Nudges, social norms and permanence in agri-environmental schemes

The permanence of land management practices adopted under Agri-environmental schemes (AES) is often questioned. This paper investigates the drivers of farmers’ decision as to whether to maintain “pro-environment” practices beyond the duration of a contract, and in particular the effect of social norms. Our results, based on the stated intentions of 395 French farmers, show that both pecuniary and non-pecuniary motivations drive farmers’ decision, which is also significantly influenced by information about a social norm. Therefore “nudging” farmers, by conveying information to them on other farmers’ pro-environmental practices, appears as a means of maintaining the long-run benefits of AES.PostprintPeer reviewe

PIRAGUA_resources [Dataset]

[EN] Contains 17 compressed folders (.zip) with shapefiles (.shp; requires a specific Geographic Information System GIS software) and one PDF file. Under a Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL).[ES] Contiene 17 carpetas comprimidas (.zip) con shapefiles (.shp; requiere software específico para Sistemas de Información Geográfica, SIG) y un archivo PDF. Bajo una "Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL)".[EN] Geospatial data about water use and exploitation in the Pyrenees (France, Spain, Andorra), generated within the project EFA210/16 PIRAGUA Project ("Evaluation and prospective of the water resources of the Pyrenees in a context of climate change, and adaptation measures with impact on the territory").[ES] Información geoespacial sobre usos y explotación de los recursos hídricos en los Pirineos (Francia, España y Andorra), generada en el contexto del proyecto EFA210/16 PIRAGUA ("Evaluación y prospectiva de los recursos hídricos de los Pirineos en un contexto de cambio climático, y medidas de adaptación con impacto en el territorio").[FR] Information géospatiale sur les usages et l'exploitation des ressources en eau dans les Pyrénées (France, Espagne et Andorre), générées dans le cadre du projet EFA210/16 PIRAGUA ("Evaluation et prospective des ressources en eau des Pyrénées dans un contexte de changement climatique, et mesures d'adaptation ayant un impact sur le territoire").This dataset was developed within the project EFA210/16 PIRAGUA (“Evaluación y prospectiva de los recursos hídricos de los Pirineos en un contexto de cambio climático, y medidas de adaptación con impacto en el territorio / Evaluation et prospective des ressources en eau des Pyrénées dans un contexte de changement climatique, et mesures d’adaptation avec un impact sur le territoire”), co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Interreg V-A Spain France Andorra program (POCTEFA 2014-2020) (65%) and the project’s partners: CSIC, UPV/EHU, UB, OE, IGME, CNRS, BRGM, INRAE and OBSA (35%).Files in the data set: GIS shapefiles, point layers: - centrales.shp: hydroelectric stations. - est_ski.shp: ski resorts. - cap_embalses.shp: reservoirs. Capas SIG, lineales: - river_net.shp: hydrographic network. Capas SIG, poligonales: - demarcaciones.shp: hydrographic units (basin agencies). - juntas.shp: hydrographic management units (within hydrographic units). -uso_global.shp: total water use, per hydrographic management units. -uso_agri.shp: agricultural water use, per hydrographic management units. -uso_dom.shp: urban water use, per hydrographic management units.. -uso_ind.shp: industrial water use, per hydrographic management units.. -origen_sub.shp: total water use from subsurface origin, per hydrographic management units.. -origen_sup.shp: total water use from surface origin, per hydrographic management units.. -cap_embalsado.shp: capacidad de embalsado, por juntas de explotación hidrográfica. -dom_ski.shp: skiable domain, per hydrographic management units.. -prod_hydro.shp: hydro-power installed power and production, per hydrographic management units. -reservoirs.shp: reservoirs. -zonas_protegidas.shp: