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Local conservation efforts are often related to benefits at higher governmental levels. On the one hand, these efforts are strongly connected to local land-use decisions. On the other hand, activities such as sustainable water management or biodiversity conservation are associated with regional, national or even global public goods. Therefore spatial externalities or spillovers exist that if not adequately compensated lead to an underprovision of the public goods and services concerned. This article investigates intergovernmental fiscal transfers as an innovative instrument to compensate local jurisdictions for the ecological goods and services they provide across local boundaries. From a public finance perspective, fiscal transfers are a suitable instrument to internalise spatial externalities. However, most federal states pre-dominantly use this feature for social and economic public functions rather than ecological public functions. This article investigates the case of the ICMS-E that has first been intro-duced by a few states in Brazil during the 1990s. Part of the revenue of this value-added tax is redistributed to the local level based on ecological indicators. In this way, the state level uses fiscal transfers to compensate municipalities for the existence of protected areas and other ecological services provided within their territory. The Brazilian experience illustrates that such fiscal transfers can represent both a compensation for land-use restrictions to be born and an incentive to appreciate and engage in more conservation activities at the local level.

Regions often consist of both urban, densely populated areas and rural, more remote areas. In contrast to the acknowledged socio-economic functions of urban agglomerations, rural and remote areas usually provide ecological services for society as a whole. A number of these ecological services cause costs within the jurisdiction concerned but externally benefit others. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse the role fiscal federalism and fiscal instruments can play in addressing the imbalance of socio-economic and ecological public functions assigned to urban and rural areas in regional development. For this purpose, an investigation of the different role of socio-economic and ecological functions in intergovernmental fiscal relations is carried out by way of example for the Federal Republic of Germany. Due to the significance of ecological functions for regional sustainable development, intergovernmental fiscal relations between the state and the local level of government should take into consideration appropriate ecological indicators. Based on a status quo analysis of the German state fiscal equalisation laws, the paper presents options for systematically integrating ecological functions and indicators into the existing legal framework. Environmental federalism would then be realised regarding both the ecological functions and the financial resources to secure the provision of ecological services. This would fulfil a basic prerequisite of sustainable development taking into account ecological, economic and social aspects for fiscal instruments of prime importance to the local and regional level of government, thereby helping to make regional sustainability a reality.

Nachhaltige Regionalentwicklung ist ein Prozeß, der in Richtung einer zunehmend umwelt- und sozialverträglichen wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung der Region zielt. Die Lasten der Vergangenheit und die ungünstigen Ausgangsbedingungen im Südraum Leipzig, einer ökologisch hochbelasteten ländlichen Bergbau- und Industrieregion, verlangen eine Prüfung, ob das Leitbild einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung für diese Region überhaupt tragfähig und anwendbar ist. Es gilt, ein komplexes Problemspektrum zu analysieren, um Grenzen und Möglichkeiten von Transformationsprozessen in Richtung nachhaltiger Entwicklungen aufzuzeigen. Dies geschieht nicht zuletzt aufgrund der Bedeutung des Südraumes Leipzig in seiner Umlandfunktion für die umwelt- und sozialverträgliche Entwicklung der Stadtregion Leipzig. Ein einführender Beitrag vereint ökologische, ökonomische und soziale Aspekte nachhaltiger Regionalentwicklung in integrierter Sicht. Die folgenden Beiträge repräsentieren wesentliche Ergebnisse aus der hydrogeologischen, naturschutzfachlichen, landschaftsökologischen, umweltmedizinischen sowie wirtschafts- und sozialwissenschaftlichen Forschung am UFZ-Umweltforschungszentrum Leipzig-Halle GmbH. Aus dem Inhalt Teil 1 - Landschaft: Naturzerstörung und neue Chancen Teil 2 - Mensch: Wohnen, Arbeiten und Gesundheit Teil 3 - Wirtschaft: Landwirtschaft, Umweltmarkt und Informationsgesellschaft

