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In this paper, we describe the main findings of an exploratory research about corporate commitment to manage biodiversity and ecosystems. The results are based on literature of sustainability approaches and interviews with sustainability representatives of twelve national and international companies in the Netherlands. The empirical results show that companies still use a reactive approach to biodiversity. Biodiversity is getting more attention on the sustainability agenda of the executive board. While external networking with stakeholders is increasing, both in networks and partnerships, creating internal commitment for the corporate responsibility on biodiversity and ecosystems remains challenging.

Effective management of groundwater resources in a world where high-quality source water is becoming both physically and economically scarcer requires interdisciplinary collaboration among hydrologists, ecologists, engineers, and economists. This theme issue, Economics of Groundwater Management, seeks to further communication and cooperation across disciplines by presenting a collection of economic research articles that demonstrate a broad range of approaches used by economists to integrate hydrologic concepts into economic frameworks. The theme issue opens with an overview of the economic approach to groundwater management in Qureshi et al. Economists commonly define optimal groundwater management as the rate of extraction by location and time that maximizes the present value of net benefits (after deducting the costs from the gross benefits). Making the best use of limited groundwater resources requires a conceptual framework that defines best use combined with knowledge of alternate extractive and nonextractive values, the costs of extraction, the hydrological interlinkages between alternative uses, hydrological linkages with surface water, the cost of alternative water sources, and how policy and institutions influence outcomes. Hydrological models of quantity and quality are essential since maximization of net benefits is subject to the hydrological characteristics of the aquifer and related water sources. Incorporation of extraction and application technologies and costs, as well as structural solutions such as artificial recharge, require hydrological and irrigation engineering knowledge. Since economists broadly define benefits to include both extractive and non-extractive values, ecological modeling may be necessary for appropriate valuation. Furthermore, institutional and policy factors influence groundwater value and must be considered in concert with supply and demand.

For stimulating sustainable development in developing countries, land use patterns and land use changes are considered critical, and therefore effective and efficient land use policies are needed. In this paper we present a methodological framework that has been developed in a joint European and developing countries project (LUPIS – Land Use Policies and Sustainable Development in Developing Countries), to assess the impact of land use policies on sustainable development in developing countries. An illustrative application is presented for a case study in China, where water pollution due to agriculture in Taihu Basin is a major problem. We argue that an integrated assessment is required, considering multiple drivers and indicators that determine the objectives and constraints of the stakeholders involved. Therefore, the sustainability impact assessment (SIA) is based on the concept of Land Use Functions (LUFs), and impacts on these LUFs are discussed with stakeholders based on a multi-criteria analysis. LUFs comprise economic, environmental and social indicators relevant for stakeholders at multiple scales. Instead of focusing only on the indicators that determine the problem (e.g., nutrient leaching in the Chinese case study), we take a broader perspective (considering also social, economic and institutional objectives and constraints), such that feasible policy options can be recommended. Stakeholders have a large role in discussing the selection of indicators and policies (pre-modelling), evaluating the impacts on indicators (modelling), and the weighing of indicators and LUFs (post-modelling). For the assessment of impacts on indicators (modelling), quantitative and qualitative approaches are combined. We present and discuss an impact assessment of policy options in Taihu Basin, for the current situation and towards 2015. The methodological framework as presented here proved to be useful to guide a sustainability impact assessment in China and six other case study regions.

To gain insight in the social processes that underlie knowledge sharing in teams, this article questions which team learning behaviors lead to the construction of a shared mental model. Additionally, it explores how the development of shared mental models mediates the relation between team learning behaviors and team effectiveness. Analyses were performed on student-teams engaged in a business simulation game. The measurement of shared mental models was based on cognitive mapping techniques. The results indicate that a team learning perspective provides insight in how people share knowledge. Particularly the team learning behaviors identified as co-construction and constructive conflict are related to the development of shared mental models. In addition, a shared mental model of the task environment in a team leads to improved performance. This underscores the importance of developing shared cognition in teamwork.

