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The European Union (EU) is globally the second highest emitter of greenhouse gases from drained peatlands. On the national level, 15% of agricultural peat soils in the Netherlands are responsible for 34% of agricultural emissions. Crucial... more
The European Union (EU) is globally the second highest emitter of greenhouse gases from drained peatlands. On the national level, 15% of agricultural peat soils in the Netherlands are responsible for 34% of agricultural emissions. Crucial to any successful policy is a better understanding of the behavioral change it will bring about among the target groups. Thus, we aim to explore farmers’ differing viewpoints to discuss how policy and planning can be improved to ensure landscape-scale climate mitigation on agriculturally used peatlands. Q methodology was used to interview fifteen farmers on Dutch peat soils, whereby 37 statements were ranked in a grid according to their level of agreement. Factor analysis revealed three main viewpoints: farmers with a higher peat proportion show an urgency in continuing to use their land (‘cooperative businesspeople’), while ‘independent opportunists’ are wary of cooperation compromising their sense of autonomy. Farmers who are ‘conditional land st...
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Communities and the environments in which they depend on are often where trade-offs are most acutely felt. Controversies arise with uncertainties (scientific -e.g. climate change, or societal - e.g. institutional change) and when stakes... more
Communities and the environments in which they depend on are often where trade-offs are most acutely felt. Controversies arise with uncertainties (scientific -e.g. climate change, or societal - e.g. institutional change) and when stakes are high (access to water, inequalities, etc..), which require (or trigger) greater involvement of civil society. This session will explore state-of-theart approaches at the science-civil society interface for mediating amongst a range of community interests (and alliances and pressures from external actors) in order to arrive at synergistic outcomes. Contributions are invited from five FP7-ENV 2011 research projects funded (9,5M? total) to address community based management of environmental challenges in Latin America. These projects share a common characteristics: research is done for the benefit of civil society organizations, to jointly define and analyze solutions to prevent climate-related tensions and support adaptation processes using ecosyst...
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Foundations in Germany were examined in the context of environmental issues. Data from environmental foundations show that there is huge difference between private and public foundations concerning financial settings. Furthermore,... more
Foundations in Germany were examined in the context of environmental issues. Data from environmental foundations show that there is huge difference between private and public foundations concerning financial settings. Furthermore, environment is often not the only objective and sometimes not even processed. Our analysis shows that there are different types of foundations with regard to environmental scopes and activities. Although “attractive topics” such as biodiversity and landscape conservation seem to be more important to foundations, less visible topics such as pollution prevention remain merely a “blind spot.” Together, these findings suggest that there is only a limited potential of private foundations compared with public foundations. Nevertheless, there might be an impact on environmental awareness and local sustainability.
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Indicators in the field of bio-diversity and landscape are applied on various levels, including the continental field as well as the individual agricultural enterprise. Apart from the ecological evaluation of agricultural enterprises and... more
Indicators in the field of bio-diversity and landscape are applied on various levels, including the continental field as well as the individual agricultural enterprise. Apart from the ecological evaluation of agricultural enterprises and agrarian policy measures, indicators are also used in environmental reporting and evaluation as well as in planning or simulation models in administrative and scientific fields. Already for
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There is a growing interest in collective contracts to address agri-environmental policy goals at landscape scales. Yet, little is known about farmers’ general willingness to cooperate. We developed four treatments of a linear public... more
There is a growing interest in collective contracts to address agri-environmental policy goals at landscape scales. Yet, little is known about farmers’ general willingness to cooperate. We developed four treatments of a linear public goods game to investigate farmers’ willingness to cooperate: (1) heterogeneous endowments, (2) leading-by-example, (3) social norms, and (4) pinpointing the socially optimal solution. Based on a sample of 358 German farmers, we find that contributions reach more than two-thirds of the initial endowment across different treatments on average. Nudging the socially optimal solution is the most effective treatment. In addition to the experiment, we elicited incentivized predictions on experimental outcomes from 212 experts. Expert beliefs on treatment effects appear to be calibrated on laboratory studies, highlighting the need to conduct, communicate, and discuss experimental studies outside the laboratory. Young female academics with an Economics backgroun...
