Bio economic modeling for a sustainable management of biodiversity in agricultural lands

For several decades, significant changes in farmland biodiversity have been reported in Europe. Agriculture is a major driver of these modifications. Taking into account these environmental impacts, agriculture nowadays aims at a more sustainable way of producing which would reconcile its economic and ecological functions. The objective of this paper is to give insights into the impact of public policies on both conservation of biodiversity and farming production. We develop a macro-regional model combining community dynamics of 34 bird species impacted by agricultural land-uses and an economic decision model. The ecological dynamic model is calibrated with the STOC (French Breeding Bird Survey) and AGRESTE (French land-uses) databases while the economic model relies on the gross margins of the FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network). We investigate the scenario based on subsidies and taxes. We show that simple economic instruments could be used to establish scenarios promoting economic performances and bird populations. It is pointed out how the sustainability of the policies is sensitive to the ecological and economic indicators used by the planner. The bio-economical analysis shows several solutions for the ecology-economy trade-off. These results suggest that many possibilities are available to develop multi-functional sustainable agriculture.     

Farming system modelling for agri-environmental policy design: The case of a spatially non-aggregated allocation of conservation measures

This paper addresses the issue of designing policies for habitat conservation on agricultural land. The case under study requires a non-aggregated spatial distribution of the fields to be enrolled in an agri-environmental programme. A spatially explicit mathematical programming farm-based model, which accounts for three spatial levels (field, farm and landscape), is coupled with a relevant spatial pattern index (the Ripley L-function) to analyse the design and implementation of an agri-environmental programme aimed to preserve the Tetrax tetrax in the Plaine de Niort, France. The model is run using a stylised map with heterogeneous soil types and both crop growing and mixed dairy farms. Results show that valuable insights into agri-environmental programme design are gained through a detailed representation of farming system management. The suitable, non-aggregated spatial pattern for T. tetrax conservation is more costly than less-suitable, more aggregated patterns, because it tends to require equal participation of all farms. The policy simulations reveal that the various spatial patterns can be obtained through relatively simple uniform contract structures. An effective contract structure entails a set of two degressive payments which encourages all farms to enrol at least a small share of their land in the program.     

Agri-environmental policies for biodiversity when the spatial pattern of the reserve matters

The aim of this paper is to compare different environmental policies for cost-effective habitat conservation on agricultural lands, when the desired spatial pattern of reserves is a random mosaic. We use a spatially explicit mathematical programming model which studies the farmers' behavior as profit maximizers under technical and administrative constraints. Facing different policy measures, each farmer chooses the land-use on each field, which determines the landscape at the regional level. A spatial pattern index (Ripley L function) is then associated to the obtained landscape, indicating on the degree of dispersion of the reserve. We compare a subsidy per hectare of reserve with an auction scheme and an agglomeration malus. We find that the auction is superior to the uniform subsidy for cost-efficiency. The agglomeration malus does better than the auction for the spatial pattern but is more costly.     

Do economic sanctions affect protectionism? Evidence from agricultural support

The objective of this paper is to examine whether economic sanctions contribute to influencing the target countries’ protectionist policies in the agricultural sector. Using pooled mean group estimations in a dynamic heterogeneous panel setting, we find robust empirical evidence that, in the long‐run, economic sanctions decrease agricultural protection in the target counties, and this effect is mitigated by the wealth of the target's economy. However, the relationship is insignificant in the short run. Furthermore, our results also suggest that the impact of sanctions on agricultural protection (a) increases with the severity of economic sanctions, (b) is greater for multilateral sanctions than unilateral sanctions, and (c) is more severe on agricultural protection when sanctions span a longer duration.     

The efficiency of voluntary incentive policies for preventing biodiversity loss

Habitat loss is a primary cause of loss of biodiversity but conserving habitat for species presents challenges. Land parcels differ in their ability to produce returns for landowners and landowners may have private information about the value of the land to them. Land parcels also differ in the type and quality of habitat and the spatial pattern of land use across multiple landowners is important for determining the conservation value of parcels. This paper analyzes the relative efficiency of simple voluntary incentive-based policies in achieving biodiversity conservation objectives. This topic is important not just for biodiversity conservation but for any effort to provide a public good requiring coordination across multiple decision-makers who have some degree of private information. We develop a method that integrates spatially explicit data, an econometric model of private land-use decisions, landscape simulations, a biological model of biodiversity as a function of landscape pattern, and an algorithm that estimates the set of efficient solutions. These methods allow us to simulate landowner responses to policies, measure the consequences of these decisions for biodiversity conservation, and compare these outcomes to efficient outcomes to show the relative efficiency of various policy approaches. We find substantial differences in biodiversity conservation scores generated by simple voluntary incentive-based policies and efficient solutions. The performance of incentive-based policies is particularly poor at low levels of the conservation budget where spatial fragmentation of conserved parcels is a large concern. Performance can be improved by encouraging agglomeration of conserved habitat and by incorporating basic biological information, such as that on rare habitats, into the selection criteria.     