This habilitation thesis consists of seven published journal articles and one published book chapter. Part I, consisting of chapter 1, introduces the overarching theme of environmental policy instruments and discusses the current use of and prospects for economic instruments in conservation policies. A number of research gaps are identified which are addressed in the subsequent chapters. Part II, consisting of chapters 2–5, encompasses four papers focused on a single type of policy instrument: intergovernmental fiscal transfers. Although well documented in public finance literature, intergovernmental fiscal transfers remain a somewhat neglected instrument in environmental policy. Despite being well suited to address the spillover benefits that often accrue with conservation policies, there is scant research literature on ecological fiscal transfers compared to other economic instruments such as environmental taxes or tradable permits. In fact, very few countries make practical use of them to achieve conservation objectives. Thus intergovernmental fiscal transfers are an innovative instrument in conservation policies in particular, so that advances in both theory and applied research may prove especially beneficial here. Part III, consisting of chapters 6–9, combines a number of articles in integrative biodiversity research and applied biodiversity governance, themes that are often neglected in the economic analysis of environmental policy instruments. However, when implementing policy instruments in societal settings, interdisciplinary research bridging the natural and social sciences is as much a prerequisite as policy-relevant research that responds to the needs of decision makers and other stakeholders. Both policy design and policy evaluation yield the best outcomes when they involve ecologists, economists, legal and other social scientists, as this ensures that consideration is given to ecological effectiveness, economic efficiency, administrative feasibility, social acceptance, and perception by stakeholders. Policy-relevant research also responds to current societal developments and prospective changes in legislation which may provide windows of opportunity to propose new instruments. Meanwhile, sound empirical research and case study design are indispensable in making concrete policy recommendations, taking into account existing formal and informal institutions.

Local conservation efforts are often related to benefits at higher governmental levels. On the one hand, these efforts are strongly connected to local land-use decisions. On the other hand, activities such as sustainable water management or biodiversity conservation are associated with regional, national or even global public goods. Therefore spatial externalities or spillovers exist that if not adequately compensated lead to an underprovision of the public goods and services concerned. This article investigates intergovernmental fiscal transfers as an innovative instrument to compensate local jurisdictions for the ecological goods and services they provide across local boundaries. From a public finance perspective, fiscal transfers are a suitable instrument to internalise spatial externalities. However, most federal states pre-dominantly use this feature for social and economic public functions rather than ecological public functions. This article investigates the case of the ICMS-E that has first been intro-duced by a few states in Brazil during the 1990s. Part of the revenue of this value-added tax is redistributed to the local level based on ecological indicators. In this way, the state level uses fiscal transfers to compensate municipalities for the existence of protected areas and other ecological services provided within their territory. The Brazilian experience illustrates that such fiscal transfers can represent both a compensation for land-use restrictions to be born and an incentive to appreciate and engage in more conservation activities at the local level.

Regions often consist of both urban, densely populated areas and rural, more remote areas. In contrast to the acknowledged socio-economic functions of urban agglomerations, rural and remote areas usually provide ecological services for society as a whole. A number of these ecological services cause costs within the jurisdiction concerned but externally benefit others. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse the role fiscal federalism and fiscal instruments can play in addressing the imbalance of socio-economic and ecological public functions assigned to urban and rural areas in regional development. For this purpose, an investigation of the different role of socio-economic and ecological functions in intergovernmental fiscal relations is carried out by way of example for the Federal Republic of Germany. Due to the significance of ecological functions for regional sustainable development, intergovernmental fiscal relations between the state and the local level of government should take into consideration appropriate ecological indicators. Based on a status quo analysis of the German state fiscal equalisation laws, the paper presents options for systematically integrating ecological functions and indicators into the existing legal framework. Environmental federalism would then be realised regarding both the ecological functions and the financial resources to secure the provision of ecological services. This would fulfil a basic prerequisite of sustainable development taking into account ecological, economic and social aspects for fiscal instruments of prime importance to the local and regional level of government, thereby helping to make regional sustainability a reality.