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As the urgency to adapt to climate change intensifies, nature-based solutions (NBS) are receiving increasing attention. To mainstream NBS, a fundamental shift in environmental management is required. This study evaluates the role that Communities of Practice (CoP) can play as platforms to foster social learning to drive such a paradigm shift. A Natural Flood Management (NFM) CoP in Yorkshire, UK, was used as a case study. A unique research design combined opportunistic data collected prior to the inception of the CoP and purposive data collected during and after its formation. Opportunistic data captured information from stakeholders regarding NFM engagement and challenges around its instalment and delivery. Purposive data was used to examine the ability of a CoP to foster social learning, overcome the challenges identified prior to its establishment and evaluate the extent to which a CoP contributes to inducing a NBS paradigm shift, using a multi-loop social learning framework. Results demonstrate that the CoP was effective in delivering social learning and improving NFM instalment and delivery. While most evidence of social learning point to incremental rather than transformational changes, it did reveal abundant questioning of the current framing of flood management. Furthermore, the CoP seems to have encouraged some participants to re-think the current governance structures for NFM and the boundaries of current actor networks, raising promise that, if sustained in the longer term, the CoP could induce a paradigm shift. Further research should conduct longitudinal studies to examine the CoP's development overtime and its potential for overcoming current constraints.

Nature-based Solutions (NBS) have been increasingly advocated as means of achieving a greener and sustainable future. Although discussion on the definition, scale and applicability of NBS in country and city-level agendas are ongoing, NBS have received less attention in terms of them supporting country-level approaches to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). This paper uses a series of indicators reflecting national capability and national necessity for NBS as a means to support DRR activities. Using both Principal Components Analysis and Cluster Analysis results show that of a total of 178 countries, two groups emerge; with countries in one group showing high levels of both national capability and necessity for NBS. Such countries are also found to be around 23 % more likely to be currently implementing disaster risk reduction actions than countries with lower capability and necessity scores, showing that NBS are actively supporting DRR activities around the world. Such countries are a mixture of Global South and North countries while showing no statistical significant differences with respect to socio-economic characteristics, indicating that NBS can be equitable means of achieving potential synergies between DRR-reducing NBS and grey infrastructure projects for climate change adaptation measures.

An exemplar of nature-based solutions (NBS) is natural flood management (NFM), for which interest is growing worldwide. As with many NBS, implementing NFM requires the participation of support of multiple stakeholders. However, we lack understanding about the views and expectations of the many stakeholders who might be expected to enable or implement it. Understanding such views may offer insights regarding whether and how the dominant flood risk management protection paradigm is really being challenged. Using the first survey (N = 118) across a range of water and environmental management stakeholders in the United Kingdom (UK), this research explores whether there is support for a paradigm shift to “work with nature” as intended with NBS. We find evidence that some stakeholders view NFM as a “no-brainer”; a judgement based on perceived cost-effectiveness, social and environmental benefits and the failure of the protection paradigm exposed in recent floods. Others, typically farmers and landowners, have more cautious views about change. All our respondents generally agree that responsibility to enable, implement, and fund NFM should be shared across society, but disagreements remain about the detail and the basis for any enabling payments. We argue that the shared perception of roles and responsibilities provides a foundation for further work to facilitate NFM, explicitly considering principles and specific contractual details. In the UK, the possibilities of post-Brexit agri-environment policy make such a debate particularly pertinent. It is also likely to be productive in many other cases and places, since the paradigm shift entailed by ideal visions of NBS often entails new relationships between stakeholders and new activities ‘on the ground’.

Highlights • Stakeholders hold complex roles, capacities, power. • Stakeholders can be read as complex entities within complex social-ecological systems. • Deeper reading of stakeholders is important for identifying leveragers for sustainability transformations., Phosphorus is a critical agricultural nutrient and a major pollutant in waterbodies due to inefficient use. In the form of rock phosphate it is a finite global commodity vulnerable to price shocks and sourcing challenges. Transforming toward sustainable phosphorus management involves local to global stakeholders. Conventional readings of stakeholders may not reflect system complexity leaving it difficult to see stakeholder roles in transformations. We attempt to remedy this issue with a novel stakeholder analysis method based on five qualitative pillars: stakeholder agency, system roles, power and influence, alignment to the problem, and transformational potential. We argue that our approach suits case studies of individual stakeholders, stakeholder groups, and organisations with relationships to sustainability challenges.

Ecosystem degradation represents one of today’s major global challenges, threatening human well-being and livelihoods worldwide. To reverse continuing degradation, we need to understand its socio-economic consequences so that these can be incorporated into ecosystem management decisions. This requires links to be made between our understanding of how ecosystems function and change, with socially meaningful representations of those changes. While increasing attempts are being made at such integration, the interface or translation between those two strands remains largely undiscussed. This carries the risk that key aspects of the socio-ecological interactions become ‘lost in translation’. In this paper, we document and discuss how models of ecosystem change may be combined with socially meaningful outcomes exposing and discussing the translation process itself (i.e. the ‘translation key’). For this, we use an exemplar based on peatland condition. We employ a process-based model, DigiBog, to simulate the effects of land use on blanket peatlands, which we relate to estimates of changes to the public’s well-being derived from peatland degradation and restoration, obtained as monetary values from a choice experiment survey in Scotland (UK). By quantifying linkages between environmental conditions and social values, we make the translation between these system components transparent and allow value estimates to be recalculated under different ecological scenarios, or as new evidence emerges. This enhances the replicability of the research and can better inform decision-making. By using peatlands as the exemplar ecosystem, this paper also contributes to a limited body of evidence on the socio-economic impacts of changes to the most space-effective carbon store in the terrestrial biosphere.