Cost-effective species conservation in exurban communities: A spatial analysis

Exurban areas have increasingly become zones of conflict as conservation and development compete for the same finite land resources. Conversion of natural areas to land dominated by human use results in loss, degradation, and fragmentation of wildlife habitat which often lead to species endangerment or even extinction. Recently, reserve site selection models have begun to integrate spatial attributes in order to design more compact and connected reserve networks that are thought to improve long-term species persistence. While these models are a good step forward to designing conservation reserve networks, they might not be adequate for use in exurban areas that consist of heterogeneous mosaics of land uses where habitat fragmentation already exists and not all parcels are available for preservation. This paper presents a species conservation framework that expands upon traditional reserve site selection models in three ways. First, because of the focus on exurban areas, the framework used here allows for land conversion within core habitat patches. Second, the framework provides a more robust assessment of connectivity among patches by accounting for land-use heterogeneity in the dispersal matrix. And third, the framework explicitly incorporates species population dynamics. We apply our conservation framework to the case of pond-breeding salamanders in an exurban community in Rhode Island, USA. Comparisons are made between the outcomes for uniform conservation policies and more flexible policies that accommodate ecological and economic heterogeneity. As expected, policies that offer more flexibility in the decision-making process are less costly in terms of foregone development. Conservation planners should consider core habitat patches, dispersal matrix, and spatial scale in their decision making. By not assessing the potential impact of dispersal barriers, reserve site selection models will result in conservation plans that may not protect species over the long term, particularly for species residing in highly fragmented landscapes such as those found in many exurban communities.     

The sequencing of reform policies in China's agricultural transition*

This paper provides evidence regarding gains due to agricultural market liberalization in China. We empirically identify the different effects that incentive and farm restructuring reforms and gradual market liberalization have on China's agricultural economy during its transition period. We find that average gains within the agricultural sector due to reforms that improved incentives and increased decision‐making authority of producers exceed gains due to market liberalization by a large margin. Our method of analyzing the effects of transition policies on economic performance can be generalized to other reform paths in other transition economies.     

Biodiversity and geography

We combine a new economic geography model of agglomeration and dispersion of economic activity with an ecological–economic model of species diversity to examine optimal policies of biodiversity conservation in a two-region world. Species diversity is inevitably impaired by anthropogenic impact. Thus, the economic and ecological systems compete for space and the question arises as to how this conflict should be resolved. The decisive parameters of the model are related to biological diversity (endemism vs. redundancy of species) and the patterns of economic geography (centrifugal vs. centripetal forces). As regards the choice of environmental-policy instruments, it is shown that Pigouvian taxes do not always establish the optimal allocation.     

Effects of food and agricultural imports on domestic factors in the U.S. agricultural sector: a translog cost function framework

The translog cost function of the U.S. agricultural sector unveils dynamic relationships between foreign and domestic inputs. On average, capital and labour are weak substitutes, but they are strong substitutes to food and agricultural imports. Therefore, enhancing trade policies on food and agricultural products should be supplemented by strategic policies aiming at protecting domestic factors' income.     

Valuation of ecosystem services from rural landscapes using agricultural land prices

Agricultural lands, primarily managed for crops and livestock production, provide various ecosystem services (ES) to people. In theory, the economic value of the service flows that can be captured privately is capitalized into land prices. This study proposes an integrative framework to characterize the ecosystem services associated with agricultural lands. Using that framework, we demonstrate how hedonic analysis of agricultural land prices can be used to estimate the private values of land-based ES. The model is estimated with data from southwestern Michigan, USA. Results suggest that ES values are associated with lakes, rivers, wetlands, forests and conservation lands in rural landscapes. Ecosystem services that support direct use values, such as recreational and aesthetic services, are likely to be perceived by land owners and capitalized in land prices. Some regulating services that provide indirect use values may be partially capitalized in a land parcel's relationship to natural resources and landscapes. Other ES from the land parcel and its surroundings are unlikely to be capitalized due to lack of private incentives, unawareness, or small perceived value. The private ES values measured in this study highlight opportunities to design cost-effective public policies that factor in the value of private benefits from agricultural lands.     

