Pesticide use in Vietnamese vegetable production: a 10-year study

Vietnam has had varying success over the past decade with its pesticides policy. Some of the most toxic pesticides have been banned from the market. But while many countries have successfully decreased agricultural pesticide use per hectare, this has not (yet) happened in Vietnam. Due to insufficient pesticide management capacity of the Vietnamese government, pesticide types and quantities registered and distributed on the market have substantially increased in Vietnam over the last 10 years. A 10-year monitoring programme at farm level showed that pesticide use follows the increasing pesticide availability on the market, and many toxic and illegal pesticides are still being used. In an agricultural country dominated by millions of small-scale farmers and with limited state capacity for control at farm level, reduction of the use of the most toxic pesticides can best be achieved by more effective pesticide market control through stricter and more effective state regulations and implementation, aimed at eliminating illegal, low quality and counterfeit pesticides from the market. But even then, better state and private extension services, and greater state capacity for control and enforcement remain essential in enabling farmers to make better decisions about pesticide use.     

The River agreement in Italy. Resilient planning for the co-evolution of communities and landscapes

According to the “evolutionary” approach (Davoudi & Al., 2012), urban resilience implies that urban systems have capacity to react to several external disturbances - economic, social, environmental - regarding all components of urban governance and transforming itself in a new development model.River basins are considered an interesting space for experimental workshop on resilience, as a driver of territorial policy, for ordinary communities and landscapes, where the relationship between the sustainable use of territorial resources could led to new territorial strategies, as well as “promote managements synergies” at different levels of regional and local planning.River Agreements (RA) appear as an innovative governance method which can help in the drafting of potential plans and practices for the development of resilience in fluvial territories. It is a form of negotiated planning, that helps to involve social actors in order to: improve people’s knowledge of current territorial conditions and the effects of human activities; increase social awareness; include society in the identification and implementation of solutions; to encourage innovative changes in planning objectives and urban and architectural design, starting with the legal and planning framework of an Action Plan. Starting from the ‘80 s, RA were experimentally tested in Belgium and France and currently widespread also in Italy. In Piedmont Region (Italy), it is recognized as a successful territorial governance tool used to define shared strategies, measures, rules and projects. We will present the case study of the Sangone River Agreement as the first participate planning and design experience in Piedmont signed by local actors.     

Adjusting policy to institutional,cultural and biophysical context conditions: The case of conservation banking in California

This paper examines the political construction of a policy instrument for matching particular institutional, biophysical and cultural context conditions in a social–ecological system, using the case of conservation banking in California as an example. The guiding research question is: How is policy design negotiated between various actors on its way from early formulation of ideas and principles to an accepted policy solution on a state or national level? The underlying assumption is that in order for a policy instrument to be implemented, it has to be adjusted to various context conditions. That is, it has to become accepted by affected actors associated with the institutional framework, and it has to gain local validity for implementation by actors related to a particular ecological and cultural context. We assume that ideas about policy adjustments are not only functionalistic questions determined for example by the materiality of the resource it governs, but are constructed and politically negotiated because these ideas may differ among the mental models of the associated actors. These actors are stakeholders affiliated with the policy process, i.e. authorities, public and private organizations, interest groups, firms or think tanks dealing with, or being shaped by, the policy at different stages of its development.As a result certain context conditions and related concerns such as institutional interplay or match to ecological particularities become inscribed in policy design as an outcome of power struggles, values, and interests. These in turn may vary at different stages of policy development and implementation. Each time the instrument is transferred in a new setting it is likely that the incipient policy design may be opened-up and begin a mutual adjustment process among the newly concerned actors. Thus, such policy developments are not immutable but are dynamic. In this paper, the creation of fit for policies on conservation banking to the issue of species protection in the State of California and later to the U.S. environmental governance domain, are analyzed to understand the instrument's emergence and development toward an established policy solution. The focus is on the negotiation processes among the enrolled actors and their strategies for matching the instrument to certain institutional, cultural and ecological context conditions on different scales. Changes in policy design, its underlying influences, actors’ interests, conflicts and perceived effects are identified, respectively.     

