The rural under the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union : sustainable rural development aspects of pillar II in Finland and Estonia

National ministries of agriculture and competent EU authorities currently have the reforms of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) high on their agendas in terms of planning and designing the upcoming programmatic period. Also subjected to this debate are the allocation of the budget to each pillar and their territorial impact. The interest of this article lies with two interrelated aspects. The first comprises an overview of the Pillar II budget and how this is allocated within EU member states. The second considers how these measures relate and contribute to the improvement of the socio-economic situation and the state of the environment in rural areas of the EU in general, and in Estonia and Finland in particular. Seemingly, the way funding has been allocated thus far, with a heavy focus on agriculture and directly related activities, is not appropriately suited to facilitate a holistic improvement of the state of rural areas of the EU, while it does not reflect the contemporary economic transition processes in these areas. In terms of protection of the agri-environment, Finland exhibits an unprecedented coverage of areas under environmental support measures, as a Pillar II component, while implementation of the same policy in Estonia results currently in the coverage of less than half of the potential areas. The imbalances in the two countries in terms of actual financial support per hectare are also considerable. To facilitate sustainable development in such areas as a whole, policy streaming should not be broken down into objectives to be reached via broad actions that address particular sectors, and it should not attend to the satisfaction of sectoral interests. Rural areas and their economies, in terms of sustainable development, should be approached in an integrated manner, enabling this process to advance in a holistic and territorial fashion, taking into account all the necessary dimensions of sustainability.201

Contribution to the development and pilot testing of an evaluation system for agri-environmental measures in Greece

Η εργασία επιχειρεί να παρουσιάσει την ανάπτυξη ενός σύνθετου δείκτη, ικανού να προσδιορίζει, μέσω ποσοτικής προσέγγισης, τις περιβαλλοντικές επιδράσεις, οι οποίες προκύπτουν από τις δραστηριότητες γεωργικών εκμεταλλεύσεων, στο πλαίσιο εφαρμογής Αγροπεριβαλλοντικών Μέτρων, ως τμήμα των ευρύτερων πολιτικών της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης για τον αγροτικό χώρο. Ευρύτερης σημασίας σκοπό της εργασίας αποτελεί, εκτός της συμβολής της στην ανάπτυξη κοινής και εναρμονισμένης, σε ευρωπαϊκό επίπεδο, μεθοδολογίας περιβαλλοντικής αξιολόγησης των Αγροπεριβαλλοντικών Μέτρων, η συνεισφορά της στην ευρύτερη συζήτηση που διεξάγεται, σχετικά με την ανάπτυξη συστημάτων που βασίζονται σε σύνθετους δείκτες, αλλά και στη δυνατότητα χρήσης ανάλογων υποστηρικτικών εργαλείων άσκησης πολιτικής στις διαδικασίες λήψηςαποφάσεων. Η εργασία διακρίνεται σε πέντε επιμέρους τμήματα, τα οποία αποτελούνται απόεπτά διαφορετικά κεφάλαια. Εισαγωγικά, παρατίθενται το σχετικό πλαίσιο πολιτικής και οιυφιστάμενες πρακτικές περιβαλλοντικής αξιολόγησης αγροπεριβαλλοντικών πολιτικών, προγραμμάτων και μέτρων. Στη συνέχεια, παρουσιάζεται η χρήση των αγροπεριβαλλοντικών δεικτών και η συμβολή τους στις διαδικασίες αξιολόγησης των εν λόγω μέτρων πολιτικής. Κατόπιν αυτών, αναλύονται τα επιμέρους στοιχεία της μεθοδολογίας αξιολόγησης, δηλαδή εκείνα εξ' αυτών τα οποία συγκροτούν ένα σύνθετο δείκτη. Τα τελευταία ακολουθούνται από τη λεπτομερή κατά στάδιο ανάλυση δυο δοκιμαστικών εφαρμογών του συστήματος αξιολόγησης, σε συνδυασμό με τααποτελέσματα τα οποία προέκυψαν από τις εν λόγω εφαρμογές. Ένα μικρό τμήμα της εργασίας, αφιερώνεται στην ανάλυση βαθμού ευαισθησίας του σύνθετου δείκτη και, εν τέλει σε συμπεράσματα και τη συζήτηση αυτών, συνοδευόμενη από τρία παραρτήματα. Από την εφαρμογή του εν λόγω σύνθετου δείκτη για τον υπολογισμό του αγροπεριβαλλοντικού αποτυπώματος στης περιοχές της μεσσηνιακής Μάνης (Βιολογική Ελαιοκαλλιέργεια) και του κάμπου της Λάρισας (Βαμβακοκαλλιέργεια μειωμένων εισροών λιπασμάτων) προκύπτουν τα εξής ευρήματα: Η σύγκριση εκμεταλλεύσεων υπό καθεστώς αγροπεριβαλλοντικών μέτρων και μη συμμετεχουσών εκμεταλλεύσεων δεν παράγει σημαντικές διαφοροποιήσεις μεταξύ των δυο συστημάτων. Στην περίπτωση της Μάνης η εφαρμογή μέτρων εμπόδισε την εντατικοποίηση της ελαιοκαλλιέργειας και διευκόλυνε τη μετάβαση της στη βιολογική παραγωγή. Στην περίπτωση της Λάρισας η εφαρμογή του μέτρου κατάφερε να συνεισφέρει στην προσπάθεια αντιμετώπισης συγκεκριμένωνπεριβαλλοντικών επιπτώσεων, οι οποίες εντούτοις δεν ήταν εντός των προκαθορισμένωνστόχων της πολιτικής. Και στις δυο περιπτώσεις η εφαρμογή των μέτρων δεν δύναται ναχαρακτηριστεί ως σεβόμενη τις αρχές της προσθετικότητας

