Review report on the literature that links environmental and economic threshold effects

The decision whether or not to implement a project is one subject to uncertainty and irreversibility. Irreversible effects of a project include effects on: human health, due to changes in emissions; biodiversity; climate change, due to changes in greenhouse gas emissions; sunk costs and; administrative costs due to new regulations. This report gives: Decision in the presence of irreversible costs; Private and Public Irreversibilitie

How labour organization may affect technology adoption: an analytical framework analysing the case of integrated pest management

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an important component of sustainable agriculture. Farmers who switch from a more capital-intensive pesticide-based pest management strategy to IPM have to substitute capital with labour. The adoption of IPM will therefore depend, among other things, on the opportunity costs of labour. A simple model analyses the trade-off between IPM and current farmers' best practice in developing countries. Modifications of the model include different forms of labour organization in pest management, such as owner operated and short- and long-term labour contracts. The implications are that agricultural policies, environmental policies, and labour market policies can go hand in hand. Unfortunately, this will be more likely at a higher level of original pesticide use and hence a higher level of environmental costs

Report on environmental and socio-economic analysis (WP 2 Task 3)

The potential damage costs assessment indicates substantial economic benefits can be gained by controlling Dvv. The economic benefits of the Wageningen workshop scenario are about 472 million Euro per year. The economic benefits of control justify eradication and containment strategies of the EU. The environmental and socio-economic analysis of Diabrotica control programs undertaken in this report gives a global idea of what are the benefits and the inconvenient of each possible control strategy (chemical, biological, transgenic) in terms of economic, environmental and health impacts for the different stakeholders involved in such management program

Coping with Ex-ante Regulations for Planting Bt Maize: The Portuguese Experience

This article investigates the attitude and practices of Bt and non-Bt maize farmers in Portugal. Thirty-seven Bt maize farmers were interviewed, representing 22.5% of the total number of Bt maize notifications in the country and 31.5% of the total area planted with Bt maize in 2007. Additionally, 66 non-Bt maize farmers were surveyed in an attempt to investigate their opinion on the Bt technology, its viability, and its future. The most interesting finding is that almost half of all the surveyed maize farmers stated that the ex-ante regulations are rigid and difficult to appl

Socio-economic assessment of two small-scale irrigation schemes in Adami Tullu Jido Kombolcha Woreda, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

The sustainability of irrigated agriculture is questioned and the challenge is to increase simultaneously land and water productivity in the face of the limited availability of land and water in the CRV, the Central Rift Valley. The aim of this research is to assess the social-economic performance of two communitybased small-scale irrigation schemes in Adami Tullu Jido Kombolcha Woreda (ATJK) and to identify options to improve irrigation performance and resource managemen

Biotechnologies and agrifood strategies: opportunities, threats and economic implications

The production of food employs different kinds of biotechnologies, some of which are more controversial than others. The public and the agrifood sector have developed a number of responses to address their concerns about biotechnologies considered controversial. In this contribution the different strategies chosen by the agrifood sector in the EU in response to the introduction of new biotechnologies in the agrifood complex will be discussed. The contribution concentrates on the example of the introduction of genetically engineered crops and the strategic responses by the EU food industry, namely food processors and food retailers. The contribution concludes with an outlook on the future of the EU agrifood complex

Different perceptions of adaptation to climate change: a mental model approach applied to the evidence from expert interviews

We argue that differences in the perception and governance of adaptation to climate change and extreme weather events are related to sets of beliefs and concepts through which people understand the environment and which are used to solve the problems they face (mental models). Using data gathered in 31 in-depth interviews with adaptation experts in Europe, we identify five basic stakeholder groups whose divergent aims and logic can be related to different mental models they use: advocacy groups, administration, politicians, researchers, and media and the public. Each of these groups uses specific interpretations of climate change and specifies how to deal with climate change impacts. We suggest that a deeper understanding and follow-up of the identified mental models might be useful for the design of any stakeholder involvement in future climate impact research processes. It might also foster consensus building about adequate adaptation measures against climate threats in a society

Benefits and costs of biologically contained genetically modified tomatoes and eggplants in Italy and Spain

In this paper we assess the benefits and costs of introducing biologically contained genetically modified (GM) crops, with an application to the potential introduction of GM tomatoes and eggplants in Italy and Spain. Such crops possess both the standard beneficial GM traits, and they prevent introgression of transgenes from GM crops to their conventional or wild relatives, thereby adding to the safety of their cultivation. As a result, coexistence regulations for these crops are less stringent than for crops without biological containment. The potential adoption of biologically contained GM tomatoes and eggplants is assessed in a cost-benefit framework for Italy and Spain. We conclude that biological containment has considerable potential benefits if policy makers are willing to loosen the restrictions on the introduction of these varietie