This paper demonstrates that combining spatial land surface data with socio-economic analysis provides a number of indicators to strengthen decision making in integrated water and environmental management. It provides a basis to: track current water consumption in the Inkomati Basin in South-Africa; adjust irrigation water management; select crop types; facilitate planning; estimate crop yields before harvesting, and consequently to forecast market price development. Remote sensing data and economic analysis can also be used to study the spatial distribution of water consumption as an indicator of equity in access to water resources. It even enables identification of farms that consume more irrigation water than formally allocated. Finally, it provides a basis to assess the cost-effectiveness of various ways to reduce agricultural water consumption. So, this approach is potentially useful for determining water consumption, refining water allocation policies, and determining the potential for water transfers through mechanisms such as water trading.

This paper analyses the investment behaviour of Russian farms during the period of economic stabilisation that followed Russia's financial crisis of 1998, and is the first to apply the error-correction investment model to describe farms' investment behaviour in the transitional context. Additionally, the paper employs the error-correction and the adjustment-cost model to test for differences in the investment behaviour between various farm categories. The results show that in general Russian farms exhibited an error-correcting behaviour in the period under investigation. From 1999 to 2005 the output¿capital gap was closed by an average rate of 10% per year. Estimates of the adjustment-cost model show that Russian farm investments are very sensitive to the sales¿capital ratio, suggesting that Russian farms exhibit increasing returns to scale and positive expectations about future revenues. Yet, such farm characteristics as ownership structure, access to input markets and also regional specifics were found to be decisive for farm investment not only in the short but long term too. Finally, the results show that the adjustment-cost model is adequate for the evaluation of differences in short-term investment behaviour, whereas it is noticeably less powerful for investigating differences in the farms' long-term investment behaviour

Increasingly rural areas find themselves in an ambivalent urban context, tending both to build and to preserve the rural landscape. The question is how rural areas could overcome this ambivalence by establishing better relationships between urban and rural areas. In this paper, we aim to reflect on the role of rural–urban relationships. First, we will discuss the divergent perceptions on urban pressure in rural areas. Second, we will analyse the (f)actors for RGS development to enhance the rural landscape. Finally, we will elaborate a territorial approach based on different rural–urban relationships and establish an integrated supply of rural goods and services. The empirical content of this paper has been based on the results of the European project ‘Building new relationships in rural areas under urban pressure’ (RURBAN) conducted in five EU countries.

In this paper, an innovative method - that combines a technical and socio-economic analysis - is presented to assess the implications of policy decisions on water productivity. In the technical part, the variability in crop water productivity (CWP) is analyzed on the basis of actual water consumption and associated biomass production using the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL). This generates input for the socio-economic analysis, which aims to quantify the foregone economic water productivity (EWP) of policy decisions to allocate water in a social optimal way. The basis for arguments to transfer water between categories of users will be strengthened and be more objective when the productivity in existing and alternative uses is known. The usefulness of such an approach is shown in the South African part of the Inkomati Basin, where according to the Water Act, water has to be reserved for basic human needs and to protect aquatic ecosystems. The opportunity costs, in terms of foregone EWP, of decisions to divert water away from agriculture are assessed. The results show that diverting water away from crops with a low CWP is not always the most cost-effective way in terms of foregone EWP. This paper is written in the framework of "A demonstration project in the Inkomati Basin" (Soppe et al. 2006) funded by the "Partners for Water II"program of the Dutch government

This study explores the effects of agricultural trade liberalisation and concomitant changes in agricultural areas and livestock production on greenhouse gas emissions using the coupled LEITAP–IMAGE modelling system. The results indicate that liberalisation leads to an increase in total greenhouse gas emissions by about 6% compared to the reference scenario value in 2015. The increase in CO2 emissions are caused by vegetation clearance due to a rapid expansion of agricultural area; mainly in South America and Southeast Asia. Increased methane emissions in the case of full liberalisation are caused by less intensive cattle farming in regions such as South America and Southeast Asia. This pattern is observed up to 2050. Total global production of milk, dairy and beef do not change with full liberalisation, but production shifts were observed from North America and Europe to South America and Southeast Asia. Results are less pronounced in variants where trade liberalisation is only implemented partially. Remarkably, our study shows in the trade barrier removal scenario larger numbers of dairy cows in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) then with full liberalisation scenario or a variant in which only milk quota are abolished. This illustrates that different types of liberalisation need to be analysed regionally and per commodity before general conclusions on the impact of trade liberalisation can be drawn. Our study contributes new information on greenhouse gas emissions to a vast number of trade liberalisation studies that focus on economic impacts. The combined economic-environmental impacts need to be assessed in detail before general conclusions on trade liberalisation can be given.