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Current research on the impact of agri-environmental schemes under the Rural Development Regulation (EC) 1257/99 (RDR) stresses the institutional, structural and cultural diversity, but also the wide range of natural conditions that shape... more
Current research on the impact of agri-environmental schemes under the Rural Development Regulation (EC) 1257/99 (RDR) stresses the institutional, structural and cultural diversity, but also the wide range of natural conditions that shape the implementation processes. Furthermore, those agri-environmental policy instruments are closely linked to the development and institutionalisation of an European environmental policy in general and to a number of European directives, such as the ‘Habitat’ Directive, in particular. While taking the implementation of Article 16 of the RDR in the German federal state of Brandenburg as an illustrative case, we are aiming at developing a wider understanding of the implementation process and its regional impacts. In particular, we argue that it is necessary to understand the regional agrienvironmental discourse to which regional administrations refer to, the rationale of the administration itself and the mechanisms of decision making at the regional l...
Abstract Payments for ecosystem services (PES) have played an increasingly important role in environmental conservation. In line with international trends, a growing number of governmental programs in China are embracing these policy... more
Abstract Payments for ecosystem services (PES) have played an increasingly important role in environmental conservation. In line with international trends, a growing number of governmental programs in China are embracing these policy innovations, which were labelled under the broad notion of “eco-compensation”. However, recent research indicates that the understanding of state–civil society and central–local relationships are knowledge gaps in the institutional arrangement of such policies. As one of the most important eco-compensation schemes, the Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP) is confronting many challenges to incentivise the local actors. In this study we examine the network of actors of the SLCP by focusing on the collaboration of state actor and civil-society actors and develop a typology of local governance models. To find out how different stakeholders perceive the implementation of the program and how they influence each other, we rely on Social Network Analysis (SNA) and a household survey. The results of our case studies in three townships show that local governance models derive and shape the program implementation. A new actor, which never appeared in the official document and previous research, was discovered. We found that local actors and civil-society actors could potentially bring together government and local farmers for up-front negotiations. In order to mediate conflicts, local government, village committees, forest field stations and farmers may be forced to coordinate and ideally deliberate the terms and conditions of implementation and management options. Therefore, for developing further such eco-compensation schemes in rural China, particular attention should be paid to the local actors and their cooperation for the participatory governance.
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Abstract Research on payments for ecosystem services (PES) has become a growing field, but evidence on the congruence between ES demand and ES supply is insufficient. This study linked ES demand (voter preferences for public goods) and ES... more
Abstract Research on payments for ecosystem services (PES) has become a growing field, but evidence on the congruence between ES demand and ES supply is insufficient. This study linked ES demand (voter preferences for public goods) and ES supply (public good provision through government-financed PES) to compare the observed and a preference-based budget allocation in a rural German region (Brandenburg). The results from a stated choice experiment among regional voters and a Delphi study on the effectiveness of PES were linked through an optimization approach minimizing the deviation between voter preferences and the model budget allocation. The observed budget allocation showed a relatively high degree of congruence with the identified preferences; therefore, our hypothesis that a high level of participation and transparency in the budgeting process, as is the case in the study region, leads to congruence between the budget allocation and voter preferences cannot be rejected. An exact match between both was not mathematically feasible, and the closest fit led to significantly reduced environmental benefits. These results support the notions that the observed budget allocation is relatively optimal and that a completely preference-driven allocation would lead to undesirable, less cost-effective outcomes. Further validating studies should be conducted to test different statistical models and estimation robustness and consider possible within-area differences.
