Agricultural drainage as a model system in the presence of environmental externalities

Tutkielman tarkoituksena on sekä teoreettisesti että empiirisesti tarkastella ja vertailla salaja sarkaojituksen yksityistä sekä yhteiskunnallista kannattavuutta Suomessa. Yksityiset ja yhteiskunnalliset optimit määritellään ojittamattomalle, sekä salaja sarkaojitetulle pellolle. Optimeja vertailemalla pyritään määrittämään yhteiskunnallisesti kannattavin ojateknologia ja asettamaan sen saavuttamiseksi taloudelliset ohjauskeinot lannoitteen käytölle ja sarkaojituksen intensiivisyydelle. Yhteiskunnallisessa hyvinvoinnissa otetaan huomioon maanviljelystä aiheutuvat ulkoisvaikutukset, joilla tämän tutkielman puitteissa tarkoitetaan ravinnekuormituksesta aiheutuvaa haittaa ja sarkaojien ylläpitämän biodiversiteetin tuomaa hyötyä. Biodiversiteettiä tarkastellaan sekä lajimääränä jossain tietyssä pisteessä ja sen läheisyydessä (alfadiversiteetti), että yhden neliökilometrin laajuiselle maatalousmaisemalle määriteltynä maiseman monimuotoisuutena (gammadiversiteetti). Maatalousmaiseman biodiversiteettiä määriteltäessä otetaan huomioon spatiaalisen autokorrelaation vaikutus maisematason lajimäärään. Empiirisen mallin tuottamat numeeriset tulokset osoittavat, että salaojitus on yksityisesti kannattavampi ojateknologia kuin sarkaojitus. Yhteiskunnallista kannattavuutta vertailtaessa, tulokset kertovat sarkaojituksen olevan yhteiskunnallisesti kannattavampi ojateknologia. Suurin syy sarkaojituksen yhteiskunnalliseen kannattavuuteen salaojitukseen verrattuna, on kuitenkin ero typpihuuhtoumissa. Typpihuuhtoumaerojen määrittämiseksi on jouduttu tekemään karkeita oletuksia, sillä tutkittua tietoa sarkaojitetun pellon typpihuuhtoumista on hyvin vähän. Näin ollen tuloksia ei voida pitää luotettavina typpihuuhtoumien osalta, eikä sarkaojituksen voida näin ollen todeta olevan yhteiskunnallisesti kannattavampi ojateknologia kuin salaojitus. Kun biodiversiteettiä tarkastellaan maiseman monimuotoisuuden näkökulmasta, on sarkaojien ylläpitämän biodiversiteetin yhteiskunnallinen kannattavuus 22,5–23 % korkeampi, kuin alfadiversiteettiä tarkasteltaessa. Tulosten mukaan molemmat ojateknologiat ovat sekä yksityisesti että yhteiskunnallisesti kannattavampia, kuin pellon ojittamatta jättäminen. Empiirisen mallin tarkastelu Monte Carlo simulaation avulla osoittaa, että mallin tulokset reagoivat herkästi niiden parametrien satunnaisiin vaihteluihin. Mallin parametrien arvonta normaalija lognormaalijakumista siten, että suhteellisena keskihajontana käytetään 10 % parametrien odotusarvoista, kasvattaa tulosten suhteellisen keskihajonnan jopa 38 prosenttiyksikköön.The objective of this thesis is to examine and compare, both theoretically and empirically the private profitability and social desirability of subsurface drainage and drainage by open ditches, under cultivation in Finland. Private and social optimums for cultivation are examined for (1) field without any drainage system, (2) field with subsurface drainage and (3) field with open ditch drainage. The results of optimum solutions are compared with each other to define the optimal drainage system. Incentives for fertilizer use and intensiveness of open ditch drainage are then set accordingly. In defining the social desirability, environmental externalities are taken into account. Within the framework of this study, the environmental externalities are the social costs of nutrient runoffs and the social benefits of maintenance of biodiversity by open drainage ditches. The approach to biodiversity herein is twofold. First, biodiversity is perceived as local species richness (alpha diversity) and then as landscape diversity (gamma diversity). Landscape diversity is defined within an area of 1 km2 and it takes into account the spatial autocorrelation of species diversity at landscape level. Numerical results show that subsurface drainage is privately a more profitable drainage system than open ditch drainage. When comparing the social desirability, calculations show that open ditch drainage is more desirable, but that is mostly due to the difference in nitrogen leaching compared with subsurface drainage. The empirical data used in calculations, concerning the nitrogen leaching, is partly insufficient and based on crude assumptions. Therefore it is not possible to conclude that open ditch drainage is socially more desirable. If biodiversity is perceived as landscape diversity, the value of social benefits of maintenance of biodiversity by open drainage ditches is 22.523 % higher than if biodiversity is calculated as local species richness. Based on the results, a cultivated field with either drainage system will lead to higher private profitability and social desirability than cultivation without a drainage system. Monte Carlo simulation shows that the results are stochastically sensitive. If the values of empirical parameters are drawn from normal and lognormal distributions with the standard deviations of 10 % of expected values, the standard deviations of the results can be as high as 38 % of the expected values

