Investigating stakeholder reactions to a bold salinity policy using a choice experiment

As a statement of policy, the Western Australian Salinity Investment Framework focuses attention on the benefits and costs of outcomes from the abatement of dryland salinity. Policy implementation would result in funds being spent unevenly across the landscape according to the value of assets protected, as well as the costs and effectiveness of treatments. This study used a choice experiment to investigate the reaction of rural stakeholders to the economic principles embodied in the Salinity Investment Framework. The results indicate that what matters is the type of assets protected, the risk of failure and the level of community involvement in the decision-making process; not the distribution of benefits. The results imply that the success of the Salinity Investment Framework, or other prioritised systems of resource management, in terms of community acceptance, does not necessarily rest upon distributional issues, and that other factors play a more crucial role. Policy makers could take this as a signal for the wider acceptance of decision frameworks that promote targeted investment according to public benefit.     

Integrated assessment of public investment in land-use change to protect environmental assets in Australia

A framework for comprehensive integrated assessment of environmental projects is developed and applied in partnership with a regional environmental body. The framework combines theory with practice, bringing a pragmatic and efficient approach to the rigorous assessment of projects for a large number of environmental assets in the north central region of the state of Victoria, Australia. The approach is codified as the Investment Framework for Environmental Resources (INFFER). The analysis assisted the environmental body to make strong business cases for a number of environmental projects, resulting in funding for those projects. Key features of the study include extensive participation of decision makers and stakeholders, integration of a comprehensive set of information about projects, explicit assessment of uncertainties and information gaps, and analysis of the most appropriate policy mechanism for each project. The process of applying the framework involved four steps: identification of around 300 important environmental assets in the region, filtering the list of assets to remove those that are less likely to provide opportunities for cost-effective public investment, development and detailed assessment of projects for a subset of assets, and negotiation of funding for projects. Implications for land-use policy include that environmental projects vary widely in their cost-effectiveness, requiring careful targeting of funds if environmental benefits are to be maximised. Many existing environmental programs use simplistic analyses to support decision making, resulting in missed opportunities for substantially greater environmental benefits. Promoting adoption of improved analytical methods is very challenging, requiring changes in mind-set and culture in environmental organisations. Widespread adoption is unlikely unless funders create incentives by rewarding those project proponents who undertake rigorous and comprehensive project assessments that focus on achievement of environmental outcomes.     

森林生态资产运营环境及利益相关者分析——以东北重点国有林区为例

应用经济学、政策学等原理对国有林区森林生态资产运营环境进行分析的结果表明:生态资产经营和管理具有其独特性,生态资产市场并未形成,国有林区森林生态资产的运营以政府投资为主;国有林区在森林生态资产市场化运营方面具有资源、成本、政策等优势条件,存在运营资金不足、生态理念缺失、资源结构性问题等阻碍因素。针对存在的阻碍因素,从政策网络角度对其利益相关者进行了分析,并提出实现国有林区森林生态良性运营的4个建议。     

Using an analytic hierarchy process approach to prioritize public policies addressing family farming in Brazil

In Brazil, some see intensive, large-scale production of sugarcane-based ethanol, based on a model of capital and land concentration, as a threat to the survival of family farming. Family farmers are increasingly under pressure to sell or rent land to mills where sugarcane monoculture is expanding. In this context, the government is working to formulate or change public policies in order to support farmer livelihoods in sugarcane growing regions. The present study is based on research conducted in the municipality of Ipiranga de Goiás, Goiás State, Brazil. It employs the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method, with participation of stakeholders at federal, state and municipal levels, to support public policy decision-making addressing family farming. The stakeholders prioritize environmental and economic benefits as the most important criteria requiring the attention of policy makers. Also, stakeholders agree that diversification of production is the most appropriate alternative for strengthening family farming. The AHP approach can be the starting point in the formulation of public policies. The approach helps ensure transparency, and it purposefully includes family farmer points of view. Policies derived from this process, therefore, may have a higher likelihood of being supported and accepted by farmers.     

