With its traditional (i.e. legislative) modes of governance coming under fire due to their perceived lack of legitimacy and effectiveness, the European Union (EU) has increasingly turned to more flexible means of policy cooperation. One example is the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), which can be viewed as a more decentralised way of coordinating national policy though peer review and mutual learning. Although recent findings suggest that the OMC has largely failed to deliver its promise of a more participatory (legitimate) and learning-based (effective) policymaking style, there have been few detailed studies analysing OMC-like processes in a heavily regulated sector, such as the environment, where the potential for synergies between traditional and new modes exists. Fewer still have been underpinned by theory. To address these gaps in the literature, this thesis explores two mature cases in environmental policy: the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) and the EU Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL). It derives diagnostic criteria to analyse the prevalence of OMC-type characteristics in these processes, and develops a theoretical framework founded on new institutionalism, to explore whether and how OMC fosters participation and learning, and how informal networks operate alongside existing legal processes (e.g. as rivals or complements). Findings reveal that the sociological institutional perspective is more optimistic about the capacity of OMC processes to coexist alongside traditional modes. It demonstrates that OMC’s horizontal and deliberative format, most evident in IMPEL, can achieve context-sensitive learning through the socialising process of peer review. Meanwhile, rational choice institutionalism sees the iterative nature of OMC as an opportunity for strategic learning, which leads to greater (often more formalised) institutional harmonisation – something most strongly displayed in the ECCP case. In both networks, a subtle extension of established participatory patterns is detected. Learning is found to be most transformative when OMC processes are more recursive and less politicised, often at the early and late stages of the policy cycle. These findings suggest OMCs can perform a valuable feedback function, and may represent a bridge between policy cycles, thus filling a gap typically missing from traditional processes.

Two numerical models are used to gain an understanding of the spatial structure of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation changes and the dynamical framework within which those changes occur. Sverdrup balance is studied using the 16 year ECCO-GODAE state estimation. It is shown to hold well in the interior subtropics when integrating to a mid-depth level and when considered at spatial scales larger than approximately 5◦. Outside of the subtropics, in western boundary currents and at short spatial scales, significant departures occur mostly due to a failure in the assumption that there is a level of no motion that can be integrated to and partly due to the assumption of linear vorticity. Sverdrup balance is reached when enough time is allowed for the ocean to adjust to forcing by the propagation of baroclinic Rossby waves. A climate change simulation of the HiGEM high resolution coupled climate model is used to investigate to what extent a 30% reduction in the deep southward transport is balanced by a reduction in the northward flowing surface western boundary transport, or an increase in the southward upper interior transport. It is found that a reduction in the southwards deep transport is balanced solely by a weakening of the northward surface western boundary current. This is consistent with Sverdrup balance holding to a good approximation in the basin interior. Overturning calculations in depth space and density space are found to differ within the subpolar gyre of a 120 year Control simulation of HiGEM. Depth space overturning is found to depend strongly on the transports of the Labrador current, which are strengthened by a spin-up of the horizontal subpolar gyre. Density space overturning is found to be strongly dependent on the densities of the Labrador Current, which increase following Labrador Sea water mass transformation and strong flow through the Denmark Straits.

Despite claims by academics and policymakers that community may offer a potentially useful context through which to tackle climate change, there is limited empirical evidence to support such an assertion. This thesis sets out to address that gap. Drawing on theories of the governance of environmental change, community, social interaction, and governmentality, it presents a qualitative case-study of the Low Carbon Communities Challenge (LCCC). The LCCC was a United Kingdom government funded policy experiment intended to develop understandings of how to deliver the transition to low carbon living at the community level. The thesis highlights a conflict between the instrumental understanding of community as a delivery-mechanism for government policy on environmental change, and the normative understanding of community based on social relations and identification with place held by residents in the communities studied. Applied instrumentally, community offered participants a largely ineffective mechanism by which to alter the social dynamics and patterns of normal behaviour within their households towards low(er) carbon lifestyles. Viewed narrowly through the stated purpose of the LCCC, it could be interpreted as a failed experiment as a result of the resistance of community members to adopting the carbon-conscious subjectivity imposed on them. However the thesis suggests that from a governmentality perspective, an alternative interpretation is that the LCCC served to reinforce neoliberal rationality which contends that community is not capable of tackling climate change and that the market, which may in turn appropriate community, is the only way forward. The thesis concludes by setting out a number of practical and conceptual implications for future research, and outlines the beginnings of a new, critical research agenda into the role of community in tackling climate change.