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Research Interests: Soil, Water, Environmental Management, Agriculture, European Union, and 15 moreEnvironmental Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Multidisciplinary, Environmental Risk, Payment for Environmental Services, Soil Erosion, Simulation Optimization, Cost effectiveness, Theoretical Models, Ecosystem, Cost Benefit Analysis, Conservation of Natural Resources, Indexation, CAP, and LINEAR PROGRAM
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Abstract Specific mechanisms for result-oriented payment schemes using vascular plant taxa have been discussed as possible targeted approaches for promoting European species-rich grasslands. Most indicator lists are restricted to a... more
Abstract Specific mechanisms for result-oriented payment schemes using vascular plant taxa have been discussed as possible targeted approaches for promoting European species-rich grasslands. Most indicator lists are restricted to a limited number of frequently occurring indicator taxa. However, these lists often do not adequately reflect the most valuable grasslands in terms of conservation. Thus, we developed a procedure for selecting indicator species from an expanded checklist as well as a procedure for weighting indicator species based on their indicator power in terms of conservation criteria. The case study region was the federal state of Brandenburg (Germany). The database contained Brandenburg’s vegetation mapping data and a simple indicator checklist from a previous agri-environmental program. For the conservation quality criteria, we used species number, number of extensive grassland species, number of threatened red list species and indices combining two of these criteria. The new expanded checklist resulted in 71 indicator taxa. We recommended a weighting factor that considers the indicator power of the index that combines extensively used species and red list species. Regression analyses were conducted to test the improvements resulting from each step of the approach. The determination coefficient of the regression between the number of indicator taxa and the quality index increased in the following order: simple checklist, expanded checklist and expanded weighted checklist (0.420, 0.654 and 0.782). The new, more differentiated list allows a 5-step payment approach. Generally, this procedure could be used to compile weighted indicator lists for other regions.
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For researchers, conducting face-to-face interviews is always a challenge as it often turns into a one-way directed information retrieval. Therefore, interviewees not always are very motivated, enthusiastic and cooperative in responding... more
For researchers, conducting face-to-face interviews is always a challenge as it often turns into a one-way directed information retrieval. Therefore, interviewees not always are very motivated, enthusiastic and cooperative in responding to the questions. In the end, this has implications for the quality of the interview data. To improve the interview setting and the resulting data, in several projects the Net-Map tool was used to conduct participatory social network analysis. The tool is a combination of in-depth interviews and participatory network mapping. During the interviews, the interviewee draws the network of relevant actors, notes down their motivations and evaluates and displays the actors’ influence and benefits by building towers using any kind of stacks. In this research note, we present the strengths and weaknesses of the method against the experiences with applying the Net-Map tool on four different continents and give ideas for improvements and further research.
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A list of plant species indicating species-rich grassland was validated for use in an agri-environmental programme in the Federal State of Brandenburg (Germany). It has become common practice that suggested lists of indicator species pass... more
A list of plant species indicating species-rich grassland was validated for use in an agri-environmental programme in the Federal State of Brandenburg (Germany). It has become common practice that suggested lists of indicator species pass through a process of coordination involving several experts and stakeholders. Therefore, an ‘aptitude test’ for indicator species was needed that would be transparent as well
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Community management is seen as one important approach in environmental governance to manage ecosystems and natural resources. Understanding the underlying principles of how and under which premises the different local actors successfully... more
Community management is seen as one important approach in environmental governance to manage ecosystems and natural resources. Understanding the underlying principles of how and under which premises the different local actors successfully collaborate in environmental governance can offer valuable insights into how ecosystems and their natural resources as well as related ecosystem service delivery can be sustained for the livelihoods of local communities. In this study, Ostrom’s set of design principles and Cox and others’ enlarged set of principles were used to investigate one co-management example of community management: the Marujá community in the Cardoso Island State Park in southeastern Brazil, which was evaluated as successful by the community itself. The aim of the study was to analyse the presence or absence of each principle and how the principles were met in specific. Furthermore it was discussed in how for the specific compliance with the principles shapes certain features of the governance approach and helped in explaining its overall success. The analysis was mainly based on data collected through qualitative interviews with the different governance actors. All of Ostrom’s principles and most of Cox and others’ enlarged set of principles could be verified for the community. The principles helped in explaining how the community was able to organize collective action and initiate a governance change from top-down management of the state park to a co-management agreement which was considered a win–win by both parties: the community and the state park authorities. However, several additional factors were identified which contributed to the overall success. This included that the governance change was initiated bottom-up with the support of the whole community, could draw support from very committed governance actors both from the community and the state park authorities, who pushed the process forward over a long time period, and that the community received initial external funding which gave enough momentum to the process at the beginning
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ABSTRACT Payments for ecosystem services (PES) received a lot of academic attention in the past years. However, the concept remains loose and many different conservation approaches are published under the ‘PES label’. We reviewed 457... more
ABSTRACT Payments for ecosystem services (PES) received a lot of academic attention in the past years. However, the concept remains loose and many different conservation approaches are published under the ‘PES label’. We reviewed 457 articles obtained in a structured literature search in order to present an overview of the PES literature. This paper (1) illustrates the different analytical perspectives on PES concepts and types, (2) shows the geographic focus of PES research and (3) identifies the major foci of the overall PES research. The paper finally (4) identifies differences and similarities in conservation programs and main research topics between developing and industrialized countries to (5) disclose potentials for research synergies, should research experiences in the two types of countries be exchanged more deliberately. We demonstrate that only few publications describe Coasean PES approaches. The majority of research refers to national governmental payment programs. The overall design of national PES programs in Latin America resembles the design of those in the US and EU considerably. Programs in the US and EU have been in place longer than most of the frequently published Latin American schemes. However the former are hardly considered in the international PES literature as research is usually published under different terminologies.
