Suchergebnisse

"This paper explores the role of social capital and governance in rural development within Slovensky Raj National Park. Based on the theory of Common Pool Resources and Network Governance, the case study explores the external and internal influences on cooperation. Current decision making in the Park is still affected by post socialist relations. In particular inefficient institutional design and non-robust governance of the resources have resulted in over-exploitation of natural resources and treating common property as open-access. On one hand, evidence emerged on domination of interpersonal trust and failure of institutional design. These were found as barriers for the National Park to be viewed by various actors as an asset. On the other hand, municipal and tourism networks show that cooperation is gradually moving from being externally to internally driven, while displaying characteristics of bottom-up development. A hierarchical governance structure is thus slowly opening up, shifting towards networks." (author's abstract)

"The amount of water used for irrigation has sharply declined during transition in Bulgaria. Large sections of existing irrigation systems were abandoned, and the ones still in use are barely maintained. Crops such as wheat and barley have replaced more water-intensive crops, including vegetables, rice and maize. This problem has an impact on the future development of agriculture and the allocation of the country's water resources. The central argument is that land fragmentation in the wake of decollectivization and restitution contributes to the irrigation systems' abandonment. This paper concentrates on the institutional factors, but also considers additional factors, that may have influenced the process; further, it examines the causes driving these changes and analyses their effect on irrigation. It is based upon a review of relevant legislation, as well as field work in 17 villages located in the Plovdiv region of Bulgaria. The paper concludes that, in addition to changes in large-scale market forces and weakening of the state enforcement mechanism, institutional settings have contributed to the decline of irrigation in Bulgaria." (author's abstract)

"The transition process in central and eastern Europe (CEE) had a profound effect on how individuals interact. Economic and social institutions have changed, requiring an adaptation process by individuals in the move toward a market economy. How each individual accesses, manipulates and uses their networks will determine the use of their social capital. Within CEE, there is a presumption of low levels of social capital. This paper was written as a conceptual framework for a research project entitled 'Integrated Development of Agricultural and Rural Institutions' (IDARI) in CEE countries. One element of the IDARI project is to understand the emergence and maintenance of cooperative behaviour in light of rural restructuring and institutional change in CEE. A link exists between social capital formation and cooperation amongst individuals, as both concepts imply social interaction and the formation of trust. This paper questions the rationale of applying the contested 'western' concept of social capital to CEE countries. It argues that although the concept was developed to understand processes within established democratic systems, it nevertheless is instrumental for analysing how trust is formed, and for understanding cooperation amongst individuals. As such, this framework reconciles literature from sociological and economic disciplines. Social networks and use of those networks (social capital) is becoming more important in light of accession to the EU, particularly when opportunities within and access to rural and regional development programmes are dependent on existing networks. Social capital is seen as a dynamic entity, a form of institutional change, which leads to innovation in the existing governance structures. Thus social capital provides a powerful explanatory tool for processes of institutional change." (author's abstract)

"In this paper, the author discusses two different beliefs of how institutional change towards sustainability in agriculture and environment works: the institutional view and the evolutionary view. Both perspectives are studied in the context of restructuring the agricultural sectors and rural environments in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs). The specific nature of the 'agri-environmental problem' calls for specific institutions and may require a specific building process. Case study results are presented showing the effect of EU accession on institutional change towards sustainability in several CEECs. The results provide evidence that the quality of institutional change required for sustainability goes beyond the building of legislative frameworks and requires more time than was envisaged by the roadmap to accession. Finally, the paper explores the role of social and human capital stocks in rural areas of CEECs outlining a number of differences in environmental governance in the agricultural sectors between various CEECs." (author's abstract)

Lit.

Der Verfasser formuliert auf der Grundlage früherer Forschungsphasen des CEESA-Projekts Empfehlungen für eine nachhaltige Agrarpolitik. Zunächst werden Ergebnisse einer Fallstudie zu Rumänien vorgelegt, die sich mit dem Umweltbewusstsein von Landwirten beschäftigt. Dann werden im Rahmen der EU eingesetzte umweltpolitische Instrumente diskutiert, die die von der Landwirtschaft ausgehende Umweltbelastung minimieren sollen und von den Beitrittsstaaten aller Voraussicht nach eingesetzt werden können. Der Verfasser gibt einen kurzen Überblick über die rechtlichen und institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen der Umweltpolitik in Rumänien, wobei der Bereich des Gewässerschutzes im Mittelpunkt steht. Abschließend werden Elemente einer nachhaltigen Agrarpolitik skizziert, die der Fallstudie zu Folge in Rumänien Anwendung finden können. (ICEÜbers)

