Resolving the trategic gap in environmental management : tropospheric ozone in Bedfordshire

Present approaches used in environmental management are typified by a reliance on technical and economic tools within a segregated top-down institutional framework. This is ill suited to cope with a whole breed of problems that impact on common environmental resources and are the result of the widespread and legitimate activity of the majority of individuals within society. These have been termed as "no technical solution problems". Tropospheric ozone is a good example of such a problem. The main source of the pollutant is diffuse and distant from its impact. The form the pollution event takes shows spatial and temporal variation. It is also to a great extent a result of the use of the motor-car which is not usually an activity in for its own sake but a supporting feature of common life-styles. Policy needs to be able to identify the social requirements of the activity which may vary in among populations and represent this variation by recognising the needs and desires of a wide range of the public. The thesis proposes that the main problem for environmental management is not the lack of scientific knowledge or regulatory clout, but how modem society has been managed with regard to its impact on environmental resources. It argues that the paradigm of interdisciplinarity is necessary tool for bridging what can be seen as a distinct strategic gap between the present institutional culture in air quality management and the social and physical environments it aims to influence. This proposition is supported by investigations into the quantitative and qualitative nature of those social and biophysical processes which are responsible for the generation, transportation and impact of tropospheric ozone. The thesis concludes by proposing a novel strategic framework the management of this pollutant based on the need to identify and communicate issues inherent to the social and physical aspects of the problem, as well as the resolution of conflicts arisingfrom them.