A park-and-ride (P&amp, R) system is a set of facilities where private vehicle users can transfer to public transport to continue their journey. The main advantage of the system is decreasing the congestion in the central business district. This paper aims to analyze the most significant factors related to a Park-and-Ride facility location by adopting a combined model of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Best Worst Method (BWM). The integrated model is applicable for complex problems, which can be structured as a hierarchy with at least one 5 × 5 pairwise comparison matrix (PCM) (or bigger). Applying AHP for at least 5 × 5 PCM may generate inconsistent matrices, which may cause a loss of reliable information. As a solution for this gap, we conducted BWM, which generates more consistent comparisons compared to the AHP approach. Moreover, the model requires fewer comparisons compared to the classic AHP approach. That is the main reason of adopting the AHP-BWM model to evaluate Park-and-Ride facility location factors for a designed two-level hierarchical structure. As a case study, a real-world complex decision-making process was selected to evaluate the Park-and-Ride facility location problem in Cuenca city, Ecuador. The result shows that the application of multi-criteria methods becomes a planning tool for experts when designing a P&amp, R system.

Agriculture is both the cornerstone of global food security and one of the main drivers of environmental degradation. To address existing and potential environmental impacts of agriculture, policymakers are increasingly focussing on influencing farmers’ behaviour to adopt best management practices (BMPs). One of the strategies adopted is the provision of advice aimed at raising awareness of environmental pollution and mitigation measures. By improving farmers’ awareness, it is expected that changes in behaviour would be reflected in the adoption of BMPs. This expectation is based on the assumption of a direct link between awareness and uptake of BMPs. So far, however, the limited empirical research has shown that, while there is a link between awareness and adoption, this link is indirect and is mediated and moderated by other factors. One of the potential intervening factors that remains poorly understood is the enabling capacity that experiential learning brings. Through a mixed-methods approach, we explored farmers’ awareness and the role of experiential learning in the adoption of BMPs. The study focusses on the experiential learning process associated with the use of nutrient management plans to reduce diffuse water pollution from agriculture in the context of a soil sampling scheme in Northern Ireland (UK). Overall, we found that while advice seems to have contributed to increased uptake of BMPs, likelihood of adoption increased if the farmers had prepared the nutrient management plans themselves. This shows the critical role that experiential learning plays in deepening farmers’ understanding and increasing the likelihood of adopting BMPs. This provides support for the conceptual premise that while information provision is important, farmers need to actively engage in and be able to reflect on the practice for it to lead to behavioural changes. The role of experiential learning also suggests the need to move from the predominant model of a unidirectional relationship (the notion that the relationship always starts from awareness to behaviour), to a bidirectional one (i.e. from behaviour to awareness) and such interactions need to be understood through analysing the feedback loops over time. More research on this could offer insights into effective ways to help farmers adopt BMPs and ultimately contribute to reducing the environmental impacts of agricultural land management.

We are in the midst of an ecological crisis which has been and continues to be provoked by human-led ‘environmental degradation’ (defined for the purposes of this editorial as any harm or adverse impact caused to the environment, including climate change, the contamination of the land and water through the exposure to or dumping of toxic and hazardous substances and wastes, air pollution, the destruction of ecosystems, and the depletion of biodiversity). Despite this, and the fact that such degradation is directly linked to adverse impacts on biological diversity, ecosystems, and human life [1] (paras 36–38) [2] (pp. 3–4), states persist in providing inadequate responses to the destruction of nature, including in the context of establishing strong regulatory frameworks to address harmful corporate activity. It is this collective failure to take effective steps in addressing environmental degradation which continues to make human activities a threat to the natural world with potentially irreversible impacts [3] (p. 28) [4] (pp. 5–8). Humanity has received its “code red” warning [5]: we are at risk of exceeding 1.5 °C unless deep reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are made within the following decades [3] (p. 17). The degradation of the environment, rise in temperatures, and climate change have already impacted human health and livelihoods, which will only get worse, potentially becoming an existential threat.\ud Academics, lawyers, and civil society actors have sought to explore solutions to tackling environmental degradation through the lens of human rights. As such, the growing recognition of the close relationship between the environment and human rights has led to the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment [6,7], the inclusion of targets that seek to address our adverse impact on the environment throughout the Sustainable Development Goals [8], and recently to the recognition by the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) that a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a human right in of itself, in its landmark resolution 48/13 in October 2021 [9].\ud Despite this recognition, the well-established impact of the private sector on both human rights [10] and the environment [11] (paras 32–34) [12,13] (para 81), and the consolidation of a corporate responsibility to respect human rights under International Human Rights Law as clarified within the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) [14] (Principles 11–24), there has been limited consideration given to the environment in the business and human rights (BHR) discourse. Increasingly, regulatory developments have made efforts to integrate environmental rights into the protection of human rights from corporate harm, for example, the draft treaty or International Legally Binding Instrument (LBI) to regulate, under international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises [15]. Moreover, environmental considerations are starting to make their way into non-financial reporting and human rights due diligence processes along with a range of climate change-related litigation which consider the human cost of both corporate action and state inaction. However, the consideration of the environment in the BHR legal field has at its best been approached in an ad-hoc and piecemeal manner, resulting in efforts that fail to adequately consider the interaction between international human rights law and international environmental law as two separate legal regimes and their practical implementations in relation to commercial activities.\ud From this perspective, how do we articulate a comprehensive theoretical framework which seeks to protect both human rights and the environment from corporate abuses? This question sits at the heart of this Special Issue of Sustainability on Business, Human Rights, and the Environment. In an attempt to provide a response, this Special Issue seeks to reflect on the current, albeit limited, theoretical and practical integration of human rights and the environment into the BHR framework to date. The scholars who have contributed to this Special Issue bring a wide range of expertise and perspectives from various regions to facilitate this reflection and incorporation of human rights and the environment into the BHR discourse to inform theory and practice. In addition to reflecting on the evolution of the relationship and current practice, they also explore the role and potential impact that a greater integration of the environment into the BHR framework has in achieving positive social and environmental change as well as the protection, fulfilment, and promotion of human rights.\ud This Editorial seeks to set the stage for the contributions discussed above by: (1) laying out the relationship between human rights and the environment under International Human Rights Law, including both the synergies and contradictions brought by the different principles, natures, scopes, and duty-bearers in both regimes; (2) mapping when and where environmental concerns began to be considered in the corporate responsibility and BHR discourse and the prominence of climate change as a BHR issue; (3) considering the extent to which developing transparency standards, due diligence standards, and climate litigation has articulated human rights and environmental accountability for corporate-induced harm in the absence of a business, human rights, and environment (BHRE) framework. In these discussions, we identify and draw links between the key perspectives explored in the seven contributions which ought to be taken forward in any development of an integrated and coherent theoretical BHRE framework and its international legal implementation.

