Learning,participation, and adaptation: exploring agri-environmental programmes

This paper explores the perceptions of policy makers and rural agricultural producers in respect of policy framing and adaptation to climate change, social learning and stakeholder input (participation) surrounding two successful agri-environmental programmes in Saskatchewan, Canada. Given the record of success of these two programmes in reducing vulnerability to climate change, this study provides an opportunity to explore certain attributes of adaptive management, including: what attributes make policy and programmes responsive; how government can frame programmes facilitating adaptation to climate change; what types of mechanisms can or should be used to engage with producers; and perhaps most importantly, what producers expect of government, government policies and programmes in relation to adaptation to climate change.     

Scale and self-governance in agri-environment schemes: experiences with two alternative approaches in the Netherlands

Agri-environment schemes in the Netherlands have been criticized for their lack of effectiveness. Explanations were sought in the limited size of the individual farm and in the shallowness of the measures. We distinguish three scale problems: in the spatial dimension (from farm element to landscape), in the management dimension (from add-on measure to farming system) and in the governance dimension (from little to much space for self-governance by farmers). These scale concepts are used to translate insights from ecology and agro-economy to governance approaches. We analyse case studies of two new approaches: an area approach with group contracts and spatial coordination of agri-environmental measures, and a farming system with substantial adaptations of the farming concept. Both approaches have elements of increased self-governance and could offer inspiration for schemes elsewhere. We propose that appropriate space for self-governance is necessary when choosing another scale approach for making agri-environment schemes more effective.     

Sustainability Assessment for Agriculture Scenarios in Europe’s Mountain Areas: Lessons from Six Study Areas

Sustainability assessment (SA) is a holistic and long-range strategic instrument capable of assisting policy-making in electing, and deciding upon, future development priorities. The outcomes of an SA process become more relevant and strengthened when conducted with multi-stakeholder engagement, which provides for multiple dialogues and perspectives. This was the object of research of the SA team in the context of BioScene (Scenarios for Reconciling Biodiversity Conservation with Declining Agriculture Use in Mountain Areas in Europe), a three-year project (2002–2005) funded by the European Union 5th Framework Program, which aimed to investigate the implications of agricultural restructuring and decline for biodiversity conservation in the mountain areas of Europe, using three distinct methodological streams: the ecological, the socio-economic, and the SA approaches. The SA approach drew on the previous two to assess the importance for biodiversity management of different scenarios of agri-environmental change and rural policy in six countries (France, Greece, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), develop causal chains, include stakeholder views, and identify potential contributions for, or conflicts with, sustainability. This article tells how SA was used, what sustainability meant in each study area through different objectives of sustainability considered, discusses the methods used in SA, and the benefits arising. The SA was conducted by a team independent of any study area, who developed and oversaw the application of the SA methodology, assisting national teams, and developing a cross-country understanding of the sustainability of proposed scenarios in the different geographical and social contexts, and their implications for policy-making. Finally, it reflects on the persistent challenges of interdisciplinary research, compounded by multi-cultural teams, and concludes on the BioScene’s lessons for the further development and application of SA.

Assessing the efficiency gains of improved spatial targeting of policy interventions; the example of an agri-environmental scheme

GIS-based spatial targeting is increasingly recognised as a potentially useful tool to design more efficient policy interventions. The use of this tool has also been advocated in the context of incentive-based agri-environmental schemes, but there has been little work to date to estimate the level of efficiency gains which it may help to achieve. This paper investigates the requirements to arrive at such estimates, using a Scottish farm woodland scheme as a case study. This agri-environmental scheme aims to provide visual amenity and biodiversity. Maps of these two benefits are used to develop improved spatial targeting scenarios that deliver significant efficiency gains in comparison to the existing scheme design. The paper discusses the nature of the spatial distribution of the relevant benefits at the landscape scale and the data requirements for the realistic estimation of efficiency gains. It concludes that although much work needs to be done, the methods available today could and should play a much greater role in improving the landscape-scale design of existing land use schemes focused on the delivery of non-market benefits.     

Integrating environmental policies into local practices: The politics of agri-environmental and energy policies in Rural Finland

The paper focuses on the interplay between policy implementation and heterogeneous everyday social practices that, we argue, finally determine the success of environmental policies. We compare two empirical case studies to show how the targets of international climate policy and the agri-environmental policy of the EU have been achieved in energy production and agriculture in rural Finland. The focus of our analysis is on the power effects of these policies at the level of local natural resource management practices. Our analysis revealed tensions that arose during the implementation of the policies and showed that the policies modified the local actors' capacities to act. Therefore, we claim that policy practices should be analysed and appreciated as sites for the articulation of conflict and difference, as places of social and cultural contestation.     

Sustainability Assessment of Future Scenarios: Methodology and Application to Mountain Areas of Europe

BioScene (scenarios for reconciling biodiversity conservation with declining agriculture use in mountain areas in Europe) was a three-year project (2002–2005) funded by the European Union’s Fifth Framework Programme, and aimed to investigate the implications of agricultural restructuring and decline for biodiversity conservation in the mountain areas of Europe. The research took a case study approach to the analysis of the biodiversity processes and outcomes of different scenarios of agri-environmental change in six countries (France, Greece, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) covering the major biogeographical regions of Europe. The project was coordinated by Imperial College London, and each study area had a multidisciplinary team including ecologists and social and economic experts, which sought a comprehensive understanding of the drivers for change and their implications for sustainability. A key component was the sustainability assessment (SA) of the alternative scenarios. This article discusses the development and application of the SA methodology developed for BioScene. While the methodology was objectives-led, it was also strongly grounded in baseline ecological and socio-economic data. This article also describes the engagement of stakeholder panels in each study area and the use of causal chain analysis for understanding the likely implications for land use and biodiversity of strategic drivers of change under alternative scenarios for agriculture and rural policy and for biodiversity management. Finally, this article draws conclusions for the application of SA more widely, its use with scenarios, and the benefits of stakeholder engagement in the SA process.     

Applying a TQM framework to the public policy process: Part I—the framework

In Part I of this article, a TQM framework is described that can be used to analyze as well as manage the public policy process. Key elements of the framework include leadership, issues analysis, goal and policy development, strategic vehicles, implementation, indicators and outcomes, and stakeholder review. The framework can be used to analyze public policy cycles, predict future issues and outcomes, and develop more sustainable approaches to manage linked economic, environmental, and societal issues. In Part II, the framework is used to examine the effectiveness of management of environmental issues in the Great Lakes region over the past three decades and to demonstrate the need for a more integrated approach to regional management.     

Agri-Environmental Policy Measures in Israel: The Potential of Using Market-Oriented Instruments

This paper examines the possibilities of developing agri-environmental policy measures in Israel, focusing on market-oriented instruments. A conceptual framework for developing agri-environmental policy measures is presented, first in very broad lines (mandatory regulations, economic instruments and advisory measures) and subsequently focusing on economic instruments, and specifically, on market-oriented ones. Two criteria of choice between the measures are suggested: their contribution to improving the effectiveness of the policy; and the feasibility of their implementation. This is the framework used for analyzing agri-environmental measures in Israel. Israel currently implements a mix of mandatory regulations, economic instruments and advisory measures to promote the agri-environment. The use of additional economic instruments may improve the effectiveness of the policy. When comparing the effectiveness of various economic measures, we found that the feasibility of implementation of market-oriented instruments is greater, due to the Israeli public’s preference for strengthening market orientation in the agricultural sector. Four market-oriented instruments were practiced in a pilot project conducted in an Israeli rural area. We found that in this case study, the institutional feasibility and acceptance by stakeholders were the major parameters influencing the implementation of the market-oriented instruments, whereas the instruments’ contribution to enhancing the ecological or economic effectiveness were hardly considered by the stakeholders as arguments in favor of their use.     

Structuring international development decisions: confronting trade-offs between land use and community development in Costa Rica

For more than half a century, research and practice in international development has focused on improving the quality of life of people living in developing regions of the world. Recently, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers have recognized the need to blend insights from experts and community stakeholders in development decisions. Research in the decision sciences tells us that these kinds of multiparty and multiattribute decisions are extremely challenging. However, recent experience using structured decision-making (SDM) approaches suggests that the quality of both expert and stakeholder input, and resulting decisions, can be improved by ensuring that people address a series of basic principles relating to identifying objectives and their associated attributes, estimating the consequences of proposed actions, and directly confronting trade-offs that arise during the evaluation of management alternatives. In this paper, we provide an overview of SDM and then discuss a research initiative aimed at applying the approach to a pressing international development problem in rural Costa Rica: management of the lucrative but also environmentally destructive pineapple industry. The objectives of this research were twofold: First, we sought to help inform policy decisions by eliciting land management preferences regarding the pineapple industry from people living in communities surrounding plantations. Second, we evaluated the effectiveness of the SDM approach in a developing community context.     

Environmental Reform,Ecological Modernization and the Policy Process in Hong Kong: An Exploratory Study of Stakeholder Perspectives

A number of social surveys on environmental issues have been conducted in Hong Kong over the past 20 years but none has investigated processes of environmental reform from a stakeholder perspective. This paper reports on the findings of a survey of 120 representatives of eight stakeholder groups conducted in 2003. This exploratory study had two main objectives. First, it investigated stakeholder views on environmental policy making in Hong Kong including policy objectives and priorities, the policy instruments employed, the discourse surrounding environmental policy making and sustainable development, and the effectiveness of local environmental institutions. Second, it explored the extent to which Hong Kong is undergoing environmental reform processes consistent with the principles of ecological modernization.

The results indicate that a conventional command-and-control model focusing on pollution control drives environmental policy making in Hong Kong. Government is seen as a relatively unresponsive, ‘controller’ regime relying heavily on laws and regulation to pursue its policy objectives. Support exists among stakeholders for the use of new environmental policy instruments (NEPIs), particularly those of an economic nature, but there is scepticism about the potential effectiveness of voluntary environmental agreements. Local environmental discourse is characterized by the counter-positioning of economic development and the environment. Most stakeholders share the view that the debate surrounding sustainable development has been poorly informed and that the concept is not well-understood. Stakeholder responses suggest that there is considerable divergence between the potential and actual effectiveness of important local environmental institutions. While there is empirical evidence indicating that some environmental initiatives have produced technical outcomes consistent with ecological modernization, our findings suggest these do not reflect a conscious change in the direction of environmental policy and that the social and institutional transformations that also underpin ecological modernization have yet to become embedded in Hong Kong.     

耕地重金属污染治理政策与利益相关者互馈机制实证研究——基于某试点区的调研

基于利益相关者和政策过程理论,以某地耕地重金属污染治理试点为案例,对农业主管部门、环境主管部门、粮食收储部门、科研单位、农资生产商、农资流通主体、农户以及新型农业经营主体等八类利益相关者的利益诉求、行为特征以及与政策的相互影响进行了深入分析。研究表明,不同相关者的利益诉求和行为特征构成了试点区错综复杂的治理格局。在政策过程中,农业主管部门的主导作用明显,存在着因有效互动不足造成的政策制定缺乏共识,政策执行成本较高、阻力较大,政策评估有待完善等问题。虽然现行政策在一定程度上调动了除部分农资流通主体外其余利益相关者的积极性,但尚未形成利益相关者共同治理且与政策良性互馈的局面,需从政策过程视角加以完善。     

Identifying the Institutional Decision Process to Introduce Decentralized Sanitation in the City of Kunming (China)

