Half of the European Union (EU) land and the livelihood of 10 million farmers is threatened by unsustainable land-use intensification, land abandonment and climate change. Policy instruments, including the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) have so far failed to stop this environmental degradation. BESTMAP will: 1) Develop a behavioural theoretical modelling framework to take into account complexity of farmers' decision-making; 2) Develop, adapt and customize a suite of opensource, flexible, interoperable and customisable computer models linked to existing data e.g. LPIS/IACS and remote sensing e.g. Sentinel-2; 3) Link economic, individual-farm agent-based, biophysical ecosystem services and biodiversity and geostatistical socio-economic models; 4) Produce a simple-to-use dashboard to compare scenarios of Agri-Environmental Schemes adoption; 5) Improve the effectiveness of future EU rural policies' design, monitoring and implementation.
This study investigates the classification of socio-economic zones in Yenagoa city and its implication to development in the city. It is argued that emerging cities develop faster when classified into socio-economic zones. The study generated data from personal observations and an in-depth analysis of secondary data from relevant government publications, books, journals and commentaries. The city of Yenagoa was divided into six ecological zones: The Fast-Emerging Big Commercial Zone, the Medium and Small Commercial Zone, Government Residential and Planned Zone, Indigenous/Non-Commercial Zone, Medium/Low Residential Zone, and the Suburbs. The study looks at the proposed master plan for the State and the socio-economic implications of the lack of implementation of the Yenagoa city master plan. The findings show that Yenagoa is yet to attain a standard city status. This is evident in the dualism pattern of residence with buildings being incongruous and residential areas co-existing with prayer houses, social club sand schools. The study, therefore, recommends that the State government should make a conscious effort to implement and develop sustainable city development plans that will endure evenness if there is a change of Government. The government's land allocation policy should be done by categorising the city into well-recognised zones that can be easily identified and not the inappropriate situations the city currently inhabits.
Traditional agricultural systems and their spatial context constitute socio-ecological landscapes for their long co-evolutionary history. However, these systems not only generate positive but also negative agri-environmental externalities, such as soil erosion, diffuse pollution and potential wild biodiversity degradation. In this paper, we present a methodological approach for developing and testing indicators to estimate the effects of these externalities, especially designed to be used to help guide land-use policy changes. Our results show that the indicators proposed can recognize the different environmental situations posed by the three selected study areas, in terms of potential erosion and diffuse pollution, as well as in the actual agri-environmental externalities assessment. As expected, they also respond to the changes in land use and management introduced by two scenarios, ecological and productive. Although the erosion and diffuse pollution indicators showed a linear response, the diversity indicator showed a non-linear response, which highlights the importance of the spatial structure of landscape in agri-environmental assessment. In fact, several ecological processes can be affected by landscape spatial structure, potentially giving unexpected results both in terms of indicators and of real impact of agri-environmental externalities. Therefore, some landscape structure assessment should accompany that of externalities when considering land-use policy objectives. ; This research was funded by the research project of the National Research Program (R+D+i) of the Spanish Government, granted to Dr. J. Sanz-Cañada ("Local Agro-food Systems and public goods. Analysis and valuation models of territorial externalities in designations of origin of olive oil (EXTERSIAL II)", AGL2012-36537). ; Peer reviewed
Governments are shifting their approaches in natural resource management (NRM) towards greater emphasis on balancing social, ecological & economic aspects The objective is to provide outcomes for society in all areas by including communities' social and economic values as well the environment
Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Sciences and Technology, New University of Lisbon, for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Sciences ; Over the past few decades, policy-makers have defined new instruments to address coastal ecosystem degradation. Emerging coastal management frameworks highlight the use of the best available knowledge about the ecosystem to manage coastal resources and maintain ecosystem's services. Progress is required, however, in translating data into useful knowledge for environmental problem solving. This thesis aims to contribute to research assessing changes in coastal ecosystems and benefits generated due to management actions (or to the lack thereof). The overall objectives are to assess the ecological and economic impacts of existing management programmes, as well as future response scenarios and to translate the outcomes into useful information for managers. To address these objectives, three different approaches were developed: A multilayered ecosystem model A multilayered ecosystem model was developed to simulate management scenarios that account for the cumulative impacts of multiple uses of coastal zones. This modelling field is still at an early stage of development and is crucial, for instance, to simulate the impacts of aquaculture activities on the ecosystem, accounting for multiple farms and their interactions with other coastal activities. The multilayered ecosystem model is applied in this thesis to test scenarios designed to improve water quality and manage aquaculture. An ecological-economic assessment methodology (ΔDPSIR approach) The Differential Drivers-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (ΔDPSIR) approach further develops the integrated approach by providing an explicit link between ecological and economic information related to the use and management of coastal ecosystems. Furthermore, the ΔDPSIR approach provides a framework to synthesise scientific data into useful information for the evaluation of previously adopted policies and future response scenarios. The ΔDPSIR application is tested using different datasets and scales of analysis, including: (i)assessment of the ecological-economic impacts of the scenarios at the waterbody/watershed level, using the multilayered ecosystem model outputs, and (ii) evaluation of the ecologicaleconomic effects of aquaculture options at the individual aquaculture level, using data from an abalone farm. These are two important scale of analysis for the development of an ecosystem approach to aquaculture.A dynamic ecological-economic model (MARKET model) One of the missing links in ecosystem modelling is with economics. The MARKET model was developed to simulate the feedbacks between the ecological-economic components of aquaculture production. This model was applied to simulate shellfish production in a given ecosystem under different assumptions for price and income growth rates and the maximum available area for cultivation. Further application of the MARKET model at a wider scale might be useful for understanding the ecological and economic limitations on global aquaculture production. This integrated ecological-economic modelling and assessment approach can be further applied to address new coastal management issues, such as coastal vulnerability to natural catastrophes. It can also support implementation of current legislation and policies, such as the EU Integrated Coastal Zone Management recommendation or the development of River Basin Management Plans following the EU Water Framework Directive requirements. On the other hand, the approach can address recurring coastal management needs, such as the assessment of the outcomes of past or on-going coastal management plans worldwide, in order to detect symptoms of the overuse and misuse of coastal ecosystems. ; Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology(FCT) as a Ph.D. scholarship (SFRH/BD/25131/2005.European Union, Sixth Framework Programme FP6-2002-INCO-DEV-1 SPEAR (INCO-CT-2004-510706) project
So far, there have been no economic valuation studies to ecological studies that reveal the potential of the Tempe Lake area, so that policy makers have not been able to manage and use the Tempe Lake Area, at the most effective and efficient level, and able to distribute the benefits and costs of conservation fairly. The novelty of this research is trying to do an economic valuation, which is paralleled with an ecological study of the existence of Lake Tempe. This study aims to identify the ecological functions of Lake Tempe that give rise to various economic and non-economic benefits for the community around Lake Tempe, as well as to determine the amount of Total Economic Value (NET) of Lake Tempe. The data were analyzed by adding up the value of direct benefits, value of indirect benefits, value of choice benefits, value of existence benefits and value of inheritance benefits in the Tempe Lake area. This research data was collected through surveys and interviews with stakeholders who have a reciprocal relationship with the Tempe Lake area in Wajo Regency. The results showed that the total economic value obtained for the Tempe Lake area was Rp. 5,742,249,708,120,- per year with the largest contribution coming from the direct benefit value of Rp. 4,571,395,793,250,- per year or 78.7%. The implication of the research is the need for cross-sectoral joint coordination from various levels of government, to encourage the rehabilitation of forest areas around the Walennae and Bila watersheds. Dredging of Lake Tempe is urgently needed to cope with the annual flooding due to overflow of water. In addition, to increase the utilization of Lake Tempe, a more massive synergy between stakeholders is needed, to develop other untapped potential of the Lake Tempe area.Keywords: Valuation; Resource Economics; Ecology ; So far, there have been no economic valuation studies to ecological studies that reveal the potential of the Tempe Lake area, so that policy makers have not been able to manage and use the Tempe Lake Area, at the ...
Данная статья посвящена проблеме экологического сознания и рассматривается как важный элемент социально-экологического управления. Актуальность данного исследования вызвана необходимостью экологизации общественного сознания вследствие различных факторов (экологический кризис и необходимость его предупреждения, качественное состояние окружающей природной среды и т.д.), которые отражают общественные потребности в улучшении условий развития и качества жизни. Необходимо отметить, что экологизация сознания оказывает влияние и на течение, в том числе, социально-экономических действий и процессов, так как общество напрямую зависит от потребностей и целей, знаний и интересов, жизненных убеждений и ценностных ориентаций, а также морально-нравственных характеристик. Целью исследования является анализ научных исследований по проблеме «экологическое сознание», а также выявление его взаимосвязей с социально-экологическим управлением. На современном этапе развития общественных отношений, актуальность социального управления экологической сферой и становление новой формы общественного экологического сознания приобретает особую актуальность, поскольку определяется изменением ценностных ориентиров в области экологии, а также подходов к практическому использованию природных ресурсов. This article is devoted to the problem of ecological consciousness and is considered as an important element of socio-ecological management. The relevance of this study is caused by the need to ecologize public consciousness due to various factors (environmental crisis and the need to prevent it, the qualitative state of the environment, etc.), which reflect the public needs to improve the conditions of development and quality of life. It should be noted that the ecologization of consciousness also influences the course, including socio-economic actions and processes, since society directly depends on needs and goals, knowledge and interests, life beliefs and value orientations, as well as moral characteristics. The purpose of the study is to russian scientific research on the problem of "ecological consciousness", as well as to identify its interrelationships with socio-ecological management. At the present stage of the development of public relations, the relevance of social management of the ecological sphere and the formation of a new form of public ecological consciousness is of particular relevance, since it is determined by the change in value orientations in the field of ecology, as well as approaches to the practical use of natural resources.
The ecosystem approach has been widely incorporated in the management and evaluation of agrarian sustainability. Despite enormous progress in this new evolving area, still there is no consensus on how to assess the sustainability of agro-ecosystems due to the diversity in understandings, approaches, methods, employed data, etc. In Bulgaria there are no comprehensive studies on the integral, socio-economic and ecological sustainability of the different types of agro-ecosystems. This paper makes a first attempt at assessing the sustainability of agro-ecosystems in Bulgaria. Initially, a holistic framework for assessing the integral, economic, social and ecological sustainability of agro-ecosystems, which includes 17 principles, 35 criteria, and 46 indicators and reference values, is suggested. After that, the integral and the multi-aspect sustainability of 7 generic and 10 specific agro-ecosystems in Bulgaria are assessed. The estimates are based on first-hand information collected by the managers of "typical" farms operating in different agro-ecosystems in 4 geographical regions of the country. The study has found out that there is a substantial variation in the level of integral and multi-aspect sustainability of the different types of agro-ecosystems, as well as in the level of contribution to the sustainability of various sub-sectors of agriculture and farms of different juridical type and size, where the individual indicators with the highest and lowest values show the (critical) factors which enhance or deter sustainability.
