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This paper focuses on the ecosystem service benefits to homeowners from living in close proximity to three National Parks. Knowing these ecosystem service benefits is of policy and management relevance as expansion of existing Parks and protected areas along ecosystem boundaries often requires acquisition of undeveloped private land or other multiple use public lands, something that local officials may oppose. While the effects on house prices from urban parks, and two other types of U.S. Federal lands have been studied, the effect of lands in the U.S. National Park System on house prices had not been studied at the time of this research. To fill this information gap, hedonic price models were estimated to calculate the effect on residential house prices of proximity to three National Parks (NPs). After controlling for other characteristics of the house, neighborhood, and several other types of open space (e.g., National Forests, County Parks), we estimate house sale prices were on average 9.8% higher for houses within 2 km of National Park boundaries. This house price premium represents the value of the ecosystem services received by homeowners from living in close to these NPs. Quantifiable information on local ecosystem service benefits may ameliorate some concerns by local governments about converting private land or other agencies' multiple use lands in order to expand NPs or protected areas to better reflect ecosystem boundaries rather than historical, and often arbitrary boundaries. In addition, quantifiable information on enhancement of property values may broaden stakeholder groups to include the real estate industry. Thus, our results may support agencies in better achieving their objectives of managing NPs as ecological units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beef, among all foods, has the greatest environmental impact and is associated with several chronic diseases. Brazil is one of the largest consumers of meat in the world, on par with developed countries and, most of its greenhouse gas emissions stem from deforestation and agricultural activities. Therefore, this article aims to project the economic and environmental impacts of reducing beef consumption due to changes in household preferences and an increase in beef taxes, with and without a revenue neutral mechanism (subsidies applied to food, excluding meat). To analyze this, a dynamic interregional Computable General Equilibrium model was employed, incorporating a land use change module and accounting for substitution between different food items in both consumption and production structure across regions within the Brazilian Amazon, Matopiba, and the rest of Brazil. The results show that a 40% reduction in beef consumption distributed between 2022 and 2050 could prevent deforestation on an area of approximately 65,000 km2, potentially mitigating up to 2.8 GtCO₂e (a third of the world's potential mitigation from dietary changes according to the UN). In the scenario with subsidies, the reduction in deforestation is smaller due to incentives provided to certain commodities that use pasture. Preference changes could have a virtually zero impact on GDP by 2050. Conversely, increased beef taxes could result in an overall rise in costs, leading to a negative impact on exports and GDP (subsidies only attenuate). In all scenarios, regional impacts would be heterogeneous, particularly affecting regions highly dependent on the cattle and beef sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2018, Costa Rica demonstrated its commitment to the Paris Agreement and published its Decarbonization Plan for achieving zero net emissions by the year 2050. We evaluate the impacts of the country's strategy for decarbonizing its Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses (AFOLU) sectors by coupling the Integrated Economic-Environmental Modeling framework with high-resolution spatial land use-land cover change and ecosystem services modeling (IEEM+ESM). Our results show that decarbonization of AFOLU would simultaneously enhance carbon storage, water purification, water regulation and erosion mitigation ecosystem services. Moreover, the positive cumulative wealth impact of decarbonization would be approximately US$7.27 billion by 2050 while lifting an additional 3810 individuals out of poverty. From a public investment perspective, decarbonization would have a fiscally neutral impact with the economic benefits sufficient in magnitude to off-set policy implementation costs and generate economic returns of over US$852 million when changes in natural capital stocks and environmental quality are considered. This application to Costa Rica is the first integrated economy-wide analysis of a growing number of decarbonization plans globally. The IEEM+ESM approach provides an integrated framework for analyzing decarbonization plans and can be used to refine AFOLU mitigation strategies to capitalize on synergies and minimize negative trade-offs across the three dimensions of wealth and sustainable economic development, namely economy, society and the environment. • Decarbonization of Costa Rica's AFOLU will generate US$7.3 billion in wealth. • AFOLU decarbonization will be fiscally neutral and generate returns of US$852 million. • The methods can be applied to integrated analysis of decarbonization globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs a global Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to quantify the effects of aquaculture production on agricultural markets, food prices and land use. We conduct a scenario analysis simulating, first, the fish sector developments expected by FAO; second, a rebuilding of sustainable wild fish stocks to achieve SDG 14; and third, a stronger expansion in aquaculture production with varying fishmeal supply. The results show direct effects of aquaculture production and limited fishmeal supply on agricultural production, land use, and food prices. Substituting fishmeal with plant-based feed when rebuilding sustainable fish stocks has lower effects on agricultural markets than growth in aquaculture production comparable to the first decade of this century. In addition, expanding aquaculture production increases prices for capture fish via fishmeal demand, instead of reducing capture fish prices by substituting consumer demand. Finally, rebuilding sustainable fish stocks has significant adverse effects on food prices in marine fish dependent regions in the southern hemisphere, and these regions need support in the transition period until sustainable fish stocks are achieved. The results of this study illustrate the interconnectedness of SDG 14 (life below water), SDG 15 (life on land) and SDG 2 (zero hunger). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to the relatively scarce literature evaluating household-level outcomes of collective agreements. We examine participation in and anticipation effects of two collective, incentive-based initiatives in Ucayali, Peru. The first initiative is a local REDD+ project, the second is Peru's National Forest Conservation Program (NFCP). Both initiatives were evaluated at an early stage of implementation, thus any effects are characterized as anticipation effects. We first examine the determinants of participation in the initiatives and find that household participation is negatively associated with agricultural income and positively associated with market access and previous experiences with external initiatives. Next, we use quasi-experimental methods and self-reflexive evaluations to examine impacts on land use and livelihoods. The results show no evidence of anticipation effects on income or land use. Self-reflexive evaluations indicate, however, that a total of 82% of the NFCP participating households perceive a positive effect on wellbeing, while only 39% of participants in REDD+ perceive a positive effect. The differences in perceptions of the two initiatives is attributed to design and implementation factors, including delayed payments, lack of transparency, and limited local input. The study demonstrates the value of self-reflexive evaluations for identifying intangible effects on wellbeing of conservation initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between intergenerational altruism, pessimism bias, and grassland use among rural households in the pastoral region of northwest China. By designing a series of hypothetical questions, we develop measures of intergenerational altruism and pessimism bias, and examine their impact on actual grazing behavior. Our analysis reveals that households with weaker intergenerational altruism and stronger pessimism bias tend to increase their livestock scale without a corresponding increase in supplementary feeding, suggesting that our measures can serve as reliable predictors of grassland overuse. Furthermore, to investigate whether the grant of long-term land rights to rural households mitigates