Sustainability dimensions related to agricultural-based development: the experience of 50 years of intensive farming in Almería (Spain)

In the context of the current agri-food market, several factors have made it increasingly difficult to balance the components of sustainability in agricultural-based development. These factors include increasing internationalization, tighter control of distribution and frequent changes in agricultural policies. Indeed, in the framework of European rural policy there has been considerable debate in recent years concerning the role of the agricultural sector and how it should face the following challenges: productivity-competitiveness, environmental protection and socio-economic development. There is, therefore, a growing need for practical analyses that adopt a holistic approach. This paper analyses how this sector in the province of Almería (Spain), based on horticultural family farms, has risen to the above issues over recent decades. This case study provides some insights into the different trade-offs and synergies between sustainability dimensions. In particular, the integration of ecological, social and economic components may prove useful in helping other regions to adapt their agricultural systems, especially where these are characterized by small-scale farming.     

Land use regulation and social regulation: an unexplored link. Some reflections on the origins and evolution of sprawl in the Veneto “città diffusa”

While the question of social and political regulation (in Polanyi’s sense) in areas characterized by industrial districts and systems of SMEs is well-known, alongside the effects of globalization in such situations, the role of land use regulation as a public policy has been underestimated. The sprawl that connotes these situations (and in particular our case-study, the Veneto region) has usually been intended as the product of a laissez-faire orientation. In our paper, we try instead to demonstrate that sprawl, in the golden age of development, has been intentionally pursued, through specific technical mechanisms and widely accepted policy discourses. The “planned sprawl” has been largely socially shared, and significantly contributed to, by a peculiar embeddedness of the public action in market and reciprocity mechanisms, to social integration and economic effectiveness, until the change of international division of labor, social and cultural transformations, and the rise of severe negative externalities as unintended consequence of the “planned sprawl”. Moreover, the paper discusses the lack of effectiveness of the recent regional reform of territorial planning in coping with the new social and economic requirements, compared to the variety of urban projects based on a governance style.     

美国环保休耕计划的做法与经验

美国自1986年开始实施的环保休耕计划(ConservationReserveProgram,简称CRP)与我国正在实施的退耕还林还草计划相似,是政府提供补贴,农民自愿参加,以生态建设为主要目的休耕和植被恢复项目。项目实施以来,建立了一套以政策手段与市场机制相结合,以优化成本效益为导向,兼顾环境社会效益与农民利益的补贴及管理机制。文章将对项目实施办法及效益评估等方面的问题做一简介,希望对我国正在实施的退耕还林还草工程有所借鉴。     

Farmer participation in agri-environmental schemes: Regionalisation and the role of bridging social capital

European agri-environmental schemes are being criticised for reinforcing rather than negating an opposition between agricultural production and environmental production, and for assuming instead of securing a public willingness to pay for agri-environmental change. This paper explores if a regionalisation of agri-environmental governance may contribute to overcome these criticisms. The paper empirically explores three regionalised agri-environmental schemes from Flanders, Belgium, with the use of 40 qualitative interviews with farmers and other relevant stakeholders. Building on the Bourdieusian theory of capital and the conceptual distinction between bonding and bridging social capital, the paper analyses whether and why the regionalised arrangements incited farmers to integrate environmental production in their farm management to meet other regional stakeholders’ demands for agri-environmental change. In doing so, the paper particularly focuses on the role of bridging social capital in fostering farmer participation in agri-environmental governance, which is a topic that—despite a growing scholarly recognition of the importance of social capital in mediating farmers’ environmental behaviour—has to date received scant conceptual and empirical attention. The paper reveals that farmers principally participated in the regionalised agri-environmental schemes to enhance the long-term viability of their agricultural businesses by building up more cooperative and appreciative, bridging social ties with other regional stakeholders. Notably, such participation is only likely to be substantive and lead to long-term, pro-environmental behaviour change of farmers, if farmers actually succeed in building up bridging social capital by receiving other regional stakeholders’ appreciation for their agri-environmental work. The paper ends with discussing the implications of these findings for the future design and implementation of socially and ecologically robust agri-environmental schemes.     

