Adverse Selection in the Environmental Stewardship Scheme: Does the Higher Level Stewardship Scheme Design Reduce Adverse Selection?

The Environmental Stewardship Scheme provides payments to farmers for the provision of environmental services based on foregone agricultural income. This creates a potential incentive compatibility problem which, combined with information asymmetry about farm land potential, can lead to adverse selection of land into the Scheme and therefore a less cost‐effective provision of environmental goods and services. However, the Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) Scheme design includes some features that potentially reduce adverse selection. This paper studies the adverse selection problem of the HLS using a principal‐agent framework at the regional level. It is found that, at the regional level, the enrolment of more land from lower payment regions for a given budget constraint has reduced the adverse selection problem through contracting a greater overall area and thus higher overall environmental benefit. In addition, for landscape regions with the same payment rate (i.e. of the same agricultural value), differential weighting of the public demand for environmental goods and services provided by agriculture (measured by weighting an environmental benefit function by the distance to main cities) appears to be reflected in the regulator’s allocation of contracts, thereby also reducing the adverse selection problem.     

Result-based agri-environment measures: Market-based instruments,incentives or rewards? The case of Baden-Württemberg

Result-based agri-environment measures are increasingly seen as an interesting way to improve the conditionality and efficiency of the use of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funding for environmental land management. They differ from classical action-based measures in that they remunerate farmers to achieve a desired outcome, and not for complying with a set of rules. We have analysed MEKA-B4, the result-based agrienvironment measure in place in Baden-Württemberg (Germany) between 2000 and 2014, which aimed to preserve species-rich grassland. In order to do so, we carried out semi-structured face-to-face interviews with participating and non-participating farmers and key institutional actors. We argue that MEKA-B4 could be considered a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES), but only if a broad definition is adopted, as the payment appeared to cover the opportunity costs of only some categories of farmers (e.g., part-time farmers, less productive fields, hay producers), but it was too low to cover those of intensive cattle raisers and biogas producers, partly due to the changing market conditions (e.g., fluctuating and decreasing price of hay; incentives to produce biogas). In fact, in general most farmers were motivated to join the scheme by a combination of extrinsic motivations (i.e., the monetary incentive) and intrinsic motivations (i.e., ethical reasons). Increasing the payment, as has been done in the new version of the scheme (FAKT-B3), may help to ensure a wider enrolment in the measure in the long term. However, the interaction with biogas subsidies and other measures of the FAKT programme may hamper the farmers’ enrolment. This shows the need to improve the integration and coherence of environmental policies that have different objectives.     

The application of the Habitats Directive in the UK: Compliance or gold plating?

The implementation of the Birds and Habitats Directives in the UK has caused considerable unease within some parts of industry. Ports in particular have voiced concerns and have argued that the UK Government's interpretation of the Directives is more comprehensive than strictly necessary, likening it to ‘gold plating’. They have argued that this has placed the UK at a disadvantage to other European competitors. This paper explores these contentions and examines case histories to establish the veracity of the arguments.     

Economies of Scale and Inefficiency in County Extension Councils: A Case for Consolidation?

Current funding, mission, and organizational difficulties question the long-run survival of extension and the Land–Grant system. Consolidation of county extension offices is seen as a possible remedy for extension's problems. This paper estimates scale economies and inefficiencies in county extension offices in Kansas using parametric and nonparametric techniques. Large economies of scale and inefficiencies are found. Based on the empirical results, several simulations are performed to measure the short-run cost savings associated with consolidation. The results reveal that while all counties would experience significant savings from consolidating, rural and less populated counties would experience the greatest per unit savings.     

Analysis of rural development policy networks in Greece: Is LEADER really different?

This paper presents an application of quantitative network analysis. It examines rural development projects with respect to their structural and politico-administrative dimensions, including power relations, conflicts, multifunctionality and intersectorality. The network structures and relations of comparable IPRD and LEADER projects are analyzed. The LEADER project network is shown to be less hierarchical than the IPRD project network, although the LEADER network is not characterized by significantly simpler procedures or clearer policy content than the IPRD network. Information and contact are significantly greater, and conflict density is significantly lower in the LEADER network. Administrative intersectorality is higher in the IPRD project, while the multidisciplinarity and the multifunctionality are higher in the LEADER project. However, the LEADER project is not perceived as delivering its objectives to a greater extent than the IPRD project. The implications for process-oriented evaluation are discussed.     