Agricultural goods and bads : Essays on agriculture and environmental externalities

This dissertation examines the economics of agricultural production and related environmental externalities. In the context of this study, environmental externalities are market failures caused by unintentional outputs of agricultural production. These outputs may be characterized as public goods/bads and they are approached using a joint production framework. The examined externalities are biodiversity benefits, nutrient runoff damages, and costs related to greenhouse gas (henceforth GHG) emissions and climate change. The main objective of this thesis is to study the welfare impacts of the production of different agricultural commodities, especially bioenergy, and agricultural production methods, when environmental externalities are taken into account. Also the costs of increasing or decreasing the unintended environmental public goods or bads causing the externalities are examined. The dissertation consists of an introductory article and four separate studies. In the first three studies, the focus is both on optimization of agricultural joint production systems, and on studying the welfare and environmental impacts of different policies. The last paper examines a case where a public environmental bad,namely climate change, of other anthropocentric/economic activities impacts agricultural production and thus it serves as an input factor of agricultural production. The dissertation shows that the scope of an agricultural externality often depends on local characteristics and underlying assumptions, such as those related to land use, the existence of adaptation measures, and the utility and damage functions. The studies also indicate that policies targeted to agri-environmental externalities should be designed holistically for example by taking into account entire landscapes or sectors, but at thesame time by relying on heterogenous policies within these entities.Tässä tutkielmassa tarkastellaan maataloutta ja sen aiheuttamia ympäristöön kohdistuvia ulkoisvaikutuksia. Ulkoisvaikutuksilla tarkoitetaan tässä yhteydessä maataloustuotannon yhteydessä syntyvien tahattomien sivutuotteiden aiheuttamia markkinahäiriöitä. Nämä sivutuotteet voidaan luokitella joko julkishyödykkeiksi tai -haitakkeiksi, ja niiden tutkimuksessa hyödynnetään yhteistuotoksellista lähestymistapaa. Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltavat ulkoisvaikutukset ovat maatalouden aiheuttamasta ravinnekuormituksesta syntyvä haitta, maatalousympäristön monimuotoisuuden tuoma hyöty ja kasvihuonekaasupäästöistä ilmastonmuutoksen kautta aiheutuva haitta. Tutkimuksen päätarkoituksena on tarkastella eri maataloushyödykkeiden tuotannon aiheuttamia yhteiskunnallisia hyvinvointivaikutuksia, kun maatalouden aiheuttamat ulkoisvaikutukset otetaan huomioon. Myös julkishyödykkeen tai -haitakkeen vähentämisen ja lisäämisen kustannuksia arvioidaan. Tutkielma koostuu johdantoluvusta sekä neljästä erillisestä osajulkaisusta. Ensimmäisessä kolmessa osajulkaisussa päähuomio on yhteistuotoksen optimoinnissa, sekä tuotantoon liittyvän politiikan hyvinvointi- ja ympäristövaikutusten arvioinnissa. Neljännessä osajulkaisussa käsitellään tapausta jossa julkishaitake (ilmastonmuutos) on yksi maataloustuotannon tuotannontekijöistä. Tutkimus osoittaa että mallinnettavan maatalouden ulkoisvaikutuksen suuruus riippuu usein paikallisista tekijöistä ja mallinnuksessa tehtävistä oletuksista, kuten maankäyttöön liittyvistä tekijöistä, adaptaatiotoimenpiteiden olemassaolosta ja hyöty- ja haittafunktioiden määritelmistä. Tutkielman osajulkaisut osoittavat että maatalouden ulkoisvaikutuksiin kohdistuva politiikka tulisi suunnitella holistisesti, ottaen huomioon vaikutukset esimerkiksi maisemittain ja toimialoittain, mutta samalla huomioiden eroavuudet näiden sisällä vaikuttavien toimijoiden välillä

Literature syntheses to inform marine ecosystem management: lessons learned from stakeholder participation

