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Expertise and funding as major drivers of river restoration
objectives and their diversity
Étienne Gariépy-Girouard1, Thomas Buffin-Bélanger1& Pascale M. Biron2
1Université du Québec à Rimouski, Rimouski (Qc), Canada
2Concordia University, Montréal (Qc), Canada
2. Methods
•Monitoring of four river restoration projects
•Support and interviews with stakeholders
→ Projects’ structure and decision-making processes
→Level of integration of HGM principles and HB
→Perceived challenges and obstacles to integration
•Interviews with two ministry representatives
(Environment and climate change & Transport)
•Thematic content analysis with NVivo
•Social Network Analysis with NVivo and Gephi
3. Results and discussion
4. Concluding remarks
•Stakeholders' expertise and projects’ funding are major drivers of river
restoration objectives, including their diversity. (4, 7, 9, 10, 12)
•Depending on the sociocultural and legislative context, these drivers may
facilitate or restrict the integration of HGM principles and HB towards more
diversified objectives. (1, 6, 8, 9, 12)
•The framework supports regulation that is better informed by scientific knowledge
about river dynamics, knowledge sharing between scientific community and
environmental organizations, and concertation with communities. (6, 9, 10, 11, 12)
5. References Acknowledgments and contact details
Thanks to colleagues and collaborators who contributed to the reflections and the
construction of this research, and to the people working on stream management and
restoration projects who generously participated in the research process.
This research is financially supported by NSERC and FRQNT Graduate Scholarships.
Thanks to the CWRA for the 2021 Rick Ross Scholarship!
etienne.gariepy-girouard@uqar.ca
Project Stakeholder(s) Objectives Advancement
Canal Saint
-Georges,
Anticosti Island (
CSG)
•
Comité ZIP Côte-Nord-du-
Golfe (ZIPCNG)
•
Ecological habitats
•
Public safety
•
2019-2022
•
Completed
Centrale River,
Saint-
Simon
-de-Rimouski
(
RC)
•
MRC des Basques (MRCB)
•
OBV du Nord-Est-du-Bas-
Saint-Laurent (OBVNEBSL)
•
Ecological habitats
•
Water quality
•
Public safety
•
2013-[…]
•
In progress
Les
Escoumins
River,
Les
Escoumins (RLE)
•
OBV de la Haute-Côte-
Nord
(OBVHVN)
•
Ecological habitats
•
HGM processes
•
Recreational uses
•
2020-[…]
•
Planning
Rivière
-à-Mars,
Saguenay
(RAM)
•
Contact Nature (CN)
•
Ecological habitats
•
HGM processes
•
2018-[…]
•
Planning
Level of integration of HGM principles and diverse HB
according to the organizations leading the projects Perceived challenges of integrating HGM principles
and diverse HB in river restoration projects
(1) Ashmore, P. (2015). Towards a sociogeomorphology of
rivers. Geomorphology, 251, 149–156.
(2) Beechie, T., Sear, D. A., Olden, J. D., Pess, G. R.,
Buffington, J. M., Moir, H., Roni, P., & Pollock, M. M. (2010).
Process-based Principles for Restoring River Ecosystems.
BioScience, 60(3), 209–222.
(3) Biron, P. M., Buffin-Bélanger, T., & Massé, S. (2018). The
need for river management and stream restoration practices to
integrate hydrogeomorphology. The Can Geog, 62(2), 288–295.
(4) Doyle, M. W., Singh, J., Lave, R., & Robertson, M. M.
(2015). The morphology of streams restored for market and
nonmarket purposes: Insights from a mixed natural-social
science approach. Water Resour Res, 51(7), 5603–5622.
(5) Dufour, S., & Piégay, H. (2009). From the myth of a lost
paradise to targeted river restoration: forget natural references
and focus on human benefits. River Res and Applic, 25(5),
568–581.
(6) García, J. H., Ollero, A., Ibisate, A., Fuller, I. C., Death, R.
G., & Piégay, H. (2021). Promoting fluvial geomorphology to
“live with rivers” in the Anthropocene era. Geomorphology,
107649.
(7) Jacob, C. (2022). La compensation écologique, instrument
de promotion du développement ou d’initiation à la transition
écologique: le cas de l’introduction de la non-perte nette des
milieux humides et hydriques au Québec. In Une économie
écologique pour le Québec : Comment opérationnaliser une
nécessaire transition (pp. 269–288), PUQ.
(8) Jacobs, D. F., Dalgleish, H. J., & Nelson, C. D. (2013). A
conceptual framework for restoration of threatened plants: the
effective model of American chestnut (Castanea dentata)
reintroduction. New Phytologist, 197(2), 378–393.
(9) Morandi, B., Cottet, M., & Piégay, H. (Eds.). (2022). River
Restoration: Political, Social, and Economic Perspectives. John
Wiley and Sons Ltd, 366 p.
(10) Sauvé, P., Bernatchez, P., & Glaus, M. (2020). The role of
the decision-making process on shoreline armoring : A case
study in Quebec, Canada. Ocean and Coastal Manag, 198,
105358.
(11) Wohl, E., Lane, S. N., & Wilcox, A. C. (2015). The science
and practice of river restoration. Water Resour Res, 51(8),
5974–5997.
(12) Zingraff-Hamed, A., Serra-Llobet, A., & Kondolf, G. M.
(2022). The Social, Economic, and Ecological Drivers of
Planning and Management of Urban River Parks. Front in
Sustain Cities, 4, 907044.
CWRA National Conference 2023
June 18-21, Halifax (NS)
RAM – CN
CSG – ZIPCNG
Potential
functionning
Organization expertise
and funding
Objectives
Community
wishes
Ideal
Conditions Motivations
Level of integration
RC – MRCB RC – OBVNEBSL
Conceptual framework (5)
RLE – OBVHCN
1. Context and research question
•Integrating hydrogeomorphological (HGM) principles into the restoration of degraded rivers can
achieve sustainable results for a variety of objectives and human benefits (HB) that are consistent
with the potential functioning of rivers as well as their uses. (2, 3, 5, 6, 11)
•The projects carried out in the province of Quebec largely involve controlling river processes and
target specific objectives that are often associated with the habitat of a few fish species. (3)
•Despite a general lack of post-project monitoring, a number of projects appear to have failed or had
mixed success. (3)
Why do stream restoration projects hardly integrate
HGM principles and diverse HB?
Canal Saint-Georges, Anticosti Island
Unnamed stream, Magog
2
3
2
4
5
5
4
4
4
010 20 30 40
COVID-19
Social representations
Land use
Legislation and regulation
Structure and duration of funding
Lack of funding
Human resources
Interdisciplinarity and intersectionality
Lack of expertise
Total mentions of the challenge
* Series labels indicate the number of
organizations that mentionned the challenge.
•HGM principles →means (tools) rather than conditions (potential functioning)
(2, 3, 5, 6, 11)
•HB →conditions (public acceptance) and means (community participation) rather
than motivations (community wishes) (5, 9, 12)
• Organizations’ expertise →especially conditions (organizations’ abilities) (4, 9, 10, 12)
• Projects’ funding →especially motivations (programs’ imperatives) (4, 7, 9, 10, 12)
Expertise
Funding
Other