Lakes sensitivity to climatic stress – a sociological assessment

Journal Title: Miscellanea Geographica - Regional Studies on Development - Year 2016, Vol 20, Issue 4

Abstract

One of the conditions for effective water resources management in protected areas is local decision makers’ knowledge about potential threats caused by climate changes. Our study, conducted in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Tuchola Forest in Poland, analyses the perception of threats by local stakeholders. Their assessments of the sensitivity of four lakes to the extreme weather events are compared with hydrological studies. The survey shows that the lakes’ varying responses to extreme weather conditions is rarely noticed by ordinary observers. Their perception is usually far from the hydrological facts, which indicates a lack of relevant information or a failure in making it widely accessible and understandable. Moreover, it is rather the human impact, not climate change, which is seen as the biggest threat to the lakes. Insufficient environmental knowledge may hinder the effective protection and management of natural resources, due to bad decisions and lack of the local communities’ support for adaptation and mitigation policies.

Authors and Affiliations

Marta Lackowska, Barbara Nowicka, Mirosław Grochowski

Keywords

Related Articles

Artificialization and Islandness on the Spanish Tourist Coast

This article analyses recent trends in coastal urban growth, mainly prompted by tourism in its various forms, experienced along the Spanish Mediterranean coasts and the Canary Islands, with a special focus on the Baleari...

The evaluation of archival maps in geohistorical research

The array of archival maps from the 19th and 20th centuries is very large and, in order to assess their reliability for a particular analysis, some kind of evaluation form must be used. The proposed evaluation form compr...

TEMPORAL CHANGES OF LAND COVER IN RELATION TO CHOSEN ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF LANDSCAPE

Good understanding of relations between historical land cover changes and accompanying environmental components should be a starting point for landscape modelling and forecasting its future patterns. Analysis presented h...

Urban planning in riverfront areas. A case study of a mediterranean city: Terrassa (Catalonia, NE Spain)

Since 1980, Spain has introduced urban regeneration plans in various cities with the aim of integrating the river environment into the urban system. This process has proved most challenging in cities whose rivers present...

Social and ethnic segregation in the Paris metropolitan area at the beginning of the 21st century

Although the socio-spatial aspect of cities in the globalisation era has gained a new dimension, it cannot be explained by the globalisation process alone. The article presents the problem of social and ethnic segregatio...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP183364
  • DOI 10.1515/mgrsd-2016-0025
  • Views 102
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Marta Lackowska, Barbara Nowicka, Mirosław Grochowski (2016). Lakes sensitivity to climatic stress – a sociological assessment. Miscellanea Geographica - Regional Studies on Development, 20(4), 38-47. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-183364