Buyers of farmland are usually interested in parcels for sale that are close to their own farms. With a limited number of parcels for sale, this may lead to market power in local farmland markets. The objective of this paper is to investigate whether market power affects farmland prices. Hedonic price models are adapted to allow for local market power of either sellers or buyers. A distinction is made between rural and urban farmland markets. The results provide evidence of market power effects in rural farmland markets. However, for farmland in urban areas, market prices are dominated by speculation effects.

Rising energy prices will alter water allocation and distribution. Water extraction and conveyance will become more costly and demand for hydroelectric power will grow. The higher cost of energy will substantially increase the cost of groundwater, whereas increasing demand for hydroelectric power may reduce the price and increase supply of surface water. High energy prices and geopolitical considerations drive investment in land-and water-intensive biofuel technology, diverting land and water supplies to energy production at the expense of food production. Thus, rising energy prices will alter the allocation of water, increase the price of food and may have negative distributional effects. The impact of rising energy prices and the introduction of biofuels can be partly offset by the development and adoption of new technologies, including biotechnology. The models considered here can be used to determine the effects of rising energy prices on inputs, outputs, allocation decisions and impact on distribution.

Campylobacter bacteria are an important cause of foodborne infections. We estimated the potential costs and benefits of a large number of possible interventions to decrease human exposure to Campylobacter by consumption of chicken meat, which accounts for 20-40% of all cases of human campylobacteriosis in the Netherlands. For this purpose, a farm-to-fork risk assessment model was combined with economic analysis and epidemiological data. Reduction of contamination at broiler farms could be efficient in theory. However, it is unclear which hygienic measures need to be taken and the costs can be very high. The experimental treatment of colonized broiler flocks with bacteriophages has proven to be effective and could also be cost efficient, if confirmed in practice. Since a major decrease of infections at the broiler farm is not expected in the short term, additional measures in the processing plant were also considered. At this moment, guaranteed Campylobacter-free chicken meat at the retail level is not realistic. The most promising interventions in the processing plant are limiting fecal leakage during processing and separation of contaminated and noncontaminated flocks (scheduling), followed by decontamination of the contaminated flock. New (faster and more sensitive) test methods to detect Campylobacter colonization in broilers flocks are a prerequisite for successful scheduling scenarios. Other methods to decrease the contamination of meat of colonized flocks such as freezing and heat treatment are more expensive and/or less effective than chemical decontamination.

A central finding in happiness research is that a person's life satisfaction depends on the level of her income relative to the average income in her social reference group. This dependence of life satisfaction on relative income can be related to the reference dependence of the value function in Kahneman and Tversky's [Kahneman, D., Tversky, A., 1979. Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica 47, 263–291] prospect theory. In this paper we investigate whether the characteristics of the value function like concavity for gains, convexity for losses, and loss aversion apply to the dependence of life satisfaction on relative income. This is tested with an improved measure for the reference income for a large German panel spanning the years 1984–2001. We find concavity of life satisfaction in positive relative income, but unexpectedly strongly significant concavity of life satisfaction in negative relative income as well. We also present a new method to show the robustness of these concavity results to extreme distortions of the reported-life-satisfaction scale. The concavity for negative relative income implies a rising marginal sensitivity of life satisfaction to more negative values of relative income, and hence loss aversion (in a wide sense). This may be explained in terms of increasing financial obstacles to social participation.

Interrelationships between hydrology and ecology are established for the Air Hitam Laut watershed in Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. The developed relational diagram shows how modelled regional groundwater levels and flooding patterns are related to the occurrence of different vegetation types in this endangered peatland watershed. In dry conditions when groundwater levels are deeper than 1 m below soil surface, fire disasters are unavoidable. When areas susceptible to fire actually burn and both vegetation and peat disappear, the total inundated area will expand with a factor five. In wet conditions with groundwater levels of more than 1 m above soil surface for a prolonged period of time, flooding creates lakes where no plant species can regrow. In the intermediate range, rehabilitation of different plant species is promising and is related to the actual hydrological regime.