Carbon blinkers and policy blindness: The difficulties of ‘Growing Our Woodland in Wales’

The need for climate change mitigation has led to a recent upsurge in policies aimed to deliver re-afforestation across the globe, but with mixed successes observed depending upon the levels of private land ownership and ability of governments to engage land managers. This paper evaluates a new government-led scheme in Wales, which is intended to increase woodland cover from 14% to 20% by 2030 to offset the greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. As the scheme is primarily intended to promote woodland creation on farms, the analysis of the paper focusses upon the question of how to incentivise farmers, and the reasons why difficulties have been experienced engaging land owners in the scheme. Whilst a number of recommendations are made from this policy evaluation, the paper also demonstrates that key lessons have not been applied from existing literature on farmers’ behaviour and environmental scheme uptake, and that policy makers are not integrating practice across departmental divisions. As such, the paper suggests that the new focus on carbon sequestration has acted as a distraction to the development of a more robust governance strategy that builds on previous successes and failures in agri-environment policy.     

Focussing in on focus groups: Effective participative tools or cheap fixes for land use policy?

This paper assesses the efficacy and relevance of focus groups as participative tools for land use policy and planning. The use of focus groups has mushroomed in land use research and policy in response to new governance and empowerment agendas with their emphasis on using more deliberative and participative approaches. However, their use within social science research has been controversial given perceived methodological limitations of rigour and bias. A detailed critique of three recent research projects has been undertaken to assess focus group in theory and practice; rural diversification, public perception of landscape and visitor payback. The assessment considers key questions relating to inclusion, participation, empowerment, policy impact and understanding of complex policy issues. The results show that focus groups can perform multiple roles as exploratory, explanatory, participative and deliberative tools. Nevertheless, focus groups have important limitations and methodological protocols which demand more care and attention. Crucially, they should not be used in isolation to influence policy decisions; end user pressure for quick fixes, group dynamics, issues of representativeness, together with the biases of a facilitator, can easily mask, distort or misrepresent results. It is concluded that focus groups have significant potential as qualitative tools in landscape research but that they must be used carefully and in tandem with other techniques if their true potential is to be realised.     

To populate or preserve? Evolving political-demographic and environmental paradigms in Israeli land-use policy

There has been a recent proliferation of national land-use policies that emphasize protecting open space and ecosystem integrity. However, countries grappling with internal political conflict, or that are engaged in military conflicts with neighboring countries, have priorities that focus on control of land in areas where state sovereignty is perceived to be threatened. These two concerns, political-demographic control and environmental protection, create very different paradigms for how to think about open space policy. The objective of this paper is to consider the impact of competing paradigms in land-use policy formulation and implementation—one that encourages sprawl and the other that encourages compact development and the preservation of open space. We use Israel as a case study where both political demography and environmental land-use paradigms are currently influencing policy and planning. We explore the historical evolution of both land-use paradigms and consider how they are currently competing in the formulation and execution of land-use policy decisions. We consider how these distinct priorities are playing out in current discourse and policy implementation, and characterize the past, current and prospective future physical outcomes of policies on the landscape. Our goal is to alert policy makers and land-use scholars of the subtle and contradictory influence of political-demographic land-use priorities with regard to their potential impact on the successful implementation of environmental policies. The Israeli case study is indicative of a diversity of countries that have a history of political-demographic land-use policies, but have also begun to adopt environmentally motivated policies.     

Presidential Address: The Visible or Invisible Hand? The Balance Between Markets and Regulation in Agricultural Policy

The recent crisis in global financial markets has brought into question reliance on markets to determine the conduct of economic affairs and generated pressure for greater regulation and government control. Neither a neoliberal nor a neoregulatory approach is likely to be able to solve pressing problems affecting agriculture and natural resources, such as a deterioration in environmental quality and the challenge of climate change. To find solutions we need to employ a more realistic behavioural model than that typically used in economic analysis, and to recognise the key role played by values in individual and collective decision making. A more devolved approach to policy formation based on collective action seems to offer the greatest chance of success. More effort needs to be directed to understanding the drivers and processes of collective decision making, and how it can be harnessed to address pressing policy issues.     

Implementation of the forest expansion policy in the Netherlands in the period 1986–2007: Decline in success?