"The protected landscape area of the White Carpathians in Czech Republic is confronted with several threats. The protection of the landscape involves instituted policies and restrictions on production. Due to the approaching EU accession and the possible subsequent institutional changes, there is an increased demand for knowledge on production opportunities and threats. In addition there are immediate concerns on the relation between agricultural production and the environment. One major concern is the abandonment of agricultural land. In this article the combination of production elements and protection is described. Factor analyses are used to identify groups of farms with similarities in production structure and organisation. The results of the factor analysis are compared to typology achieved by interviews. Some important elements with policy and research implications are derived." (author's abstract)

Die weiterhin rasanten Entwicklungen in der Umweltpolitik und zunehmende Relevanz des Klimawandels in Politik und Praxis führten zu umfangreichen Anpassungen in diesem beliebten Lehrbuch. Für diese Neuauflage wurden vor allem die Kapitel über die Umweltinstrumente (Auflagen, Steuern, Zertifikate) sowie die internationalen Umweltaspekte und Ressourcenökonomie grundlegend aktualisiert. Darüber hinaus wurden auch die theoretischen Kapitel einer umfassenden strukturellen und inhaltlichen Überarbeitung unterzogen.

"The paper uses function analysis to complement the analytical framework Institutions of Sustainability and to apply it for the analysis of the role of institutions for the multifunctionality of landscapes. This combination of conceptual tools is evaluated through their application to the case of landscape development in a sub-region of the Algarve, Portugal. In view of this case study it is suggested to complement the Institutions of Sustainability framework: case and transaction specific contextual factors should be included. The paper suggests to look at cross-jurisdictional agency features, cross-function, -transaction and -institutional commonalities, and interconnections as well as to include a dynamic dimension of institutional and physical time lags governing human-ecosystem relations." (author's abstract)

"This paper seeks to contribute to the development of institutional options for the management of public goods in Central and Eastern Europe. It assesses the potential of different governance structures, including administrative hierarchies, market approaches, and efforts at local non-market co-ordination. The paper examines the management of public goods in Central and Eastern Europe through a study of open space management and urban sprawl in a semi-urban county near Warsaw, Poland. The protection of open space poses significant challenges to semi-urban land management, as its benefits cannot be captured by individual entities and accrue as much to urban residents as to local people. The concrete institutional options investigated comprehend the use of land registers for monitoring land conversion, establishment of land trusts in part financed by a development gains tax, and technical and organisational support for local environmental organisations. The evaluation of options builds on an analysis of causes underlying rapid land conversion in the past decade. The causal analysis demonstrates that privatisation and decentralisation have evoked the radical changes in land use. The demand for housing land motivated farmers to sell semi-urban land, as the state could not enforce its legal oversight over land use. Land conversion was driven by local alliances of farmers eager to "cash in" on their newly acquired rights of alienation, a broader rural society primarily interested in economic development, and local authorities lured by increasing tax revenues." [author's abstract]

Im Verlauf der post-sozialistischen Übergangsphase verschlechterten sich die Bewässerungseinrichtungen Bulgariens erheblich und konnten nicht mehr die Ansprüche der neuen Landbesitzer und der landwirtschaftlichen Produktionsstruktur befriedigen. Deshalb erlässt die bulgarische Regierung zwei neue Gesetze mit dem Ziel, gemeinsame Handlungen zu fördern, Wassernutzervereinigungen zu etablieren und ein nachhaltiges Wassermanagement zu erreichen. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersucht der Autor das häufig vorgebrachte Argument, dass Wassernutzervereinigungen in Bulgarien auf einfache Weise eingeführt werden können, weil sie mit den Wassersyndikaten verwurzelt sind. Empirische Ergebnisse von Untersuchungen einzelner Dörfer zeigen, dass die kollektive Erinnerung an Nutzungsregeln und Verhaltensmustern früherer Wassersyndikate begrenzt ist. Der Autor erklärt den Bruch mit dieser Tradition mit der Migration von den Dörfern in die Städte, der Unterdrückung des prä-kommunistischen so genannten kapitalistischen Verhaltens und der Dauer der kommunistischen Herrschaftsperiode. Zudem zeigt die Analyse der historischen kooperativen Entwicklung in Bulgarien, dass die Wassersyndikate administrativ von oben durchgesetzt wurden und nichts mit klassischen kooperativen Prinzipien gemein hatten. (ICGÜbers)