the negative impact of pessimism bias on grassland management, we employ panel data collected before and after a land reform in China. Our results demonstrate that the reform weakens the adverse effects of pessimism bias and promotes the sustainable use of grassland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment of whether protected areas (PAs) inhibit environmentally damaging fires is challenged by three sources of bias: (i) non-random site protection, (ii) influence of simultaneous land use and environmental changes, and (iii) unobservable time-invariant fire predictors. These biases were mitigated here with a quasi-experimental approach combining matching, differences-and-differences and the fixed-effects estimator. An extensive pixel-level dataset covering the 6 million km2 of the Amazon region across 18 years was analyzed. The five types of PAs considered differed on governmental level (national or subnational) and protection stringency (permitting either indirect or direct use of resources, or only indigenous inhabitants). Results attested PAs' effectiveness in containing fires on average, although in a degree 1.4 orders of magnitude smaller than in biased estimation. Still, the effect was considerable, with fire likelihood reduced, depending on the fire measure, in 7% or 12% in the average pixel-year. Also, the effect was heterogeneous, being larger in subnational PAs, albeit not with indirect use permitted, whereas national direct use PAs did not avoid fires. Results were robust to clustered standard errors and, in a reasonable degree, to Rosenbaum's hidden bias test. Consequently, expanding subnational PAs and enforcing all PA types could curb fires' environmental damages. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable management of social-ecological systems requires an understanding of how anthropogenic climate- and land use change may disrupt interactions between human societies and the ecosystem processes they depend on. In this study, we expand an existing stylized social-ecological system model by explicitly considering how urbanizing societies may become less dependent on local ecosystem functioning. This expansion is motivated by a previously developed conceptual framework suggesting that societies may reside in either a green loop and be strongly dependent on local ecosystem processes, or in a red loop where this dependency is weaker due to imports of natural resources from elsewhere. Analyzing the feasibility and stability of local social-ecological system states over a wide range of environmental and socio-economic conditions, we observed dynamics consistent with the notion of green loop-dominated and red loop-dominated societies comprising alternate stable social-ecological states. Based on systems' inherent dependencies on local ecosystem processes, responses to environmental change could comprise either transitions between green loop- and red loop-dominated states, or collapse of either of these states. Our quantitative model provides an internally consistent mapping of green loop- and red loop-dominated states, as well as transitions between or collapses of these states, along a gradient of environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the existing confusion around the conceptual definitions and interpretations of the term circular bioeconomy. The co-existence of diametrically opposite interpretations of the concept indicates lack of a serious discussion of its theoretical foundations. Two narratives on circular bioeconomy are explored in depth: (i) the new economic paradigm based on technological progress (the economics of technological promises) that seeks perpetual economic growth; (ii) an entropic (thermodynamic) narrative that reflects on the limits on economic growth imposed by nature. The latter narrative makes a distinction between primary, secondary and tertiary resource flows and helps to identify what can and cannot be re-circulated within the metabolic pattern of social-ecological systems. Adopting the biophysical view, it becomes clear that the industrial revolution represented a linearization of material and energy flows with the goal to overcome the low pace and density of biological transformations. The required level of productivity of production factors in contemporary developed economies (flows per hour of labor and per hectare of land use) is orders of magnitude larger than the pace and density of supply and sink capacity of natural processes. Relying on nature to 'close the loop' will simply slow down the economic process. • Confusion around the concept of circular bioeconomy is explored • The concept is linked to Georgescu-Roegen's fund-flow model • The industrial revolution was a movement from a circular to a linearized economy • Dependence on renewable ecological fund-flows slows down the economic process • Current productivity of productions factors is incompatible with circular bioeconomy [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use face-to-face interview survey data collected in 2017 from farmers located in Xinjiang province, China to identify influencing factors for willingness to adopt the new round of the Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP). Results indicate that socio-demographic characteristics and the livelihood endowment of rural households, policy improvements, and external supports influence farmers' willingness to participate in the new round of the SLCP. We also find that it is essential to improve farmers' off-farm skills and forestry management abilities, optimize the compensation scheme of the SLCP, and strengthen the supporting capacity of forestry specialized cooperatives to enhance farmers' enthusiasm for participating in the new round of the SLCP. We discuss the implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using fine-scale panel data and an econometric model, we predict land use change in the Midwestern United States if a new bioenergy crop, Miscanthus × Giganteus (miscanthus), is introduced. To explain farmers' current crop choices, we use a local, limited dependent variable regression based on soil and weather characteristics. To this model, we add miscanthus as a new crop, based on its place dependent BioCro model-predicted yield. We find that the vast majority of land used to grow miscanthus will come from land now used for non-major crops, pasture, woodland, and other uses. This implies that miscanthus can help mitigate climate change by displacing oil usage without causing food conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Deforestation in the Amazon with its vast consequences for the ecosystem and climate is largely related to subsequent land use for cattle ranching. In addition to conservation policies, proposals to reduce deforestation include measures to intensify cattle ranching. However, the effects of land-use intensification on deforestation are debated in the literature. This paper introduces the abacra model, a stylized agent-based model to study the interplay of deforestation and the intensification of cattle ranching in the Brazilian Amazon. The model combines social learning and ecological processes with market dynamics. In the model, agents adopt either an extensive or semi-intensive strategy of cattle ranching based on the success of their neighbors. They earn their income by selling cattle on a stylized market. We present a comprehensive analysis of the model with statistical methods and find that it produces highly non-linear transient outcomes in dependence on key parameters like the rate of social interaction and elasticity of the cattle price. We show that under many environmental and economic conditions, intensification does not reduce deforestation rates and sometimes even has a detrimental effect on deforestation. Anti-deforestation policies incentivizing fast intensification can only lower deforestation rates under conditions in which the local cattle market saturates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Savanna rangelands provide essential ecosystem services to people. Intense land-use and climate change may degrade ecosystems and influence the provision of ecosystem services. Complex dynamic vegetation models can simulate future vegetation and how vegetation may interact with land-use. Yet, identification of best-practice management directives in the face of climate change is challenging and requires consideration of socio-economic aspects. Here, we developed an economic model to describe the value of key ecosystem services, namely fuelwood harvesting and livestock, and coupled it with aDGVM, a vegetation model for tropical ecosystems. We used simulation optimization to identify land-use strategies that maximize economic value to stakeholders in the planning horizon until 2050, and compared it to realistic land-use intensities. We found that realistic intensities exceed optimal intensities, indicating the tragedy of the commons and external stress factors, prevalent in many