The current study explains why Dutch forest expansion policy is at risk of failure. To study the forest expansion implementation process we have chosen to further operationalize Matland's policy type implementation model to an extended and comprehensive typology of relevant implementation characteristics. In addition, a case study methodology with mixed-method design was used to collect and analyze the data. The Dutch forest expansion policy is currently an example of symbolic implementation. The symbolic implementation is a consequence of the absence of central guidance, the legislative complexity, the low policy stability, the lack of supporting conditions for policy innovation, the lack of regulatory responsiveness and the latent policy at state level and in many provinces. Nevertheless, the transferable development rights method of the province of Limburg is a promising innovation and forest expansion still happens, which is mainly the result of a good internal and external communication, an effective actor network of forest expansion advocates and the willingness to realize negotiated project aims that lead to a win–win situation for all actors involved. Nonetheless, it is expected that the forest expansion targets will be not reached, unless most of the above shortcomings are solved.     

Revitalized? An event study of forest policy reform in British Columbia

In response to the restricted market access and declining global competitiveness facing its domestic forest industry, the British Columbian government embarked on an ambitious plan of policy reform in 2003 termed the Forestry Revitalization Plan (FRP). Forest tenure was reallocated, regulations governing the structure of the industry were relaxed and the administered stumpage system was made more market-based. Using daily returns data on 13 publicly traded forest companies that operate in the province, the impact of the FRP was analyzed using event study techniques. Results show that the announcement of the FRP generated significant negative abnormal returns for several firms. These results appear to be due to the loss of forest tenure and highlight the difficulties associated with changing property rights to forest resources in Canada.     

The Dutch urban ground lease: A valuable tool for land policy?

Once heralded by both liberals and socialists as a tool for Dutch municipal governments to prevent land speculation and to implement spatial policies, a century later the Dutch ground lease (erfpacht) is now despised by many. The ground lease was the subject of strong debate in the recent past and is likely to remain so. It has been argued that lessees should have the right to become owner of the land, and this ‘right to buy’ has indeed been implemented in the land policies of several municipalities. The Dutch urban ground lease seems to be under serious pressure. Is it outdated or is it still a valuable tool for land policy? Before we answer this question, we firstly will provide an historical overview of Dutch ground lease. Secondly, the different types of ground lease will be elaborated. Thirdly, the focus will be on the urban ground lease used by Dutch municipalities and the developments in the use of this instrument. Fourthly, the recent policy changes will be dealt with, followed by an assessment.     

Forest management plan as a policy instrument: Carrot, stick or sermon?

Technical aspects of forest management planning as decision-support have been addressed in numerous scientific studies. However, forest management plans (FMPs) also play a significant, but largely neglected, role as forest policy instruments. We have examined the policy context and planning practices in two contrasting case countries, revealing striking differences in policy instrumentation. In Sweden, FMPs mainly serve for informational steering, with under-utilised potential for providing individualised advice. In Lithuania, the plans are primarily regulatory, serving for effective control but with several deficiencies, notably excessive costs and institutionalised corruption. The study demonstrates that policy analyses can be fruitfully grounded in the empirics of planning practices.     

Specialization or diversification? The situation and transition of households’ livelihood in agricultural heritage systems

Zhagana Agriculture-Forest-Animal Husbandry Composite System (ZCS) is the first Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems site in the Tibetan Plateau. Similar to many traditional agricultural regions, with the development of tourism and leisure agriculture, the peasant households in ZCS have gradually changed their livelihood strategies and livelihood activities in the past 10 years, resulting in the disappearance of some traditional farming methods and agricultural landscapes with a long history. By taking livelihood assets as the entry point and livelihood strategies as the core, this paper analyzed the basic situation of households’ livelihood and the transition mechanism of different livelihood strategies in order to offer suggestions for the dynamic conservation and sustainable development of Agricultural Heritage Systems (AHS). (1) The livelihood strategies of peasant households in ZCS can be divided into two major categories: specialized strategies and diversified strategies. (2) According to the empirical calculation of the livelihood asset accounting framework of AHS, the average livelihood asset value of peasant households in ZCS is 2.040, showing that the situation of peasant households’ livelihood is inadequate. (3) The transition of peasant households’ livelihood strategies from traditional strategy to specialized or diversified livelihood strategies is mainly influenced by natural assets, human assets, cultural assets, social assets and informational assets. In order to meet the growing material and spiritual needs of peasant households and achieve the sustainable development of ZCS simultaneously, it is suggested that the agriculture-forestry-animal husbandry-tourism composite strategies shall be taken as the development direction of peasant households’ livelihood strategies.     

