Lecture 06NATURAL RESOURCE PLANNING AND

MANAGEMENTDr. Aneel SALMAN

Department of Management SciencesCOMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad

Recap Lecture 05

•How to plan?•Planning Models•Comprehensive rational planning

Transactive planning• Transactive planning is one alternative to comprehensive

rational planning. • The transactive planning model is based on communicative

rationality. • This type of rationality is based on human communication

and dialogue between planners and the people affected by planning.

Central assumptions

•There exist various interests within society.•The interpersonal dialogue triggers a mutual learning process leading to an intensive communication about measures.

Assumptions and role of the planner• Planners act as supporters and participants among many.• Equipped with technical knowledge, communicative and

group-psychological skills, planners are able to reduce the disparities between the participants and reach consensus.• Planners are the center of systematic knowledge; they

also mediate between different interests and communicate information between the actors in the planning process.

Role of the population

•The population bring a central contribution to the planning process with their traditional knowledge and experiences. •They plan and steer actively.

Planning process

•Planning is carried out decentrally. • In an open atmosphere the expertise of the planner and the experimental knowledge of the population are combined and transformed into shared measures.

The planning process is characterized by:•interpersonal dialogue and mutual learning •a central focus on individual and organizational development •partnership building.•incorporation of traditional knowledge.

Planning Process•Planning in this model is considered less as a scientific-technical activity than in the comprehensive rational planning model. • In fact, planning is considered as a ‘face-to-face’ interaction between planners and the local population affected by plans. •Thus, planning is more a subjective endeavour than an objective process.

Criticism

•Participation takes time which parts of the population do not have, especially the poorer ones. Their interests may be ignored•high participation costs•Sometimes the population may not be prepared to plan for the long run and thereby to postpone short-term satisfaction.

Incremental planning• Incremental planning is the most widely noted alternative model to

comprehensive rational planning.• It is based on ‘bounded’ instrumental rationality. • One advocate is Charles Lindbloom who wrote the famous ‘Muddling

through’ (1959). • This title refers to the core of this planning model: Planning is

considered less a scientific technique that follows concrete steps; rather it is a mixture of intuition and experience in reality. • This planning model describes the real everyday life in a planning

office rather than the comprehensive rational model.

Central assumptions• There is not a right solution as time, money, information and

mental capabilities of the planners are not sufficient.• Thus, only a few options are identified and evaluated which

differ only marginally from each other as well as from the existing situation.• There are different views and interests as well as multiple

problems.• Big changes are carried out best in little, practicable steps

over a long period leading to satisfying results (not necessarily the maximum).

Assumptions and role of the planner• The planner is considered to be ‘bounded’ rational who

simplifies the complex world to an easier model• Often does not know the right problem and thus is not

always able to determine a clear definition of goals and measures• Tries to find a satisfactory solution rather than the best one.• Thus, the planner is considered less as the ‘expert’. His task is

particularly to determine the type of problem to be solved and to mediate between different views and interests to reach a consensus.

Role of the population

•The civil society can make a contribution to planning as the provider of information (strategic/functional participation for generating information, relieving administration, increasing social acceptance).

Planning process• Planning is carried out more decentrally than in the rational planning

process. Both the population and more agencies are involved in planning. • There is no clear determination of goals and objectives; rather they

are determined by a mixture of intuition, experiences, rules of thumb and a series of consultancies.• Only a few options are considered and evaluated.• Analyzing and evaluation are distributed among more agencies and

organizations within society.

Planning process• The problem is redefined at regular intervals,•A satisfying solution is one for which substantive

consensus can be attained.• The process is an ongoing chain of incremental

decisions (evolutionary approach).• Simple analysing and modelling techniques as well as

communication techniques are used.

Criticism

•no radical changes are possible•solutions cannot be optimized•the focus is on what can be implemented.

Mixed scanning

•The mixed scanning model tries to involve the strengths of the rational planning model and the incremental planning model and to eliminate the weaknesses.• It is based on ‘bounded’ instrumental rationality.

Central assumptions

•Many incremental decisions may lead to fundamental changes.•The cumulative effect of those incremental decisions is influenced by fundamental decisions.

Assumptions and role of the planner•The planner is considered to be a ‘bounded’ rational being, reducing the complexity of the world to an easier model but to a lesser extent than the incremental planner.•Overseeing the whole situation he or she has to consider few solutions in greater detail.

Role of the population

•The civil society is active in planning. Its needs and wants have to be established during a consensus-building process (strategic/functional participation).

Planning process• Planning is carried out more decentrally than in the rational planning

process. Both the population and more agencies are involved in planning. • Important features of the planning process are:• Objectives are set under consultations with the civil society.• Incremental decisions are made under consultation with the population while

at the same time also• few fundamental decisions are made which mark a huge departure from the

existing situation.

• Thus, planning is considered as mixture of scientific technique, intuition and experience.

Planning Units

•Planning can be done for several area units. • You can plan for a block of houses, a municipality or

for a forest area. These possible units are termed planning units. • These are basically divided according to two criteria:• administrative aspects• natural aspects

Planning Units• administrative aspects: planning units are delineated

according to administrative boundaries. In general, the global, national, district and communal (local) levels are differentiated. If the regional level is addressed it can be confined according to administrative or natural points of view.• natural aspects: delineation of planning units according

natural factors – forest areas, mountain regions or watersheds, for example.

Selection of a planning unit

• The selection of a planning unit depends on what is to be planned.• If you want to plan the provision of a telephone net for a community,

the communal level is the most appropriate one – an administrative planning unit. • If you want to plan natural resource management for the benefit of

the people the Watershed Management approach assumes that the watershed is the most reasonable planning unit – a natural planning unit. • Other planning approaches assume other planning units; Rural

Regional Development is based on regional planning units.

Tools for planning

• A variety of tools are available that help planners to meet the challenges they are faced with. • Analysing tools: tools that help to analyze the area considered (e.g.,

GIS);• Implementation tools: these are the options generally available for

concrete measures aiming at sustainable natural resource management and development (e.g., contour ploughing);• Planning tools for decision-making: tools helping the planner or

planning team to make decisions (e.g., participative land use planning).