Patterns of institutional change for sustainability in Central and Eastern European agriculture

"In this paper, the author discusses two different beliefs of how institutional change towards sustainability in agriculture and environment works: the institutional view and the evolutionary view. Both perspectives are studied in the context of restructuring the agricultural sectors and rural environments in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs). The specific nature of the 'agri-environmental problem' calls for specific institutions and may require a specific building process. Case study results are presented showing the effect of EU accession on institutional change towards sustainability in several CEECs. The results provide evidence that the quality of institutional change required for sustainability goes beyond the building of legislative frameworks and requires more time than was envisaged by the roadmap to accession. Finally, the paper explores the role of social and human capital stocks in rural areas of CEECs outlining a number of differences in environmental governance in the agricultural sectors between various CEECs." (author's abstract

The evolution of institutions in transition

"This paper aims at explaining the role and importance of the evolution of institutions for sustainable agri-environments during the transition process by referring to examples of agri-environmental problems faced in Central and Eastern European countries. It is often stated that the replacement of institutional structures in post socialist countries would bring a unique opportunity to implement new policies and institutions needed to ensure that economic growth is environmentally sustainable. This idea stems from the assumption that the breakdown of the socialist system resembles that (of the Schumpeterian type) of creative destruction - a process that incessantly revolutionizes economic structures from within. However, not all kinds of institutions, especially at local level, can simply be implemented, and even more, not incessantly. Instead, they evolve as a response to ecosystem and social system characteristics, and this is a rather slow process. A central question therefore is whether the required institutional arrangements for achieving sustainability in the area of agri-environmental resource management can be built more easily in periods of transition as they fill institutional gaps, or whether processes of transition make institution building a more difficult and far more time consuming task than previously thought. Above all, we want to find out, how these two processes of institution building at different scales affect the sustainable management of resources such as water and biodiversity in agriculture? It will become clear that the agri-environmental problem areas faced during transition are complex and dynamic and require adequate institutions both by political design and from the grassroots, to be developed by the respective actors involved. Transition from centrally planned to pluralistic systems has to be considered as a particular and in some respect non-typical process of institutional change. Popular theories of institutional change do not necessarily apply. The privatisation experience from many CEE countries will serve as an example. Finally, we will provide some examples of missing or insufficient interaction between political actors or agencies and people in CEE countries. Substantial investments into social and human capital, particularly regarding informal institutions are needed for institutions of sustainability to evolve." (author's abstract)Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die Rolle und Bedeutung von Institutionen zur Unterstützung nachhaltiger umweltschonender Landwirtschaft während des Transformationsprozess in den zentral- und osteuropäischen Ländern unter Einbeziehung beispielhafter Probleme aus dem landwirtschaftlichen umweltbezogenen Bereich. Es wird häufig behauptet, dass die Ersetzung institutioneller Strukturen in den ehemaligen sozialistischen Ländern eine einzigartige Gelegenheit bieten würde, eine neue Politik und neue Institutionen zu implementieren, die benötigt werden, um das Wirtschaftswachstum umweltgerecht abzusichern. Diese Idee basiert auf der Annahme, dass der Zusammenbruch des sozialistischen Systems einer kreativen Zerstörung ähnelt, einem Prozess, der unaufhörlich Wirtschaftsstrukturen von innen revolutioniert. Tatsache ist jedoch, dass nicht alle Arten von Institutionen implementiert werden können, vor allem nicht auf lokaler Ebene. Stattdessen entwickeln sie sich als Antwort auf das Ökosystem und das soziale System, und zwar ziemlich langsam. Eine zentrale Frage ist folglich, ob die Herausbildung von Institutionen zur Erreichung von Nachhaltigkeit im landwirtschaftlich-umweltbezogenen Bereich in Zeiten der Transformation leichter vonstatten gehen kann, oder ob es sich dabei um einen Prozess handelt, der viel schwieriger und zeitraubender ist, als bisher angenommen. Die Autoren gehen der Frage nach, wie diese beiden Prozesse des 'institution building' das nachhaltige Ressourcenmanagement beeinflussen. Es wird deutlich, dass die landwirtschaftlich-umweltbezogenen Probleme während der Transformation komplex und dynamisch sind und adäquate Institutionen erfordern. (ICDÜbers

Irrigation and Water Regulation Systems in Transition: The Case of Bulgaria in Comparison with Latvia, East Germany and Romania

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Beyond economic efficiency in biodiversity conservation