Systematic literature syntheses are a key element in the scientific realm, considering the steadily growing amount of available knowledge. Involving stakeholders in the research process brings a wide range of advantages, like broadening the perspectives on the problem in question, increasing the relevance of results for policy- and decision-making, the public and other end-users and thus enhancing the impact and acceptance of research. While participatory approaches are on the rise, reflections on stakeholder involvement in systematic syntheses on environmental management are scarce. We reflect on the process of involving stakeholders with expertise also from outside academia during three literature syntheses with different foci of marine and coastal ecosystem services in the Baltic Sea. Our analysis is based on notes, e-mails, minutes and recordings of internal project meetings, interviews and workshops involving both researchers and stakeholders. We discuss the challenges the participatory approach introduced and develop lessons learned to support the planning of stakeholder engagement for future literature syntheses. We conclude that stakeholder identification, communication, collaboration and knowledge translation are highly time- and resource-intensive processes. Furthermore, appropriate training and experience are necessary for the design, execution and evaluation of participatory methods tailored to each project stage. Therefore, we underline the importance of adequate consideration of the required resources during project planning and implementation. To encourage and support valuable stakeholder engagement and knowledge exchange between the research community and actors of policy and practice, more appreciation of such efforts by funding institutions and within the wider scientific community is needed

Russian regional political regimes 1991-2005, structural and political resources

This thesis examines the variation in sub-national political regimes in the Russian Federation between 1991 and 2005. The thesis uses a mixed research design, combining a statistical analysis of data from all the Russian regions with two contextual case studies on Kemerovo and Pskov oblasts. Part I of this thesis examines the great variation in electoral regime types that emerged after the institution of gubernatorial elections to the Russian regions in the 1990s. The thesis first outlines the theory behind electoral authoritarian regimes, and the conceptual and empirical differences which separate these regime types from both (electoral) democratic regimes and 'traditional' autocracies. The thesis then operationalises electoral democratic and electoral authoritarian regimes empirically, using indicators drawn from comparative cross-national studies adapted to Russian regional data. The regime categorisation shows that electoral authoritarian regimes formed by far the largest group of political regimes in the Russian regions, but that these regimes also differed in the levels of uncertainty and stability that the elections generated. Part II of the thesis explains the variation in electoral contestation and regime stability within electoral authoritarian regimes in the Russian regions between 1991 and 2005. Electoral authoritarian regimes differ from 'traditional' authoritarian regimes in that they are constrained by formal democratic institutions. Therefore the variation in electoral contestation in Russian sub-national elections cannot be explained by the use of 'traditional' autocratic methods, such as the banning of certain opposition parties or jailing of opposition candidates. This thesis argues that the divergence in electoral authoritarian regime outcomes in the Russian regions reflected strategic elite dynamics. Incumbent advantage is seen based on information control and the incumbent's strategic ability to maintain patronage structures in the regions. This thesis contributes to the growing comparative literature which studies the variation in sub-national regime transitions within large, federal states.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

5. Ekosysteemitilinpito Suomessa

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Literature syntheses to inform marine ecosystem management: lessons learned from stakeholder participation

ABSTRACTSystematic literature syntheses are a key element in the scientific realm, considering the steadily growing amount of available knowledge. Involving stakeholders in the research process brings a wide range of advantages, like broadening the perspectives on the problem in question, increasing the relevance of results for policy- and decision-making, the public and other end-users and thus enhancing the impact and acceptance of research. While participatory approaches are on the rise, reflections on stakeholder involvement in systematic syntheses on environmental management are scarce. We reflect on the process of involving stakeholders with expertise also from outside academia during three literature syntheses with different foci of marine and coastal ecosystem services in the Baltic Sea. Our analysis is based on notes, e-mails, minutes and recordings of internal project meetings, interviews and workshops involving both researchers and stakeholders. We discuss the challenges the participatory approach introduced and develop lessons learned to support the planning of stakeholder engagement for future literature syntheses. We conclude that stakeholder identification, communication, collaboration and knowledge translation are highly time- and resource-intensive processes. Furthermore, appropriate training and experience are necessary for the design, execution and evaluation of participatory methods tailored to each project stage. Therefore, we underline the importance of adequate consideration of the required resources during project planning and implementation. To encourage and support valuable stakeholder engagement and knowledge exchange between the research community and actors of policy and practice, more appreciation of such efforts by funding institutions and within the wider scientific community is needed

Suomen merenalaiset avainluontotyypit ja ekosysteemipalvelut

202