Profile

Following a B.A. in Geography (1984-87), Nigel undertook an M.A. in Natural Resource Management (1988) and a Ph.D in Geography (1994) at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. From an initial general interest in the management of water resources, he focussed his postgraduate research on the issue of integrated river basin management and the development of institutional arrangements to link policies for land and water. His Ph.D research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada and involved an assessment of institutional responses to nitrate pollution in surface and groundwater. Having gained research and teaching experience in Canada, he returned to the UK in 1993 to take up an academic post the University of Brighton. He transferred to the Department of Geography at Lancaster University in 1998 as a Lecturer in Environmental Management.

In recent years, Nigel has been involved in a variety of different research projects, ranging from investigations of the uptake by farmers of voluntary schemes designed to protect streams and rivers, the regeneration of navigation canals to underground gas storage. However, his main research activity is in the area of integrated land and water management and, in 2004, he assisted the Environment Agency for England and Wales with an experimental planning process designed to implement the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). Nigel is a member of the Council of the Mersey Basin Campaign (MBC), and also a member of the International Water Resources Association (IWRA) and Canadian Water Resources Association (CWRA).

Current Research

Nigel is currently PI for a study involving researchers at Lancaster, Leeds and Aberystwyth who are examining conflict in the management of Canadian water resources. The International Council for Canadian Studies and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Canada are jointly funding this research project. While Canada is often perceived as a water-rich country, the reality is that water availability is poorly matched with demand. Canadian water resources are often subject to intense use and competition, and the potential for conflict is ever-present. The project includes four case studies designed to explore different aspects of water-related conflict and to examine how governments and communities in Canada are attempting to resolve disputes and manage water in a more integrated and sustainable way. The case studies are: the Great Lakes Remedial Action Planning Process (RAP), water supply and public health conflicts in the Province of Ontario, watershed development conflicts in northern British Columbia, and water allocation in the Prairie provinces. The project will be completed in 2006.

Nigel has also recently completed a historical review of water management in Britain, which will be published in 2005 (see below). He has also co-edited (with Dan Shrubsole) a book on sustainable development, which has been written in honour of Professor Bruce Mitchell at the University of Waterloo in Canada and will be published in 2005.

Nigel is also developing new research projects with researchers from the Lancaster Environment Centre and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH). This includes proposals under the ESRC/NERC/BBSRC Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) Programme and DEFRA/EA work on integrating the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) and reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Recent Publications

1. Watson, N.M. (2005), 'The Management of British Rivers', in Rivers and the British Landscape, Sue Owen and Colin Pooley (Editors), Carnegie Publishing, Lancaster.
2. Watson, N. (2004), 'Integrated river basin management: A case for collaboration', International Journal of River Basin Management, Volume 2 (3), pp.1-15.
3. Watson, N.M. (2003), Reconciling the Centre and Periphery: Collaborative Governance of River Basin Resources in Canada. 28th Annual Conference of the British Association of Canadian Studies, University of Leeds, April 6-9.
4. Watson, N.M. and Wester, P. (2003), Inter-organizational Domains, Collaboration and the Uncertain Quest for Integrated Water Resources Management. 2nd International Symposium on Integrated Water Resources Management, Stellenbosch, South Africa, January 22-24.
5. Ducros, C. and Watson, N.M. (2002), 'Integrated Land and Water Management in the United Kingdom: Narrowing the Implementation Gap', Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 45(3), 403-423.

Full list of publications