On the Feasibility of "Twofold Transformation". Can Institutions of Sustainability Evolve in Transition Countries?

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 agrienvironmental problems faced in Central and Eastern European countries. 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 nontypical 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 emphasis the problem 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.Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Collaborative platforms for streamlining workflows in Open Science

Despite the internet’s dynamic and collaborative nature, scientists continue to produce grant proposals, lab notebooks, data files, conclusions etc. that stay in static formats or are not published online and therefore not always easily accessible to the interested public. Because of limited adoption of tools that seamlessly integrate all aspects of a research project (conception, data generation, data evaluation, peer-reviewing and publishing of conclusions), much effort is later spent on reproducing or reformatting individual entities before they can be repurposed independently or as parts of articles.

We propose that workflows - performed both individually and collaboratively - could potentially become more efficient if all steps of the research cycle were coherently represented online and the underlying data were formatted, annotated and licensed for reuse. Such a system would accelerate the process of taking projects from conception to publication stages and allow for continuous updating of the data sets and their interpretation as well as their integration into other independent projects.

A major advantage of such workflows is the increased transparency, both with respect to the scientific process as to the contribution of each participant. The latter point is important from a perspective of motivation, as it enables the allocation of reputation, which creates incentives for scientists to contribute to projects. Such workflow platforms offering possibilities to fine-tune the accessibility of their content could gradually pave the path from the current static mode of research presentation into
a more coherent practice of open science

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

An analytical framework for soil degradation, farming practices, institutions and policy responses

There is a lack of knowledge about the effectiveness and efficiency of soil conservation policies in agriculture and little understanding of how policy measures should be designed to encourage farmers to adopt soil conservation practices. This paper analyzes institutional settings surrounding agricultural soil management in ten European countries based on the Institutions of Sustainability framework. This framework considers the interdependencies between ecological and social systems, taking into account environmental conditions, farming practices impacting on soil conservation, different types of actors, policies, institutions and governance structures. The purpose of this paper is to describe the analytical framework and the methodology that all case studies are based on, present and discuss compared findings, outline implications for successful soil conservation policy, and draw conclusions on the methodological approach. The case studies focused on the main soil degradation types occurring across Europe which are addressed by a broad range of mandatory and incentive policies. The findings highlight the following issues: i) the need to design policies that target the locally most common soil threats and processes in the light of agricultural management; ii) the need to take farming management constraints into consideration, (iii) the need for good communication and cooperation both between agricultural and environmental authorities as well as between governmental and non-governmental stakeholders; iv) the necessary mix of mandatory and incentive instruments; and v) the need for data and monitoring systems allowing the evaluation of the effectiveness of policies and soil conservation practices.Institutional analysis, soil degradation, soil conservation policy, soil conservation measures, farming practices, policy evaluation, Farm Management,

Ist der Ökologische Landbau ein transaktionskosteneffizientes Instrument zur Erreichung von Umweltqualitätszielen?

This paper presents the results of a transaction cost study on organic farming in the frame of the Federal Organic Farming Programme of Germany (Bundesprogramm Ökologischer Landbau). It investigates the hypothesis that organic farming represents a transaction cost reducing policy option to achieve agri-environmental objectives. It does so by comparing organic farming with a bundle of single measures that achieves nearly similar agri-environmental quality targets. In two case studies (Thuringia and Baden-Wuerttemberg), administration and control costs are measured from the state's and the farmers’ perspective. The study reveals that transaction costs increase with the number of single measures. From the viewpoint of agricultural administration, organic farming proved to be a policy option that saves transaction costs compared to single measures. For the farmers, organic farming loses its transaction cost advantages when the costs for 100-percent controls are taken into account, instead of 5-percent controls as practiced for other agri-environmental measures

Kosten der Erreichung von Umweltqualitätszielen in ausgewählten Regionen durch Umstellung auf Ökologischen Landbau im Vergleich zu anderen Agrarumweltmaßnahmen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Administrations- und Kontrollkosten