Australia’s National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality: a retrospective assessment*

Perceptions of a salinity ‘crisis’ in Australia around 2000 resulted in the establishment of a major national program that aimed to prevent, stabilize, and reverse trends in salinity. The National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality allocated A$1.4 billion of public funds to 1700 projects over 7 years. Here, we assess the performance of the program in relation to 12 features that we propose as being essential for programs that aim to address complex environmental problems. The features include use of technical information to guide investment prioritization, use of socio‐economic information, effective integration of information for prioritization, selection of appropriate targets, choice of appropriate policy mechanisms, and provision of incentives and support to environmental managers to pursue environmental outcomes cost effectively. Our assessment reinforces findings from a number of public reviews that found serious weaknesses in the program. Overall, with a few exceptions, projects under the National Action Plan generated few worthwhile salinity mitigation benefits and will have little enduring benefit. This was readily foreseeable given attention to the scientific and economic knowledge of salinity available at the time the program was developed.     

Non‐market valuation: usage and impacts in environmental policy and management in Australia

An extensive literature exists on environmental nonmarket valuation research. It appears that results from these studies should be useful inputs to decision‐making about environmental policy or management. Here, we investigate the extent to which this occurs in practice in Australian environmental management bodies. Nonmarket valuation experts were surveyed about their studies that they believed to have influenced policy. Then, decision‐makers in environmental bodies were interviewed about the level of influence nonmarket valuation has had on their decisions. We find that researchers' perceptions of the influence that nonmarket valuation has on decision‐making are overly optimistic. Interviews with decision‐makers suggest that nonmarket valuation is little used in decision‐making. Indeed, the majority of them are unfamiliar with nonmarket valuation techniques. Nevertheless, once the concept was explained to them, many decision‐makers believed it could benefit environmental policy. Researchers' perceptions of the reasons for low usage of nonmarket valuation are largely inaccurate. We suggest a range of strategies that economists can use to promote the use of nonmarket valuation in environmental policy and management decisions, including ways to improve communication and engagement with decision‐makers, and strategies to increase the capacity for decision‐makers to use nonmarket valuation results.     

The Impact of Seed Policy Reforms and Intellectual Property Rights on Crop Productivity in India

The growth of private investment in developing‐country agriculture, new advances in the biological sciences, and rapid integration of developing countries into the global trading system has heightened interest in the topic of seed market and intellectual property rights’ (IPRs) policies among public policy‐makers, corporate decision‐makers and other actors in the agricultural sector. But there are still unanswered questions about whether emerging and evolving seed policy reforms and IPR regimes in developing countries will contribute to increasing crop productivity and improving food security. This paper attempts to answer some of these questions by focusing specifically on the case of India, the regional leader in implementing seed policy reforms and IPRs in agriculture. Findings indicate that maize and pearl millet yields grew significantly during the last two decades due partly to the combination of (1) public policies that encouraged private investment in India’s seed industry during the 1980s, and (2) biological IPRs conferred by hybridisation that conveniently married the private sector’s need for appropriability with the nation’s need for productivity growth. Although past lessons are not an indication of future success, this convergence of policy solutions and technology opportunities can be replicated for other crops that are vital to India’s food security.     

Does research applying the DPSIR framework support decision making?

The Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework was developed in the late 1990s to structure and organize indicators in a meaningful way. Since then, the framework has increasingly been applied in research projects with the aim of supporting decision making. A number of attributes of the framework regarding structuring and communication issues in research further strengthen its original purpose of bridging the science policy gap. We reviewed several studies that were mainly concerned with criticism and drawbacks of the DPSIR framework. Based on these studies and our own experiences in applying the DPSIR framework in an EU project to develop a decision support tool, we developed two criteria that we believe are crucial for policy relevant research: (a) the development of conceptual models integrating knowledge from different disciplines, specialists and policy makers, as well as those affected by their decisions; and (b) the potential to explain the results and analysis of research to different disciplines, specialists, stakeholders and the public and to demonstrate alternatives and provide decision options. We analyzed 21 studies using the DPSIR framework with regard to their relevance for decision making. We analyzed the definitions of the five DPSIR elements and whether specific end users were addressed in the respective studies. We found that in many studies, the DPSIR elements were defined in literature review or by researchers and that only a few studies targeted specific government authorities as users of research results. Eight out of 21 studies applied transdisciplinary research concepts and integrated broad ranges of stakeholder opinions and values into the research. Nine out of 21 studies presented alternative outcomes to decision makers and used the valuation of these outcomes by stakeholders to add further support to the decision-making process. The different positive and negative implications of the DPSIR framework are discussed with reference to research that supports policy making. Finally, we conclude that studies employing DPSIR may provide effective solutions for “real world problems” by taking into account additional criteria based on knowledge integration, stakeholder involvement and the provision of alternatives. Therefore, DPSIR is a useful tool to support decision making by means of showing solid evidence with alternatives and decision options, rather than by presenting predetermined solutions.     

An assessment of stakeholders’ participation in land use planning process of Luapula Province Planning Authority

The legal framework of Zambia has laws that support participatory land use planning process but there are no guidelines on how it should be done. Thus, the research aims at assessing if the Luapula Province Planning Authority (LPPA) has a land use planning process that incorporates effective stakeholders’ participation.The research is based on secondary data, especially the land use planning process in the Urban and Regional Planning (URP) Act No. 3 of 2015 of the Laws of Zambia and the participatory land use planning process of Kilimanjaro Region.The data analysed show that there is lack of effective stakeholders’ participation in the LPPA land use planning process; the LPPA land use planning process does not have the provision to capacity build stakeholders during the land use planning process; lack of participatory land use planning guidelines; the institutional framework under customary authority is not part of the land use planning process and the LPPA land use planning process is a top-down approach.The conclusions state that the legal and institutional frameworks in existence are inadequate for effective stakeholders’ participation in land use planning process of LPPA. In addition, the stakeholders are not incorporated in the LPPA land use planning process in terms of decision making but incorporated as reactants to the decisions made by the public authorities.The recommendations are that a National Land Use Planning Commission composed of representatives from stakeholder groups needs to be established. In addition, some sections of the URP Act No. 3 of 2015 of the Laws of Zambia need amendment inorder to have continuous feedback between the land use plan makers (planning firm(s) and planning authority) and the stakeholders. Furthermore, Village Councils must be given power to make decision by establishing them as Village Planning Authorities.     

An economic evaluation of bushfire prevention and suppression

The Fire Management Program (FMP) of the Victorian Department of Natural Resources and Environment is responsible for the prevention and suppression of fires on public land in the State of Victoria. This article reports on an economic evaluation of the net benefits of these fire management activities for a representative year. The FMP is calculated to yield high net benefits to Victoria from its investment in fire suppression and prevention, through a reduction in the value of agricultural, capital and forest assets which would otherwise be lost to bushfires.     

我国国家公园体制建设中利益相关者关系研究

我国自然保护地将国家公园作为主体,保护具有国家代表性的生态系统和自然景观的原真性和完整性,同时具有全民公益性。从利益相关者视角出发,以国家公园管理部门、旅游投资公司和社区居民为主要利益相关者,分析三者的行为目标与策略选择,通过三方博弈提出解决国家公园体制建设过程中的最优策略,即应改变管理部门与旅游投资企业在国家公园试点中进行不合作博弈的狭隘认知,而应选择国家公园管理部门、旅游投资企业和社区居民三方合作博弈。同时,提出了相应的建议以期进一步保护国家公园自然资源并将可持续利用制度顺利实行。     

Learning from Doing Participatory Rural Research: Lessons from the Peak District National Park