This research was funded by a Scottish Government Hydro Nation Scholarship. A growing body of research suggests that people’s values may be important predictors of their preferences regarding water governance and policy. However, this assertion is rarely tested empirically. The present study summarises the results of a large-scale quantitative study on the link between public water policy preferences and people’s values, based on data from a representative sample of the general population collected in a household survey in the Upper Paraguay River Basin, Mato Grosso, Brazil (n=1067). Structural equation modelling is applied to represent the clusters of values, or ‘value landscapes’, that shape attitudes and water policy preferences, in this case, for or against the construction of the highly controversial Paraguay-Paraná Waterway across the Pantanal wetland. Results demonstrate that opponents of the waterway share a value landscape composed of closely related self-transcendence values, democratic governance-related values, and ecological and cultural water values, whereas supporters hold self-enhancement values, economic governance-related values, and economic water values. Beyond this individual case study and beyond water governance, our findings may explain the protracted nature of, and seeming impossibility to resolve, environmental conservation vs. economic development conflicts more broadly. Postprint

Despite several decades of research and financial commitment, diffuse water pollution remains a major problem threatening the health and resilience of social-ecological systems. New approaches to tackle diffuse pollution emphasise awareness raising and provision of advice with the aim of triggering behavioural change. However, empirical evidence on the effectiveness of this approach remains scarce and mixed, with most studies relying on smaller datasets and case studies. Using one of the largest datasets (N = 1,995) with this information, this study seeks to establish quantitatively the relationship between farmers’ stated awareness of diffuse pollution mitigation measures and their compliance with them, through the analysis of Scotland’s pioneer advice-driven approach. Results from a conditional process modelling suggest awareness might not directly determine compliance but influences it indirectly through the mediating effect of other environmental management practices (in this study reflected in participation in agri-environmental schemes). This mediated relationship appears to be contingent on farm type and location. This would indicate that while public efforts in awareness creation is important, awareness alone is not sufficient to improve compliance; farmers may need to consistently engage in environmental management practices to develop a deeper understanding of the problem and action strategies. In this context, agri-environmental schemes appear to provide an opportunity for the creation of tacit knowledge and understanding of diffuse pollution mitigation measures through experiential learning which may also lead to the creation of new values.

The Water Framework Directive aims to achieve ‘good status’ for all water bodies in the European Union. However, exemption clauses enable member states to delay protective measures and to lower water quality objectives. The ambiguity of exemption clauses has led to a plurality of approaches across the continent. They differ as to their political objectives, i.e., the overall ambition displayed in implementing the Directive, and to their methodological choices, i.e., the analytical tools used to justify exemptions. This article argues that those political and methodological dimensions influence each other. Relying on a framework of analysis that integrates key recommendations from the literature, we explore the usage and justification of exemptions in two countries, the United Kingdom and France. Our analysis suggests that analytical methods were often decided so as to reflect the ecological ambitions of a country, and some methodological choices seem to have had unintended consequences for water quality objectives. We conclude that economic methods should be adapted so that they take into account, rather than ignore, the political ambitions of a country in the field of water.

Restoration offers opportunities for securing and enhancing critical ecosystem services provided by peatlands, such as carbon storage, water retention and water quality, and support for biodiversity and wildlife. A comprehensive valuation encompassing the relevant public benefits of restoration and how these compare with it is lacking to date, leaving policy makers with little guidance with respect to the economic efficiency of restoring this climate-critical ecosystem. Using Scotland as a case study, this paper quantifies the non-market benefits of changes in peatland ecological condition associated with changes in ecosystem service provision and depending on the location of restoration efforts. Benefits on a per hectare basis are compared to varying capital and recurrent cost in a net present value space, providing a benchmark to be used in decision making on investments into peatland restoration. The findings suggest that peatland restoration is likely to be welfare enhancing. Benefits also exceed cost in appraisals of previous and future public investments into peatland restoration. The results thus strengthen the economic rationale for climate change mitigation through improved peatland management.