rural savanna rangelands. We show that a reduction in fuelwood harvesting until 2050 allows vegetation to recover but that recovery is slow. We conclude that strong governance is important in rural savanna rangelands to ensure sustainable use of resources under future climate conditions. The coupled ecological-economic model can serve as tool to develop sustainable land-use strategies in complex socio-ecological systems globally. Highlights • Savanna rangelands provide important ecosystem services to people. • Land use and climate change may reduce provision of ecosystem services. • We couple vegetation and economic models to identify optimal management policies. • Optimal land use intensities are lower than currently applied intensities. • Strong governance is important for sustainable management in rural rangelands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Understanding teleconnections of regional consumption patterns and global land use supports policy making towards achieving sustainable land use. We present an innovative globally consistent hybrid land-flow accounting method to track biomass flows and embodied land along global supply chains. It uses the large FAOSTAT database, which is, for non-food commodities, complemented with a multi-regional input-output model. We employ the hybrid model globally between 1995 and 2010 and present results for 21 regional markets. Results highlight the growing integration in international markets. In 2010, 31% of cropland cultivation was for export markets compared to 16% in 1995. The higher land demand of livestock-based diets, which account for one third of global cropland use, and differences in land use intensities cause large regional variations in extents and composition of land footprints. The utilization of cropland changed towards a growing importance of the non-food sector accounting for 12% in 2010. Comparing land quality weighted cropland footprints across regions further reveals large differences in the appropriation of available global cropland productivity. Because of large uncertainties and quality differences in the actual use of grassland for feeding ruminants, we propose land quality weighted grassland footprints to discuss the additional land use for ruminant livestock products. Highlights • We developed a novel, globally consistent hybrid land footprint method. • In 2010, 31% of cropland cultivation was for export markets compared to 16% in 1995. • The non-food sector has become increasingly important in cropland utilization. • Extents and composition of per capita cropland footprints vary widely across regions. • Progressing globalization requires globally coordinated land use policy responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Rubber farming expansion in Xishuangbanna, in the Upper Mekong region of Southwest China, has resulted in profound land use change and led to the severe degradation of the local environment. This study explores the dynamics of land use change as a result of the rubber boom, examines the factors influencing the heterogeneity in farmers' land allocations for rubber farming, and assesses the implications of this change for the local environment in terms of carbon balances. The analyses use a comprehensive household survey data set of 612 smallholder rubber farmers in Xishuangbanna. The historical data illustrate the trajectory of rubber expansion and land use change over the past three decades. The model of smallholder land allocation for rubber farming suggests its determinants include ethnicity, experience in rubber farming, household wealth, elevation, and several explanatory variables at the village level. A net loss in carbon stocks at the aggregate level was found due to the expansion of rubber plantations. The rubber farming expansion of smallholders outside the natural reserves in Xishuangbanna has led to a carbon loss of approximately 21 Mg/ha/year over the past three decades. The findings complement discussions on the future of the rubber-based land use system and its sustainability in Xishuangbanna and other rubber-growing areas in the Mekong region. Highlights • A household survey data from 612 smallholder rubber farmers in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Southwest China; • Rubber expansion has caused extensive land use change and deforestation; • Land allocation for rubber farming is associated with household characteristics and the policy and project variables; • Rubber expansion outside the natural reserves in Xishuangbanna has led to carbon losses over the past three decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Transferable Development Rights (TDR) programmes have been introduced as an alternative to traditional regulatory instruments with proponents arguing that the implementation of these alternative programmes leads to similarly effective land-use outcomes with greater efficiency and equity. The evaluation of land-use policies is key to improving policy design and implementation processes, and particularly important when considering whether alternative policy instruments such as TDR deliver preferable outcomes. While some researchers have tried to identify the factors affecting TDR success, there has been little research about institutional aspects and the related transaction costs of TDR programmes, and their potential effect on policy outcomes. The presence of significant transaction costs decreases the efficiency, and can have a negative effect on the success of TDR programmes. This paper explores the transaction costs that may arise in TDR programmes with the specific objective of gaining a better understanding of which factors influence transaction costs in these programmes and why such costs arise. These factors are examined under three categories; 1) the characteristics of the transaction; 2) the characteristics of the transactor; and, 3) the characteristics of the policy. The paper also examines the different effects of these factors on different parties involved in the TDR programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical rainforests provide an array of increasingly threatened ecosystem services. Appropriation of these services can drive trade-offs, where the provision of one service may result in the diminution of another. Trade-offs are evident in regions of dynamic land-use change, like agricultural-forest systems, where conflicting goals of agricultural expansion and environmental conservation are present. The objectives of this study were to analyse ecosystem service relationships in the Province of Guarayos (Bolivia), explore the role of decision-making in these relationships, and examine how policy scenarios might affect them. Application of multi-objective goal programming, maximising net farm income and net farm carbon sequestration across representative farms, outlined the presence of trade-offs. Farm carbon sequestration ranged from −2196 to 100% of goal values, whilst farm incomes ranged from 38 to 100% of its goal. Decision-making was explicitly behind these ranges, with extreme goal preferences driving the greatest trade-offs. Intermediate solutions, which may represent compromise management options to limit trade-offs, were identified. Application of policy scenarios only dampened, rather than eliminated trade-offs. These results reinforce the complex situation of contemporary decision-makers, balancing multiple, often conflicting goals. Development of models with greater input from decision-makers should be encouraged to assist in formulating viable management solutions and reduce trade-offs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing multiple ecosystem services (ES) is a pressing field in sustainability research. ES bundles (ESBs), which closely link ES trade-offs and synergies, provide a comprehensive approach to exploring the relationship between natural ecosystems and human well-being. In this study, we quantified eight ES in terms of provisioning, regulating and cultural services using geographical data and other available information (both ecological and social) in the Pearl River Delta, China. We identified ESBs based on K-means clustering and redundancy analysis. The results showed that spatial patterns of each ES were quite heterogeneous at watershed level. Provisioning services were mainly distributed in watersheds with high proportion of cultivated land and waterbody. Remote forest areas provided high regulating services. Moreover, densely populated urban areas provide high cultural services. Five ESBs were detected ranging from 2941 to 16,249 km 2 . According to the Pearson correlations and the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), we detected the trade-offs between provisioning and cultural services, and between regulating and cultural services, and synergies happened within regulating services. Intensive land-use and management in urban areas contributed to ES trade-offs. These results provide deeper understanding of the relationship