A systematic approach for assessing spatially and temporally differentiated opportunity costs of biodiversity conservation measures in grasslands

Arbeitspapier | Working paper

Biodiversity loss in Europe is caused to a large extent by agricultural intensification. To halt this loss and to support species and habitat types in agricultural areas, agri-environment schemes have been introduced in Europe to compensate farmers for (costly) conservation measures. Currently, agri-environment schemes for grassland in general consider only a few conservation measures with fixed dates and a payment for average opportunity costs, e.g. for later mowing. A systematic approach that calculates farmers` opportunity costs in relation to the timing of grassland use is still lacking. We fill this gap by developing a systematic agri-economic cost assessment approach. Our approach is general enough to be applicable on a large spatial scale but can still sensitively differentiate among different timings. Moreover it is straightforward and time-saving enough to be suitable for implementation in regional scale optimisation procedures. We demonstrate this by applying the systematic cost assessment in the decision support software DSS-Ecopay using the example of grassland species and habitats conservation in the German federal state of Saxony.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch
• Extent: Seite(n): 28
• ISSN: 1436-140X
• Notes: Status: Veröffentlichungsversion

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: UFZ Discussion Papers (15/2013)

Classification and Topics

• Subject: Wirtschaft ; Ökologie ; Ökologie und Umwelt ; Wirtschaftssektoren ; Biodiversität ; Naturschutz ; Landwirtschaft ; Landnutzung ; Agrarpolitik ; Umweltpolitik ; Maßnahme ; Kosten ; Erfolgskontrolle ; Sachsen ; Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Contributors, Location and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Mewes, Melanie ; Drechsler, Martin ; Johst, Karin ; Sturm, Astrid ; Wätzold, Frank
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ
• (where): Deutschland, Leipzig
• (when): 2013

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-361677
• Rights: GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften. Bibliothek Köln
• Last update: 21.06.2024, 4:26 PM CEST