The concept of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) is globally of increasing interest. However, little is known about the views and expectations of professionals and practitioners expected to enable or implement this concept. Since these individuals design, select, shape and deliver environmental management, their views and expectations are critical to understanding how PES may play out in practice. Using the first survey on this topic, in the UK this research discusses the implications for future research and environmental management. Responses indicate a range of views about PES and its potential effects. Most expect to see greater use of PES in future; and are cautiously positive about the environmental, social and economic consequences of doing so. Many hope PES may overcome existing challenges facing environmental management, subject to conditions or changes. The research also revealed tensions related to broader challenges in environmental governance – e.g. calls for standardisation may conflict with requests for adaptability. Meanwhile, other expectations – e.g. improved engagement with groups currently uninterested in the environment – indicate priorities that may be better addressed with other instruments. Varied views are likely in most countries and must be assessed to better understand the prospects and potential of PES.

Compensating land managers for the provision of public goods is currently one of the European Union’s flagship policies, and one that that resonates across the globe more generally in the effort to meet Sustainable Development Goals. Despite having been central to the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for several decades now, Agri-Environment Schemes (AES) seem to only have had limited success in preserving biodiversity and providing environmental benefits due, among other, to farmer-related factors. This paper systematically reviews and quantifies, for the first time, the body of evidence that explores these factors with respect to their influence on land managers’ willingness to accept (WTA) compensation for the delivery of biodiversity and environmental features’ protection. Our analysis shows a complex and nuanced picture. Farmers appear generally willing to enrol in AES, with average payment per hectare being around 327 Euros. However, the current evidence base provides few clues on how best that willingness is matched by contract design formats and features more generally. Providing support to farmers and exploring new ways of monitoring compliance emerge as issues worth considering as means of determining compensation in AES. Further, the broader evidence base seems to suggest that wealthier land managers stand to gain more than less wealthy in enroling in AES. However, this alone seems, in the overall, like a quite modest contribution from the body of evidence to inform policy design more broadly. It indeed does seem that we (academia and/or policy) are not yet hitting the right key on how to best match farmers preferences for enroling in AES for the delivery of biodiversity/environmental features A significant leap forward would not simply require an increased quantity of primary studies, but a deeper reflexion on how the complexity of farmers’ preferences is best captured in the design of policy instruments that have to both share common features while being adaptable to context dependent characteristics at the landscape level. This is more pressing than ever face to the unprecedented challenges of Brexit and the COVID19-induced economic recession, which is going to put every cent of public funding under the hardest of scrutinies in the years to come.

Ecosystem restoration and, in particular, peatland restoration, are considered a promising greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation strategy to move towards net zero emissions. To remain within acceptable limits for projected warming scenarios, inaction with respect to GHG mitigation in the short term implies a need for even larger removals of GHGs in the longer term, which can be conceptualized as a ‘mitigation debt’. This paper explores the economic implications of delaying GHG mitigation through ecosystem restoration using data of a large survey (N = 1377) that included a choice experiment to elicit the public’s willingness to pay (WTP) for peatland restoration in Scotland, UK. The valuation specifically considers the interaction between the timing of restoration action and long-term ecosystem resilience. We find that respondents have a substantial WTP for peatland restoration. Importantly, we find considerable benefits for early restoration action (up to £191 million annually in our case study), which is linked to an increased resilience of peatlands under future climate change. This demonstrates that delaying restoration and thus accumulating a mitigation debt has an important opportunity cost that substantially decreases the related economic benefits. Attitudes towards climate change and climate change beliefs are found to explain variation in the public’s WTP. Our research strengthens the economic argument for not delaying climate change mitigation through ecosystem restoration, demonstrating that the mitigation debt also translates into a welfare loss. To fully realise the potential benefits associated with immediate mitigation using peatland restoration, however, more needs to be understood about the mechanisms that facilitate large-scale implementation in practice.

Global supply chains (GSCs) are organised through complex networks which leave workers vulnerable to exploitation and unprotected against abusive labour practices including modern slavery. In the past decade’s, attention has focused on business responsibilities for the impact of commercial activities on human rights with little focus on the role of states as economic actors and their duties regarding their own supply chain, including through public procurement. This article analyses the application of the Transparency in Supply Chains provision (TiSCs) of the UK Modern Slavery Act (2015) to the public sector. Since 2016 commercial organisations are obliged to report on efforts to identify, prevent, and mitigate modern slavery in their supply chain. This includes over one hundred higher education institutions (HEIs). This article finds that while most reporting in the first year fall short of what is expected of institutions according to Government guidance the exercise of reporting has initiated an important process of awareness. HEIs face a steep learning curve to develop effective human rights due diligence in their supply chain however, the TiSCs obligation has proved a catalyst for a wider process of understanding human rights risks and responsibilities of the public sector, and more specifically HEIs.

Ecosystem services (ES) has established itself as the predominant paradigm for framing environmental research and policy-making. Its rapid popularisation is raising concerns about the possibility that it might lead to nature commodification. These concerns have been associated with a broader agenda for the neoliberalization of conservation, but research on this area remains mostly theoretical. This paper advances the debate with an empirical study on the views of environmental professionals. The views of those who shape interpretation, uptake and implementation environmental practice are of critical importance since they give the real mark on whether any fundamental change in the current direction of environmental governance is to be expected. Using Mexico as an exemplar case of a country in which ES have clearly entered the environmental discourse provides a forewarning of what might happen more broadly. Results indicate that, while acknowledging risks of commodification, environmental professionals consider a greater risk ‘missing out’ on opportunities to internalize ES monetary values in an economic growth-oriented context. They seem to see negative side-effects as ‘necessary evils’ to achieve conservation targets. Any substantial change in environmental governance is more likely to occur due to the disenchantment produced by the lack of impact of ES-based approaches in practice than of fears of commodification.