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The EU sees agri-environmental measures as a policy instrument to cope with future challenges caused by e.g. WTO negotiations or new scarcities in the field of resources and environment. As it is highly complicated to evaluate the effects... more
The EU sees agri-environmental measures as a policy instrument to cope with future challenges caused by e.g. WTO negotiations or new scarcities in the field of resources and environment. As it is highly complicated to evaluate the effects of management-oriented measures, for example their environmental effects are seldom an observable state of nature, when defining agri-environmental measures, policy makers face
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Research Interests: PES and Sustainability
... Anders sind zB pauschale Rufe nach Vertragsnaturschutz an Stelle von Naturschutzordnungsrecht nicht zu verstehen. ... zwei M6glichkeiten der Honorierung 6ko-logischer Leistungen der Landwirtschaft, die oftma|s kate-gorisch... more
... Anders sind zB pauschale Rufe nach Vertragsnaturschutz an Stelle von Naturschutzordnungsrecht nicht zu verstehen. ... zwei M6glichkeiten der Honorierung 6ko-logischer Leistungen der Landwirtschaft, die oftma|s kate-gorisch gegenfibergestellt werden, sich jedoch eher ...
Im Rahmen des vom BMVBS geförderten und dem BBSR unterstützten Forschungsprojektes „Globale und regionale räumliche Verteilung von Biomassepotenzialen – Status-Quo und Möglich-keiten der Präzisierung“ wurden der Handlungsbedarf sowie die... more
Im Rahmen des vom BMVBS geförderten und dem BBSR unterstützten Forschungsprojektes „Globale und regionale räumliche Verteilung von Biomassepotenzialen – Status-Quo und Möglich-keiten der Präzisierung“ wurden der Handlungsbedarf sowie die Handlungsmöglichkeiten identifi-ziert, die aus einer gesteigerten Bioenergiebereitstellung für die Raumplanung entstehen. An ei-nem Fallbeispiel wurde eine Methode entwickelt, mit der Zielvorstellungen in Form von Szenarien verräumlicht dargestellt und mögliche Entwicklungen hinsichtlich ihrer Raumverträglichkeit geprüft werden können.
In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to financial environmental policy instruments that have played important roles in solving agri-environmental problems throughout the world, particularly in the European Union and the... more
In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to financial environmental policy instruments that have played important roles in solving agri-environmental problems throughout the world, particularly in the European Union and the United States. The ample and increasing literature on Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and agri-environmental measures (AEMs), generally understood as governmental PES, shows that certain single design rules may have an impact on the success of a particular measure. Based on this research, we focused on the interplay of several design rules and conducted a comparative analysis of AEMs' institutional arrangements by examining 49 German cases. We analyzed the effects of the design rules and certain rule combinations on the success of AEMs. Compliance and noncompliance with the hypothesized design rules and the success of the AEMs were surveyed by questioning the responsible agricultural administration and the AEMs' mid-term evaluators. The different rules were evaluated in regard to their necessity and sufficiency for success using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). Our results show that combinations of certain design rules such as environmental goal targeting and area targeting conditioned the success of the AEMs. Hence, we generalize design principles for AEMs and discuss implications for the general advancement of ecosystem services and the PES approach in agri-environmental policies. Moreover, we highlight the relevance of the results for governmental PES program research and design worldwide.