Lake Balaton : The Challenges of Managing Common Pool Resources

Objectives

• To understand the diverse range of issues affecting common pool resource management, especially water management on a regional scale, while understanding the influence of national and global factors, using Lake Balaton as a case study.
• To build LEAD Associates’ knowledge and understanding of sustainable development and the complexity of natural resource management and to explore possible challenges and opportunities, such as, the use of Integrated Water Resource Management as a tool.
• To further strengthen LEAD Associates’ capabilities as system thinkers working for sustainable development.
• To deepen LEAD Associates’ understanding of leadership and strengthen capabilities as leaders within their social and professional contexts.
• To provide an opportunity to network with a diverse group of Associates, experts, and scholars and strengthen links among them.

Background and Rationale

This is the second residential training session of LEAD Europe and USA Cohort 11 Associates.

The theme of this session is ‘Challenges of Managing Common Pool Resources’ and the case study is focused on Lake Balaton, Hungary.

The theme is universal and the issues involve members from various sectors of society including agriculture, industry, academia, government, media, and non-government organisations. The case study about the Balaton region is used to illustrate the session’s theme and its surrounding sustainability issues. The theme – common pool resource management – has already been addressed by two international LEAD training sessions in Mexico.

Lake Balaton , Hungary , was chosen as the exemplary case for this session because it provides an interesting and eventful history, a unique current situation (‘shrinking lake’), and a future brimming with new challenges and opportunities. Similar situations in water management are encountered around the world. LEAD pays special attention to the intricate relationship between the economy, social well-being, and the environment as we examine the challenging task of preserving a natural resource for the sake of human prosperity.

The importance of water for maintaining life and human well-being is one of the most critical issues of our time. Only 0.008 per cent of the planet's water is available for human consumption - stored in surface water bodies such as lakes and rivers as well as in underground aquifers. World water use has tripled over the last half-century as populations rise and the demand for food production increases. The UN has acknowledged the significance of this issue by declaring 2005 – 2015 as the international decade for action “Water for Life”. Issues in water quantity, quality, and future risk management are taking centre stage in regions around the globe as we realise the importance of proper management. However, water resource management is complex in both northern and southern countries alike and there is a need to find more people-orientated and integrated approaches for sustainable and effective management.

Integrated water resource management is an ideal method to ensure water is allocated, utilised , and conserved in a sustainable fashion while meeting the needs of all stakeholders who rely on this resource. However, achieving such a system is difficult and takes time and coordination. Communities are diverse, needs vary, and there’s an underlying necessity to balance environmental conservation with development, both of which are directly linked to the economic and social well-being of the local inhabitants. While regional issues are on the forefront, national and international factors also contribute to the situation, as illustrated in the Lake Balaton story.

The overall objective of this session is to explore water management and the challenges faced in sustaining this vital common resource. Our very survival depends on the availability of potable water and even at present, the global situation is far from good. This session aims to provide an overview of the issues in water resource management and the diverse factors that influence how it is achieved. LEAD Associates will have the opportunity to hear and interact with distinguished speakers on issues in water management. Interactive panel discussions with stakeholders and leaders knowledgeable in these issues will allow for questioning and debate on opportunities and challenges posed to people around the globe.

Key areas that will be highlighted through lectures, panel discussions, and site visits with local stakeholders include the following:

• Coordination of development – including funding and cooperation - among communities around Lake Balaton.
• Balancing development with environmental protection, changing society, and alternative economic opportunities.
• Integrated water resource management: natural resources and human activities.
• Risk and adaptation: dealing with future uncertainty.

As part of the experiential learning component of this session, there will be a day of site visits around Lake Balaton to provide LEAD Associates with the opportunity to experience the region and learn about the key issues in water management from local experts and stakeholders. Water management at Lake Balaton involves the difficult balance between economic growth through tourism and development and the protection of the environment. Though strongly tied together, these factors are often in direct opposition. Through this on-the-ground exploration the sustainability issues can be seen and discussed in a regional context and therefore better understood.