Governing Environmental Conservation through Green Grant support in Brazil: A metagovernance analysis

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State and future of rural development under the Common Agricultural Policy - A study on the allocation of funding within Pillar II

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Steering the Poverty-Environment Nexus in Central Asia: A metagovernance analysis of the Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI)

© The Authors 2017. Development Policy Review © 2017 Overseas Development Institute The close and reciprocal ties between poverty and environmental degradation present significant potential for simultaneous improvement of the livelihood of the poorest along with increased opportunities and enhanced resilience of the environment and natural resources. By supporting governments and other stakeholders in designing and implementing development plans that tackle environmental and poverty concerns in a joint manner, the globally operating UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) addresses a major governance challenge for sustainable development (SD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in particular. Focusing on Central Asia, and specifically Tajikistan, a country outside the spotlight of studies concerned with SD governance mechanisms, and through the analysis of PEI programme documents and stakeholders’ interviews, this article probes into the governance and governance co-ordination (metagovernance) settings for SD. The article closes by presenting a set of recommendations to improve governance co-ordination, while achieving more inclusive decision-making and ultimately increasing the impact of PEI on the society and the environment. Specifically, it argues for improved information policy and enhanced integration of endogenous knowledge. Furthermore, national and local development planning and private initiatives should be better linked, and the different levels of governance for poverty-environment mainstreaming should be more coherent. The solutions discussed are of relevance for wider Central Asia and the global community engaged in moving the SDGs into the mainstream of governance and policy frameworks.status: publishe

Steering the Poverty-Environment Nexus in Central Asia:A metagovernance analysis of the Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI)

The close and reciprocal ties between poverty and environmental degradation present significant potential for simultaneous improvement of the livelihood of the poorest along with increased opportunities and enhanced resilience of the environment and natural resources. By supporting governments and other stakeholders in designing and implementing development plans that tackle environmental and poverty concerns in a joint manner, the globally operating UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) addresses a major governance challenge for sustainable development (SD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in particular. Focusing on Central Asia, and specifically Tajikistan, a country outside the spotlight of studies concerned with SD governance mechanisms, and through the analysis of PEI programme documents and stakeholders’ interviews, this article probes into the governance and governance co-ordination (metagovernance) settings for SD. The article closes by presenting a set of recommendations to improve governance co-ordination, while achieving more inclusive decision-making and ultimately increasing the impact of PEI on the society and the environment. Specifically, it argues for improved information policy and enhanced integration of endogenous knowledge. Furthermore, national and local development planning and private initiatives should be better linked, and the different levels of governance for poverty-environment mainstreaming should be more coherent. The solutions discussed are of relevance for wider Central Asia and the global community engaged in moving the SDGs into the mainstream of governance and policy frameworks

The rural under the common agricultural policy of the European Union: Sustainable rural development aspects of pillar II in Finland and Estonia

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100 key research questions for the post-2015 development agenda

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) herald a new phase for international development. This article presents the results of a consultative exercise to collaboratively identify 100 research questions of critical importance for the post-2015 international development agenda. The final shortlist is grouped into nine thematic areas and was selected by 21 representatives of international and non-governmental organisations and consultancies, and 14 academics with diverse disciplinary expertise from an initial pool of 704 questions submitted by 110 organisations based in 34 countries. The shortlist includes questions addressing long-standing problems, new challenges and broader issues related to development policies, practices and institutions. Collectively, these questions are relevant for future development-related research priorities of governmental and non-governmental organisations worldwide and could act as focal points for transdisciplinary research collaborations