between ES and land-use type at watershed level and detailed guidelines for ecosystem management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human appropriation analysis allows interrelating ecological and socioeconomic dimensions to be applied during the development of management strategies for increasing the sustainability of land uses. However, the design of such management strategies requires data reflecting site-specific conditions at sub-national levels. In this study, we assessed the dynamics of human appropriation using an exergy-based net primary production (HANPP EX) indicator. The results depicted positive (5–10 MJ ex /m2.y) HANPP EX changes for cropland areas in both regions. The harvested biomass and land-use changes were identified as responsible for high HANPP EX , which varied significantly between land cover types. In particular, cropland and urban/industrial yielded the highest HANPP EX compared to other land cover types. Accordingly, the land cover transition toward urban and agriculture land uses increased the HANPP EX for Ñuble and Biobío. The main HANPP differences found between regions were related to their socioeconomic characteristics as well as to the heterogeneity of land-use types, biomass structure, and regional biomass demand. Our findings provide insights on the magnitude and direction of NPP changes associated with human appropriation at the regional level, allowing a more detailed understanding of the efficiency with which humans utilize terrestrial natural resources. [Display omitted] • Strategies for better land use sustainability need regional human appropriation data. • We used the exergy-based net primary production (HANPP EX) indicator for HA dynamics. • Urban and croplands had high HANPP EX upon spatial analysis of two Chilean regions. • Regional differences were from socioeconomic, land-use type, and biomass features. • Understanding regional HA-related NPP profiles may optimize natural resource use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU's Green Deal sets out a vision for a clean, competitive, climate neutral circular economy. As a part-solution for decarbonising its industrial base and improving its strategic autonomy, the role of bio-based substitutes is envisaged. Focusing on EU chemicals, the MAGNET simulation model is employed to quantify the impacts from EU bio-based chemical, pharmaceutical and plastic output increases over a thirty-year time horizon to 2050. To support this transformation, a fiscally-neutral tax funded investment scheme is modelled. Results show EU bioeconomy (rural) employment and growth improvements, although bio-feedstock market tensions impact negatively on EU food security, whilst 'leakage' effects cause net global increases in greenhouse gases and land use. Further experiments explore (i) sustainable tax schemes on food-based feedstock to mitigate said tensions and (ii) green-investment driven input-saving productivity gains in EU bio-based chemicals. Employing metrics for the five bioeconomy strategy objectives, the former generates environmental, food and (bio-)energy security improvements, relieves land market tensions, but falls short of a win-win/win-neutral outcome. Similarly, for four EU bioeconomy objectives, the latter produces outcomes that are largely on a par, or even better than the baseline. Finally, a stylised combination of both is found to generate the most optimal outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a dynamic agent-based model of land use and agricultural production under environmental boundaries, finite available resources and endogenous technical change. In particular, we model a spatially explicit smallholder farming system populated by boundedly-rational agents competing and innovating to fulfill an exogenous demand for food, while coping with a changing environment shaped by their production choices. Given the strong technological and environmental uncertainty, agents learn and adaptively employ heuristics which guide their decisions on engaging in innovation and imitation activities, hiring workers, acquiring new farms, deforesting virgin areas and abandoning unproductive lands. Such activities in turn impact farm productivity, food production, food prices and land use. We firstly show that the model can replicate key stylized facts of the agricultural sector. We then extensively explore its properties across several scenarios featuring different institutional and behavioral settings. Finally, we simulate the model across different applications considering deforestation and land abandonment; human-induced soil degradation; and climate impacts. AgriLOVE offers a flexible simulation environment to study the endogenous emergence of different agricultural production regimes from the interaction of spatially dispersed farms subject to resource constraints, spatial influence and climate change. • A novel, scalable ABM model of the agricultural sector with environmental boundaries. • Evolutionary technical change and spatial diffusion of knowledge. • Deforestation activities lower aggregate productivity and increase land concentration. • Climate shocks generate hysteresis and non-trivial spatial propagation effects. • Without policy support, low probability of transition to sustainable farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interaction between mitigation and adaptation is a key question for the design of climate policies. In this paper, we study how land use adaptation to climate change impacts land use competition in the agriculture, forest and other land use (AFOLU) sector and how a mitigation policy in agriculture might affect this competition. We use for this purpose two sector-specific bio-economic models of agriculture and forest combined with an econometric land use shares model to simulate the impacts of two climate change scenarios (A2 and B1, 2100 horizon), and a greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture policy consisting of a tax of between 0 and 200 €/tCO 2 equivalent. Our results show that both climate change scenarios lead to an increase in the area devoted to agriculture at the expense of forest which could have a negative impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change. The mitigation policy would curtail agricultural expansion, and thus could counteract the effects of land use adaptation to climate change. In other words, accounting for land use competition results in a reduction of the abatement costs of the mitigation policy in the agricultural sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing demand for timber, in particular for renewable energy, increases pressures on global forests and requires a robust monitoring system to ensure sustainability. This article takes a first step toward more systemic monitoring by asking how the global use of forests by EU consumers can be accounted for. Specifically, this article builds on and develops the method of global land use accounting to account for the EU-27's consumption of primary timber between 2002 and 2011 in terms of both volume and forest area. It assesses international trade flows for around 100 commodities and converts them into a volume of primary raw timber based on conversion values. Results reveal that both imports and exports increased over the assessed time period, with primary EU-27 timber estimated to be around 1 m 3 /cap in 2011. Gaps, uncertainty and a lack of harmonization regarding especially trade data and conversion values are key challenges to further improving the robustness of the method and reliability of results. Future research may focus on improving the method to address in particular recycled and recovered flows as well as the question of whether area or volume is the most appropriate metric for further development of a forest footprint indicator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As environmental impacts continue to rise, the need to identify and quantify the underlying causes of these impacts has prompted important research questions. This is heightened by the fact that the production of goods and services is becoming increasingly global with countries relying on each other through trade. As such, it is important to have a mechanism in place to understand the environmental burden shifts from one country to another. To this end, this paper exploits a paradox in global environmental analysis, which stems from a false decoupling between economic and production systems as observed in most developed nations, which results in improved territorial emissions of these developed countries at the expense of developing countries. Ecological unequal exchange is one such contemporary ecological economic concept that is used to highlight such asymmetric transfer of embodied natural resources and biophysical indicators between countries. Attempts at environmental impacts reduction efforts has largely focused on carbon emissions but given the complex supply chain created through globalisation and international trade, it is important to consider other important metrics such as land and water use alongside carbon emissions to drive environmental policies that will holistically address ecologically unequal exchanges. For developing countries in Africa where the dependence on land use and water use for agricultural activities are crucial to the development of national economies and in combating poverty, an assessment of these metrics has become even more paramount. Against this backdrop, the current work draws upon the theoretical constructs of multi-regional input-output (MRIO) framework to trace country specific sectorial-level flows of the aforementioned metrics between a representative developed nation, UK, and 27 African regions in order to fully examine their ecological exchanges. Key findings in the study suggest that for water consumption and land use, there is a net externalisation of these impacts for all the 27 African regions by the UK. It was also determined that the extent of the imbalance between the UK and the African region is exceedingly far greater for water consumption. It is recommended that in formulating a robust multi-national environmental policy where so many factors are at play, country specific and industry targeted approach to ecological unequal exchange between nations provides better and improved insight into addressing ensuing environmental issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market-based instruments are gaining relevance for biodiversity conservation, since they promise higher cost-effectiveness than other instruments like planning. Previous studies have analysed the effectiveness of market-based instruments on single or multiple but independent species. On the example of tradable land-use permits we address an important issue for the first time: the conservation of interacting species (metacommunities). We consider two competing species where the superior competitor locally replaces the inferior competitor. Both species are structured as metapopulations, i.e. can go locally extinct while empty habitats can be recolonised by local populations on neighbouring habitats. Combining a spatially explicit and dynamic ecological-economic simulation model with cluster analysis we investigate how the coexistence of both species depends on the design of the tradable permit scheme, and how the effective scheme design (i.e. the scheme design that maximises coexistence) depends on the biological characteristics of the two species. We show that scheme designs that are effective for the conservation of single species may be ineffective for the conservation of two competing species and that the effectiveness of a scheme with regard to coexistence strongly depends on the relative performances of the two species with regard to their colonisation abilities and local extinction risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of agricultural land remains one of the main drivers of deforestation in tropical regions. Stronger land property rights could possibly enable farmers to increase input intensity and productivity on the already cultivated land, thus reducing incentives to expand their farms by deforesting additional land. This hypothesis is tested with data from a panel survey of farm households in Sumatra. The survey data are combined with satellite imageries to account for spatial patterns, such as historical forest locations. Results show that plots for which farmers hold formal land titles are cultivated more intensively and are more productive than untitled plots. However, due to land policy restrictions, farmers located at the historic forest margins often do not hold formal titles. Without land titles, these farmers are less able to intensify and more likely to expand into the surrounding forest land to increase agricultural output. Indeed, forest closeness and past deforestation activities by households are found to be positively associated with current farm size. In addition to improving farmer's access to land titles for non-forest land, better recognition of customary land rights and more effective protection of forest land without recognized claims could be useful policy responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The African land system is undergoing rapid change, and novel approaches are needed to understand the drivers and consequences of land use intensification. Human Appropriation of Net Primary Productivity (HANPP) is a powerful indicator of land use intensity, but has rarely been calculated at high spatial resolutions. Based on data from six villages in Zimbabwe, we present a novel method of calculating HANPP at community and household scales, and explore to what extent household wealth is related to NPP appropriation. HANPP at the village scale was higher than expected from previous studies, ranging from 48% to 113% of potential NPP. Loss of NPP through land use change accounted for the greater proportion of HANPP in four of the six villages, but NPP embodied in livestock feed, firewood and construction materials also contributed significantly to total appropriation. Increasing household wealth was associated with increasing appropriation of NPP in harvested resources, but not with loss of potential NPP through land use change. Our results indicate that land use intensity is currently underestimated in smallholder farming areas of southern Africa. High-resolution HANPP calculations based on field data offer an effective new approach to improving understanding of land use intensification in complex socioecological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A national “Forest Law” passed in Argentina in 2007 mandated provincial governments to set up and implement land use planning processes in order to protect their native forests and regulate the expansion of large-scale agriculture. A recent study postulates that observed reductions in deforestation in three provinces of the Argentinian “Dry Chaco” ecoregion (namely Salta, Santiago del Estero, and Chaco) can be attributed to the effective enforcement of this law by provincial governments. Yet a more contextualized analysis of the local situation raises a number of objections to the methods used and the conclusions drawn in that study. Our analysis (and first-hand experience) shows that provincial governments were unable to enforce the Forest Law, since deforestation in protected areas continued or even increased after its approval and implementation. Our criticism can be categorized into five major challenges: (1) declining deforestation trends started before the Forest Law; (2) a province with a substantial increase in deforestation was omitted; (3) only part of one ecoregion was taken into account in the analysis; (4) deforestation percentage by conservation categories is better than hectares by province as an indicator of law enforcement; and (5) assigning zones to land units prior to land use planning processes is questionable. These challenges, and the lack of a more complete and nuanced political analysis of the situation on the ground, calls into question both the reliability of the results and the usefulness of the conclusions in the study. Ambiguous or misleading messages from the academic community can have negative political consequences and hinder local conservation efforts in the short term. We should not be so caught up in our desire to see improvements on the ground that we can't see the forest for the trees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumption-based accounting seeks to link a population's lifestyles to their environmental impact. Input-output analysis (IOA) serves well in this approach as it covers all traded products, their full supply chains and explicitly delineates final consumption. However, using IOA comes at the expense of precision due to aggregation error. There has been a recent discussion on the plausibility of IOA results of agricultural pressures. We look at the harvested area footprint of Chinese exports, open the black box of the results of IOA and provide a detailed composition of the footprint. This helps to understand whether its size is a result of the poor precision of IOA methods, or whether it is based on plausible production patterns of the exported products. We hybridize the EXIOBASE database, identify the most important exported products, apply structural path analysis in order to identify the most important production nodes in their production paths and apply a sensitivity analysis over the model. We show that the results of the hybrid MRIO method are generally robust to assumptions. Our results indicate that while the uncertainty of the sign of net trade footprint can be high, the uncertainty of national environmental footprint accounts is low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment of Land Uses and Land-use Changes (LULUC) impacts has become increasingly complex. Sophisticated modelling tools such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are