This paper provides insight into the relevance of market forces to typical problems found in irrigated agriculture. It first considers the theoretical basis for the use of economic instruments, such as volumetric water charges and tradable water rights, then considers their usefulness in the context of five case studies of irrigated areas, in Egypt, India, Indonesia, Morocco and Ukraine. The case studies confirm that competition for scarce water and shortage of funds are widespread. To assess the suitability of economic instruments to achieve water management objectives, insight is provided into the current price paid for irrigation water, the cost of service provision and the value to irrigators. It becomes clear that there is a big gap between the price and value of irrigation water. This means that a considerable increase in the price of water is needed to balance supply and demand, which would reduce farm economic welfare substantially. This socio-political problem, plus the technical and administrative complexity of measuring water, make water pricing an unsuitable approach to balance supply and demand.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union the performance of irrigated agriculture decreased drastically in Ukraine, due to problems related to the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. Before formulating recommendations on required actions to modify this problematic situation, insight is needed about (i) whether irrigated agriculture is profitable under a market economy; (ii) to what extent the irrigation costs can be recovered from the farmers; and (iii) where irrigation costs can be reduced. Therefore, an economic performance assessment of irrigated agriculture is performed for the North Crimea Canal (NCC) irrigation system in Crimea, Ukraine on the basis of a number of indicators. A spatial analysis is required, because in the remote parts of NCC water has to be lifted several times before it reaches the field and costs of water delivery consequently vary. Analysing irrigation performance in a spatial environment is an extension of existing work. The analysis shows that (i) irrigated agriculture is profitable under a market economy although costs vary considerably (due to water lifting and irrigation technology used); (ii) the irrigation costs can be recovered by farmers; and (iii) can be reduced substantially at distribution and farm level.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the financial sustainability of irrigated agriculture in Crimea (Ukraine) has been endangered due to transitional problems. The undefined state of ownership, absence of secure agricultural markets and lack of farmers' funds for operations and maintenance resulted in irrigation equipment breaking down. Consequently, irrigation water demand has fallen dramatically. This paper looks at whether irrigated agriculture is financially viable and profitable in a market economy. By comparing the price paid for water delivery services with the actual irrigation water expenditure, it becomes clear that there is currently only partial cost recovery. By comparing returns to irrigation water with the potential costs of water delivery, it is clear that irrigation could be profitable in the future even in the most distant areas. It is interesting to note that on-farm costs account for a substantial share of the total potential irrigation costs and the challenge is therefore to reduce and fund on-farm costs.

Public concern nowadays is an important frame of reference for the development of agricultural production systems. The development of such systems, therefore, involves both society level and production system level. Following Zadeh's 'principle of incompatibility', information obtained at production system level is interpreted at society level in linguistic terms. Fuzzy models promise to be a valuable tool as they link measurable information to linguistic interpretation using membership functions (MFs). The objective of this paper is to outline a procedure which deals with criticism regarding the inherent subjectivity in the construction of MFs when using expert knowledge. The procedure guarantees the selection of appropriate expert knowledge, and provides a guideline supporting the selection of methods to elicit expert knowledge and construct MFs. Also on the basis of the results in an illustrative example, it is concluded that the procedure outlined in this paper suitably deals with criticism regarding MFs and, therefore, enables a practical implementation of fuzzy evaluation of agricultural production systems. Current research implements the procedure to build a fuzzy model which evaluates egg production systems in relation to public concern about the welfare of laying hens. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

De groene leefomgeving is een rijke voedingsbodem waarop ook economische activiteiten kunnen gedijen. Dit besef lijkt steeds meer door te dringen, ook bij ondernemers uit de traditionele economische sectoren zoals de landbouw, handel en bouw. Door te investeren in natuur, genereren ondernemers niet alleen financiële baten voor zichzelf, maar leveren ze ook ‘natuurwinst’. In deze publicatie beschrijven we zes inspirerende voorbeelden van ondernemers die blijk geven van hun verantwoordelijkheid voor de Nederlandse natuur. Ze investeren in natuurbehoud en halen daar tegelijk economisch rendement uit. Wat zijn hun ervaringen met de combinatie natuur en ondernemen? Hoe passen ze natuur in hun bedrijfsvoering in? Uit al hun antwoorden blijkt steeds dat ondernemen om meer draait dan geld alleen. Het betreft: de hopteelt in Limburg, Kinderopvang in de natuur, natuur in de Rotterdamse haven (nieuw aangelegde duinen), varkens als natuurbeheerder (in Raalte wroeten enkele varkens op grondgebied van Natuurmonumenten), groene oase bij de stad.

