HR: 08:45h
AN: NB51D-02 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Freshwater Conservation in Action: Contrasting Approaches in the U.S. and U.K.
AU: * Withrington, D
EM: DAVID.WITHRINGTON@ENGLISH-NATURE.ORG.UK
AF: English Nature, North Minister House, Petersborough, UK PE1 1UA United Kingdom
AU: Pringle, C M
EM: CPRINGLE@UGA.EDU
AF: Instiute Of Ecology, University Of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602 United States
AB: Conservation, as an acceptable goal of freshwater resource management, is a relatively recent phenomenon in the UK and US, reflecting changes in societal needs and values. Here we compare and contrast the effectiveness of different conservation approaches employed by both countries. We also discuss how differing socio-political and economic factors have helped shape these approaches. Differing approaches to freshwater conservation between the UK and US are determined, in part, by differences in the structure and mission of governmental agencies and the role of non-governmental organizations. In the US, non-governmental conservation organizations (e.g., Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club) have emerged as key players in freshwater conservation within the last decade. Their role as "watchdogs" of state and federal regulatory agencies can have both positive and negative consequences for freshwater conservation. In the UK, legislation emanating from the European Union has had a significant influence over the past 25 years, culminating in the Water Framework Directive 2000. Nongovernmental conservation organizations have been instrumental in holding the UK Government to account for implementing European Directives and, more generally, for the high profile that nature conservation has with UK parliamentarians.
DE: 9810 New fields (not classifiable under other headings)
SC: North American Benthological Society [NB]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly