Can landscape stewardship be analysed and enhanced through the concept of service economics?

Abstract

International audienceIn this paper, a service economic analysis framework is developed and applied in order to define, understand, explain and improve landscape services. Together with the ecosystem functions and externalities approach, landscape services are understood as intentionally provided targeted outcomes of agricultural production, with the objective to improve landscape quality. Based on this conceptualisation, a five-step analysis framework is developed and applied to analyse the supply chain of three different landscape services. Empirical evidence was collected from two case studies located in France and Austria, whereas the French case study is the national grassland premium and the Austrian case study is on a local landscape scheme. It could be shown that a key strength of the utilised service economic perspective lies in its formalised structure which allowed the identification of involved actors, the organisation of their relation and the way they are acting within their institutional systems (i.e. how landscape services are organised). Moreover, the standardised analysis structure allows for comparisons of supply chains of landscape services and helps to identify scope for further improvements, independently from its geographic and administrative context. We conclude with potential risks and benefits of the service economics perspective for landscape services