Understanding the socio‐economic and environmental implications of rural change requires the active participation of many research disciplines and stakeholders. However, it remains unclear how to best integrate participatory and biophysical research to provide information useful to land managers and policy makers. This paper presents findings of a RELU scoping study that has formulated and applied a research framework based on stakeholder participation and adaptive learning to model rural change in the Peak District National Park in the north of England. The paper describes a learning process that integrates different types of knowledge to produce future scenarios that describe possible economic and environmental changes due to a national review of burning practices on heather moorland and blanket bogs. We stress the need for using social network analysis to structure stakeholder engagement and outline how a range of participatory approaches can facilitate more inclusive environmental planning and policy development.     

How involved are they really? A comparative network analysis of the institutional drivers of local actor inclusion

Different socio-economic and environmental drivers lead local communities in mountain regions to adapt land use practices and engage in protection policies. The political system also has to develop new approaches to adapt to those drivers. Local actors are the target group of those policy approaches, and the question arises of if and how much those actors are consulted or even integrated into the design of local land use and protection policies. This article addresses this question by comparing seven different case studies in Swiss mountain regions. Through a formal social network analysis, the inclusion of local actors in collaborative policy networks is investigated and compared to the involvement of other stakeholders representing the next higher sub-national or national decisional levels. Results show that there is a significant difference (1) in how local actors are embedded compared to other stakeholders; and (2) between top-down versus bottom-up designed policy processes.     

Using IT approaches to promote public participation in renewable energy planning: Prospects and challenges

In response to recent policy initiatives and UK and European legislation there is increasing focus on alternative methodologies and procedures to encourage public participation in environmental planning. This paper is concerned with outlining those methodologies that involve the use of IT methods in enabling a possible consensus to be reached between participatory groups on decisions that may effect their local environment. Specifically, we focus on integrated approaches that involve the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) techniques in facilitating public participation using the case study of the planning of wind farms. The introduction of renewable energy technologies can be a particularly contentious issue in some areas of the UK and we draw on a review of the use of such software tools in order to highlight their application within a decision support system framework. One area where there has been less input from potentially affected local communities or stakeholders relates to the use of computer-generated visualisations in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process. We describe future research challenges facing those charged with encouraging participation in the siting of such facilities before re-iterating the policy relevance of this research given the UK governments’ stated commitment to the incorporation of public input into the decision-making process.     

The tragedy of the commons: property rights and markets as solutions to resource and environmental problems

In one way or another, all environmental and natural resource problems associated with overexploitation or under provision of public goods, arise from incompletely defined and enforced property rights. As a result private decision makers do not consider or internalize social benefits and costs in their production or investment actions. The gap between private and social net returns results in externalities – harmful effects on third parties: overfishing, excessive air pollution, unwarranted extraction or diversion of ground or surface water, extreme depletion of oil and gas reservoirs. These situations are all examples of the 'The Tragedy of the Commons'. In this paper, I consider options for mitigating the losses of open access: common or group property regimes, government tax and regulation policy, more formal private property rights. I briefly summarize the problems and advantages of each option and describe why there has been move toward rights-based instruments in recent years: ITQ (individual transferable quotas), tradable emission permits, and private water rights. Introductions to the papers in the special issue follow.     

Evaluating participation in WFD river basin management in England and Wales: Processes,communities, outputs and outcomes

Participatory environmental governance is increasing worldwide. One area where such governance forms are apparent is in the management of water resources. For example, in the European Union the Water Framework Directive mandates several forms of involvement via its legal obligations. Under the Directive, implementing agencies should provide information on river basin management planning to the public, consult citizens and stakeholders during planning and actively involve interested parties in the plan process. Yet questions arise over the success of participatory processes on the ground in EU member states. In this study, participation was therefore evaluated in WFD river basin planning in England and Wales using process, community, output and outcome-related indicators. Research was conducted through extensive quantitative and qualitative data collection over a long temporal scale within case analyses of the Anglian, Humber and South West river basin districts. Results suggest that while the first phase of river basin management largely met legal requirements, the actual success of participatory water governance was mixed. On this basis, recommendations are made for enhancing participation in future river basin planning through national and EU policy.     

