Government Social Research
The Environment Social Research Team in the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department are embarking on work to explore how the general public perceive and value bodies of water in the environment, to inform the implementation of the EC Water Framework Directive, which applies to all water in the natural environment. The objectives of the Directive are to prevent deterioration in quality and to attempt to restore all waters to ‘good’ ecological status by 2015. Critical to this is the scientific assessment of water quality, but it is equally important that the social and economic impacts of the new standards and conditions are assessed rigorously. Furthermore, the Directive is one of the first European regulations to explicitly demand a high degree of public and stakeholder involvement in its implementation, and there are strict regulations governing public information and consultation. The values and priorities expressed by the public will, therefore, be considered alongside scientific and economic factors, placing the people of Scotland at the heart of managing the water environment.
Currently, robust and representative data on Scottish public perceptions and values in relation to the water environment are not available. To begin to answer this need, the Environment Social Research Team has recently commissioned a module in the MORI Social Policy Monitor to gather baseline information about the public views and has begun an in-house background review of literature and evidence. The Team will also commission qualitative research that will be more deliberative in its approach to exploring how people value water and why, and the choices they would make about how and whether to maintain, improve or pay no attention to particular water bodies.
For more information about the work of the Team, please contact Nuala Gormley, Principal Research Officer, on 0131 244 7331 or Nuala.Gormley@scotland.gsi.gov.uk