The need to enhance sustainable development of land use is more urgent than ever; specifically in developing countries where poverty and land degradation are often interlinked. To promote a common understanding of land use problems by experts, stakeholders and decision makers, it is essential to understand the system characteristics, including the complex feedbacks between drivers and impacts. To enhance sustainable development, appropriate policies need to be identified. In this paper, we analysed and compared seven case studies in Kenya, Mali, Tunisia, China, India, Indonesia and Brazil, representing different biophysical and socio-economic conditions and challenges. We analysed Driver Pressure State Impact Response (DPSIR) story lines of the land use problems, policy priorities and value trade-offs as identified by stakeholders and experts in National Policy Forums. Important drivers of land use change impacting main land use problems among the case studies were economic growth, technological development, immigration and agricultural intensification, in addition to existing policies. Of the latter the most important were related to domestic support through various forms of subsidies or access to credit, land tenure polices and liberalization policies. In the policy prioritization, the value trade-offs made by the National Policy Forums emphasize the environment rather than increased economic production. It is recognized that the environment needs to be improved to maintain and improve economic production in the long term, both in agriculture and in other sectors.

Productie van zeewieren in Nederland is een potentieel interessante nieuwe vorm van aquacultuur.

Het Kabinet heeft in 2013 een groene groeistrategie geformuleerd. In opdracht van het ministerie van Economische Zaken (EZ) heeft het LEI een onderzoek uitgevoerd om de kansen en belemmeringen voor vergroening voor enkele voorbeelden uit te werken. De volgende drie casussen zijn uitgewerkt: energiebesparing en decentrale opwekking van hernieuwbare elektriciteit; verduurzaming van en hergebruik in de katoenketen; vergroening als voorwaarde voor groei in de zuivelsector.

Het Interdepartementale Beleidsonderzoek (IBO) Agrosector heeft behoefte aan inzicht in de werking van de fiscale faciliteiten voor de agrosector en in de effecten van mogelijke aanpassingen daarvan. Doelstelling van dit project is om de IBO-werkgroep Agrosector inzicht te bieden in de effecten van het draaien aan knoppen van de fiscale regelingen, met name het afschaffen ervan. Door dit inzicht is de werkgroep beter in staat om onderbouwde beleidsaanbevelingen te doen.

Maatschappelijke partijen moeten toegang krijgen tot besluitvorming over natuur en duurzaamheid. Voor de overheid ligt hier een opgave. Het vraagt om een overheid die niet wegtrekt, maar investeert in de capaciteit van mensen en hen toegang geeft tot netwerken, besluitvorming en uitvoering. Maar ook voor de maatschappelijke partijen liggen er grote opgaven. Burgers, bedrijven en intermediaire organisaties zullen vaker aangesproken worden op hun maatschappelijke verantwoordelijkheden. Dat zal niet alleen de betrokkenheid doen toenemen, maar ook bijvoorbeeld ‘greenwashing’ lastiger maken. Deze paper gaat in op een grote diversiteit aan initiatieven voor natuur in Nederland. Ook verduurzaming van internationale productie- en handelsstromen komt aan de orde.

Dit onderzoek bestudeert de sterke en zwakke punten van de toepassing van publiek-private partnerschappen om duurzaamheid en het concurrentievermogen van de Nederlandse landbouwsector te bevorderen. In de twee cases Duurzame (intensieve) veehouderij en Kas als Energiebron is het middel van PPS vooral ingezet om systeeminnovatie richting duurzame landbouw te stimuleren, terwijl in de andere twee cases (Uitgangsmaterialen en Food & Nutrition) PPS werd ingezet om het Nederlandse kennissysteem en innovatiekracht bij bedrijven te versterken

Toelichting op de oprichting van het lectoraat 'Geïntegreerd natuur- en landschapsbeheer' van hogeschool Van Hall Larenstein en beschrijving van twee casussen waarin wordt nagegaan of en hoe geïntegreerde landschapsontwikkeling werkt in de praktijk.