国际荒野地保护实践评析：基于荒野 制图、系统性与连通性的视角

在生物多样性丧失和气候变化的双重背景下，荒野 地保护实践变得越来越重要。从荒野制图、系统性与连通性 3个视角切入，评析国际荒野地保护实践。包括：1)以苏格 兰为例，评析基于荒野制图的荒野地保护实践，指出荒野地 图是开展荒野地保护实践的基础，并需要将地图与政策紧密 结合；2)以美国国家荒野保护体系(National Wilderness Preservation System)和欧洲荒野网络(European Wilderness Network)为例，评析荒野地的系统性保护实 践，指出只有建立系统性的荒野地保护机制，才能确保荒野 地保护的有效性和长久性；3)以北美野地网络(Wildlands Network)为例，评析荒野地的连通性保护实践，指出在景 观破碎化的区域中，荒野地连通性保护对于维持生态过程具 有重要意义。在荒野地保护实践中，荒野制图、系统性保护 和连通性保护是3个重要的视角，对中国国土空间规划、国家 公园与自然保护地体系建设、生态网络构建等生态实践具有 启发意义。     

Environmental amenities and agricultural land values: a hedonic model using geographic information systems data

Remote agricultural lands, which include wildlife habitat, angling opportunities and scenic vistas, command higher prices per hectare in Wyoming than those whose landscape is dominated by agricultural production. Geographic information systems (GIS) data are used to measure recreational and scenic amenities associated with rural land. A hedonic price model is specified with GIS measures. It is used to estimate the impact of amenity and agricultural production land characteristics on price per acre for a sample of Wyoming agricultural parcels. Results indicate that the specification performed well across several functional forms. The sampled land prices are explained by the level of both environmental amenities as well as production attributes. Statistically significant amenity variables included scenic view, elk habitat, sport fishery productivity and distance to town. This analysis permits a better estimation of environmental amenity values from hedonic techniques. Improved estimation of amenity values is vital for policies aimed at open space preservation, using agricultural conservation easements and land use conflict resolution.     

Aspects of ecosystem persistence and the optimal conservation of species

Although ecologists have long recognized the salience of persistence in determining the static and the dynamic behavior of ecological systems, it is only very recently that economists have begun to study this concept in relation to the use of services that are provided by jointly determined ecological-economic systems (ecosystems). As such, there are very few studies of ecosystems that explicitly analyze the ecological and the economic aspects of this use issue. Given this state of affairs, this article has two objectives. First, a new method is used to formally describe and bound the notion of ecosystem persistence. This method explicitly incorporates the stochastic aspects of ecosystems. Second, the bound on persistence is used to study the problem of optimal species conservation.     

Modeling farmer participation in agri-environmental nitrate pollution reducing schemes

Why do farmers choose to participate in agri-environmental programmes and how do they choose the amount of land they allocate to such programmes? This paper examines the determinant factors influencing farmers' adoption of the EU-financed agri-environmental Nitrate Reduction Programme (NRP) in Greece and the extent of the programme's adoption, in terms of land allocation. The decision to adopt the NRP is modeled as a two-step procedure. First, farmers decide whether to participate in the agri-environmental programme and second, the extent of participation is determined. We employ Heckman's self-selection bias correction model to derive unbiased estimates. Based on farm level data, we develop the profile of farmers who choose to adopt the agri-environmental programme and the characteristics of their farms. The results of the analysis provide valuable policy insights decomposed into the main factors determining first, the adoption of the agri-environmental programme and second, the extent of adoption. By decomposing the determining factors, policy makers can employ this information to design effective agri-environmental programmes, desirable to farmers and more targeted towards specific environmental and agricultural development goals.     

景观保护设计——美国佛罗里达州西南部景观 保护设计项目案例

景观保护设计(Landscape Conservation Design，LCD)是一种动态性的景观保护方法。该方法以保 护生物学和景观生态学的原理为基础，运用GIS技术和空间保 护规划软件，识别出场地中对物种、生物多样性和生态系统保 护具有关键意义的区域和廊道。LCD的结果可以为自然资源 和生态保护的决策者提供基于科学的空间保护策略依据。在中 国越来越重视自然资源和生态环境保护的今天，在未来城市的 建设中，景观保护设计的概念和方法将对我国的自然资源和 生态保护规划起到重要的借鉴作用。以美国渔业和野生动物 保护局(U.S Fish & Wildlife Conservation Service， USFWS)与佛罗里达大学景观保护规划中心合作完成的佛罗 里达州西南部景观保护设计项目为例，从数据基础、研究方法 以及规划结果等方面来对景观保护设计进行探讨，并提出景观 保护设计理念在我国生物多样性保护及生态文明建设中的应用 前景和挑战。     