Efforts to tackle diffuse water pollution from agriculture are increasingly focusing on improving farmers' awareness under the expectation that this would contribute to adoption of best management practices (BMPs) and, in turn, result in water quality improvements. To date, however, no study has explored the full awareness-behaviour-water quality pathway; with previous studies having mostly addressed the awareness-behaviour link relying on disciplinary approaches. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we investigate whether awareness-focussed approaches to mitigating diffuse water pollution from agriculture indeed result in water quality improvement, addressing the pathway in full. We worked with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (a water and waste utility company in the UK) on a pesticide pollution intervention programme, referred to as "weed wiper trial". The main goal of the trial was to raise farmers' awareness regarding pesticide management practices and to promote uptake of BMPs to tackle the rising concentrations of the pesticide MCPA (2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid) in raw water in three catchments in Wales. Using factorial analysis of variance, we analysed MCPA concentrations from 2006 to 2019 in the three targeted catchments and in three control catchments. This was followed by semi-structured in-depth interviews with institutional stakeholders and farmers with varying degrees of exposure to the weed wiper trial. Results show that MCPA concentration for both targeted and control catchments had reduced after the implementation of the weed wiper trial. However, the decline was significantly larger (F(1) = 6.551, p

The Aichi 2020 Targets, under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), aim to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2020, in order to ensure that ecosystems continue to provide essential services. Here we apply a social–ecological systems analysis to provide insight into the diverse system interactions that pose impediments to delivery of the Aichi Targets. We applied an analytical framework of pair-wise exchanges along six axes between the social, economic, environmental and political loci of the global social–ecological system. The analysis identified that many impediments result from partial decoupling in the system through phenomena including delayed feedbacks and insufficient information flows. It suggests 15 of the Aichi Targets are unlikely to be delivered; 3 are likely to be delivered in part; and 2 in full. We considered how interventions at leverage points may overcome the impediments, and compared these to actions included within the Implementation Decision for the Aichi Targets, to find gaps. These new leverage points to fill identified gaps involve many aspects of system re-coupling: co-production of knowledge and more equitable food systems governance (environmental–social axis); support for social change movements (social–political axis); an appropriate financial target for biodiversity conservation investment, with a clear means of implementation such as a currency transaction tax (economic– political axis); and co-governance of natural resources (environmental–political axis). The recently released Global Biodiversity Outlook 4 shows that 18 of the 20 Aichi Targets are tracking in accordance with our analysis; and that current efforts are unlikely to result in an improvement in the base state of biodiversity by 2020, confirming some of our results. We argue that attention to the interactions within, and the partial decoupling of, the global social–ecological system provides new insights, and is worthy of further attention both for delivery of the Aichi Targets and for guiding longer term actions for the conservation of biodiversity

The present study investigates the prospects for a large-scale implementation of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes in the Brazilian Pantanal wetland. Despite increasing environmental threats associated with development pressures and the growing interest of public and private organizations, no PES schemes are currently in place in the Pantanal. Through an exploratory scenario analysis, this article determines the prospects for PES in the area. The findings suggest that a large-scale implementation is unlikely, as this would require much higher levels of environmental awareness among local decision makers and low substitution rates of ecosystem services by technology. Furthermore, strong socioeconomic inequality between inhabitants of the Pantanal lowlands and wealthy farmers of the neighboring uplands means that potential suppliers of ecosystem services would face very high opportunity costs to participate in PES schemes. The research findings are also relevant to other environmentally sensitive regions experiencing rapid economic growth and weak environmental regulation.

Despite the increasing scholarly attention that Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are receiving, little is yet known about the process of price setting. This is key knowledge that relates directly to the economic efficiency of an instrument that is spreading widely worldwide. Through a meta-analysis of payments for forest watershed services in Latin America, this study finds that there exists a very substantial difference between the price that buyers pay and that sellers receive for ecosystem services and that this difference is not due to transaction costs. Instead, it reveals a substantial subsidising component. Our results would suggest that this discrepancy in prices might be due to the ‘start-up’ effect and that as programmes mature, this effect may attenuate. However, the entry of new buyers does not make over for the subsidization of schemes and would require the implementation of specific mechanisms to adjust prices. According to our results, one of such possible mechanisms would be to increase participation on price setting processes, allowing for more price negotiation between parties rather than the predominant top-down approach.

Latin America has been a pioneer in the implementation of payments for ecosystem services (PES) and numerous schemes are now in place. However, existing reviews of this experience are mostly theoretical and/or qualitative. This paper presents a comprehensive, systematic and up-to-date compilation and review of the literature on Payments for Water Ecosystem Services (PWS) in Latin America, in which 310 PWS transactions within 40 different schemes are analysed. Firstly, we quantitatively describe and discuss their key characteristics. Secondly, we identify information gaps that need to be filled to allow a more accurate analysis. Finally, we contrast PES theory versus the reported evidence. Results are discussed in the form of key messages and a conceptual model to support better design, implementation and monitoring is proposed. Among other things, our meta-study shows that there is a certain mis-match between how PES schemes are presented in theory and how they are actually practiced or reported in the literature. This mis-match concerns issues at the core of the PES principles, namely service-action conditionality, service definition and payment negotiation.

