermore, secondary data, interviews and observations were used to explore and document the mandatory interpretative process at Hanauma Bay Nature Reserve. The results formed the background on which the second phase of research was based. Using the previous findings the second phase of research set out to investigate how, if at all, and under what circumstances mandatory interpretation may be implemented with a multiple access point site. By conducting focus group surveys with resource managers and a visitor questionnaire survey, within Chichester Harbour Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, United Kingdom, this thesis was able explored the appropriateness of mandatory interpretation in the amelioration of on-site visitor impacts. Research identified scope for the inclusion of mandatory interpretation that creates a captive audience, within the visitor impact management plans of coastal protected areas. The results from this study suggest that mandatory interpretation, if carefully designed, is capable of contributing towards reduced visitor impacts through development of knowledge and resulting behavioural intentions. Ultimately, reduced visitor impacts help to conserve the biodiversity values of the coastal protected area. Mandatory interpretation is ideal for coastal protected areas with single access points that suffer significant visitor impacts, and should be based on high quality interpretative media as well as clear and consistent messages. Implementation of mandatory interpretation within multiple access point sites may prove more difficult. However, the research yielded useful results that may help inform managers on how mandatory interpretation may be implemented. Overall, this thesis provides a foundation for additional research into, and a basis on which, mandatory interpretative programmes may be developed. Providing a set of practical implications and generic guidelines for its implementation that includes the conditions under which mandatory interpretation is: (i) appropriate; (ii) effective; and (iii) by developing an appreciation of how best to design, implement and evaluate mandatory interpretive programmes.

The study draws on experience in coastal management globally, and in particular in Europe where the recent demonstration programme in integrated coastal zone management has promoted coastal management initiatives at the local scale, to examine the applicability of different coastal management evaluation techniques for assessing the role of coastal management as a tool for achieving sustainable development; and for determining the success of European pilot projects in coastal management; identify and assess factors which influence “successful” ICM in the European context; and determine whether international guidance relating to good practice in coastal management is relevant in the European context. An analysis of different approaches to evaluation showed that these are based on largely untested assumptions of validity - in particular of internal validity (causality) in the case of outcome based evaluation and of external validity (generalisability) in the case of process evaluations. In view of their early stage of development and differing goals but common institutional challenges, a process based evaluation is most appropriate for the demonstration project. In this study, a triangulation approach is used to test the assumption of external validity which underlies process based evaluations in ICM. Using independently derived results from the European demonstration projects, the study examines the applicability in the European context of international experience relating to good practice in co-ordination and in ensuring viability of ICM projects. The results are particularly relevant in the light of new European legislation which is designed to move coastal management in Europe from the current project-by-project approach to a more strategic approach by the promotion of a better enabling environment at national level.

Understanding soft cliff systems is a significant challenge owing to the complex recession process and the need to quantify future responses to climate change. Process-based geomorphic modelling provides a key method for developing our understanding. However, existing models are frequently criticised for their simplified treatment of the cliff. Therefore, the overriding aim of this research was to contribute towards the development of a more integrated model. To facilitate this, this research has applied, evaluated and refined the SCAPE (Soft Cliff and Platform Erosion) model to a study frontage of variable lithology and coastal planshape on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight (UK). The initial model appraisal highlighted the need to further understand and quantify the role of variable material strength on shore platform geomorphology and rates of cliff toe retreat. The model was subsequently refined and demonstrated that outcropping layers of variable material resistance about mean sea level are a key control on the rates of cliff erosion, particularly for low sediment frontages. Weaker layers were found to result in an asymmetric increase in retreat in comparison to a more resistant layer of the same characteristics owing to the contrasting effects on the shore platform slope. This emphasises the importance of not extrapolating historic rates of retreat across frontages of variable lithology. Coastal management studies must consider relative changes in material resistance up the cliff face, the thickness of variable layers and the rate of sea-level rise to determine the magnitude of impact and duration of exposure.