We conducted a study of the institutional barriers to introducing urine source separation in the urban area of Kunming, China. On the basis of a stakeholder analysis, we constructed stakeholder diagrams showing the relative importance of decision-making power and (positive) interest in the topic. A hypothetical decision-making process for the urban case was derived based on a successful pilot project in a periurban area. All our results were evaluated by the stakeholders. We concluded that although a number of primary stakeholders have a large interest in testing urine source separation also in an urban context, most of the key stakeholders would be reluctant to this idea. However, the success in the periurban area showed that even a single, well-received pilot project can trigger the process of broad dissemination of new technologies. Whereas the institutional setting for such a pilot project is favorable in Kunming, a major challenge will be to adapt the technology to the demands of an urban population. Methodologically, we developed an approach to corroborate a stakeholder analysis with the perception of the stakeholders themselves. This is important not only in order to validate the analysis but also to bridge the theoretical gap between stakeholder analysis and stakeholder involvement. We also show that in disagreement with the assumption of most policy theories, local stakeholders consider informal decision pathways to be of great importance in actual policy-making.     

Environmental Policy Beliefs of Stakeholders in Protected Area Management

Although the importance of understanding stakeholder beliefs regarding environmental policy has been noted by many authors, research focusing on the heterogeneity of stakeholder views is still very scarce and concentrated on a product-oriented definition of stakeholders. The aim of the present study is to address this gap by examining environmental policy beliefs of stakeholder groups engaged in protected area management. Questionnaires containing 73 five-point Likert scale items were administered to eight different stakeholder groups involved in the management of Greek protected areas. Items referred to core beliefs on environmental policy, namely, the value framework and sustainable development, and secondary beliefs, that is, beliefs on social consensus and ecotourism development. Our study used as a starting point respondent recruitment on the basis of a traditional product-centered approach. We investigated whether environmental policy beliefs can be used to effectively segregate stakeholders in well-defined segments, which override the product-oriented definition of stakeholders. Indeed, K-means clustering revealed an innovation-introduction and an implementation-charged sample segment. The instrument utilized in this research proved quite reliable and valid in measuring stakeholder environmental policy beliefs. Furthermore, the methodology implied that stakeholder groups differ in a significant number of belief-system elements. On the other hand, stakeholder groups were effectively distinguished on a small set of both core and secondary beliefs. Therefore, the instrument used can be an effective tool for determining and monitoring environmental policy beliefs of stakeholders in protected area management. This is of considerable importance in the Greek case, given the recent establishment of 27 administrative bodies of protected areas, all of which are required to incorporate public consultation into management practices.     

Cross-achievements between policies for drinking water protection

Environmental dynamics have important spatial dimensions, which calls for a spatial approach in policy analyses. Further to this, assessing agri-environmental policies involves analyses of individual measures as well as their combined effects on farmer behaviour and the environment. The integration of an economic behavioural model in a spatial framework has enabled analyses of a geographically targeted subsidy scheme for drinking water protection in combination with a uniform tax on commercial nitrogen fertilizer. Results show that policy measures for reducing nitrogen use can have combined effects (cross-achievements), thereby affecting each other's cost-effectiveness. Cross-achievements between a nitrogen fertilizer tax and a subsidy scheme based on elicitation are shown not to be additive, making partial analyses of policy measures more uncertain.     

The value of mixed method content analysis for understanding renewable energy deployment and policy outcomes

Transitioning to renewable energy has become a global phenomenon. Attempts to explain development patterns are often fragmented, focusing on specific rationale for (un)successful deployment or the perspective of specific stakeholders. We recognize the importance for holistic insights for successful and effective environmental policy-making and planning in the context of renewable energy development. Using wind energy as an example, this paper provides methodological toolkits for utilizing content analysis (CA) to gain more holistic insights on renewable energy deployment and policy outcomes. Building on existing literature, past and ongoing research, three variations of CA are presented for understanding stakeholder conflicts surrounding wind energy development as well as public perceptions and responses to the technology across space and over time. Although newspapers are used as an example, these methodological protocols could be applied to diverse forms of data such as interviews, policy documents, reports, public meetings and letters of appeal.     