employed to capture both direct and indirect damages. However, quantitative assessments are often incomplete, dominated by environmental aspects. Land uses are a multidisciplinary matter and environmental and sustainable development policies intertwine. Yet, LCAs mostly focus on environmental impacts excluding socioeconomic implications of land occupation. This paper investigates the limitations of current LULUC modelling practices in LCA. Common LCA assumptions harbor value choices reflect a post-positivist epistemology that are often non-transparent to e.g. policymakers. They particularly influence the definition of the functional unit, the reference system and system boundaries, among other LCA methodological choices. Consequently, results informing land policies may be biased towards determined development strategies or hide indirect effects and socioeconomic damages caused by large-scale land acquisitions, such as violation of tenure rights, speculation and displacement. Quantitative assessments of LULUC impacts are certainly useful but should holistically encompass both direct and indirect impacts concerning the environmental and the social science dimension of LULUC. An epistemological shift towards a dialectic approach would facilitate the integration of multiple tools and methods and a critical interpretation of results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charcoal is an important source of energy and income for millions of people in Africa. Its production often drives forest degradation and deforestation which have impacts on the local people that remain poorly understood. We present a novel methodology for analysing the contribution of woodland ecosystem services (ES) to rural well-being and poverty alleviation, which takes into account access mechanisms to ES, trade-offs between ES, and human response options. Using a participatory approach, a set of land use change scenarios were translated into a probabilistic model that integrates biophysical and social data. Our findings suggest that in highly forested areas woodland degradation does not have a critical impact on the local use of the three ES studied: charcoal, firewood and grass. Social factors show the largest impact on the quantity of charcoal produced, e.g. female-headed households experience the greatest barriers to access charcoal production. Participating in forest associations and diversifying income activities lead to greater charcoal production. Results show that charcoal production increases some aspects of well-being (e.g. household assets), but does not decrease acute multidimensional poverty. Great efforts are required to reach a charcoal production system that alleviates poverty, improves environmental sustainability, and provides a reliable charcoal supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global estimates of ecosystem service value (ESV) and change are often produced using satellite-based land cover maps. However, uncertainties in global land cover data and their impacts on ESV estimation have not been fully recognized. Considerably inflated estimates of land cover change and ESV change could be derived using a direct map comparison approach when classification uncertainties are not explicitly taken into account. This study collected all available global land cover datasets and applied an ensemble approach to derive the range and central tendency of terrestrial ESV estimates. Different input data caused ESV estimate varying between 35.0 and 56.5 trillion Int$/year. Wetland classes, albeit having the highest per unit value, were the most uncertain classes mapped using satellite data. To reduce uncertainty, a spatial data harmonization procedure was developed, which resulted in an improved ESV estimate at 49.4 trillion Int$/year. The study further illustrated the quantification of changes in forest ESV using a high-resolution global forest cover change dataset. An ESV loss of 716.0 billion Int$/year was estimated between 2000 and 2012—a result representing one fifth of previous estimates. These findings highlighted the importance of improving the characterization and monitoring of land cover for global ESV and change estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although deforestation has been studied extensively in tropical regions and developing countries, research focusing on developed countries in a peri-urban setting is scarce. This study helps to fill this gap in the literature by investigating the drivers of forest-to-agriculture conversion in one of the largest metropolitan areas and its surrounding peri-urban regions in Canada, focusing on the effect of farmland losses to development. A unique contribution of this study is that we take into account the heterogeneous forestland availability in the empirical investigation, which makes the estimation more realistic and accurate. Generalized spatial two-stage least square (GS2SLS) models are adopted to control for spillover effects from deforestation activities in neighboring areas and also to solve the potential endogeneity problem resulted from simultaneous land-use changes. Key findings include the following: agricultural land losses are an important driver for deforestation, and the magnitude of impact increases as the availability of forest-cover increases; population growth hinders the process of deforestation; high road density encourages forestland conversion to agriculture. Future policy-design shall find it helpful to incorporate the agricultural land expansion onto forestland due to land development when evaluating the social, economic, and environmental consequences of urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inter-regional trade contributes to the expansion of built-up land and carbon storage loss, which results in inequality in unequal exchange. Revealing this inequality can help socio-environmental sustainability be better achieved. This paper uses a multi-regional input-output model to analyze the virtual built-up land flows embodied in the inter-provincial trade in China, and calculates the carbon storage loss caused by the expansion of built-up land. The inter-provincial trade inequality in China is discussed subsequently. The results show that regional unfair trade exists in China, and less developed regions are in an inferior position. Compared to less developed regions, developed regions obtain more benefits from inter-provincial trade, in both economic and environmental aspects. Regionally, the expansion of built-up land mainly occurs in the eastern and southern regions, which lost much carbon storage, especially Guangdong and Yunnan. Coastal regions had a high built-up land utilization efficiency, followed by the central regions. The built-up land interactions are mainly concentrated in the central and eastern regions, and the degree of trade participation in less developed regions is low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural fires are a double-edged sword that allow for cost-efficient land management in the tropics but also cause accidental fires and emissions of carbon and pollutants. To control fires in Amazon, it is currently unclear whether policy-makers should prioritize command-and-control or incentive-based instruments such as REDD +. Aiming to generate knowledge about the relative merits of the two policy approaches, this paper presents a spatially-explicit agent-based model that simulates the causal effects of four policy instruments on intended and unintended fires. All instruments proved effective in overturning the predominance of highly profitable but risky fire-use and decreasing accidental fires, but none were free from imperfections. The performance of command-and-control proved highly sensitive to the spatial and social reach of enforcement. Side-effects of incentive-based instruments included a disproportionate increase in controlled fires and a reduced acceptance of conservation subsidies, caused by the prohibition of reckless fires, and also indirect deforestation. The instruments that were most effective in reducing deforestation were not the most effective in reducing fires and vice-versa, which suggests that the two goals cannot be achieved with a single policy intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an argument for the deprioritization of subjective well-being and a prioritization of human needs within degrowth research. First, we discuss empirical evidence, methodological problems and theoretical shortcomings of subjective well-being concepts. While data for one country over time suggest a flattening of the happiness curve relative to GDP growth, cross country comparisons reveal that the richest and most environmentally unsustainable countries are also the ‘happiest’. Methodologically, we point to the issue of adaptability. A limitation in the use of ‘positional goods’ is unlikely to be accompanied by short-term increases in subjective well-being. Theoretically, we question ‘happiness’, where