De term 'groen' in de titel van het BO-thema kan op verschillende manieren worden geïnterpreteerd, variërend van (bestaande en nieuwe) natuurgebieden, biodiversiteit, en omgevingskwaliteit tot aan houtproductiepotentie. Onderzoek naar de waarde van groen is dus subjectief, meervoudig en contextgebonden (gebonden aan plaats, tijd en taal), en daarmee ook divers en uiteenlopend. De focus van 'Waarde van Groen' op het directe nut van groen kan niet verhullen dat de waarde van groen moeilijk te meten is. Bedrijven en ondernemingen zijn gericht op activiteiten die kostendekkend, zo mogelijk winstgevend, zijn. Dit resulteert in een bedrijfsvoering die wel functioneel is voor de eigen organisatie maar niet per se voor de maatschappij als geheel. Kosten van het ondernemen worden dan afgewenteld op de samenleving. Vervuiling en aantasting van natuurgebieden is daarvan een voorbeeld. Jarenlang bestond in Nederland de illusie dat we voor altijd economische vooruitgang zouden kennen. Sinds het begin van de financiële crisis in 2008 ligt dat idee nu achter ons. Het natuurbeleid is daarvan afhankelijk.

Voor drie studiegebieden is nagegaan wat de betekenis van ecosysteemdiensten kan zijn bij de realisatie van beleidsdoelen voor die gebieden. De studiegebieden en beleidsopgaven zijn IJsselmeer met een besluit over het waterpeil, Schiermonnikoog met het openhouden van de jachthaven in een Natura 2000-gebied, en Rijk van Dommel en Aa met versterking van het groen-blauwe karakter van het gebied. De benadering uit de internationale studie The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) is in deze studie uitgewerkt tot een voor Nederland toepasbare methode: de TEEB aanpak. Aan de hand van deze aanpak worden voorkomende ecosysteemdiensten beschreven en gekwantificeerd, en worden van ruimtelijke ontwikkelingsvarianten hun effecten op maatschappelijke welvaart onderling vergeleken en gewaardeerd. De studie laat zien dat het integraal benaderen van gebiedsopgaven in ruimtelijke projecten en het daarbij meer benutten van synergie met natuur, kan leiden tot een hogere maatschappelijke welvaart. Ecosysteemdiensten spelen daar een belangrijke rol bij. De studie is bedoeld om bewustwording te vergroten van het nut van ecosysteemdiensten, waarbij de beschreven voorbeelden dienen ter inspiratie. Implementatie van de werkwijze in het beleid en toepassing in de praktijk moet worden afgestemd op de beleidsdoelen van het gebied waarbij nadere ruimtelijke detaillering en afstemming met lokale stakeholders is vereist.

This special issue is built around a series of impact assessments of land use policies and sustainable development in developing countries, carried out in the EU-funded project LUPIS (Sixth framework programme, Global Change and Ecosystems, Contract 36955). The project targeted at the development and testing of impact assessment tools of land-use-related policies in seven developing countries: Brazil, India, China, Indonesia, Kenya, Mali and Tunisia. This issue presents the current understanding of ex-ante assessment and includes contributions with comparative work across several countries, and case studies in individual countries, addressing important land-use related concerns.

Het uitgangspunt voor dit document is de doelgroep docenten, die deze materie wil introduceren aan met name derdejaars studenten van alle deelopleidingen (dierlijk, plantaardig, food en landschap). Het overkoepelende leerdoel is om de door studenten zelf ontwikkelde verwachtingen en denkkaders op te rekken en te verruimen. De opleidingen willen, gezien de complexiteit en dynamiek van het voedselsysteem, studenten uitdagen hun denkkaders te verbreden, kennis te nemen van alternatieve zienswijzen, zonder die meteen aan de kant te zetten of te veroordelen. Het doel is niet de spanningen tussen de verschillende denkkaders te onderschatten of weg te redeneren, maar veeleer die spanningen te zien als uitdaging, als bron van creativiteit.