Complex, social-environmental issues can be classified as ‘wicked problems’ because they are incorrigible and hugely challenging for policy makers. Here we re-evaluate what makes problems wicked and assess various theoretical and pragmatic approaches that have been advanced to tackle them. We do so with the aim of contributing new insights to theory through answering the following research questions: What strategies to tackle wicked environmental problems are prominent in the literature?; To what extent do they provide pathways for tackling the defining characteristics of wicked environmental problems?; and, How are these strategies reflected in examples of practice? Our examples look at how emergent strategies have percolated, explicitly or implicitly, in the management of four problems in Scotland: (1) Securing sustainability and resilience of landscape and land-use systems through spatial planning; (2) Addressing population health through livestock disease control; (3) Mitigating climate change through woodland planting; and, (4) Mitigating rural diffuse pollution in freshwater systems. We present a consolidated set of characteristics of wicked problems against which we map strategies to tackle wicked problems proposed by a body of literature identified through a literature review and analysed using a thematic, qualitative approach. We identify fifteen strategies and show that most of these are, within the Scottish context, evident in practice. The extent to which the actual discourse has influenced praxis and how effective it has been is more difficult to determine but we conclude that, within a context of ‘incorrigible’ problems, small steps have been made towards taming an untameable beast.

A key element of the European Water Framework Directive is the role that economic tools and principles have been assigned in achieving its objectives. This has raised important research and implementation questions that have set the water agenda in Europe in the last ten years and will continue to do so. This paper examines these key questions and reviews the progress that has been made in addressing them. Key research-policy challenges ahead are identified. These include addressing “wicked” problems, such as the operationalisation of the ecosystem service approach; challenging assumed principles for cost-effectiveness and disproportionality; and effectively co-constructing knowledge with stakeholders.

a b s t r a c t The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) has become widely accepted as a framework for understanding and assessing the benefits that ecosystems provide to human well-being. Its classification of services into the categories of provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural, has been increasingly widely adopted. However, several authors have recently argued that the MA’s definition and classification of services may not be the most appropriate for monetary assessments. This paper seeks to understand in greater depth the sources of problems arising from the use of the MA’s definition and classification of services for economic valuation. Firstly, we review and disentangle the critical literature to date. Secondly, we undertake a practical examination of existing primary valuation studies, which we analyse according to the MA classification and then compare with an output based-classification. We use water ecosystem services provided by tropical forests as an example for our analysis. Our results provide further evidence of the risk of double counting and the problems related to the secondary use of valuation estimates, as a consequence of service overlapping and service ambiguity.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to deliver good ecological status (GES) for Europe's waters. It prescribes the use of economic principles, such as derogation from GES on grounds of disproportionate costs of mitigation. This paper proposes an application of the proportionality principle to mitigation of phosphorus (P) pollution of 544 Scottish lochs at national and local water body scales. P loading estimates were derived from a national diffuse pollution screening tool. For 293 of these lochs (31% of the loch area), GES already occurred. Mitigation cost-effectiveness was assessed using combined mitigation cost curves for managed grassland, rough grazing, arable land, sewage and septic tank sources. These provided sufficient mitigation (92% of national P load) for GES to be achieved on another 31% of loch area at annualised cost of £2.09 m/y. Mitigation of the residual P loading preventing other lochs achieving GES was considered by using a "mop-up" cost of £200/kg P (assumed cost effectiveness of removal of P directly from lochs), leading to a total cost of £189 m/y. Lochs were ranked by mitigation costs per loch area to give a national scale marginal mitigation cost curve. A published choice experiment valuation of WFD targets for Scottish lochs was used to estimate marginal benefits at national scale and combined with the marginal cost curve. This gave proportionate costs of £5.7 m/y leading to GES in 72% of loch area. Using national mean marginal benefits with a scheme to estimate changes in individual loch value with P loading gave proportionate costs of £25.6 m/y leading to GES in 77% of loch area (491 lochs).

Water scarcity and drought are social and economic problems in large parts of the world that will intensify due to climate change. The existing literature on the costs of drought is scarce, fragmented and heterogeneous and there is a need for comprehensive cost estimations to help design an effective policy response. This is particularly the case in Europe, which is currently developing its drought strategy. The severe drought that affected Barcelona in 2007/2008 is used here as a case study to illustrate the costs of this type of extreme event. We assess direct losses of the affected economic sectors, indirect costs to the rest of the economy and non-market welfare losses caused by environmental damage and household water restrictions. Additionally, we also look at the cost of the measures implemented to address the drought and discuss the implications in terms of their cost-effectiveness. Our results indicate a total cost of this drought event of 1,605 million Euros (0.48% of the regional GDP) and highlight the need for more accurate cost estimations at the European level. The study also points to the need to promote water saving measures and to increase the structural adaptive capacity of systems subjected to water scarcity.

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) prescribes that all water bodies in Europe should achieve ‘good ecological status’ (GES). Maintaining a certain water flow is a pre-condition for the achievement of GES in areas of water scarcity. In such areas, reclaimed waste water is seen as a promising measure to keep river flow at a sufficient level. The contingent valuation method is applied here to estimate the non-market environmental benefits of using reclaimed water to maintain river flow levels in the Segura River Basin in south-eastern Spain. The assessment of the economic benefits of specific measures gives policy makers more information than a cost-effectiveness analysis alone, which is currently the most commonly used tool to assess potential measures under the WFD. The results show that the implementation of this measure produces significant non-market benefits that are larger than the investment and operational costs of reclaimed water treatment plants.

The Environmental Liability Directive (ELD) establishes a framework of liability based on the 'polluter-pays' principle to prevent and remedy environmental damage. The ELD requires the testing of appropriate equivalency methods to assess the scale of compensatory measures needed to offset damage. The aim of this paper is to contribute to fill the existing knowledge gap on the application of the value equivalency approach for damage compensation in this context. We analyze the toxic spill damaging the Doñana National Park (Spain) in 1998. The welfare losses associated with the resource damage are estimated using non-market valuation and compared to the value of the compensatory measures taken after the accident. Our results show that the in-kind compensation may have been insufficient to offset the welfare losses. We conclude that a more comprehensive knowledge of the human welfare effects caused by environmental damage is of substantial importance to determine compensatory remediation, as insufficient information in this respect can lead to erroneous decisions causing loss to society. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.

Typical convergent validity tests of benefit transfer based on stated preference data assume that willingness to pay (WTP) estimates have been accurately measured, and that differences in WTP arise from differences in observable and unobservable characteristics between the study and the policy sites. In this paper, we conduct a convergent validity test assuming equality of underlying preferences, but allow for the possibility that transfer errors arise from differences in the way that respondents process information in the preference elicitation tasks. Using data from an identical survey instrument applied to the population of two river basins in Spain, we obtain marginal and total WTP estimates for ecological improvements of water bodies and the corresponding transfer errors across sites. Results of equality constrained latent class (ECLC) models that infer attribute non-attendance (ANA) are compared to results from mixed logit (MXL) models in WTP space. We find large absolute and relative differences in marginal and total WTP between sites for the MXL models, and significantly reduced transfer errors for the ECLC models. This paper therefore provides further evidence that AN-A can significantly affect environmental values derived from attribute-based stated preference methods and is the first to investigate the implications for benefit transfer., This research was partially funded by the Scottish Government Rural Affairs and the Environment Portfolio Strategic Research Programme 2011-2016, Theme 1 (Environmental Change: Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity). The data used in this article were collected as part of the Collaboration Agreement between the University of Cordoba (Spain) and the Spanish Ministry of the Environment for the Development of Water Demand Analysis and Assessment of Environmental and Resource Benefits of the Water Framework Directive, and the AquaMoney project of the EU VI Framework Programme (SSPI-022723, Development and Testing of Guidelines for the Assessment of Environmental and Resource Costs and Benefits of the Water Framework Directive, www.aquamoney.org).

Agricultural environmental regulation often fails to deliver the desired effects because of farmers adopting the related measures incorrectly or not at all. This is due to several barriers to the uptake of the prescribed environmentally beneficial farm management practices, most of which have been well established by social science research. Yet it is unclear why these barriers remain so difficult to overcome despite numerous and persistent attempts at the design, communication and enforcement of related agricultural policies.This paper examines the potential of fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) as a tool to disentangle the underlying reasons of this persistent problem. We present the FCM methodology as adapted to the application in a Scottish case study on how environmental regulation affects farmers and farming practice and what factors are important for compliance or non-compliance with this regulation. The study compares the views of two different stakeholder groups on this matter using FCM network visualizations that were validated by interviews and a workshop session. There was a farmers group representing a typical mix of Scottish farming systems and a non-farmers group, the latter comprising process professionals from the fields of design, implementation, administration, consulting on and enforcement of agricultural policies.Between the two groups, the FCM process reveals a very different perception of importance and interaction of factors and strongly suggests that the problem lies in an institutional failure rather than in a simple unwillingness of farmers to obey the rules. FCM allows for a structured process of identifying areas of conflicting perceptions, but also areas where strongly differing groups of stakeholders might be able to gain common ground. In this way, FCM can help to identify anchoring points for targeted policy development and has the potential of becoming an effective tool in agricultural policy design and, due to its inherently visual nature, communication. Our results show the utility of FCM by pointing out how Scottish environmental regulation could be altered to increase compliance with the rules and where the reasons for the identified institutional failure might be sought. Agricultural environmental regulation often fails to deliver the desired effects because of farmers adopting the related measures incorrectly or not at all. This is due to several barriers to the uptake of the prescribed environmentally beneficial farm management practices, most of which have been well established by social science research. Yet it is unclear why these barriers remain so difficult to overcome despite numerous and persistent attempts at the design, communication and enforcement of related agricultural policies.This paper examines the potential of Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) as a tool to disentangle the underlying reasons of this persistent problem. We present the FCM methodology as adapted to the application in a Scottish case study on how environmental regulation affects farmers and farming practice and what factors are important for compliance or non-compliance with this regulation. The study compares the views of two different stakeholder groups on this matter using FCM network visualizations that were validated by interviews and a workshop session. There was a farmers group representing a typical mix of Scottish farming systems and a non-farmers group, the latter comprising process professionals from the fields of design, implementation, administration, consulting on and enforcement of agricultural policies.Between the two groups, the FCM process reveals a very different perception of importance and interaction of factors and strongly suggests that the problem lies in an institutional failure rather than in a simple unwillingness of farmers to obey the rules. FCM allows for a structured process of identifying areas of conflicting perceptions, but also areas where strongly differing groups of stakeholders might be able to gain common ground. In this way, FCM can help to identify anchoring points for targeted policy development and has the potential of becoming an effective tool in agricultural policy design and, due to its inherently visual nature, communication. Our results show the utility of FCM by pointing out how Scottish environmental regulation could be altered to increase compliance with the rules and where the reasons for the identified institutional failure might be sought.