it helps promote growth and disguise structural relationships of inequality. Secondly, we sketch out an alternative degrowth research agenda oriented at the satisfaction of human needs. Here, Doyal and Gough’s theory of human needs is especially useful due to its systematic account of environmental limits and the ‘policy-auditing’ approach that follows from it. Finally, we illustrate such a needs-based research agenda at the example of food by reviewing recent research on the environmental impacts of different diets and kinds of food production and on how these forms compare in terms of scale and land-use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A neglected issue in the design of payments for ecosystem services (PES) is the timing of payments to ecosystem service providers over the course of the year. We hypothesise that timing should matter to poor land-users with limited options to save money in regions dominated by subsistence farming, seasonal fluctuations of food supply, and peaks in expenses during the year due to cultural events such as circumcisions and funeral ceremonies that occur in specific months. If land-users value payments differently at different time points throughout the year, the provision of ecosystem services can be increased for the given financial resources if payments are made at a point in time when land-users need those most. We conducted a choice experiment in the Mahafaly plateau in Southwestern Madagascar, an area which meets the aforementioned criteria, to test the importance of the time of receipt of payments. We found that respondents are willing to accept less money if they receive it in months of food shortage unlike if they receive it at the time of cultural events. We conclude that the cost-effectiveness of PES in regions with the above-mentioned characteristics can be increased by selecting the appropriate timing to pay ecosystem service providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing large-scale deforestation is a key objective of global efforts to mitigate climate change. An important debate concerns the levels of governance at which deforestation can be reduced effectively. Political economic theory and evidence suggests that national governments are more likely than subnational governments in agricultural frontiers to adopt restrictive forest conservation policies, due to differences in political constituencies and capacity. Here we examine the validity of this claim using an impact study of provincial-level land use planning in Argentina's main deforestation frontier, the Dry Chaco. In 2007, Argentina's provinces were obliged to define land use zoning for their native forests, but had considerable leeway in its implementation. We use data from 30,126 properties in the provinces of Salta, Santiago del Estero, and Chaco, and a rigorous counterfactual estimation strategy to quantify the extent to which adopted zoning plans affected deforestation. We find evidence that provincial-level land use zoning reduced deforestation in all three provinces, but not in all zones and periods. Differences in impact are associated with differences in the location of zones and the timing of planning. Our findings suggest that subnational governments can make important contributions to reducing large-scale deforestation in agricultural frontiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a hybrid simulation model (‘SimPachamama’) designed to explore the complex socio-environmental trade-offs of alternative policy bundles and policy sequencing options for stemming deforestation and reducing poverty in tropical countries. Designed and calibrated to the initial conditions of a small forest village in rural Bolivia, the model consists of: (a) an optimising agricultural household module of heterogeneous agents that make individually optimal land-use decisions based on factor endowments and market conditions; (b) an encompassing general equilibrium ‘shell’ module that endogenously determines wages and links the agricultural labour market and rural-urban migration rates; and (c) a novel user-controlled policy-maker module that allows the user to make ‘real time’ choices over a variety of public and environmental policies that in turn impact land use, welfare, and migration. Over a 20-year simulation period the results highlight trade-offs between reductions in deforestation and improvements in household welfare that can only be overcome either when international REDD payments are offered or when decentralized deforestation taxes are implemented. The sequencing of policies plays a critical role in the determination of these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The San Antonio River Basin (SARB) is an ecologically diverse region in South Texas. The city of San Antonio is located within the basin and is the hub of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). San Antonio, together with other major metropolitan centers in Texas, has experienced rapid population and economic growth over the last thirty years, which accelerated after the implementation of NAFTA in 1994. To assess the environmental implications of this growth in the SARB, we first conducted a land-change analysis using Landsat images from 1984, 1995, and 2010. Then, we analyzed spatiotemporal changes in ecosystem services across the SARB and within three watersheds in Bexar County where the city of San Antonio is located. To estimate changes in ecosystem service values (ESV) during this period, we combined the results of the land-change analysis with a benefit transfer approach using two sets of widely cited ecosystem-service valuation coefficients published in 1997 and 2014 but we modified the urban coefficient from the 2014 publication for low-density and high-density urban areas. When 1997 coefficients were applied, the ESV in the SARB decreased, on average, by $1.2 million/year during 1984–1995 and by $1.8 million/year during 1995–2010. The ESV in Bexar County decreased, on average, by $0.5 million/year and $0.7 million/year during the first and second periods, respectively. When the 2014 coefficients and modified urban value coefficients were applied, the ESV in the SARB decreased, on average, by a 27% more during the first period than when the 1997 coefficients were applied, while, ESV increased during the second period by an average of $2.2 million/year. This temporally opposite trend in ESV change did not occur in Bexar County, however. Using the 2014 coefficients, ESV in Bexar County decreased 5 times more during the first period and decreased 2.5 times more during the second period than when 1997 coefficients were applied. The differences in ESV trends resulting from the two sets of coefficients can be explained primarily by the different coefficients assigned to urban spaces ($0/ha/year in the 1997 study and $7005/ha/year in the 2014 study). Our results suggest that the value placed on urban areas in the 2014 publication, taken from a single case study and intended primarily for large urban parks, substantially overestimates the ESV of urban space. In our study areas, applying this value, even only to urban green space, led to the improbable conclusion that urbanization had a positive overall effect on the delivery of ecosystem services. While open spaces in urban areas do provide valuable ecosystem services, it is highly unlikely that their value exceeds those provided by less modified ecosystems. The ability to confidently use value coefficients when applying benefit transfer methods to estimate ESVs demands rigorous assessments of their broad applicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent of United States Great Plains grass agriculture has ebbed and flowed over decades in response to market incentives, government policies, technological innovations and weather patterns. Our thesis is that the land most responsive to these drivers is at the economic margin between grass-based production and cropping. Much of the eastern Dakotas is such an area, primarily under crop-based agriculture although grass remains an important land use. We surveyed land operators in the area on their views about motivators for land use choices. Their views are largely consistent with the economic margin viewpoint. The importance of crop output prices, crop input prices, innovations in cropping equipment and weather patterns on land use decisions grow as one moves north toward the economic margin. Land in more highly sloped areas is more sensitive to crop prices and crop insurance policies. Consistent with human capital theory, older operators are generally less responsive to factors that affect land use. Those renting more land, being more exposed to market forces, are more responsive. As farm size increases, respondents declared higher land use sensitivity to policy issues and technological innovations, suggesting that scale effects render land units more sensitive to land use change drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conceptual