An integrated ecological-economic decision-making approach is developed to help local stakeholders decide on land use in rural areas where the conflict between natural resource protection and economic development is pressing. It consists of four methodological steps. In the first step the...

The current state-of-the-art in flood damage analysis mainly focuses on the economic evaluation of tangible flood effects. It is contended in this discussion paper that important economic, social and ecological aspects of flood-related vulnerabilities are neglected. It is a challenge for flood...

This discussion paper presents the Integrated Methodological Approach for participatory multi-criteria decision support under uncertainty (IMA), which emerged from the debates about participation, multi-criteria analysis (MCA) and benefit-cost analysis (BCA). It provides a framework for...

Recent political developments and academic debate indicate that future political commitment to the protection of natural resources is uncertain. This political uncertainty is particularly problematic when the danger of irreversible damage such as the extinction of species looms. Accordingly,...

Flexible conservation management, where measures are selected in each decision period and depending on the current state of the ecological system, are generally perceived as superior to fixed management, where the same measure is applied in each decision period independent of the current state...

In der politischen Diskussion werden für den Erhalt der biologischen Vielfalt in der Regel ökonomische Argumente vorgebracht: Biodiversität sollte als ökonomisches Gut betrachtet werden. Dem Rückgang der Vielfalt sei entgegenzutreten, indem man die Auswirkungen menschlicher Aktivitäten auf...

This paper assesses the impact of social factors on the development of allergic diseases in early childhood. Epidemiological research has shown increasing allergy rates with improvements in social economic status (SES). However, we argue that the pattern of social influences on allergies is too...

On 23 October 2001 the European Commission adopted a proposal for a directive for trade in greenhouse gas emissions. Following the US experience of emissions trading systems, this marks the first large-scale attempt to deploy this instrument of environmental policy in Europe. The proposal places...