Governance assessment of the UAVs implementation in Rwanda under the fit-for-purpose land administration approach

Conventional land tenure recording approaches to create a sustainable land administration system (LAS) have been found to be of limited value in developing countries. To respond to this challenge, the ‘fit-for-purpose’ (FFP) approach was developed. This approach has gained relevance in the last years and promotes the use of new technologies like unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to provide valuable base maps. Yet, contemporary failures demonstrate that technological innovations should consider the governance context when being implemented. Understanding the relevance of the FFP approach and acknowledging the importance of institutional factors in policy implementation, this research presents and applies the ‘Fit-for-purpose governance assessment framework’ (FGAF). The FGAF operationalises the seven elements of the FFP approach with five governance dimensions of the framework named Governance Assessment Tool (GAT). To apply FGAF, our selected case study is focused on the UAVs implementation in Rwanda. We conducted 37 semi-structured in-depth interviews, a pilot project with Rwandese stakeholders, and analysed several official documents and national reports. Additionally, UAV data collection was carried out to test the performance of the technology too. This research found that participation and flexibility are the governance qualities that present the main challenges, while inclusiveness, affordability, upgradability, attainability and reliability provide better opportunities to implement UAVs. Based on our case study, we conclude that the governance context favours a top-down approach for the implementation of the UAV technology in the LAS. For the sustainability of the LAS, the central government should incentivize participatory governance models for local and non-governmental actors. Also, strengthening the capacities of the field agencies at the district level through fiscal decentralisation can support the effective uptake of the UAV technologies in the LAS.     

Are pesticides risk decreasing? The relevance of pesticide indicator choice in empirical analysis

The reduction of adverse health and environmental effects from pesticide use is currently a top priority on the agricultural policy agenda. Efficient pesticide policies must take into account farmers’ application behavior, especially effects of pesticide use on economic risk. However, previous results regarding the direction of risk effects of pesticides are ambiguous. We show that the ambiguity in earlier studies could be due to the pesticide indicator selected. Indicators which fail to account for the heterogeneous properties of pesticides may be inapt for interpreting farmers’ pesticide use decisions. Our analysis, based on a rich panel dataset of Swiss wheat producers with highly detailed information on pesticide use, considers different pesticide indicators and multiple sources of uncertainty. Our key finding is that indicator choice affects the magnitude and sign of estimated risk effects. Estimates of pesticide productivity and risk effects are significantly higher for fungicides, and even reversed for herbicides when we measure pesticide use in simple quantity units (kilogram per hectare) - compared to the quality and intensity corrected Load Index. This means for example, that farmers will ceteris paribus use lower quantities of herbicides, but will increase the overall toxicity of the products applied with increasing risk aversion. We discuss implications of our findings for the design of pesticide policies and agricultural risk management instruments.     

联邦制森林治理:分权管理经验和潜在影响

80%以上的发展中国家和经济转轨国家正在进行着某种形式的分权试验。以11个国家(拥有全球森林总量60%以上)为例,简要描述了实施联邦制的主要林业国家当前的森林行政管理类型以及施政形式,认为分权后强化了跨部门联系的重要性,许多政府机构都介入了有关森林资源的各项决策;有效的森林治理取决于各种管理机构的能力;私营部门和民间组织在成功治理各种森林资源中也发挥着重要作用。从11国经验中分析了各种潜在优势、潜在危险,指出分权管理减少了中央政府的官僚和决策障碍,但会使全国性的政策协调、实施和监督变得困难。     

Failures of political decentralization in promoting network governance in the forest sector: Observations from Italy

Decentralization has been the most remarkable reform process that has occurred in the institutional arrangements and framework in Italy, a country of contrasts and contradictions with neglected – but increasing – forest resources and a limited range of actors’ networks able to make the sector more modern and dynamic. On the basis of a qualitative-based document analysis and observations collected in three case-study Regions (Veneto, Molise and Sicily), our paper aims to provide interpretations of the failures in network forest governance in Italy connected with the decentralization policy process. Our findings show that Italy is experiencing several of the recurrent problems highlighted for decentralization in other countries, including difficulties in creating the conditions for more network-based governance initiatives with the involvement of local community and civil society. Problems have been exacerbated by the financial and political crisis and the consequent spending review. However, some encouraging signals also exist.     

Can economic incentives encourage actual reductions in pesticide use and environmental spillovers?

Chemical pesticides constitute an important input in crop production. But their indiscriminate use can impact negatively agricultural productivity, human health, and the environment. Recently, attention is focused on the use of economic incentives to reduce pesticide use and its related indirect effects. The aim of this work is to assess the effectiveness of different economic instruments such as taxes and levies in encouraging farmers to decrease pesticide use and their environmental spillovers. A policy simulation model is employed using data from Dutch cash crop producers including two pesticide categories that differ in terms of toxicity and pesticides’ environmental spillovers. Four different instruments were selected for evaluation: pesticide taxes, price penalties on pesticides’ environmental spillovers, subsidies, and quotas. The results of the study indicate that even high taxes and penalties would result in a small decrease in pesticide use and environmental spillovers. Taxes that differentiate according to toxicity do not lead to substitution of high‐ with low‐toxicity pesticides. Subsidies on low‐toxicity products are not able to affect the use of high‐toxicity products. Pesticide quotas are more effective in reducing pesticide use and environmental spillovers.     