Often, the structure of fault zones cutting poorly lithified sediment examined in outcrop indicate such fault zones should behave as hydraulic barriers, but hydrological observations indicate they behave as conduit-barriers. This thesis investigates the hydrogeological structure of fault zones cutting poorly lithified sediment to better understand the observed conduit-barrier behaviour. The macro- and micro-structure of fault zones was investigated at outcrops of five fault arrays cutting syn-rift sediment of the rapidly extending Gulf of Corinth rift, Central Greece. Fault zone evolution was interpreted from these observations and changes to sediment hydraulic characteristics in fault zones estimated. Based upon the field data, characteristic fault zone hydrogeological structure was represented in two-dimensional numerical fluid-flow models in order to assess likely hydraulic impacts. Fault zone structure is found to be dominated by a mixed zone and differs to those previously reported. Two models of fault zone evolution are proposed for faults cutting: 1. Only poorly lithified sediment, in which beds are rotated and smeared in the mixed zone, where these can mix at the grain-scale through distributed, controlled particulate flow. 2. Sediment of contrasting competency, with mixed zones comprising blocks and lenses, and fine-grained smears in which strain localisation and fault-tip bifurcation are central to their evolution. Both models apply to fault zones that juxtapose fine and coarse-grained sediment. Numerical models show that the majority of these fault zones will behave as barriers to fluid-flow due to a reduction in hydraulic conductivity. Fault zones of all sizes influence fluid-flow, but hydraulic impact increases with fault throw. Conduit-barrier behaviour can be explained by anisotropies, particularly from slip-surface cataclasites, in fault zones cutting poorly lithified sediment only. Fault hydraulic behaviour is strongly dependent on structural hetereogeneities and their geometry in the fault zone. The cumulative effects of these faults will be significant for subsurface fluid-flow.

In this thesis I present the first comprehensive global archive of InSAR-determined source models (ICMT database) compiled from the literature, which I use to independently assess source parameters reported in global and regional seismic catalogues. In general there is good agreement between InSAR and seismic source models, but there are some large discrepancies, particularly in location and seismic moment. There is a large intra-event variability in source parameters in the ICMT database, which highlights the uncertainties introduced by errors in the data and by simplified assumptions used in the modelling. Large discrepancies for five earthquakes with magnitudes Mw 6.0 -Mw 8.1 are investigated in detail by comparing seismic data with theoretical seismograms calculated using two forward modelling techniques and 1-D and 3-D Earth models. For moderate magnitude events the InSAR location improves the fit to the seismic data, but this is not the case for the larger earthquakes, which is partly due to errors in the Earth models used. These findings motivated the development of a new seismo-geodesy joint source inversion technique that takes into account the effects of 3-D Earth structure when modelling the seismic data. It is tested on three synthetic events with different faulting mechanisms and for three real earthquakes in various tectonic settings (Mw 6.0 Eureka Valley, Mw 6.6 Aiquile and Mw 6.5 Zarand events). These tests clearly show the advantages of taking into account 3-D Earth structure in the modelling, and the combination of InSAR and seismic datasets reduces parameter tradeoffs and enables the robust characterisation of the earthquake source.

