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European survey data shows strong temporal fluctuations in climate change concern within European countries and large differences in concern between these countries. However, there is as yet no comprehensive understanding of what drives these longitudinal and cross-sectional patterns. To fill this knowledge gap, this study analyzes data of over 155,000 survey respondents from 28 European countries over the period 2008–2017. This study is the first to apply within-between random effects models to simultaneously analyze longitudinal and cross-sectional determinants of climate change concern, and examine if and how the influence of these determinants has changed over time. Substantively, it researches the nexus between climate change and two other crises that have captured the imagination of European publics over the studied period: the liberal democracy crisis and the economic crisis. The former is characterized by the rise of right-wing populist parties in Europe. Right-wing populism is often at odds with climate change policies, and its rise in popularity could have undermined public concern about climate change. We find only a weak negative longitudinal relationship between such concern and the popularity of right-wing populist parties, and no significant cross-sectional relationship. We find that economic performance is strongly positively associated with concern, with GDP per capita being most important for explaining cross-country differences in concern, and deviations in unemployment being most important for explaining longitudinal within-country change. However, this negative longitudinal relationship with unemployment weakens considerably over time, illustrating the importance of including dynamic effects in modeling efforts to generate more reliable results. Key policy insights The percentage of European respondents mentioning climate change as one of the most serious world problems declined from 65% in 2008 to 43% in 2017. This study does not find a strong direct relationship between the rise of climate skeptic right-wing populist parties and public concern about climate change. Economic factors are important predictors of climate change concern, with GDP per capita being the dominant driver of between-country differences, and unemployment the dominant within-country predictor. The marginal impact of unemployment was much stronger during, rather than after, the economic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study offers a Choice Experiment (CE) analysis of geographical scope effects. About 500 stated preference surveys were conducted to estimate willingness-to-pay (WTP) for nature protection in the Netherlands and the Caribbean Netherlands which became part of the Netherlands' constitution just before the survey, providing a unique policy setting. Two version of the CE were implemented with a narrow or a broader geographical scope. Estimation of error correction mixed logit models resulted in the following main insights. First, the hypothesis of scope invariance is rejected since expanding the geographical scope influenced WTP values for nature protection. As an illustration, policies of preventing a degradation of nature have an average WTP of about €20 in the experiment with the smaller geographical scope, while this WTP is not significantly different from zero in the experiment with the more extensive scope. Second, evidence of scope sensitivity of WTP to the levels of nature protection is mixed, and depends on the geographical scope of the CE. We find a sizable WTP for protection of nature in Caribbean Netherlands among citizens of the mainland of the Netherlands, which supports the observed sizable funding of the Dutch government for nature management in the Caribbean Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do 'Activities Implemented Jointly' (AIJ) projects contribute to sustainable development in the host countries? Which factors have contributed to the success or failure of the projects? Five AIJ projects were examined, accounting for 90% of the total AIJ expenditure of the Dutch government. The projects are at different stages of implementation, and four are in the process of being submitted as Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. Although all five projects focused on small renewables, only one was very successful in also promoting sustainable development, while one failed completely in both achieving emissions reduction and promoting sustainable development. In this small set, the project with the most cost-effective reduction of greenhouse gases was also the project that attained the most sustainable development benefits. Iii order to develop successful projects that also contribute to sustainable development, it is critical that projects should be demand-driven (not only by governments, but also by involved stakeholders), designed carefully, well-documented in order to ensure institutional memory, and should aim to have a demonstrative effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the discussion of protecting migratory birds from the perspective of economic efficiency. So far, most conservation measures are implemented in developed rather than developing countries where migratory birds reside during the wintertime. Economic rationality, however, would call for interventions at all locations along the migration route, and focus on places offering the highest cost efficiency. This study develops a conceptual framework to determine the economic feasibility of an international market for migratory bird protection. The argument is that migratory birds can be protected at a much lower cost in West Africa than in Western Europe. Moreover, a contingent valuation survey among Dutch citizens proves that taxpayers who indirectly pay for the conservation measures also support the protection of migratory birds in their wintering areas in African countries for about the same amount as in the Netherlands. The results of the study justify the creation of an international market for migratory bird protection in which biodiversity services are supplied by West African communities to beneficiaries in Western Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One million people in the Inner Niger Delta make a living from arable farming, fisheries and livestock. Upstream dams (one built for electricity generation and one for irrigation) affect this downstream multifunctional use of water. Additionally, the Inner Niger Delta, which is one of the largest Ramsar sites in the world, is a hotspot of biodiversity and accommodates two of the largest known breeding colonies of large wading birds in Africa and in addition, is a vital part of the eco-regional network, supporting up to 3 to 4 million staging waterbirds, residents and migrants from all over Europe and western Asia. The hydrological and related ecological conditions in the Inner Delta largely determine the population size of these waterbird species. The major aim of the three-year study was to develop a decision-support system for river management in the Upper Niger, in which ecological and socio-economical impacts and benefits of dams and irrigation systems can be analysed in relation to different water management scenarios. The study involves various components: hydrology, arable farming, livestock, fisheries, ecology and socio-economics. An economic analysis has been conducted to determine the role of dams in the economy of the Inner Niger Delta and the Upper Niger region. By innovatively combining the above information on hydrology, ecology, fisheries, and agriculture, the study shows that building new dams is not an efficient way to increase economic growth and reduce poverty in the region. In fact, such efforts are counter-effective. Instead, development efforts should be aimed at improving the efficiency of the existing infrastructure, as well as of current economic activities in the Inner Niger Delta itself. This approach will also provide greater certainty for the essential eco-regional network functioning of the Inner Delta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]