节能减排政策对城市生态效率的影响——基于NDDF-DID的市级实证研究

采用非径向方向性距离函数测算了2005—2016年我国的城市生态效率,发现我国城市生态效率取得了明显改进,采用双重差分法实证研究了节能减排政策对城市生态效率的影响,结果表明:节能减排政策显著提高了城市生态效率,趋势性检验和安慰剂检验验证了双重差分估计的有效性和稳健性。最后,根据研究结果提出我国应该坚持推进节能减排政策,扩大节能减排政策的覆盖范围,加强节能减排政策的财政支持力度,同时指出城市在执行节能减排政策过程中,应当注重建立长效机制,以更好地实现节能减排政策的效果。     

Comparing land-use alternatives: Using the ecosystem services concept to define a multi-criteria decision analysis

In landscape planning, land-use types need to be compared including the ecosystem services they provide. With multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), ecological economics offers a useful tool for environmental questions but mostly case-specific criteria are applied. This, however, makes it difficult to compare findings. Therefore, we present a systematic framework that includes the ecosystem services as criteria into MCDA. The ecological quantification of the provided ecosystem services is combined with the assigned importance of the single ecosystem services. In a case study from the central Alps, we compared three land-use alternatives resulting from land-use change caused by socio-economic pressures: traditional larch (Larix decidua) meadow, spruce forest (abandonment) and intensive meadow (intensification).Criteria for the MCDA model were selected by experts, criteria importance was ranked by stakeholders and criteria values were assessed with qualitative and quantitative indicators. Eventually spruce forest was ranked as the best land-use alternative followed by traditional larch meadow and intensive meadow. The combined approach of MCDA using ecosystem services as criteria showed how criteria weightings and criteria indicator values influence land-use alternatives' performance. The MCDA-model visualizes the consequences of land-use change for ecosystem service provision, facilitating landscape planning by structuring environmental problems and providing data for decisions.     

欧洲采矿废弃地景观恢复经验及对中国 的启示

采矿废弃地所造成的资源浪费、生态退化及文化遗 失等突出问题已受到国内外广泛关注,在生态文明建设指引和 新时期发展需求的双重背景下,如何将采矿废弃地视为一种景 观资源,重新赋予其生态、经济、文化、美学价值成为全新命 题。总结欧洲发达国家在该领域积累的成功经验,对解决中国 同类型问题具有重要借鉴和启示意义。首先,从法律法规和运 营机制2个层面总结了欧洲采矿废弃地景观恢复的宏观保障经 验;其次,从生态修复、文化挖掘、经济带动三大视角剖析了 欧洲采矿废弃地景观恢复的具体实施经验;最后,客观认知欧 洲所面临的挑战,结合中国的突出问题及特点,从构建多主 体、精准化保障机制,实施分类型、动态化恢复途径,整合潜 在性、多元化资源系统3个方面提出对中国采矿废弃地景观恢 复的具体启示及实施建议。     

Effects of the Chinese arable land fallow system and land-use change on agricultural production and on the economy

This study focuses on economic effects of arable land fallow system and land-use change in China using a dynamic single-country, multi-regional computable general equilibrium model. Land supply is adjusted endogenously in our model. Land use in each of 31 provinces is tracked by a land-use change module, which is calibrated with satellite data. Our results reveal that the expansion of real output can be attributed to the increase in capital stock as a result of the growth of investment due to the imposition of the arable land fallow system in China. And the growth of investment is caused by the release of labor from agriculture The reduced supply of arable land in agricultural land contraction regions is partially offset by the increasing arable land in agricultural land expansion regions. Rural households benefit more than urban households from the arable land fallow policy due to relatively higher income and lower rural CPI.     

Expanding the solution set: Organizational economics and agri-environmental policy

The market failure paradigm dominates agri-environmental research and policy. Organizational economics provides an alternative framework for analyzing agri-environmental problems and points to alternative solutions. In this paper, the traditional approach of creating markets for environmental goods and services is critiqued and set aside to provide space for an organizational analysis. From an organizational perspective, the relationship between the state and agricultural agents is viewed as grounded in an over-arching exchange relationship including elements of cooperation and trust. Such a collaborative exchange relationship may prove useful in supporting exchange between agricultural agents and the state leading to the provision of ecological goods and services. Highlighting the potential of organizational economics, the analysis suggests that agri-environmental research and policy go further in accounting for, and investigating, the unique organizational modes of exchange governing the production of food, fiber, and ecological goods and services.