A Meta‐Analysis on the Elasticity of Demand for Pesticides

There is an increasing policy interest in pesticide taxation schemes as a measure to reduce harmful effects of pesticide use. The effectiveness of such tax depends, however, on the price elasticity of demand for pesticides. Moreover, information on these demand elasticities and their determinants is of crucial relevance for policy‐making and normative modeling approaches. In this article, we present a meta‐analysis based on studies that have estimated pesticide demand elasticities in Europe and North America. Our meta‐analysis reveals that the own‐price elasticities of demand for pesticides are, with a median of ?0.28, significantly smaller than zero, but also significantly larger than ?1, i.e. to be inelastic. We find that the demand for pesticides for special crops is less elastic than that for arable and grassland. In addition, the demand for herbicides is more elastic than for other pesticides. Studies that consider only short‐term horizons and little flexibility for farmers to adjust to price changes generate significantly less elastic pesticide demands. The results also indicate that more recent studies identify lower pesticide price elasticities of demand. Furthermore, we find that peer‐reviewed studies tend to find more inelastic results compared to grey literature.     

宅基地有偿使用制度实施效果差异及原因诊断研究——基于利益相关者视角

本文基于利益相关者视角,重点对宅基地有偿使用制度实施效果的差异进行考察,在全县域定量分析的基础上,采用典型案例与问卷调查相结合的方法,从乡镇政策目标取向、乡村治理模式、村民选择行为等方面对实施效果的差异性进行分析.结果表明,全县的实施效果存在差异;乡镇政策目标取向的不同使其实施效果也存在差异性;乡贤治理模式的村庄退出效...     

Pesticide productivity,host-plant resistance and productivity in China

Pesticides are used as the primary method of pest controf in Asian rice production. Conditions in China have led to demand for high and increasing rice yields, resulting in intensive cultivation and adoption of fertilizer responsive varieties. The consequence has been widespread pest infestations. Many studies have estimated pesticide productivity, but few have estimated the productivity of alternative methods ot pest control, namely host-plant resistance. None have estimated the substitutability between these methods of pest-control. The productivity of pesticides and host-plant resistance, and the substitutability between them is measured using two-stage Cobb-Douglas and translog production functions. Under intensive rice production systems in eastern China, pesticide productivity is low compared to the productivity of host-plant resistance. In fact, returns to pesticide use are negative at the margin. Host-plant resistance is an effective substitute for pesticides and substantial reductions in pesticide use could be achieved, with no loss in rice production, through improvements in host-plant resistance. These results suggest that pesticides are being overused in eastern China and host-plant resistance is being underutilized. Government policies to promote increased pesticides in rice might be ill advised given the low productivity and negative returns, particularly in light of well known negative externalities associated with pesticide use.     

Cross-level information and influence in mandated participatory planning: Alternative pathways to sustainable water management in Germany's implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive

State and non-state actors increasingly work across scales to address complex environmental problems. Prior studies of stakeholder participation have not fully examined how collaborative processes play out in multi-level policymaking. At the same time, multi-level governance studies do not adequately investigate the impacts of stakeholder participation. This study examines the cross-level interactions of influence and information in the participatory implementation of the European Union's Water Framework Directive. This directive is an example of mandated participatory planning, a relatively new approach that engages grassroots collaboration through a top-down structure with nested policy cycles. A case analysis of three collaborative planning units in the Land of Lower Saxony, within the federal governance structure of Germany, finds limited influence and information transmission across levels via formal planning and implementation processes. However, the collaborative efforts did yield alternative pathways for achieving substantive progress toward the directive's aims via learning, coordination, and buy-in among participants.     

