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Phosphorus, eutrophication and the importance of scales: a place-based transdisciplinary analysis of scalar dynamics

Mort, Harrie L. ; Metson, Geneviève S. ; Neset, Tina-Simone ; Rodriguez, Carolina LU orcid ; Martin-Ortega, Julia ; Chapman, Pippa J. and Stutter, Marc (2024)
Abstract
Phosphorus-driven eutrophication of surface waters persists across Europe and Water Framework Directive (WFD) implementation is slow. Calls for better management approaches advocate for involving multiple stakeholders, considering social, ecological and technological drivers, and applying ‘multi-level’ or ‘multi-scalar’ approaches. However, multi-level approaches rarely apply ‘scales’ and ‘levels’ drawn from the experiences of stakeholders engaged in management efforts, or systematically explore these multi-dimensional drivers. This may limit understandings of how the interplay of scales and levels affects mitigation efforts. To address this limitation, we conducted a place-based transdisciplinary case study, centred around Stockholm... (More)
Phosphorus-driven eutrophication of surface waters persists across Europe and Water Framework Directive (WFD) implementation is slow. Calls for better management approaches advocate for involving multiple stakeholders, considering social, ecological and technological drivers, and applying ‘multi-level’ or ‘multi-scalar’ approaches. However, multi-level approaches rarely apply ‘scales’ and ‘levels’ drawn from the experiences of stakeholders engaged in management efforts, or systematically explore these multi-dimensional drivers. This may limit understandings of how the interplay of scales and levels affects mitigation efforts. To address this limitation, we conducted a place-based transdisciplinary case study, centred around Stockholm (Sweden), to elaborate how sociopolitical and hydrological scales became important during efforts to address eutrophication. Misalignments between sociopolitical drivers across levels, including policy goals, legislation, funding and norms, were found to inhibit the prioritisation and implementation of WFD goals at city, sub-catchment and micro levels. Furthermore, cross-scalar misalignments inhibited actions across relevant sociopolitical levels that were sensitive to drivers across the hydrological scale. Legislation around water and land-use restricted planning according to sub-catchment level dynamics, while knowledge of hydrological drivers at the sub-catchment and micro-level were seen as inadequate to support strategy development or their funding and implementation. Greater efforts are needed to understand and address these misalignments to enable successful phosphorus management, where multiple goals co-exist and must be implemented simultaneously. Enhanced cross-level collaboration may act as an essential enabler by facilitating ‘buy-in’, enhancing knowledge of hydrological drivers at the sub-catchment and micro levels, and improving their integration into decision-making across sociopolitical levels. (Less)
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publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
publisher
SSRN
DOI
10.2139/ssrn.4769535
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
435b0c8d-11e6-4225-aee8-7994a16bf071
date added to LUP
2026-02-07 13:17:16
date last changed
2026-02-10 14:45:52
@misc{435b0c8d-11e6-4225-aee8-7994a16bf071,
  abstract     = {{Phosphorus-driven eutrophication of surface waters persists across Europe and Water Framework Directive (WFD) implementation is slow. Calls for better management approaches advocate for involving multiple stakeholders, considering social, ecological and technological drivers, and applying ‘multi-level’ or ‘multi-scalar’ approaches. However, multi-level approaches rarely apply ‘scales’ and ‘levels’ drawn from the experiences of stakeholders engaged in management efforts, or systematically explore these multi-dimensional drivers. This may limit understandings of how the interplay of scales and levels affects mitigation efforts. To address this limitation, we conducted a place-based transdisciplinary case study, centred around Stockholm (Sweden), to elaborate how sociopolitical and hydrological scales became important during efforts to address eutrophication. Misalignments between sociopolitical drivers across levels, including policy goals, legislation, funding and norms, were found to inhibit the prioritisation and implementation of WFD goals at city, sub-catchment and micro levels. Furthermore, cross-scalar misalignments inhibited actions across relevant sociopolitical levels that were sensitive to drivers across the hydrological scale. Legislation around water and land-use restricted planning according to sub-catchment level dynamics, while knowledge of hydrological drivers at the sub-catchment and micro-level were seen as inadequate to support strategy development or their funding and implementation. Greater efforts are needed to understand and address these misalignments to enable successful phosphorus management, where multiple goals co-exist and must be implemented simultaneously. Enhanced cross-level collaboration may act as an essential enabler by facilitating ‘buy-in’, enhancing knowledge of hydrological drivers at the sub-catchment and micro levels, and improving their integration into decision-making across sociopolitical levels.}},
  author       = {{Mort, Harrie L. and Metson, Geneviève S. and Neset, Tina-Simone and Rodriguez, Carolina and Martin-Ortega, Julia and Chapman, Pippa J. and Stutter, Marc}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  note         = {{Preprint}},
  publisher    = {{SSRN}},
  title        = {{Phosphorus, eutrophication and the importance of scales: a place-based transdisciplinary analysis of scalar dynamics}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4769535}},
  doi          = {{10.2139/ssrn.4769535}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}