郭坑回族村乡村旅游博弈模型实证研究

随着社会经济的快速发展,乡村旅游的开发逐渐受到人们关注,乡村旅游产业的发展进一步推动了农村经济的可持续发展。文章借鉴前人研究成果,构建了博弈模型,应用博弈模型假设对政府与投资企业之间形成的合法经营与非法经营、监督治理与不监督治理的博弈关系进行研究。以郭坑回族村为例,通过问卷调查及专家讨论方式搜集相关数据,对利益方之间的合作与不合作进行博弈分析,分析了资源开发与环境保护之间的辩证关系,以获得适合景区资源开发与环境保护关系的最佳方案。该文根据博弈分析结果提出了郭坑回族村乡村旅游发展对策,为实现乡村旅游的可持续发展提供宝贵意见。     

The challenges to urban agriculture in the Sydney basin and lower Blue Mountains region of Australia

The western edge of the Sydney basin in Australia has been one of the major sources of fruit and vegetables for the Sydney markets. A rapid expansion of urban development in this region has caused a significant reduction in the number of small farms and market gardens. Urban and peri-urban agriculture in the region also provides an important buffer between urban development and the neighbouring Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. The decline in urban agriculture can be attributed to various causes including urban expansion and economies of scale. This paper presents an overview of a four-year project that explored options for supporting these vulnerable farming communities both in terms of the regulatory factors and economic and environmental sustainability. The role of agri-industries as landscape buffers to the neighbouring World Heritage Area was investigated in relation to resilience, communities of practice, and ecosystem services. The study developed tools, in conjunction with targeted representative landholders, that can assist in enhancing the economic and environmental resilience of these agri-industries. These tools included an integrated bio-system approach to waste using organic waste conversion, and the use of landscape function analysis to monitor across farms to help address erosion, loss of nutrients and inefficient water management.     

Reconstructing the Maize Market in Rural Mexico

The transition in Mexico from a maize market once characterized by heavy state intervention along the entire maize–tortilla chain to the ‘free market’ of today has been a long and complex process. Over two decades, the production of maize has seen a radical transition both in the geographical location of maize agriculture and the type of farmers growing maize. In this paper, I argue that the restructuring of the domestic maize supply is due to policy decisions to support private agents in the maize market; hence the state did not withdraw its involvement but, rather, has had a key role in the construction of the ‘free’ maize market, with the result that domestic supply for the market is concentrated in the hands of relatively few agents and in relatively few regions. I discuss the background to these policies and analyse the programmes implemented by the state agency ASERCA (Apoyos y Servicios a la Comercialización Agropecuaria) that support the commercialization of maize.     

中国林业企业开展森林经营认证的动力与经济效益分析

林业企业开展森林认证的动力和效益对于森林认证持续健康发展非常关键。在对中国森林认证现状进行分析的基础上,结合问卷调查和实地调研,分析了中国林业企业开展森林认证的动力与经济效益。结果表明:满足国际市场需求,获取市场利益,是林业企业开展森林认证的主要动力,而提升企业形象,保护环境等非市场利益以及非政府组织、金融组织以及政府等各方的支持也起到了重要的推动作用。森林认证已得到林业企业的初步认可,但目前的经济效益仍不稳定和显著。     

The role of collaborations in the development and implementation of sustainable livestock concepts in The Netherlands

This paper discusses the role of collaborations in the development and implementation of sustainable livestock farming. The study reflects upon the experiences with two innovative pig farming concepts in the Netherlands that aim to address sustainability-related concerns regarding the economic viability, environmental impact and social responsibility of livestock production. The findings show that collaborations can result in smarter and innovative solutions and provide support in the development of more sustainable farming concepts. The study also shows that collaborations do not safeguard the implementing of these concepts in practice. Pioneers are confronted with higher production costs and the complex context of agricultural policies and regulations. These pioneering efforts are, however, the seeds for change, and the key ingredient for a transition towards more sustainable production. We rely upon their innovations, social networks and learning experiences in the transition towards more sustainable production. Therefore, pioneers need to be protected from market influences and regulatory barriers, and supported by intermediaries when developing novelties for a more sustainable agriculture. The findings emphasize the need for more knowledge exchange and understanding between farmers, policy-makers and researchers to navigate towards a more sustainable agriculture in the future.     

The Consequences of Cobenefits for the Efficient Design of Carbon Sequestration Programs

In this paper, we study the social efficiency of private carbon markets that include trading in agricultural soil carbon sequestration when there are significant cobenefits (positive environmental externalities) associated with the practices that sequester carbon. Likewise, we investigate the efficiency of government run conservation programs that are designed to promote a broad array of environmental attributes (both carbon sequestration and its cobenefits) for the supply of carbon. Finally, policy design and efficiency issues associated with the potential interplay between a private carbon market and a government conservation program are studied. Empirical analyses for an area that represents a significant potential source of carbon sequestration and its associated cobenefits illustrate the magnitude and complexity of these issues in real world policy design.     