Droughts are one of the most damaging natural hazards, and anthropogenic climate change has and will continue to alter their characteristics. Better understanding of changes in drought characteristics under potential future climates is vital for managing drought risks and impacts, yet projections are very uncertain. This thesis examines the effects of climate change on European drought characteristics through a multi-scenario and multimodel approach. It explores the uncertainty associated with emission scenarios, global and spatial climate projections, and with the identification and characterisation of droughts. Climate projections simulated by the simple climate model MAGICC6.0 and patternscaling climate scenario generator ClimGen are assessed, emulating eighteen CMIP3 general circulation models (GCMs) under ten emission scenarios. Drought severity (magnitude times duration) and spatial extent are analysed for both 3-month and 12-month events. Drought projections vary substantially depending on the GCM, emission scenario, region, season and definition of drought. Overall, climate change enhances drought conditions across the study region, with marked increases simulated for the southern latitudes; reductions are projected for the northern latitudes, especially in winter and spring. Perturbations in the interannual variability of precipitation tend to enhance drought conditions caused by mean precipitation changes, or to moderate or reverse their reductions. Hydrological drought parameters are highly sensitive to potential evapotranspiration (PET), which shows the importance of the PET calculation method. Greater agreement in the direction of change tends to occur in the high- and low-latitudes, and in summer and autumn. Both meteorological and hydrological drought results generally indicate the same direction of change, with the latter having larger magnitudes. Projection ranges tend to increase with time and magnitude of warming; intra-GCM spread dominates other sources of uncertainty. The implications of the large uncertainties include that decision-making should be based on multi-scenario and multi-model results, and with consideration of drought definition.

The conservation ecology of the European nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus) was investigated in a complex heathland-plantation landscape in eastern England. Using radio telemetry, 31 nightjars were tracked in 2009 and 2010. The breeding behaviour of males was found to have potential implications for nightjar survey methods. While surveyors should be aware of the possibility of song territory overlap between male birds, results suggest that the occurrence of roaming unpaired males would not lead to an over-estimate in population. Home range 95% kernels for females, paired and unpaired males were an order of magnitude larger than song territories, highlighting the importance of foraging habitat in the broader landscape. Compositional analysis showed that foraging nightjars selected open canopy plantation forest (aged 5-10 years) and newly planted coupes (aged 0-4 years), with grazed grass-heath also used when available within 2km of the territory centre. Open ungrazed and un-planted habitat within the forest was avoided by birds, relative to availability. Moth trapping indicated that birds may choose foraging habitat based on the ease of prey capture rather than prey abundance. Dissection of nightjar faecal pellets demonstrated that moths and beetles were key components of the diet and that variation in diet during the breeding season may be due to changes in resource abundance and varying chick requirements. Comparison of the diets of birds nesting or roosting at varying distances from grass-heath suggested that forest and heathland habitats provide similar foraging resources for the nightjar. Behavioural data from nest camera footage indicated that the factors influencing the duration and frequency of adult non-attendance at the nest were incubation stage, temperature and chick requirements. This thesis combines investigations of nightjar breeding behaviour, home range, habitat use and diet, which can be used as an evidence base to inform conservation management.

Speleothems contain key archives of palaeoclimatic information, which can be interpreted through multiple geochemical and petrographic proxies, and precisely dated by Uranium Series dating. As U/Th dating is only viable for samples up to approximately 700 kyr of age, U/Pb dating must be used to date older samples. In this study, U/Pb methods were used to date an aragonite layer in a speleothem from Iran, following the use of autoradiography to select samples with appropriately high uranium. Aragonite is metastable at earth surface conditions, and is therefore prone to recrystallisation as calcite if it comes into contact with a fluid that is undersaturated with respect to aragonite. This process affected two speleothems from Dim Cave, SW Turkey, and one speleothem from Torang Cave, Iran. The older Dim Cave stalagmite, which precipitated during MIS 5e, was not identified as a recrystallised stalagmite at first, as the mineralogy of the growth axis appeared to show a change in primary mineral rather than recrystallisation. Despite the fact that recrystallisation had occurred, it was possible to create an age model, as the system had not opened to a great degree. The persistence of an aragonite layer in this speleothem, as well as several other geochemical proxies, indicates that an arid phase occurred during early MIS 5e in SW Turkey. The second recrystallised speleothem from Dim Cave provides useful insights into the geochemical and petrographic character of recrystallised speleothems. The recrystallised speleothem from Torang Cave produced a record of climatic instability in southern Iran during MIS period 9- 7, although the age model was not precise enough to draw precise conclusions. A small aragonitic Holocene growth from Dim Cave grew during a time which corresponds to an early Holocene pluvial period that affected the entire eastern Mediterranean Basin, coinciding with the deposition of Sapropel 1.