Dynamics in national agri-environmental policy implementation under changing EU policy priorities: Does one size fit all?

Over the past 30 years, Agri-Environmental Policies (AEP) in the EU have developed with relative national autonomy and according to the subsidiarity principle. The environmental directives represent an increase in EU-level environmental ambitions and challenge the current implementation of EU AEP by creating an increasingly demanding set of regulations with which each member state must comply. National AEP implementation may, however, maintain original characteristics and fail to adopt or transform as EU policy implementation proceeds or when EU policies develop. This creates a potential gap between EU policies and national policy implementation resulting in the ensuing national policy dynamics and adaptations becoming issues of interest. This raises a central question regarding the extent to which national AEP implementation can help us predict whether AEP will be suitable to achieve environmental directive objectives nationally in the future. In this paper, we first investigate the dynamics in the implementation of national Agri-Environmental Schemes (AES) through changes in (i) AES policy objectives over time, (ii) administrative implementation structures, and (iii) administrative policy decision structures in the Netherlands, Denmark, Greece, Austria and Romania. Second, we examine the extent to which various factors have influenced the development of national policies over time. The study identifies development based on the theory of ‘process of institutional change’, i.e. we qualitatively estimate the costs of change based on proposed factors including economic conditions in relation to AES implementation, political institutional capacity, policy legacy, policy preferences, and current discourse. On this background, we identify differences in implementation strategies or outcomes in terms of inertia, absorption and transformation, which are characteristic of the national responses to changing AEP at the EU level. We discuss AES dynamics; whether policy content or structures should be in focus for future policy design and the implications of these findings for the future role of AEP in fulfilling environmental directives and argue why a one size fits all rule does not adequately cover current AES development.     

Urban green infrastructure in Europe: Is greenspace planning and policy compliant?

Urban green infrastructure (UGI) planning, based on certain principles, has emerged as a way to conceptualise connected greenspace in urbanised environments. This is achieved through the application of processes and approaches linked to policy themes to which the concept can significantly contribute. Taken together the processes, approaches and policy themes constitute the principles of UGI, which when adopted can promote, maintain and enhance quality of life in resource-efficient, compact and climate-resilient cities. In this study we explore the extent to which strategic greenspace planning in Europe is UGI compliant, as we hypothesised that the above principles are presently under-represented in planning documents and policies. This was accomplished by conducting a comparative analysis of the adoption of UGI principles in current practices of greenspace planning across European city-regions based on a systematic review of previous data and reports. The study found that many UGI principles and related concepts are present to some degree in strategic greenspace planning in Europe. However, gaps exist with regard to their scope and level of consideration. Presently, conservation emerges as the predominant task in strategic urban greenspace planning. However, enhancing network connectivity is key to the development of UGI, hence a greater focus on the restoration and creation of greenspace is required in the future. Based on our analysis it can be concluded that the advancement towards UGI planning is well established and progressing, although some areas are markedly under-represented. Strategic greenspace planning in Europe, with a few exceptions, requires further development to be effectively considered as UGI compliant.     

Reversal of fortune? The long-term effect of conservation-led displacement in Nepal

Building on a panel data-set using two rounds of self-administered surveys, this study assesses the long-term welfare effects of conservation-led displacement in Nepal. Empirical findings indicate that while displaced households suffered from poor land productivity and food insecurity in the first five years after displacement, they appear to be better off today, a decade since displacement, compared to non-displaced households. However, this has come at the expense of loosening social ties, increased strain on human capital and, most importantly, an overall deterioration in people’s socio-cultural wellbeing.     

Renewal of land-use term for urbanization in China: Sword of Damocles or Noah’s Ark?

Since early 2016, the expiration of a part of the land-use rights in China has elicited widespread public concern because of the ambiguous interpretation of relevant legal clauses. Land-finance-based urbanization is the primary fiscal source of Chinese local governments, but it has been considered unsustainable by many scholars. Numerous studies have been conducted on these two issues, but a comprehensive study that combines both issues is needed. This study attempts to analyze the relations between the two concepts from the perspective of demographic change in the following decades. It proposes a compensatory mechanism based on land-use term and property tax to deal with the renewal of land-use term and the unsustainability caused by land finance. Results provide an alternative approach for the local government to realize sustainable urbanization in the future.