Der vorliegende Forschungsbericht untersucht für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland die Hypothese, dass der Ökologische Landbau aus Sicht der Transaktionskosten eine vorteilhafte Politikoption zur Erreichung agrarumweltpolitischer Ziele darstellt, da durch ihn einzelne Teilaspekte der umweltgerechten Bewirtschaftung gebündelt implementiert werden. Im Rahmen von insgesamt 74 Interviews (teilweise in Form von Fokusgruppen) und zwei regionalen Validierungsworkshops wurden die Aufwendungen, die im Zusammenhang mit der Administration und Kontrolle von Agrarumweltprogrammen auf Seiten des Staates und der Landwirte entstehen, für zwei Fallstudienregionen (Baden-Württemberg, Thüringen) ermittelt. Es wurde ein systematisches Konzept zur Erfassung von Transaktionskosten entwickelt, das die Charakteristika des Ökologischen Landbaus berücksichtigt. Es konnte festgestellt werden, dass die Transaktionskosten mit der Zahl der Maßnahmen je Betrieb ansteigen, vor allem dann, wenn es sich dabei um flächenspezifische Einzelmaßnahmen handelt, die auf die Fläche kumuliert werden können. Der Ökologische Landbau als gesamtbetriebliche Maßnahme ist aus der Sicht der Agrarverwaltung eine transaktionskostensparende Alternative. Auch andere betriebszweigbezogene Maßnahmen, wie z.B. der "kontrolliert-integrierte Ackerbau" in Thüringen, sind gegenüber Einzelmaßnahmen kostensparend. Aus der Sicht der Landwirte verliert der Ökologische Landbau seine Transaktionskostenvorteile, wenn die 100%-Kontrollen gegenüber den 5%-Kontrollen bei anderen Agrarumweltmaßnahmen und der höhere Vermarktungsaufwand berücksichtigt werden. Diesen Kosten stehen nur bei einigen Betrieben höhere Einnahmen durch höhere Produktpreise gegenüber. Wird der Ökologische Landbau als umweltpolitisches Instrument eingesetzt und ist eine gesonderte Vermarktung der Produkte zu höheren Preisen nicht möglich, stellt sich die Frage, ob eine 100%-Kontrolle notwendig und sinnvoll ist. Grundsätzlich gilt, dass eine hohe Akzeptanz der Agrarumweltprogramme nur mit einem Angebot an Maßnahmen zu erreichen ist, das die Präferenzen der Akteure vor Ort berücksichtigt

Application of the Procedure for Institutional Compatibility Assessment (PICA) to the implementation of the EU Nitrate Directive in Midi-Pyrenees. Evaluation and suggestions for further improvement and integration into the final version of SEAMLESS-IF

Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use,

Wikis in scholarly publishing

Scientific research is a process concerned with the creation, collective accumulation, contextualization, updating and maintenance of knowledge. Wikis provide an environment that allows to collectively accumulate, contextualize, update and maintain knowledge in a coherent and transparent fashion. Here, we examine the potential of wikis as platforms for scholarly publishing. In the hope to stimulate further discussion, the article itself was drafted on "Species-ID":http://species-id.net/w/index.php?title=Wikis_in_scholarly_publishing&oldid=3815 - a wiki that hosts a prototype for wiki-based scholarly publishing - where it can be updated, expanded or otherwise improved

Property rights, collective Action, and poverty: The role of institutions for poverty reduction

"This paper presents a conceptual framework on how institutions of property rights and collective action can contribute to poverty reduction, including through external interventions and action by poor people themselves. The first part of the paper examines the initial conditions of poverty, highlighting the role of assets, risks and vulnerability, legal structures and power relations. The latter part investigates the decision-making dynamics of actors—both poor and non-poor—and how they can use the tangible and intangible resources they have to shape their livelihoods and the institutions that govern their lives. The paper concludes with a discussion of how attention to property rights and collective action can improve the understanding of outcomes in terms of changes in wellbeing." authors' abstractCollective action, Property rights, Poverty reduction, Conceptual framework, Vulnerability, Power, Institutions, Wellbeing,