On the Relationship Between Aquaculture and Reduction Fisheries

Recently, there has been a growing concern that increased aquaculture production poses an environmental threat to the species targeted in so‐called reduction fisheries, the main source for fishmeal. The argument is that increased aquaculture production leads to higher feed demand, and then presumably to higher fishing effort in these fisheries. In this paper we address whether aquaculture production threatens sustainability of such fisheries. First, we ask under which management regimes can increased demand pose a threat to the species in question? Second, we investigate what is the market for fishmeal; is fishmeal a unique product or is it part of the larger market for protein meals which includes Soyameal? This is an important issue since the market structure for fishmeal is a key factor in determining whether increased aquaculture production can affect fishmeal prices, and thereby increase fishing pressure in reduction fisheries.     

Problems for the plantations: Challenges for large‐scale land concessions in Laos and Cambodia

Large‐scale plantation land concessions are causing an array of serious social and environmental impacts in Southeast Asia as well as in other parts of the world. This paper, however, is focused on the many challenges and limitations that plantation developers face in southern Laos and northeastern Cambodia. These include price and market constraints, activism linked to villagers and others actors, management and financial difficulties, environmental and technical limitations, and limited government support. Investor responses to these challenges and limitations have varied. Some investors still hope that their plantations will succeed, while others have variously attempted to cut their losses and withdraw from failing investments. In particular, this paper considers how problems associated with plantation development often emerge due to fluctuating crop prices as well as poor planning that partially stems from investors adopting a “resource frontier” mindset.     

Strategic public land use assessment and planning in Victoria,Australia: Four decades of trailblazing but where to from here?

While various attempts have been made to establish strategic environmental assessment (SEA) processes and institutions in various jurisdictions within Australia, the success of these often short lived attempts at institutional approaches for managing public land use conflict has been patchy. The experience in the State of Victoria has been somewhat different, with public land use assessment and planning having been informed by a series of independent statutory bodies since 1970 (the Land Conservation Council, Environment Conservation Council, and Victorian Environmental Assessment Council). These SEA bodies have played a major role in mediating environmental conflict over public land use, and have significantly contributed to the increased size and coverage of Victoria's protected area system. However, while there has always been a statutory body in operation, the roles and responsibilities of these bodies have been subject to significant legislative change, with existing bodies replaced by new bodies in 1997 and 2001. Justifications for these reforms included changing circumstances and new understandings about environmental management, as well as changing views about public administration. As a way of contributing to enhancing the design of institutions and processes for strategic environmental assessment, this paper provides an assessment of Victoria's approach and discusses possible future directions.     

The politics of environmental market instruments: Coalition building and knowledge filtering in the regulation of forest certificates trading in Brazil

Market instruments for environmental governance have a foundation in an economic theorythat claims to be universal and atemporal, but their materialization in practice always takes place in specific socioeconomic and political contexts. The Brazilian trade in forest certificates (CRA) is a new market instrument that allows farmers that have deforested illegally prior to 2008 to become compliant by acquiring certificates from other farmers that conserve a forest area beyond legal requirements. Even though the CRA market has been praised as an innovative environmental policy, it is still unclear whether it will be implemented even after more than two decades of political debate, congressional approval of legislation and substantial investments in new supporting systems. This research paper aims to analyze the materialization of this market by reconstructing how policy participants form advocacy coalitions (i.e. environmental protection, market viability and agricultural consolidation) to advance their interests. Our results show that advocacy coalitions filter (i.e. absorb, reject or transform) new ideas, experiences and knowledge in order to influence the regulations for forest certificate trading. In doing so, they often combine positions, form new alliances and merge with other advocacy coalitions in accordance with the interests of their constituents. These fluid allegiances within and between coalitions explain why market materialization remains ambiguous and unlikely to become operational in the near future.     

Motivations for implementing voluntary environmental actions in Argentine forest companies

Several motivations play an important role in the design and implementation of voluntary environmental actions in forestry, which include systems and procedures of production that minimize environmental impacts and satisfy eco-demanding customers. The aim of this study was to explore what motivations inspire forest managers from large landholding companies in the Northeast of Argentina to implement voluntary actions and how these motivations are perceived outside the companies. To achieve the objective we compared the opinion of private foresters and companies’ external consultants who scored motivations based on their importance as driving forces for environmental initiatives. The findings were also compared with motivations described for North American foresters. Multiple factors motivated the companies to participate in voluntary environmental actions following a four driver model with five motivational mechanisms defined as Learning, Signaling, Economic, Legal and Moral. Results showed that of the thirteen analyzed motivations, only two: effective resource management and corporate social responsibility differed significantly between Argentine foresters and consultants and were higher ranked by foresters. Both corresponded to the motivational mechanism Signaling. Our findings confirm that market pressure (via forest production certification) or the enrichment of the company image (through corporate social responsibility) were major motivations but not the only ones. In coincidence with foresters in USA, legal followed by moral motivations were major drivers and were more valued than financial gains. In Argentina bottom up mechanisms influenced by the individual concern for the environment of the decision makers and other workers seemed to be distinctive. Discrepancies between Argentine foresters and consultants highlighted the need to address some improvement in management and communication beyond the company.     

Governing farmland conversion: Comparing China with the Netherlands and Germany

Farmland conversion has become an increasing concern in China and other parts of the world, including Europe and the USA. Be it for environmental or food security reasons, questions arise concerning how urbanization should be governed, i.e. what rules and regulations could enhance the efficiency and sustainability of land use. Taking a first step toward answering such questions, this paper describes different governance structures for farmland conversion in the Netherlands, Germany, and China. Secondly, it compares five identified differences between these countries in the realms of land property, land use planning, the role of the market, the role of government, and the performance of governance structures. The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach for comparing governance structures for land conversion that: (a) offers some opportunities for exchange of experience between the three countries and (b) provides a framework for further research on governance structures in farmland conversion.     

Allocation trade in Australia: a qualitative understanding of irrigator motives and behaviour*

Governments in Australia are purchasing water entitlements to secure water for environmental benefit, but entitlements generate an allocation profile that does not correspond fully to environmental flow requirements. Therefore, how environmental managers will operate to deliver small and medium‐sized inundation environmental flows remains uncertain. To assist environmental managers with the supply of inundation flows at variable times, it has been suggested that allocation trade be incorporated into efforts aimed at securing water. This paper provides some qualitative and quantitative perspective on what influences southern Murray–Darling Basin irrigators to trade allocation water at specific times across and within seasons using a market transaction framework. The results suggest that while irrigators now have access to greater risk‐management options, environmental managers should consider the possible impact of institutional change before intervening in traditional market activity. The findings may help improve the design of intervention strategies to minimise possible market intervention impacts and strategic behaviour.     

Australasian environmental economics: contributions,conflicts and ‘cop‐outs’*

Australian and New Zealand environmental economists have played a significant role in the development of concepts and their application across three fields within their subdiscipline: non‐market valuation, institutional economics and bioeconomic modelling. These contributions have been spurred on by debates within and outside the discipline. Much of the controversy has centred on the validity of valuations generated through the application of stated preference methods such as contingent valuation. Suggestions to overcome some shortcomings in the work of environmental economists include the commissioning of a sequence of non‐market valuation studies to fill existing gaps to improve the potential for benefit transfer.     

澳大利亚常规油气行业现状及行业特点分析——高收益行业的高风险挑战

澳大利亚常规油气行业中天然气在资源储量、供需、进出口方面呈现乐观的开发前景,而石油行业则一直呈下滑趋势。澳大利亚油气行业的优势和机遇：油气资源储量丰富且地理位置优越;现任政府支持能源行业发展;行业成熟且享有巨额利润空间;优质的投资环境。劣势和挑战：石油产业对外依存度越来越高;基础设施缺失影响东海岸油气供给;多项外部影响压榨利润空间;美国廉价天然气长期来讲将对市场形成冲击。投资策略：（1）分析价格走势、关注汇率利息;（2）把握亚太市场、提前锁定长协;（3）好社区工作、取得环境审批;（4）利用规模效益、严格控制成本。     

Who you know and when you plough? Social capital and agricultural mechanization under the new green revolution in Ghana

This paper examines the role of social capital in smallholder agriculture mechanization in Ghana under the ongoing agenda for transformation of African agriculture through the new green revolution. It contributes to the ongoing debate on the potential of social capital in explaining socioeconomic activity over time and space. Drawing on the experiences of smallholder farmers (n = 30) from Navrongo using qualitative interviews and focus group discussions, the paper explores how social capital networks shape mechanized service access and utilization among farmers and highlights the historical background to tractor-based mechanized farming in northern Ghana. Findings reveal how local farmers activate and operate in trustworthy social networks at the community level among themselves and externally with government agencies, traders and development partners to facilitate tractor access. The paper also finds that the withdrawal of government subsidies on agricultural services during structural adjustment in the 1980s created an avenue for private sector entry into the tractor service market. In recent times, the market is a blend of both public and private actors. Given the crucial role of social capital, this paper stresses that apart from economic factors, contemporary agricultural policy should build upon contextual sociocultural networks and the resources inherent in them.