nature reserves.Data fields: central.shp: - name, name of the panel. - operator, operator. - power_MW, installed power, in megawatts. - power, installed power (class). - since, year of start of operations. - production, current average annual production, in GWh. - jump_m, vertical distance of the hydraulic jump, in m. est_ski.shp: - name, name of the station. - alt_min_m, minimum elevation, in m above sea level. - alt_max_m, maximum elevation, in m above sea level. - snow_p_%, percentage of the ski area with artificial snow cover. - snow_p_km, ski area with artificial snow cover, in km. - domain_km, ski area, in km. - capacity_p, lift capacity, in people per hour. cap_reservoirs.shp: - name, name of the reservoir. - operator, operator. - use, main uses (A, supply; V, ; H, ; R, ; S, ; ND; not available). - capacity_h, reservoir capacity, in mm^3 (hm^3). - size, size, in classes. - height_m, height of the dam, in m. - area_km2, maximum surface of the sheet of water, in km^2. - since, year of start of operations. river_net.shp: - OBJECTID, identifier of the river section. - REX, country (ES, Spain; FR, France; AD, Andorra). - STRAHLER, order of the river reach, according to Strahler's classification. demarcations.shp: - NOM_DEMAR, name of the river basin district. - ORG_CUENCA, responsible body. - CENTRO_DIR, directing center. - DIRECCION, Address. - WEB, web page. - TELEPHONE, telephone. joints.shp: - Basin, river basin district to which it belongs. Name, name of the exploitation board. - Area_km2, surface, in km^2. usage_global.shp: - Name, name of the exploitation board. - U_tot_av, uso del agua promedio anual, en Mm^3 (hm^3). uso_agri.shp: - Name, nombre de la junta de explotación. - U_agr_av, uso del agua promedio anual en el sector agrícola, en Mm^3 (hm^3). - U_agr_av_p, uso del agua promedio anual en el sector agrícola, porcentaje sobre el uso total. uso_dom.shp: - Name, nombre de la junta de explotación. - U_dom_av, uso del agua promedio anual para abastecimiento, en Mm^3 (hm^3). - U_dom_av_p, uso del agua promedio anual para abastecimiento, porcentaje sobre el uso total. uso_ind.shp: - Name, nombre de la junta de explotación. - U_ind_av, uso del agua promedio anual industrial, en Mm^3 (hm^3). - U_ind_av_p, uso del agua promedio anual industrial, porcentaje sobre el uso total. origen_sub.shp: - Name, nombre de la junta de explotación. - U_und_av, uso del agua de origen subterráneo, promedio anual, en Mm^3 (hm^3). - U_und_av_p, uso del agua de origen subterráneo, promedio anual, porcentaje sobre el uso total. origen_sup.shp: - Name, nombre de la junta de explotación. - U_sup_av, uso del agua de origen superficial, promedio anual, en Mm^3 (hm^3). - U_sup_av_p, uso del agua de origen superficial, promedio anual, porcentaje sobre el uso total. cap_embalsado.shp: - Name, nombre de la junta de explotación. - Reservoirs, número de embalses. - Res_hm3, capacidad de embalsado total, en Mm^3 (hm^3). - Capacity, capacidad de embalsado, en clases. dom_ski.shp: - Name, nombre de la junta de explotación. - Ski_num, número de estaciones de esquí. - Ski_km, dominio esquiable total, en km. - Ski_prod_%, dominio esquiable con producción de nieve artificial, en porcentaje sobre el dominio esquiable total. prod_hydro.shp: - Name, nombre de la junta de explotación. - Hydropow_num, número de centrales hidroeléctricas. - Hydropow _MW, potencia instalada, en MW. - Hydropow_GWh, producción media anual, en GWh. reservoirs.shp: - NOMBRE, nombre del embalse. zonas_protegidas.shp: - Name, nombre de la zona protegida. - type, tipo de figura de protección, en la lengua vernácula. - typeEnglish, tipo de figura de protección, en inglés. - legalRef, referencia legal. - legalDoc, documento legal. - legalFound, fecha de inicio de la figura de protección. - Authority, autoridad competente. - Leyenda, tipo de figura de protección, agrupado en clases principales. - Country, país (ES, España; FR, Francia; AD, Andorra).N