Exclusive versus inclusive devolution in forest management: Insights from forest land allocation in Vietnam's Central Highlands

The devolution of forest management is high on the agenda in international forest policy. Devolution is generally conceived as a policy that aims to include a more diverse set of actors in forest management. One of the most problematic outcomes of devolution policies, therefore, is their tendency to exclude the claims of some local actors. This paper examines the exclusionary effects of devolutions in settings characterized by overlapping state and customary regulations and links these effects to exclusive notions of property and governance contained in particular devolution policies. The paper draws on insights gained in a pilot initiative of forest devolution in Vietnam's Central Highlands. Forest land allocation, as the initiative is called in Vietnam, took an exclusive approach to devolution by assigning ownership-type rights on forest to local actors, obliging those to protect the forest against encroachment by other actors, and centering governance in the state. In this particular case, exclusive devolution failed to diminish the gap between state and customary regulations, created conflicts among local actors, and contributed to forest loss. The unintended outcomes of exclusive devolution suggest the need for an inclusive approach to devolution that accommodates diverse kinds of overlapping claims made by multiple actors. The key elements of inclusive devolution are proprietary but not ownership rights granted to individual users and nested governance relations involving state and customary actors.     

Compliance and market exclusion in Brazilian agriculture: Analysis and implications for “soft” governance

“Soft” or “hybrid” governance holds considerable promise in attempts to reconfigure state-market-society relationships toward improved environmental outcomes. “Soft” governance processes in Brazil's globally competitive, high-input/output agriculture sector have major implications for landuse policies. Here we identify and analyze two emergent processes, a compliance regime and bioregion-based market exclusion approach, that stand out amid a background of conflicts between agricultural land uses and environmental regulation. We address the effectiveness of “soft” governance, using a framework that focuses on interactions among state and non-state actors, use of geographic information, relations to global processes, and discourse. These policies may play an important role in bridging the divide between environmental and agricultural interests, but market and state actors, and the uneven effects of globalization, will influence effectiveness. Our framework for analyzing governance processes should complement future work that directly measures environmental outcomes.     

农药包装废弃物多元共治的协同机制与实现路径——基于河北省3个村庄的案例观察

目的 凝炼总结河北省农药包装废弃物多元共治的模式,剖析其协同机制与实现路径,为深入推进农药废弃物治理工作提供建议。方法 文章基于协同治理理论,采用多案例研究法,从协同环境、协同结构、协同过程3个维度,探究了海市村、李营村、柳林屯村农药包装废弃物多元共治的实践模式与协同机制。结果 （1）案例村形成了政府合同外包、党建引领、经营主体带动3类多元共治模式。（2）政府政策驱动、多元关系网络构建、资源要素共享融通,协同实现了治理目标,但不同模式下协同治理机制不同。（3）协同环境的政策效力方面,海市村制度的刚性约束增能效果显著,李营村、柳林屯村的非正式制度更好稳定了协同秩序;协同结构的联结机制方面,政府合同外包中委托—代理机制保障了高回收率及低监管成本,党建引领模式中信任关系使主体间协同治理效率较高;经营主体带动模式中关系嵌入与合约治理增强了农户履约能力;协同过程的要素配置方面,海市村专项资金及数字技术支撑作用强,李营村及柳林屯村则侧重于培养协同治理人才。结论 政府应健全协同治理制度、培育协同治理组织载体、畅通协同治理资源渠道、提升协同治理空间聚合效能、增强多元主体文化认同。     

基于SWOT分析的寿光市设施蔬菜减施农药对策研究

[目的]农药作为蔬菜生产中主要的投入品,在杀虫灭菌、控草护田、生长调节等方面发挥着重要作用,对于保障蔬菜供给意义重大。但是在设施蔬菜种植过程中,由于不合理、过量施用农药导致出现部分蔬菜产品农残超标、农药污染农田生态环境等问题,推进农药减施刻不容缓。[方法]文章运用SWOT分析方法研究寿光市设施蔬菜种植中减施农药的内外部条件,根据有利因素和不利因素调整发展思路,改善农药的不合理使用现状。[结果]通过分析发现,寿光市设施蔬菜种植中减施农药的优势是资源条件好、农户蔬菜种植经验丰富、安全用药意识高;劣势是病虫害抗药性渐强、农户传统的用药习惯根深蒂固且减施农药意愿低;机遇是消费者的需求升级、科学技术水平提高以及相关减施政策实施;挑战是当前市场竞争激烈且政府监管欠佳。[结论]推进设施蔬菜农药减施应采取以下对策:(1)统防统治与绿色防控技术并举,保障蔬菜的质量安全和生物多样性的发展;(2)提升意识与科学用药并重,促进当地蔬菜生产稳定发展;(3)政府监管与信息共享统筹,规范农资市场和农产品市场的交易行为;(4)农业保险与农业补贴兼顾,建立起适度超前、开放灵活政策保障体系。     

