The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was fundamentally reformed in 2003. From 2005 on, farmers will receive decoupled income support payments instead of production premiums if basic standards for environment, food safety, animal health and welfare are met. Farmers will likely adjust production...

Subsidies linked to production have been classified to be environmentally harmful by OECD. A core element of the EU 2003 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform is to decouple income support from production. This paper estimates the environmental consequences of this policy reform. An...

The development of biogas production in Germany has reshaped agricultural land use and production schemes since the implementation of the Renewable Energy Sources Act in 2000. It is associated with a widespread introduction of silage maize as a major substrate. While it contributes significantly...

We study forestry in the Sámi people homeland region to understand an ongoing conflict between conventional forest logging and maintaining forests as reindeer pastures for indigenous people. We use a detailed model that simultaneously includes timber production, carbon storage in living...

The disappearance of Rwanda' forests and attendant change in climatic conditions prompted the government to explore clean energy alternatives such as biogas. Unlike at any other time in Rwanda's history, more and more Rwandans in rural areas are becoming owners of cattle because of Government of...

We distinguish between local problems of biodiversity loss and global ones, where international cooperation is required. Global biodiversity regulation involves choosing the optimal stopping rule regarding global land conversions, in order to ensure that some areas of unconverted natural...

The European Union’s Council Regulation on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development has introduced auctioning as a new instrument for granting agri-environmental payments and awarding conservation contracts for the recent multi-annual budgetary...

The mandatory deposit for one-way drinks packaging, embodied in the German Packaging Ordinance of 1991, entered into force in January 2003, after the condition for its implementation was given by the fall of the market share of reusable drinks packaging under 72% in 1997. In this context the...

The European Union’s Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development has introduced promising changes in rewarding farmers by the implementation of conservation auctions and granting farmers’ transaction costs. The...

Against the background of a rapid biodiversity loss in agricultural landscapes, increasing attention is being paid to farming practices that enhance ecosystem services. Therefore developing a cost-efficient and effective conservation-compatible land use policy to influence private land...