This paper presents an application of integrated methodological approach for identifying cost-effective combinations of agri-environmental measures to achieve water quality targets. The methodological approach involves linking hydro-chemical modelling with economic costs of mitigation measures. The utility of the approach was explored for the River Dee catchment in North East Scotland, examining the cost-effectiveness of mitigation measures for nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) pollutants. In-stream nitrate concentration was modelled using the STREAM-N and phosphorus using INCA-P model. Both models were first run for baseline conditions and then their effectiveness for changes in land management was simulated. Costs were based on farm income foregone, capital and operational expenditures. The costs and effects data were integrated using 'Risk Solver Platform' optimization in excel to produce the most cost-effective combination of measures by which target nutrient reductions could be attained at a minimum economic cost. The analysis identified different combination of measures as most cost-effective for the two pollutants. An important aspect of this paper is integration of model-based effectiveness estimates with economic cost of measures for cost-effectiveness analysis of land and water management options. The methodological approach developed is not limited to the two pollutants and the selected agri-environmental measures considered in the paper; the approach can be adapted to the cost-effectiveness analysis of any catchment-scale environmental management options.

There is evidence that damaged peatlands can negatively affect the delivery of water related ecosystem services. There is interest in peatland restoration to meet different regulatory targets, including the Water Framework Directive (WFD). A comprehensive assessment of the economic benefits of restoration is missing. This paper synthesises hydrological and bio-geochemical knowledge on peatland restoration, as well as insights in the monetary valuation of water quality improvements in freshwater systems. This is used to identify challenges in valuing water quality related benefits from peatland restoration. The paper concludes that there is strong evidence for rapid ecological responses to peatland restoration related to reduced suspended sediment loads, and sufficient evidence that re-wetting will prevent further decline in water quality. Two main challenges arise for valuation: (1) incomplete evidence of effects of restoration on final ecosystem services and benefits, and (2) the spatial and temporal differences in peatlands' responses. We suggest developing valuation scenarios on a case-by-case basis, using best available evidence of the changes associated with restoration described by a categorization of peatland status similar to the ecological status ladders developed for the WFD. These would need to be tested with the public and should include an element of uncertainty in services provision.

Recent evidence suggests that the degree of degradation of peatlands is substantial, and that there is a significant potential to enhance the delivery of a wide range of ecosystem services by investing in peatland restoration. However, little is known about the social welfare impacts of peatland restoration and in particular how to spatially target restoration activities to maximise net benefits from investments in restoration. This paper investigates the steps required to conduct a spatially explicit economic impact assessment of peatland restoration, and highlights and discusses key requirements and issues associated with such an assessment. We find that spatially explicit modelling of the biophysical impacts of restoration over time is challenging due to non-linear effects and interaction effects. This has repercussions for the spatially explicit assessment of costs and benefits, which in itself is a demanding task. We conclude that the gains of investing in the research needed to conduct such an assessment can be high, both in terms of advancing science and in terms of providing useful information for decision makers.

The improvement in the water quality resulting from the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive is expected to generate substantial non-market benefits. A wide spread estimation of these benefits across Europe will require the application of benefit transfer. We use a spatially explicit valuation design to account for the spatial heterogeneity of preferences to help generate lower transfer errors. A map-based choice experiment is applied in the Guadalquivir River Basin (Spain), accounting simultaneously for the spatial distribution of water quality improvements and beneficiaries. Our results show that accounting for the spatial heterogeneity of preferences generally produces lower transfer errors. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Evidence of the impact arising from environmental research is increasingly demanded. Exchanges between science providers and actors that use scientific knowledge to address environmental problems are recognized as a key component of the mechanisms through which impact occurs. Yet, the role of interactions between science and policy actors in delivering and shaping research impact is not well established. We aim to better understand how transfer of science in a science-policy network generates impact. Our approach relies on an exploratory social network analysis (SNA), applied to a network of organisations working on land and water management in a catchment in the UK. We analyse flows of scientific information across these organisations and how those contribute to impact, which we conceptualized as change in organisations at three levels: increased awareness, operational change and strategic change. We find that organisations occupying central positions in the network facilitate the transfer of science and influence the level of change achieved. We also find that the effectiveness of the flows of information and impact delivery depends on boundary organisations, in particular public regulatory bodies, that connect agents with others. Moreover, intended change reported by science providers does not often transform directly into change as reported by the receivers of the information. We conclude that both exchanges between researchers and research users and the role of boundary organisations are key to impact delivery and making change possible. This is valuable for understanding where improvements to information flows between organisations might enhance impact.

Food systems worldwide are vulnerable to Phosphorus (P) supply disruptions and price fluctuations. Current P use is also highly inefficient, generating large surpluses and pollution. Global food security and aquatic ecosystems are in jeopardy if transformative action is not taken. This paper pivots from earlier (predominantly conceptual) work to develop and analyse a P transdisciplinary scenario process, assessing stakeholders potential for transformative thinking in P use in the food system. Northern Ireland, a highly livestock-intensive system, was used as case study for illustrating such process. The stakeholder engagement takes a normative stance in that it sets the explicit premise that the food system needs to be transformed and asks stakeholders to engage in a dialogue on how that transformation can be achieved. A Substance Flow Analysis of P flows and stocks was employed to construct visions for alternative futures and stimulate stakeholder discussions on system responses. These were analysed for their transformative potential using a triple-loop social learning framework. For the most part, stakeholder responses remained transitional or incremental, rather than being fundamentally transformative. The process did unveil some deeper levers that could be acted upon to move the system further along the spectrum of transformational change (e.g. changes in food markets, creation of new P markets, destocking, new types of land production and radical land use changes), providing clues of what an aspirational system could look like. Replicated and adapted elsewhere, this process can serve as diagnostics of current stakeholders thinking and potential, as well as for the identification of those deeper levers, opening up avenues to work upon for global scale transformation.