The relevance of governance models for estuary management plans

The latest theories on the governance of water resources point to the need to adopt integrated approaches, allowing the mediation of conflict between public and private interests by building consensus to include the participation of stakeholders and civil society in formulating and implementing policies, thereby ensuring their legitimacy. Models of governance have particular relevance in the context of estuaries, because of the complexity associated with them. Estuaries are areas where valuable, highly sensitive and diverse natural systems coexist, which are frequently threatened by the numerous human activities concentrated there. They are also areas where several organizations overlap, with their own jurisdictions and management instruments and where there is a wide range of users with distinct interests. At a time when the Planos de Ordenamento de Estuários (POE) (Estuary Land Use and Management Plan), a new tool for water resource management and planning, are being drawn up in Portugal, this paper discusses the specificities of the new Portuguese estuary plans, as well as associated potentials and constraints to further understand how water resources and land use policies may effectively be integrated in estuary contexts. It critically analyses the Portuguese legal framework established for these plans, arguing that, in spite of the novelty of the newly defined legal measures to better plan and manage estuaries, implementation of its ambitious objectives requires a robust governance model for plan preparation and implementation. Taking into account the main institutional features of complex estuaries with various agencies, stakeholders and users, as well as relevant governance principles, this paper proposes a governance model capable of enriching the implementation of estuary plans by contributing to a stronger involvement of all stakeholders and users in the construction of the plan, allowing conciliation of interests and participation in decision-making, within a framework of collaborative governance. Whilst the paper focuses on the Portuguese Law, the approach adopted is also of interest to other countries to assessing estuary planning regulations and associated collaborative measures.     

Agreement based land consolidation – In perspective of new modes of governance

A comparative study on the performance of new modes of governance in selected Central and Eastern European countries stated the problem that the emergence of new modes of governance in environmental policy is impaired by weak governance capacities in state and civil society and lack of mutual trust among stakeholders (Börzel, 2009a). The purpose of this article is to draw attention to agreement based land consolidation for implementation of area based environmental policies. The article contends that land consolidation exclusively based on agreements can cope with capacity constraints in state and civil society and at the same time apply the principles of new modes of governance. The research questions are: (i) how are principles of new modes of governance applied in agreement based land consolidation? (ii) what are the incentives and the technique in agreement based land consolidation? and (iii) what are the capacity building requirements for an agreement based land consolidation approach? The Danish land consolidation procedure is used as an example of an agreement based approach. Transaction technique, planning technique, and incentives are exposed with reference to transaction cost theory. The impact on trust is illuminated with reference to theory on social capital. The wetland projects serve as an example of area based environmental projects and is illustrated by a case. Data, however incomplete, indicate that agreement based land consolidation has been and is used as an important implementation tool in land related environmental policies in Denmark. The article concludes that the agreement based approach displays key features of new modes of governance. The principle of voluntary agreements grants the affected non-state actors a strong position to influence the final policy outcome and they contribute with local knowledge and mediation. The approach avoids conventional enforcement. Agreement based land consolidation is possible but relies on demanding preconditions. The investment in incentives and capacity building can be justified by a broad range of benefits.     

Examining the policy needs for implementing nature-based solutions in cities: Findings from city-wide transdisciplinary experiences in Glasgow (UK), Genk (Belgium) and Poznań (Poland)

To advance the science and practice of implementing nature-based solutions in cities, it is important to examine the obstacles and provide means to overcome them. This paper presents a conceptual framework of policy needs for analysing the science of nature-based solutions’ implementation and connect it to the practice of their implementation that advances the literature by connecting well-researched gaps to a more innovative action-oriented policy development approach that we argue is required for embedding scaled-up nature-based solutions. We conceptualise and ground the policy needs framework of skills, knowledge and partnerships theoretically in current literature of NBS policy and planning and empirically in three European case study cities: Genk in Belgium, Glasgow in UK and Poznan in Poland. The cross-case study analysis points to the knowledge needs of systems’ thinking and solutions-oriented thinking as paramount for implementing nature-based solutions. Our analysis further points to the skills’ needs of negotiation and collaboration for administrative silo bridging and for forging multi-sectoral partnerships essential for planning, and co-managing NBS. We conclude with three ways forward to addressing the policy needs for implementation: first, cities can invest in tailored and targeted capacity building programs, second, institutional spaces need to be established that allow for collaborative learning through and for partnerships and third, cities need to chart governance innovations that promote evidence-based policy for nature-based solutions’ design and implementation.     

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.