Adaptation au changement climatique dans la gestion des ressources en eau des Pyrénées. Mémoires scientifiques du projet PIRAGUA, vol. 2.

[EN] One PDF files with the pre-print version of the document; [ES] Un archivo PDF con la versión de pie-impresión del documento; [FR] Un fichier PDF avec la version pré-imprimée du document.[EN] Recent climate change is one of the main threats to the sustainability of human societies. The reports of the IPCC, the Paris Agreement or the United Nations Conferences on climate change attest to the global political interest in urgently taking action to mitigate climate change. Mitigation efforts, however, are not enough to minimize the negative consequences of climate change. It is necessary, in parallel to the mitigation measures, to develop adaptation strategies that make it possible to minimize the risks that climate change poses to societies. With a necessarily local focus, the development of adaptation strategies must be based on an assessment of the vulnerability of society as a whole or of sectors of it to the expected consequences of climate change. This volume explores options for adaptation to climate change in relation to the management of water resources in an important transboundary region such as the Pyrenees mountain range. After a general assessment of the region's water resources and their governance, seven local and regional case studies are presented where, in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders, different adaptation options are explored.[ES] El cambio climático reciente es una de las principales amenazas para la sostenibilidad de las sociedades humanas. Los informes del IPCC, el Acuerdo de París o las Conferencias de las Naciones Unidas sobre cambio climático atestiguan el interés político global por emprender con urgencia acciones para la mitigación del cambio climático. Los esfuerzos en mitigación, sin embargo, no son suficientes para minimizar las consecuencias negativas del cambio climático. Es necesario, en paralelo a las medidas de mitigación, desarrollar estrategias de adaptación que permitan minimizar los riesgos que supone el cambio climático para las sociedades. Con un enfoque necesariamente local, el desarrollo de estrategias de adaptación debe partir de una evaluación de la vulnerabilidad del conjunto de la sociedad o de sectores de ésta a las consecuencias esperables del cambio climático. En este volumen se exploran opciones de adaptación al cambio climático en relación con la gestión de los recursos hídricos de una importante región transfronteriza como es la cordillera de los Pirineos. Tras una evaluación general sobre los recursos hídricos de la región y su gobernanza, se presentan siete casos de estudio locales y regionales donde, en colaboración con los actores locales, se exploran diferentes opciones de adaptación.[FR] Le changement climatique récent est l'une des principales menaces à la durabilité des sociétés humaines. Les rapports du GIEC, l'Accord de Paris ou les Conférences des Nations Unies sur le changement climatique attestent de l'intérêt politique mondial à agir de toute urgence pour atténuer le changement climatique. Cependant, les efforts d'atténuation ne suffisent pas à minimiser les conséquences négatives du changement climatique. Il est nécessaire, parallèlement aux mesures d'atténuation, de développer des stratégies d'adaptation qui permettent de minimiser les risques que le changement climatique fait peser sur les sociétés. Dans une optique nécessairement locale, l'élaboration de stratégies d'adaptation doit reposer sur une évaluation de la vulnérabilité de la société dans son ensemble ou de secteurs de celle-ci aux conséquences attendues du changement climatique. Ce volume explore les options d'adaptation au changement climatique en relation avec la gestion des ressources en eau dans une région transfrontalière importante telle que la chaîne de montagnes des Pyrénées. Après une évaluation générale des ressources en eau de la région et de leur gouvernance, sept études de cas locales et régionales sont présentées où, en collaboration avec les acteurs locaux, différentes options d'adaptation sont explorées.This book has been supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Interreg V-A Spain France Andorra program (POCTEFA 2014-2020), by Fundación Biodiversidad of the Spanish Ministry for the Ecologic Transition and Demographic Challenge, and the autor's institutions: CSIC, UPV/EHU, UB, OE, IGME, CNRS, BRGM, INRAE and OBSA.Peer reviewe

Adaptación al cambio climático en la gestión de los recursos hídricos de los Pirineos [Informe]. Memorias científicas del proyecto PIRAGUA, vol. 2.

[EN] One PDF files with the pre-print version of the document; [ES] Un archivo PDF con la versión de pie-impresión del documento; [FR] Un fichier PDF avec la version pré-imprimée du document.[EN] To do[ES] Pendiente[FR] Pour faireThis report was developed within the project EFA210/16 PIRAGUA (“Evaluación y prospectiva de los recursos hídricos de los Pirineos en un contexto de cambio climático, y medidas de adaptación con impacto en el territorio / Evaluation et prospective des ressources en eau des Pyrénées dans un contexte de changement climatique, et mesures d’adaptation avec un impact sur le territoire”), co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Interreg V-A Spain France Andorra program (POCTEFA 2014-2020) (65%) and the project’s partners: CSIC, UPV/EHU, UB, OE, IGME, CNRS, BRGM, INRAE and OBSA (35%).N