Road traffic injuries (RTIs) are a major public health challenge, accounting for significant injury, economic and psycho-social burden to societies across the world. While decreases are projected for many high-income countries (HICs) over the next decade or so, staggering increases in the burden of mortality and morbidity are forecast for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The unique contextual influences on RTIs in LMICs are, however, not well understood. Conceptual frameworks applied mostly to HICs also do not provide adequate recognition of the unique contextual influences of LMICs. Accordingly, the research in this thesis adopts a predominantly geographical approach to incorporate a large range of physical and social environmental effects, and which are aggregated at different spatial and spatial-temporal scales to understand the contextual influences to road traffic injuries (RTIs) in the South African (S.A) setting. In this regard, four studies are presented; these include: a geographical epidemiology and risk analysis at the district council level and for time, space and population aggregations; an integrated spatialtemporal analysis at the province-week level; a fine-scale geographical analysis at the police area level; and a small area analysis at the suburb level for the city of Durban. In addition to important effects relating to alcohol and travel exposure, findings have shown most environmental influences on RTIs in S.A to be development-related, including effects relating to social and area deprivation, violence and crime, and rurality. With the exception of rurality, the above effects showed a positive association with the occurrence of RTIs in S.A. The findings have implications for alignment and possible integration of road safety policies and practices with other developmental policies in the country. In addition, this research has shown that geographical approaches may provide a useful analytical framework for understanding the complexity and interacting influences within broader systems-based approaches; and especially those of the contextual environment that are particularly relevant for LMIC settings.

This research has been inspired by problems and delays that began with a change in policy proposed by the Environment Agency in 2003. The change was from a strategy of ‘hold the line’ of a sea defence to one of ‘managed realignment’ on a part of the coast of Suffolk, UK (Smith 2003). Many reactions to the proposed change were not favourable, protests and bad press ensued and the problem of acceptance was exacerbated by limited public knowledge, understanding or public participation before the change in policy. One outcome of the initial negative reaction to the policy change has been the response of the Environment Agency in the area of the village of Orford, and indeed all along the Suffolk coast (See Figure A1). The Agency has been seen to make improvements in their efforts to be more inclusive of local people in their plans. Observations of how they have proceeded to engage with local populations along the Suffolk coast have been made in the ten years since 2003, and are reported in this research. The Environment Agency approach in this area, at least initially, has been from the ‘top down’. This research aims to focus on improving engagement from the ‘bottom up’. An integration of these approaches could be where solutions to problems with public participation lie. Solutions to integration have been reported in other research. One example is the work of Webler and Tuler (2006) in the US, which has particularly influenced the direction of this research. The research focuses on the knowledge and involvement that individuals have about coastal flood management in a local area. Levels of knowledge and involvement are then used to aid an investigation into their problems with, and preferences for participation in flood planning. Assessment of the levels of knowledge and involvement of the whole sampled population of Orford was undertaken in a questionnaire administered in 2008. The classification of people with various levels of knowledge and involvement demonstrated that different groups of people and individuals had a variety of perspectives to participation in flood management. Perspectives were identified by using a Q Methodology carried out in 2009. People with different perspectives and levels of knowledge and involvement were engaged in interviews for their views in 2010, and a cross section of villagers attended a workshop in 2011. The workshop provided an opportunity to suggest preferences for different forms of engagement. The main implication of these findings is that a variety of engagements need to be planned to include a greater proportion of a population, and that previous approaches, for example village hall meetings and a ‘one size fits all’ approach, is not an inclusive solution to participation in coastal flood management. The research identifies significant problems or issues that local people felt inhibited involvement and makes recommendations for improving participation in flood management. Figure A1 below shows the location of the case study on the coast of Suffolk in East Anglia, UK.