This paper aims at explaining the importance of the democracy stance as compared to the efficiency stance in order to deal with complexity in biodiversity conservation. While the efficiency stance refers to the realm of relatively simple systems, individual rationality, and instrumental values, the complexity stance transcends these boundaries into the realm of complex systems, social rationality and intrinsic values. We argue that the task of biodiversity conservation is impossible to achieve in economically efficient ways, because (a) it is impossible to come to a (fully informed) complete account of all values, not only because it is costly but also because (b) moral values are involved which (by their nature) exclude themselves from being accounted for, and (c) biodiversity conservation can be regarded as an end in itself instead of only a means towards an end. The point we raise is, that in order to cope with biodiversity conservation we need to apply valuation methods which are from the complexity stance, take better account of intrinsic values and feelings, as well as consider social rationality. Economic valuation methods are themselves 'value articulating institutions' and as biodiversity conservation confronts us with the complexity of social-ecological systems, the choice of the 'value articulating institutions' needs to consider their ability to capture instrumental and intrinsic values of biodiversity. We demonstrate a method, based on cybernetics, which is able to take into account the issues raised

Marginality: Addressing the Nexus of Poverty, Exclusion and Ecology

Environment, general; Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice; Environmental Economics; Social Polic

Addressing the nexus challenge of climate change, human health, and urban sustainability

This meeting report summarises the core discussion points and essential outcomes of the Lisbon Expert Meeting, which took place at the Portuguese Academy of Sciences during 19-20 September 2018. The Lisbon Expert Meeting was an in-depth inquiry of 15 internationally-known scientists and policy experts on the complex interconnection of uncertain climate change impacts, urban health, and well-being problems and sustainable development, as well as on adaptation strategies and challenges. The meeting report contains three parts: 1) general framing of contexts, 2) review of climate change-health policies, and 3) systems sciences unraveling the nexus between climate change and health, and proposed sciencepolicy pathways. Among these parts, we further organised Part 3 according to the four thematic components discussed at the meeting by the form of panel presentations and Q&A. The first thematic part presents the nexus challenge of climate change impacts on health and the implications on urban sustainability. The second thematic part introduces integrated approaches to urban health provision and management. The third thematic part proposes a “health-centered” science-policy interface. Lastly, the fourth thematic part explores ways to better coordinate the implementation of health policies within the context of global climate change impacts. In this report, we also propose policy recommendations following each thematic discussion.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Analysing institutions, policies, and farming systems for sustainable agriculture in Central and Eastern European countries in transition

"The aim of this paper is to develop a comprehensive conceptual framework for the analysis of institutions, policies and farming systems for agri-environmental sustainability in Central and Eastern European countries in transition. The basic unit of analysis is the 'agri-environmental action scenario'. The action scenario consists of a set of components which together shape the outcomes of an agri-environmental action situation. The framework consists of 1) the environmental effects of transition, 2) policies, 3) institutions, and 4) farming systems. We aim at characterising these key elements of the framework, their relationship and interactions, and their role in achieving sustainability at the interface between agriculture and the environment. Environmental areas of concern are: water, soil and biodiversity. The paper intends to create a common understanding of basic concepts and a shared conceptual model among the members of the Central and Eastern European Sustainable Agriculture (CEESA) Network. The framework will be adapted according to new insights and findings during the course of research activities of the CEESA research project." (author's abstract)Das Ziel des Papiers besteht darin, einen umfassenden Begriffsrahmen für die Analyse von Institutionen, Politiken und Landwirtschaftssystemen für eine nachhaltige Agrarumweltentwicklung in den sich wandelnden mittel- und osteuropäischen Staaten zu entwerfen. Der grundlegende Bestandteil der Analyse ist das "Agrarumwelt-Aktions-Szenario". Das Aktions-Szenario beruht auf einer Reihe von Komponenten, die zusammen die Ergebnisse einer Agrarumwelt-Aktionssituation formen. Der Rahmen beruht auf den Umwelteffekten des Übergangs (1), den Politiken (2), den Institutionen (3) und den Landwirtschaftssystemen (4). Die Autoren möchten diese Schlüsselelemente des Rahmens, ihre Beziehungen und Interaktionen untereinander sowie ihre Rolle beim Erreichen von Nachhaltigkeit an der Schnittstelle zwischen Landwirtschaft und Umwelt charakterisieren. Die diesbezüglichen Umweltbereiche sind Wasser, Boden und Biodiversität. Das Papier beabsichtigt, ein gemeinsames Verständnis von grundlegenden Konzepten und ein konzeptionell geformtes Modell unter den Mitgliedern des "Central and Eastern European Sustainable Agriculture (CEESA)"-Netzwerks zu schaffen. Der Rahmen wird an neue Einsichten und Ergebnisse während der Laufzeit der Forschungsaktivitäten des CEESA-Forschungsprojekts angepasst. (ICIÜbers

Xiamen Call for Action: Building the Brain of the City- Universal Principles of Urban Health

The question of how to achieve healthy, sustainable urban futures demands a singular emphasis. The scale and rate of change of modern urbanisation is unprecedented—so much so that it threatens the health gains of the past century. Urbanisation is the greatest ecological shift in human history, and in modern times has attained dimensions never seen before. We have mere decades to enact the greatest transformational change the planet has ever seen, if we are to safeguard a sustainable future. Indeed, the scope, scale, and ambition of transformative efforts need to accelerate dramatically, if humanity is to achieve sustainability before being overwhelmed by global change.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio