Suchergebnisse

The impacts of potential reintroduction of beavers to Scotland are currently being scrutinised in an independent trial at Knapdale in Argyll, for which the evaluation is being coordinated by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) on behalf of the Scottish Government. However, a further population of beavers exists in the Tay catchment. The Minister for Environment decided that these animals should be allowed to remain in place until the end of the official trial beaver reintroduction at Knapdale in 2015, at which time the Minister will take decisions on the future of all beavers in Scotland. This study was commissioned to improve evidence on the socio-economic impacts of the Tay population. It reports survey evidence of current positive and negative impacts, and provides some key pointers to possible future impacts. Surveys took place from January to March 2014, and consisted of a paper questionnaire / online survey to land managers, an online survey to tourism businesses, and a survey by telephone and online of key stakeholder organisations. Main findings  Of the 111 land manager responses received, 46% said they had no beavers on their land, 17% said they had seen them, with the rest seeing signs or unsure. A minority (12%) had incurred quantifiable costs per annum. These ranged from £300 to £10,000 (mean £2,653, median £1,000), with the higher costs incurred for damaged flood defences and large trees being felled, in the lower (arable) part of the catchment.  Less impact is evident so far in the upper catchment. Land managers perceived limited benefits from current or future beaver presence, but seemed willing to tolerate them pending appropriate control and potential compensation.  The survey of businesses focused on tourism providers. These indicated a significant level of awareness of the beaver presence and a largely positive attitude. Few businesses were categorical in terms of employment potential that might be attached to the beavers, but 26% of providers that indicated positive impacts cited increased turnover amounts (sum of £5,080; mean of £1,016), with some noting the potential for future exploitation.  Key stakeholder organisations were contacted for their views on costs and benefits of beaver presence. Organisations representing land managers expressed concern about the legality of the beaver presence in the Tay catchment, as well as noting current costs incurred by some land managers and concern about the magnitude of future impacts.  Conservation organisations emphasised the possible benefits, although realising that management options need to be developed. Tourism bodies also thought that beaver presence would benefit local businesses through increased tourism draw. Some organisations noted that clarification of the legal position of beavers is needed, and the need for impact monitoring systems.  There seems to be a modest appreciation of tangible or market benefit that is offsetting some appreciable location-specific costs, the latter being mostly endured by land managers. The modest benefits are not surprising given the lack of strategic exploitation of beaver presence, and indeed possible benefits may not be apparent for many reasons. In one case, the benefits from outreach activities (mainly education) can be valued conservatively at around £16,000. In addition to the above market value, we considered non-use value (NUV) associated with the existence of a reintroduced charismatic mammal. This can potentially generate very high NUV estimates; however issues in applying the available data and the implicit assumptions mean that the results should be treated with care.  Catchment-wide scaling of costs of future impacts is challenging due to the many assumptions in such an exercise. The current annual costs are estimated to be between £34,490 (the costs reported in the survey) and £179,900, which assumes catchment wide impacts equivalent to the survey sample, although with different impacts in the upper and lower catchment areas. Possible future impacts are estimated by scaling up the available data, with the results emphasising the lower-upper catchment divide, and the wide range of possible scenarios. It seems likely that future costs will be closer to the low estimates than the high estimates. In summary, there is the potential for impacts and costs primarily in the lower catchment. The relatively small market benefits currently being realised have the potential to increase, and the non-use value may be considerable. Taking these estimates in aggregate, the benefits of beaver tolerance are likely to outweigh the costs incurred, which can themselves be lowered by appropriate management and mitigation measures.

International audience ; Agricultural reform across the European Union has focussed debate on how multifunctional agriculture accommodates wider rural social objectives. We derive a range of policy attributes and undertake two surveys using multicriteria analysis and economic valuation to explore public preferences for rural policy. The results suggest a willingness to pay for both environmental and social benefits, notably locally grown food, water quality, wildlife habitats and maintaining rural communities. The public has assigned greatest weight to the policy option, locally grown food, that can be most closely linked to them in a direct-use sense and that is also routinely transacted for. Preferences were invariant across three regions and between rural and urban populations. The multicriteria survey yielded a different preference ordering and we suggest that this arises from the differing elicitation methods and is a potential drawback of the multicriteria approach employed.

A paper produced in the frame of the H2020 project 677353 'Innovative Management of Animal GEnetic resources'. A mathematical model has been developed to optimize breed conservation choices in European Gene banks, for a given number of breeds under conservation. It takes into account collection and conservation costs across countries, on the basis of the data provided by 11 European gene banks. It shows that 20% of the total cost could be saved, or, alternatively, that more breeds could be conserved for the current total cost, if distributed differently across countries. ; This study also benefited from funding of the Scottish Government Strategic Research Programme 2016-2021, WP 2.3.

Agricultural reform across the European Union has focussed debate on how multifunctional agriculture accommodates wider rural social objectives. We derive a range of policy attributes and undertake two surveys using multicriteria analysis and economic valuation to explore public preferences for rural policy. The results suggest a willingness to pay for both environmental and social benefits, notably locally grown food, water quality, wildlife habitats and maintaining rural communities. The public has assigned greatest weight to the policy option, locally grown food, that can be most closely linked to them in a direct-use sense and that is also routinely transacted for. Preferences were invariant across three regions and between rural and urban populations. The multicriteria survey yielded a different preference ordering and we suggest that this arises from the differing elicitation methods and is a potential drawback of the multicriteria approach employed.

"The economic costs and benefits of farm animal production and sustainability versus improving climate change and animal welfare presents one of the most complex dilemmas in agriculture today. This book, by top global authors and experts, outlines the problem whilst making policy-relevant recommendations"--

Climate change is likely to have significant impacts on the agricultural sector to which farmers will have to adapt. While agriculture is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, it is also a source of carbon storage in soils. This report examines the economic and policy issues related to the impacts of climate change on agriculture and adaptation responses and to the mitigation of greenhouse gases from agriculture. It outlines research undertaken and underway in other national and international research agencies. It also highlights some of the knowledge gaps on the impacts of climate change on food production and the uncertainties of those impacts in a global context that warrant further research efforts. In particular, the report analyses marginal abatement cost curves, which show the relative costs of achieving reductions in greenhouse gas emission through the implementation of different actions in the agricultural sector. The aim of the report is to help guide policy makers in the design of policies to address climate change issues in agriculture.

AbstractThis paper uses a variety of data sources and methodologies to construct business as usual (BAU) water‐use scenarios for the Water Framework Directive (WFD) characterisation report, a key preliminary benchmarking requirement for member states. The paper addresses the most significant water‐use sectors in Scotland over the period 2001–2015. In terms of volumetric use, our figures are dominated by the demands of electricity generation. The next highest demands come from fish farming/aquaculture, which is mostly direct abstraction. Various industrial uses are estimated to be associated with significant volumetric uses (specifically electrical and engineering, fibres and food and drink). Because of structural changes in farm support, agriculture is the only sector showing a decline. Household demand is also a highly significant use and we are able to specify the public/private breakdown of demand.

Context
Comprehensive evaluation of biodiversity conservation programs is essential for informing their development as well as the design of future programs. Such evaluations should not be limited to whether targets have been met, but should also assess the cost and efficiency of meeting targets, and any factors contributing to success or failure.

Aims
We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of individual-species conservation programs, and the biological and operational factors affecting these. We used the species action plans (SAPs) within the UK Biodiversity Action Plan as our case study.

Methods
We used cost–effectiveness analysis, cost–utility analysis and threat-reduction assessment to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of individual SAPs. Then we used statistical models to investigate the relative importance of biological and operational factors affecting cost, effectiveness and efficiency.

Key results
Conservation plan success was affected by both biological and operational factors. Invertebrate plans tended to be less effective, whereas vertebrate plans were less efficient. Plans for widely distributed species with longer generation times tended to be less efficient. Of the three different evaluation approaches, cost-effectiveness analysis offered the best combination of ease of data collection and accuracy of data content.

Conclusions
The most successful SAPs concerned species with short generation times and narrow distributions. Operationally, the most successful SAPs were concise and focussed and showed clear lines of responsibility for implementation.

Implications
Techniques such as cost–effectiveness analysis, cost-utility analysis and threat reduction assessment should be used to inform decisions on maximising the rate of return on conservation investments, although broader ecological implications and socio-cultural benefits should also be considered. The success of conservation plans is influenced by both biological and operational factors. Because biological factors cannot be controlled or altered, where species exhibit characteristics that are likely to make their conservation less effective or efficient, it is critical that operational factors are optimised. High-quality data are necessary to underpin prioritisation decisions, and monitoring to deliver reliable data on both the benefits and costs of conservation should form a core component of conservation programs.