Agri-environmental schemes : behavorial insights and innovative designs

The agri-environmental policy of the European Union strongly relies on financial incentives provided through Agri-envrionmental Schemes (AES) to stimulate farmers’ adoption of pro-environmental practices. A rational economic assumption is that farmers enroll if they are paid enough to cover their opportunity costs. However, behavioral economics consider that psychologic factors may be involved in this decision. The first aim of this thesis is to determine the role of behavioral factors in AES adoption. Chapter 1 uses a social-psychology model, the Theory of Planned Behavior, to measure the weight of behavioral factors in farmers’ decision to enroll in a pesticide-reduction AES. The survey reveals that farmers are both driven by traditional economic motivations and norms (social and personal). Chapter 2 studies in more details the role of norms. A theoretical model reveals that social norms may either hamper or facilitate the participation in AES and a web-survey, confirms the importance of social injunctive norms and personal norms. In the second part of the thesis, we analyze the performance of innovative designs and how it may be affected by behavioral factors. In chapter 3, to address cases of environmental threshold, we test with an economic experiment a contract in which payment is conditioned to collective farmers’ participation. This contract appears to be more effective and efficient than traditional AES. The two last chapters analyze a new application of AES: biodiversity offsets. Based on a survey, chapter 4 highlights factors that influence the participation in such contracts as well as issues of effectiveness and efficiency. In chapter 5, we show with a choice experiment that farmers, especially the most environmentally sensitive, are influenced by the contracts’ goal framing: they prefer contracts that aim at biodiversity conservation rather than at the compensation of biodiversity losses. We conclude by insisting on the complementarity between traditional and behavioral environmental policy instruments.La politique agro-environnementale de l’Union Européenne s’appuie fortement sur des incitations financières, les Contrats Agro-Environnementaux (CAE), pour stimuler l’adoption par les agriculteurs de pratiques respectueuses de l’environnement. Selon l’hypothèse de rationalité économique, les agriculteurs adoptent ces contrats si les paiements couvrent leurs coûts d’opportunité. Toutefois, l’Économie comportementale considère que des facteurs psychologiques pourraient intervenir dans cette décision. Le premier objectif de cette thèse est de déterminer le rôle des facteurs comportementaux dans l’adoption des CAE. Dans le chapitre 1, nous utilisons un modèle de psychologie sociale, la Théorie du Comportement Planifié, pour mesurer le poids de ces facteurs dans la décision d’adopter un CAE pour la réduction de l’utilisation de pesticides. L’enquête révèle que les agriculteurs sont à la fois influencés par des motivations économiques classiques et par les normes (sociales et personnelles). Dans le chapitre 2, nous étudions plus en détails le rôle des normes. A travers un modèle théorique, nous mettons en évidence que ces normes peuvent faciliter ou faire obstacle à l’adoption de CAE. Une enquête web nous permet de confirmer l’importance des normes sociales injonctives et des normes personnelles. Dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, nous analysons les performances de dispositifs innovants et comment ces performances sont influencées par les facteurs comportementaux. Dans le chapitre 3, pour traiter le problème des seuils environnementaux, nous testons avec une expérimentation économique un contrat dont le paiement est conditionné à une participation collective des agriculteurs. Ce contrat se révèle plus efficace et efficient que les CAE classiques. Les deux derniers chapitres traitent d’une nouvelle application des CAE à la compensation écologique. A partir d’une enquête, nous identifions dans le chapitre 4 les facteurs qui influencent la participation à ce type de contrats ainsi que des problèmes d’efficacité et d’efficience. Dans le chapitre 5, nous montrons à partir d’une expérience de choix, que les agriculteurs, notamment les plus sensibles à l’environnement, sont sensibles à la manière dont est formulée l’objectif d’un CAE : ils préfèrent des contrats dont l’objectif est la préservation de la biodiversité, plutôt que la compensation de pertes de biodiversité. Nous concluons en insistant sur la complémentarité entre les instruments traditionnels et comportementaux dans la politique environnementale

Payment for environmental services related to aquifers: a review of specific issues and existing programmes

International audienceIn Europe, payment for environmental services is increasingly perceived as an alternative to government-led incentives for promoting pro-environmental land use and attaining policy objectives of groundwater quality and quantity. The processes linking land-use decisions and ecosystem services related to aquifers (EcSA) are complex, involving different time and space scales. This raises specific challenges for the effectiveness of payment for environmental services related to aquifers (PEvSA). After defining the concepts of PEvSA, we highlight these challenges—uncertain links between land use and EcSA, spatial and temporal dimensions, monitoring and compliance issues, the invisibility of aquifers and the social equity/efficiency dilemma—and identify good practice and innovative designs for addressing them. We then review how existing PEvSA schemes throughout the world have succeeded, or not, in addressing these challenges and identify evidence of their effectiveness. We conclude that future implementation of PEvSA should pursue (i) the use of science-based approaches for determining land-use prescription; (ii) the adoption of result-oriented payments adapted to PEvSA; (iii) the use of longer term contracts adapted to water transfer time in aquifers; (iv) a finer spatial targeting of PEvSA; (v) the use of contracts with collective conditionality; and (vi) the labelling of products that generate EcSA as ways for stimulating demand. We finally call for establishing formal evidence of the impact of PEvSA on EcSA

Introducing nature into cities or preserving existing peri-urban ecosystems? Analysis of preferences in a rapidly urbanizing catchment