model is presented for the comparison of input-based payments (where conservation measures are rewarded) and output-based payments (where conservation outcomes are rewarded) in a spatially structured landscape. The landscape consists of a grid of land parcels, each managed by a land user. The objective of the conservation agency is the survival of an endangered mobile species in the landscape. The comparison of the two payment schemes is made with regard to cost-effectiveness (maximizing species survival for given total conservation costs) and budget-effectiveness (maximizing species survival for given conservation budget). The model is a grid-based dynamic stochastic ecological-economic simulation model. In the model analysis it is found that within the considered model parameter ranges the output-based payment outperforms the input-based payment, except for the cases of risk-averse land users and spatial spill-overs. The comparative advantage of the output-based payment increases with increasing viability and decreasing dispersal range of the species, and with decreasing spatial variation of the conservation costs. In the light of these results, output-based payments appear as a promising policy option even for mobile species where the local outcome (presence of the species in the land parcel) of a local conservation measure is uncertain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-point source pollution is deteriorating water quality throughout the world. New Zealand is addressing this issue by regulating land-based nutrient losses, with debates over how to allocate limits across a heterogeneous landscape. We develop a spatially explicit economic land use model to investigate efficiency and equity issues from seven approaches to allocate nutrient discharges across two New Zealand watersheds. We find that the preferred allocation differs across land use, land characteristics, and regulation stringency; and that there is no universal ‘best’ allocation option. Therefore, decision-makers should focus on, at least, efficiency and equity, and on how to compensate those most affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EKC hypothesis postulates that the relationship between economic growth and environmental deterioration is represented by an inverted U-shaped function. Its validity has been questioned from several perspectives and a need for public policies has been expressed. This paper uses a heuristic approach to analyze the relationship between per capita income and land consumption, as proxied by the number of Building Permits issued by public authorities. Using data from the Italian regions, we run a panel data regression model to test whether the EKC hypothesis holds. Results confute it, evidencing a U-shaped relationship. In the authors' opinion, the combined effect of market conditions, lifestyle evolution and institutional and political factors have produced an adverse effect on environment. On this basis, the paper claims that, when social and intergenerational aspects are involved, a balanced mix of market, policies and institutional architecture is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural policies without explicit environmental goals can indirectly affect the natural environment through its effect on farmer input use behavior. For example, the highly-subsidized crop insurance program in the United States (US), while developed to protect farmers against yield and revenue risks, also has the potential to influence fertilizer and land use decisions, which can then impact the extent of excess nitrogen and phosphorus that can run-off and pollute nearby water bodies. This study utilizes county-level panel data from 1989-2015 to directly evaluate the impact of crop insurance participation on nitrogen and phosphorus concentration in waterways. Results from linear panel fixed effects (FE) models suggest that counties with higher crop insurance participation tend to have lower nitrogen concentrations in its water bodies, but the effects are small. In contrast, we do not find a consistent statistically significant crop insurance effect on phosphorus concentrations. Findings based on alternative estimation techniques and other empirical specifications generally support our baseline FE model results. We posit that the modest crop insurance effects may be due to two competing mechanisms — the moral hazard effect of crop insurance (i.e., reducing fertilizer use), being counteracted by the incentive to bring in riskier crops or marginal land to production (i.e., increasing fertilizer use). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aims to evaluate alternatives to conciliate economic growth and the Amazon preservation. For this, we measured the economic costs to preserve the Brazilian Amazon by simulating a zero-deforestation policy. We also evaluate the scenario of deforestation in Brazil in the last decades. We observed a marked growth in deforestation starting in 2014. However, in the last two years, such growth has been even more expressive, which shows the urgency of thinking in multiple ways for the problem of deforestation in the Amazon Biome. Through an economic model for Brazil, we simulated a shock on land use, which shows that there are negative effects on economic dynamism in the Amazon region and that, through a spillover effect, there may be even higher rates of greenhouse gas emissions. This work also shows that the problem of deforestation in the Amazon does not mean only the issue of reducing deforestation rates, but that it must be accompanied by a serious and plural policy aiming to reduce regional inequalities. Finally, a public and private effort is needed so that sustainable practices become more widespread and information about the importance of maintaining the forest standing and conserving the biome can be disseminated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In France, agricultural land abandonment constitutes a critical issue. Mountains, in particular, are reckoned to be particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon; therefore, several policy measures attempt to maintain agricultural activities in mountains. In addition to the role of targeted subsidies in reducing abandonment of mountainous areas, we contend that place attachment helps explain the permanence of economic activity in these areas. By using survey data and controlling for several variables likely to influence place attachment, we investigated the relationship between place attachment and living in high or lower altitude mountains in a sample of livestock farmers in the French Southern Alps. Applying an ordered probit model, we found high-mountain farmers to be relatively more attached to their place compared to medium-mountain ones. Our findings also suggest that social relations at the family and neighborhood levels, satisfaction at work, and the distinctiveness farmers assign to a place are important factors of attachment. However, we found no significant association between place attachment and farm profitability. Several policy implications regarding agricultural abandonment and support for mountain livelihoods are derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There remain considerable controversies over payments for ecosystem services (PES) as an essential approach to improving ecosystem services. This study reviewed various definitions of PES and explored its economic nature; then explored previous methods for estimating the PES standard and finally proposed possible agendas for future PES research. Results suggested the PES and traditional land rent both originate from the monopoly of the providers on use rights of land vital to provision of certain ecosystem services, therefore PES should be redefined as a special kind of land rent for sharing land use rights of the providers to guarantee sustainable provision of certain ecosystem services. Besides, there has been no universal methods for estimating the rational PES standard due to insufficient understanding of the economic cause and nature of the PES. Re -imagining and re-designing PES as a system of land rights is advantageous to clearing up misunderstanding and disputes over the economic cause and nature of PES and overcoming limitations of existing methods for estimating the PES standard. Additionally, it is necessary to further improve the PES schemes based on cost-efficiency and explore the methods for estimating the PES standard based on the land rent theory and interdisciplinary knowledge. • Current definitions of PES failed to reveal its economic nature. • Ecosystem services related to PES cannot be directly "bought" in traditional market. • Fundamental cause of PES is monopoly of the providers on the land ownership. • Economic essence of PES is a special kind of land rent for sharing land use rights. • PES is the specific application of the land rent theory in ecological conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]