Selecting agri-environmental indicators to facilitate monitoring and assessment of EU agri-environmental measures effectiveness

Since its introduction in the early 1960s, the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has demonstrated a capacity to adapt and change in the face of new challenges. The reformed CAP, under AGENDA 2000, encourages more environmentally friendly farming practices. In the context of their rural development plans, Member States are required to link policies on agriculture with protection of the environment and to ensure that farmers meet environmental standards. Additionally, Member States should maintain and restore the quality of both their aquatic and adjacent terrestrial ecosystems according to the Directive 2000/60/EU, 'Establishing a framework for Community Action in the field of Water Policy'. Within this framework, agri-environmental indicators play an important role in planning and implementing CAP guidelines. However, selection and use of the proper indicators remains unresolved, considering that ecosystem processes are complex and interactions in most cases not obvious. This paper proposes a methodology for assessing the environmental state and impacts of current land use and management when implementing agri-environmental measures of CAP. The proposed methodology includes a modified Driving forces-Pressures-Impacts-Responses (DPSIR) framework, identification of Zones of Specific Functional Interest (ZSFI), and criteria for selecting agri-environmental indicators, which assess the functional performance of each zone and meet existing legislation. The Mygdonia Watershed (Greece) is an example where through use of both the appropriate Minimum Data Set of agri-environmental indicators at the identified zones and the proposed modified DPSIR, the functioning performance of each ZSFI can be assessed to evaluate the applied agri-environmental measures.     

Perceptions towards solar mini‐grid systems in India: A multi‐stakeholder analysis

This study identifies and assesses the perspectives of four key stakeholder groups towards solar minigrids in rural India. The stakeholders considered are policymakers, minigrid developers and operators, development organizations, and national grid representatives. Recent state and national policies in India have increased the focus on minigrids and their services. In this study, stakeholder interviews were employed to identify the attitudes towards the recent electricity policy, the underlying context for minigrid development, the role of minigrids in rural electrification, and the inclusion of minigrid systems within the larger framework of electricity sector policies by the recent government minigrid policies. Results indicate that stakeholders agree that minigrids, as a rural electricity service, are currently viable to complement the national grid due to their high reliability, performance in remote regions, and diminishing cost per unit. However, stakeholders disagree on the future outcomes, with diverging views on the priority of minigrids as an electrification tool in the face of the expanding central grid, the ideal implementation strategy for minigrids, and the potential for grid‐minigrid interaction. Based on stakeholder feedback, the growth of minigrids in India is likely to be constrained by the confidence in recent policies, necessitating more frequent dialogue among decision makers and a solidified relationship to the national electricity grid.     

Recentralisation through regionalisation in the implementation of Rural Development Policy in Scotland

In environmental policy, good governance is pertinent when inclusive decision making is recurrently associated with effective outcomes. This paper explores the European Union's good governance principles and the extent to which these have been adopted in the Rural Development Policy in Scotland. For the programme period 2007–2013 Scotland's Rural Priorities scheme has moved towards decentralisation by introducing regional decision-making committees. This study assesses the impact of this scheme on multi-level stakeholder relationships and the implications on policy outcomes. To do so, the study adopts a mixed method approach, applying a stakeholder mapping technique, to quantify perceptions of influence and interest and triangulate with data from in-depth semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that the attempts to widen decision making has resulted in a number of stakeholders perceiving themselves as less empowered. This analytical approach can provide the baseline against which governance improvements can be measured in the formulation of future policies.     

Addressing environmental inequalities in UK policy: An action research perspective

In the UK there has been a serious attempt under the current government to foster policy making which is evidence-based and therefore more likely to deliver its intended results. In this article we consider the types of evidence and evidence making that might be required to build effective policy for addressing environmental inequalities. We draw on our experiences of developing an action research approach to policy making in the Environment Agency over a two year period from July 2002 to August 2004. We conclude that an action research approach is well suited to policy making within this new but rapidly growing area of sustainable development policy and urge further exploration of such approaches as a means of better connecting the relevant research, policy making and practitioner communities.