International audienceNature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly being promoted as a means to address societal and environmental challenges, especially flood risk reduction. In the context of rapidly urbanizing catchments, NBS can take part of the development of sustainable cities, either by conserving peri-urban ecosystems from urban sprawl or by developing green infrastructure in the cities. Both can provide a wide range of co-benefits (e.g., climate regulation, air quality regulation), but also generate some negative effects (e.g., mobility issues, unsafety, allergens). We develop and implement a Discrete Choice Experiment survey to analyse people’s perception of co-benefits and negative effects, and associated preferences for the two types of NBS at a catchment scale. The results obtained from 400 households living in a French Mediterranean catchment highlight that people associate numerous co-benefits to NBS, but also negative effects. Our estimations reveal that resident households are ready to contribute large amounts through a tax increase for the development of NBS (from 140 to 180 EUR/year, on average). There is however a strong heterogeneity of preferences at the catchment scale influenced by income, location of the respondent along an urban–rural gradient, and perception of the importance of ecosystem services. These differences may reflect urban environmental inequalities at the catchment scale, which are important to take into account in order to avoid distributive inequalities

Challenges of achieving biodiversity offsetting through agri-environmental schemes : evidence from an empirical study

Biodiversity offsetting (BO) is increasingly used in environmental policies as a way to halt biodiversity losses caused by the development of infrastructure and urbanization. Ecological gains for offsets have so far mainly been obtained through restoration activities conducted on agricultural land specifically acquired for this purpose by developers. This approach however meetsgrowing technical difficulties due to land availability and social conflicts with farmers. The purpose of this paper is to analysethe opportunity of implementing a new approach to conduct biodiversity offsets through the use of agri-environmental schemes that we call agri-environmental biodiversity offset schemes (ABOS). This paper reviews the interests, limits and challenges oftheuseof ABOS in offsetting policies byexaminingtwo major issues: (1) the acceptability of offsetting contracts by farmers, and (2) the effectiveness of ABOS design and implementation. Based on the case-study of a major BO programme following the construction of a big railway bypass in the South of France, the article empiricallyassesses these issues through asurvey carried out with 145 farmers. The results revealthat the main determinants of acceptability are: i) the usual economic factors -farmers with lowest compliance levels and opportunity costs, as well as farms facing economic difficulty,are more likely to adopt-, and ii) social factors –the importance given to other farmers’ decisionand the feeling that this decision is accepted by farmers’ representatives. In terms of effectiveness, ABOS is shown to be effective in meeting legal requirementsof the developer,but concernsare raised about realecological benefits due to issues of additionality, permanence of land use change, and non-compliance with contract requirements. We particularly highlight problems with contract enforcement –especially due to weak sanctions and monitoring –and farmers’ selection that do not allow minimizing moral hazard and adverse selection, which are inherently attached to agri-environmental schemes. These resultsraise questions about the relevance ofdeveloping ABOS in offsetting policies, and lead us to suggest policy improvements

Inégalités environnementales et hétérogénéité des préférences pour les solutions fondées sur la nature

This article analyses the influence of environmental inequalities on people’s preferences for Nature-based Solutions aiming at reducing flooding risks. The approach is based on the spatial analysis of three forms of environmental inequalities (access, exposure and distributional inequalities), and their influence on the preference profiles of 399 residents of the Lez catchment. The results show that preferences are spatially heterogeneous and influenced by these inequalities observed along an urban-rural gradient. We recommend analysing these environmental inequalities when designing Nature-based Solutions to improve their consideration in public policies

Tenir compte des normes personnelles dans les politiques agro environnementales : une « obligation morale » ?

Accompagner les agriculteurs vers des pratiques plus respectueuses de l’environnement nécessite une meilleure compréhension des motivations qui guident les prises de décision individuelles. Ce papier s’intéresse à une des dimensions des motivations non-monétaires, les normes personnelles. Etudier les normes personnelles revient à s’intéresser au sentiment d’obligation morale (Schwartz, 1977) que les agriculteurs peuvent ressentir lors d’un choix de pratiques. En se basant sur les théories développées par la psychologie sociale pour expliquer l’adoption de comportements pro-environnementaux, l’économie comportementale intègre de plus en plus le concept de norme personnelle dans les modèles économiques. Cependant, cette synergie entre les disciplines reste souvent limitée à l’étude du comportement du consommateur. Une étude de cas réalisée à partir d’un questionnaire interrogeant 51 viticulteurs montre l’influence de la norme personnelle dans la décision de participer ou non à un dispositif agro-environnemental exigeant en termes de réduction des pesticides. La discussion proposée ici vise l’amélioration des recommandations faites par l’économie comportementale aux politiques publiques, en proposant d’améliorer l’impact de l’intervention publique par des incitations non-monétaires s’appuyant sur l’activation des normes personnelles