Natuur in de uitverkoop?' biedt een kritische beschouwing over de verbondenheid van natuur en economie. Het boek maakt duidelijk dat deze verbondenheid niet vrijblijvend is, maar noodzakelijk, en zo ook de samenwerking tussen ecologen en economen. Hiernaast bevat het zes beschouwingen die een brede waaier aan onderwerpen presenteren. Ieder hoofdstuk is geschreven door een student samen met een gerenommeerde vakgenoot. Is Natura 2000 een zegen of een ramp voor de Europese lidstaten? Wat schort er aan het huidige stelsel van natuurcompensatie in ons land? Is er toekomst voor een duurzame landbouw, duurzaam voor de ondernemer maar ook duurzaam voor natuur en landschap? ‘Natuur in de uitverkoop’ is tot stand gekomen in nauwe samenwerking tussen Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, Wageningen Universiteit en Hogeschool Van Hall Larenstein.

In this paper, we develop a method for spatial decision support that combines economic efficiency â¿¿ measured by the concept op willingness to pay â¿¿ with a participatory planning tool, that allows for an active collaboration among the actors involved, in such a way that decision makers can draw on the outcomes in their spatial planning and design process. The method is called RITAM, a Dutch acronym for spatially explicit, participatory and interdisciplinary trade-off method, and combines features of three different approaches to achieve an â¿¿optimalâ¿¿ landscape. These three approaches are (i) choice experiment approach; (ii) consumer versus citizen approach; and (iii) participatory approach. As such, RITAM can be seen as a valuation technique that makes explicit use of a participatory approach, in which people managing the landscape â¿¿ in particular the representatives of the different stakeholder groups that use the landscape for different purposes â¿¿ are engaged. We applied this new method to a case study in the Frisian Lake District (the Netherlands). The result give an indication of the spatial preferences of the population living in and around the area. Although future works is required, RITAM appears to be a suitable method for landscape planning and design processes, taken into account the preferences of the different organised interest groups in an area

Voor u ligt een verzameling van ervaringen, kennis en ideeën over een nieuwe rol van de overheid bij het verduurzamen van de economie. Dat het verduurzamen van de economie noodzakelijk is, wordt breed gedeeld, maar hoe deze verduurzaming te realiseren is gaat niet zonder slag of stoot. In de verschillende bijdragen wordt de overheid gevraagd meer verantwoordelijkheid te nemen, meer visie te ontwikkelen, meer te stimuleren, meer samen te werken en meer te experimenteren. Hoe kunnen we alles meer doen als de overheid tegelijkertijd moet krimpen? De zoektocht naar een nieuwe rol als ‘energieke overheid’ is volop gaande is. In de zoektocht is behoefte aan enerzijds verdieping en anderzijds aan praktijkvoorbeelden. Met deze bundel wordt een bijdrage aan dit zoekproces geleverd op beide aspecten. In acht bijdragen geven tien deskundigen uit de wetenschap, het bedrijfsleven en de rijksoverheid hun visie op netwerkend werken en de nieuwe rol van de overheid bij de transitie naar een groene en veerkrachtige economie.

Interdependencies in the field of food, agriculture, and raw materials are growing. Global population growth, rising prosperity, and changing consumption patterns in emerging economies have increased the demand for all three. Geopolitical trends shape global markets for food, agriculture, and raw materials and carry consequences for the Dutch agro-food sector. Critical sectors of the Dutch agricultural complex are dependent on imported raw materials from the rest of the world and are therefore vulnerable to supply disruptions resulting from geopolitical developments. This report explores how the Dutch government could strengthen the resilience of the Dutch agro-food system and mitigate risks to the supply of critical raw material imports.

Dierenwelzijn en voedselverspilling staan op maatschappelijke en politieke agenda's, veel consumenten proberen bewuster te eten en duurzaamheid is een kernwoord in menige bedrijfsfilosofie. Toch vordert de verduurzaming van het voedselsysteem traag. Een bredere kijk op opties en oplossingen kan de verduurzaming versnellen en daarmee de ecologische voetafdruk van onze voedselproductie verkleinen.