Modelling the supply of ecosystem services from agriculture: a minimum‐data approach*

We argue that to support agriculture–environmental policy decision making, stakeholders need ‘quantitative back‐of‐the‐envelope’ analysis that is timely and sufficiently accurate to make informed decisions. We apply this concept to the analysis of the supply of ecosystem services from agriculture. We present a spatially explicit production model and show how it can be used to derive the supply of ecosystem services in a region. This model shows that the supply of ecosystem services can be derived from the spatial distribution of opportunity cost of providing those services. We then show how this conceptual model can be used to develop a minimum‐data (MD) approach to the analysis of the supply of ecosystem services from agriculture that can be implemented with the kinds of secondary data that are available in most parts of the world. We apply the MD approach to simulate the supply of carbon that could be sequestered in agricultural soils in the dryland grain‐producing region of Montana. We find that the supply curve derived from the MD approach can approximate the supply curve obtained from a more elaborate model based on site‐specific data, and can do so with sufficient accuracy for policy analysis.     

Towards zero deforestation and forest restoration in the Amazon region of Maranhão state,Brazil

The Amazon forest in the state of Maranhão ensures ecosystem services that directly and indirectly affect the life quality of its population and economy, via hydrologic and climatic regulation, among other benefits. Currently, only 25% of the original forest cover (24.7 thousand km²) remains while illegal deforestation persists in a violent process that provokes visible social, economic and environmental harm. Simultaneously, Maranhão has seen record levels of burning, faces a water shortage and fights against the worst social and economic indicators in the country. Conversely, secondary vegetation covers 19.9 thousand km² (27% of deforested area) and is completely unprotected. Contrary to the international commitments assumed by Brazil to combat deforestation and restore forests, some of the political representatives of Maranhão have sought legal mechanisms to further diminish forest cover in public and private areas. To promote the conservation and restoration of Maranhão Amazon Forest, a multi-institutional network of researchers was established in 2015. This viewpoint paper aims to draw attention to this endangered region of the Brazilian Amazon and give science-oriented recommendations to policy makers in order to avoid more setbacks. We argue that Maranhão state must urgently establish a policy of Zero Deforestation, protect secondary forests and comply with the national forest restoration policy, thus ensuring long-term economic sustainability.     

Farm-Level Modeling for Bigger Issues

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how farm-level modelers can best extend their research to address issues broader than just farm income. The paper describes how trade-off curves are a valuable tool for summarizing the missing information to policy makers on economic problems related to sustainability issues and agriculture. We outline steps an economic researcher could follow in developing an integrated farm-level model that successfully links changes in environmental quality with agricultural practices so that the relevant trade-offs for policy analysis can be quantified.     

European Agricultural Science Funding: Examining Trends and Prospects

Proper evaluation of the impact of agricultural research requires data on how much has been spent to achieve its desired effects on productivity, efficiency and environmental quality. However, official statistics on aggregate volumes of research expenditure, at both European and national levels, are intermittently available and most data collected for private research are not fully compatible with data for public research. This study in 20 European countries in 2014 defines the different concepts at international level, and assesses coverage across countries, using secondary data and key informant interviews. Coverage is unequal by country and type of measure, the lowest coverage being for agriculture as a socioeconomic objective. We depict recent trends in public agricultural research, which differ by country. We then formulate three policy options and recommendations for their implementation to improve the monitoring of agricultural research investment in Europe: 1) make compulsory in the EU statistical system the collection of statistics on agricultural research expenditure using the same metrics for all sectors of performance; 2) develop a specific survey in the Commission to obtain data directly from research organisations; 3) prepare annual reviews of agricultural research expenditures at Member State level, including both quantitative and qualitative information on agricultural research activities.