The social dimensions of a river's environmental quality assessment.

Integrated water resources management, promoted in developed countries, obliges to integrate social aspects with hydrological and ecological dimensions when assessing river quality. To better understand these social aspects, we propose a mixed-method to study public perceptions of an impounded river. Since the 1930s, the management of the Ain river (France) has been challenged by conflicts about the river's quality.

Ways forward for aquatic conservation: Applications of environmental psychology to support management objectives.

The success or failure of environmental management goals can be partially attributed to the support for such goals from the public. Despite this, environmental management is still dominated by a natural science approach with little input from disciplines that are concerned with the relationship between humans and the natural environment such as environmental psychology. Within the marine and freshwater environments, this is particularly concerning given the cultural and aesthetic significance of these environments to the public, coupled with the services delivered by freshwater and marine ecosystems, and the vulnerability of aquatic ecosystems to human-driven environmental perturbations.

How chemical pollution becomes a social problem. Risk communication and assessment through regional newspapers during the management of PCB pollutions of the Rhône River (France).

The case study of the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) pollutions of the Rhône River (France) offers the possibility of studying criteria for the construction of social problems that result from chemical pollution (2005-2010). We investigated the dynamics of competition that create and define pollution as a social problem and entail its decline. News outlets are crucial for determining how an environmental issue emerges locally or nationally; this study used newspapers to highlight the potential of new outlets as a data source to analyze discourse variability, science-policy-media connections and the hydrosphere.

Perception of braided river landscapes: implications for public participation and sustainable management.

Over the past century, the ecologically-diverse, braided Magra River in Italy has narrowed, incised, and lost many gravel bars due to the riparian vegetation encroachment following the decrease in bedload supply and channel degradation. Motivated by the European Water Framework Directive, river scientists and managers are beginning to plan projects to conserve and restore these dynamic mosaics of rare habitats and processes. To support this objective, a study was conducted to assess how braided rivers are perceived by different social groups in the area.

Influence of academic education on the perception of wood in watercourses.

Human perception of in-channel wood can influence decision-making about wood reintroduction in watercourses for restoration purposes. A questionnaire survey was conducted among first-year and advanced Polish students and professionals involved in the management and protection of watercourses in Poland. The purpose was to assess their perception of river scenes with and without wood in terms of naturalness, aesthetics, danger and need for improvement.