The current need for assessing sustainable processes and states is a driving assumption for this article, having as objective to present preliminary results of a new assessment approach, the Compass of Sustainability (CompasSus), applied to administrative regions of Brazil. Its methodological approach is based on a combination of existing assessment methodologies, such as the Human Development Index and the Ecological Footprint. CompasSus is elaborated under the perspective of rather complementary operational concepts of sustainable development, namely weak and strong sustainability, which are often seen as competing ones. In spite of the advances on the perspective of sustainable development perceived in international agreements for conservation of nature, as well as in the implementation of national policies aiming at sustainability, there still exists an operational ambiguity of the concept of sustainability. Thus, its fuzzy theoretical consolidation for clear definition of objectives and lines of action still leads to different assumptions for diverse stakeholders and authors. Looking at the Brazilian case, conservation strategies are needed to protect the world's largest tropical rainforest against a predatory business – as-usual frontier expansion. As for addressing trade-offs between environmental conservation and regional development demands the CompasSus introduces a combined hemispheric assessment of sustainability. In 2006, the state in which the sustainability index had the best performance was DF (Distrito Federal). This, the seat of the capital city, presents an economy based on the public and the service sectors, both very little carbon and energy intensive. Furthermore, the high income per capita, and good social indicators associated with the small relevance of the agrarian sector grants it the best sustainability index, which is determined by performances in two components representing strong and weak sustainability. In the other extreme is São Paulo (SP) where a high population density and major impacts on waterways have implied a worse performance in weak sustainability index, whereas the high consumption of energy together with high carbon emissions have also determined a low performance in strong sustainability index.

Because ecosystems are threatened by human activities, it is important to better consider longterm ecosystem health and its role in enabling human habitation and economic activity. To help inform decision-makers, many ecosystem services are being assigned economic values, often based on the cost of replacing such services with anthropogenic alternatives.

International audience; Within the context of the FP7 JOLISAA project (JOint Learning in and about Innovation Systems in African Agriculture), an inventory of agricultural innovation experiences was developed in three African countries: Kenya, South Africa and Benin. The main objective was to assess a broad diversity of multi-stakeholder agricultural innovation processes involving smallholders. National teams used literature searches and interactions with a range of institutions and networks engaged in agricultural innovation to identify cases. Interviews with resource persons and field visits were also conducted to supplement the available / accessible documentation. The inventory was made according to a common analytical framework and guidelines inspired by the Innovation System perspective to allow for an analysis across cases and countries. The completed inventory includes 57 documented cases, covering a wide diversity of experiences, in terms of types, domains, scales and timelines of innovation. The 57 cases confirm previously documented features, such as the diversity of stakeholders involved in innovation, the diversity of innovation triggers, or also the frequent occurence of market driven innovation. It also illustrates more original features: the typically long time frames of innovation processes; the common occurrence of "innovation bundles" (a combination over time of technological, social and/or institutional innovations); and an often close relationship between innovation and externally-funded projects. National teams faced several challenges during the inventory process, including a common understanding and consistent use of key innovation-related concepts, and a difficult access to relevant information related partly to restrictions put by several case holders on sharing openly their experience. Out of the inventory, JOLISAA has selected thirteen cases which will undergo a subsequent phase of collaborative assessment. The assessment will strive to assess issues the inventory could not tackle, such as the actual roles and contributions of the various stakeholders, the dynamics of the innovation process, and the influence of the enabling environment on the innovation process and outcome.

Het Instrumentarium Kosten Natuurbeleid (IKN) is een tool, bestaande uit een kostendatabase en een rekenmodel, voor de berekening van de te maken kosten voor verschillende varianten (of ‘kijkrichtingen’) van de Ecologische Hoofdstructuur (EHS) die ontwikkeld zijn voor de Natuurverkenningen. Het instrumentarium is opgezet om verschillende toekomstige situaties te kunnen vergelijken. Dit werkdocument zorgt er voor dat de kwaliteit van de berekeningen met IKN geborgd is conform ‘Status A’. Het bevat daarom een theoretische onderbouwing, een technische beschijving van het model en de kostendatabase, en een beschrijving van de werking ervan en de gebruikte gegevens.