Associates will have the opportunity to relate what they learn at Lake Balaton with similar situations in their home countries and discuss these issues with their diverse group of colleagues. This session will allow debate on pressing topics of shoreline development versus protection, policies for protecting water quality, and how to adapt and prepare for the uncertainty in water quantity. Further, Hungary has recently joined the EU thus adopting the water and environmental policies that come with it. Associates can see first hand how communities adapt to these transitions and what challenges and opportunities, such as those related to funding, arise through this situation unique to Europe.

Skills Module

Following on from the systems thinking skills module offered in Session I at Wye, Kent ( UK) earlier this year, Associates will get an opportunity to further develop their understanding and experience through the application of systems thinking using two computer aided simulations. The first is called ‘Fishbanks’, enables participants to understand the complexities of managing a fishing resource. In addition to systems thinking, this simulation emphasises skills of negotiation, higher level thinking, and group problem solving. The second called ‘Stratagem’ engages participants with the affairs of running a nation state. This simulation focuses upon additional skills such as conflict resolution, decision making and leadership training.

Associates will also gain personal insights into and experience of effective leadership for the future through LEAD’s own leadership skills training module. Associates will identify their own leadership style and gain an understanding how to enhance their ability as leaders in sustainable development.

Session Structure

The training session is designed to support a dynamic learning process: LEAD Associates start with exploring ‘big picture’ issues, then gradually focus down on how these issues manifest themselves in a given local context, and then work through a series of creative skill- and knowledge development sessions to move towards alternative, sustainable ‘big picture’ scenarios.

Day 1-2 Hotel Szindbád, Balatonszemes.

The first day will begin with an introduction to the programme structure and objectives, followed by the overview of the session theme ‘managing common pool resources’ by a guest speaker from the Central European University from global and European perspective. After lunch, the first skill module: Systems Thinking Part II using the Fishbanks simulation will provide Associate with a direct experience of applying system thinking in a relevant situation. How does the new Hungarian National Sustainable Development Strategy address natural resources, common pool resources? This will be the topic of a discussion with an expert from the Hungarian National Development Office.

During the second day Associates will gain a broad understanding of management challenges - past, present and future - of the immediate region around Lake Balaton through a keynote followed by a discussion. The case study topic will be viewed from global, national, and regional dimensions followed by a stakeholder panel discussion explaining their perspectives on key issues of the Balaton area.

Day 3 Case Study Site Visits around Lake.

Associates will visit areas around Lake Balaton to learn about and explore the various aspects of water management. Discussions with various stakeholders will highlight some of the key issues that have influenced water management decisions and formed policies in the past as well as explore current and future challenges of the Lake Balaton area.

Days 4-5 Hotel Szindbád, Balatonszemes .

During the first half of Day 4 Associates will explore Systems Thinking further (Part III) through a computer aided simulation called Stratagem. The second half of the day will take Associates through a leadership skills training module designed to enhance their capabilities as leaders in their professional and social contexts. The latter part of the afternoon will be given to Associate project discussions.

The final day of the session will provide an opportunity for Associates to engage with three eminent specialists working in sustainable development from ‘developed’, transitioning and ‘developing’ economies. A plenary session will allow Associates to reflect on what they learned about the interactions between the communities around Lake Balaton as well as how regional, national, and international processes in water management are connected. They can also consider how similar issues in natural resource management affect regions and how these issues in sustainable development are treated in their home countries. The afternoon session will feature two key speakers focusing on the ‘Limits to Growth’. The day will close with the Associations’ evaluation of the entire session now complete.

Timetable of Training Events - LEAD Europe and LEAD USA – 2005/2006

LEAD Europe – 2005

LEAD USA – 2005

Further Information: http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/BeahrsELP/

LEAD Europe & USA – 2005/2006