Les rizières constituent des habitats favorables pour les oiseaux d’eau, en particulier en tant que halte migratoire, zone de reproduction ou site d’alimentation hivernal. Dans ce dernier cas, la disponibilité des ressources alimentaires (grains de riz non ramassés, graines d’adventices ou invertébrés) semble être fortement influencée par les pratiques culturales post-récolte. Ce projet vise à tester des pratiques post-récolte alternatives au brûlage-labour traditionnellement mis en place en Camargue afin de mesurer les conséquences en termes de disponibilité de nourriture et de fréquentation des parcelles par les canards hivernants. Différents traitements post-récolte (inondation, brûlage, labour, disquage et leurs combinaisons) ont été testés. Nous avons réalisé un suivi de la quantité de graines (riz, adventices) disponibles au cours du temps, depuis la récolte en Septembre-Octobre jusqu'en Mars ainsi qu’un suivi de l'usage des parcelles par les canards pendant la journée et pendant la nuit. En parallèle, nous avons étudié les bénéfices agronomiques potentiels de certaines pratiques en interculure et nous avons cherché à identifier une solution mutuellement bénéfique, répondant aux besoins d’habitat d'hivernage des canards et à ceux des riziculteurs, le tout à moindre coût. / Rice fields provide foraging habitat to waterfowl during migration, breeding and wintering seasons. In the latter case, food availability (waste rice, weed seeds or invertebrates) seems to be strongly influenced by post-harvest agricultural practices. This project aims at testing alternative post-harvest practices to the traditional burning-mowing in the Camargue in order to assess their consequences in terms of food availability and field use by wintering ducks. Different post-harvest treatments (flooding, burning, mowing, disking and their combinations) were conducted. The amount of seeds (rice + weeds) available through time was assessed, from harvest in Sept-Oct until March, and duck use of these fields during the day and during the night was simultaneously monitored. In parallel, we studied potential agronomic benefit of specific post harvest practices and we searched a mutually beneficial solution that provides needed wintering ducks habitat and is acceptable to rice farmers with limited costs.

<p>With accelerating urbanization it is crucial to understand how urban ecosystems play a part in generating ecosystem services for urban dwellers, such as clean water, spaces for recreation, stress relief and improved air quality. An equally important question relate to who gets to enjoy these benefits, i.e. the distribution of ecosystem services, and how issues of power and equity influence the management of ecosystems. Through case studies from the urban landscape of Stockholm, this doctoral thesis engages with these perspectives through combining ecological theory with social theory, including social network analysis, actor-network theory and social movement theory. Strategies for how to improve urban ecosystem management are presented along with frameworks for how to analyze issues of power and equity in relation to natural resource management.</p><p><b>Paper I </b>shows that ecosystem management can be studied through analyzing the structure of social networks, i.e. the patterns of relations between agencies, stake-holders and user groups. <b>Paper II</b> and <b>Paper III</b> analyze, based on a network survey of 62 civil society organizations and in-depth interviews, a transformational process of how an urban local movement managed to protect a large urban green area from exploitation (The Stockholm National Urban Park). <b>Paper IV</b> discusses, based on several case studies from Stockholm, a conducive network structure for linking managers and user groups (e.g. allotment gardens, cemetery managers, and urban planners) across spatial ecological scales so as to improve urban green area management. <b>Paper V</b> presents a framework to analyze the social-ecological dynamics behind the generation and distribution of ecosystem services in urban landscapes.</p><p>The thesis points towards the notion of "a social production of ecosystem services" and argues for deeper engagement with urban political ecology and critical geography to inform governance and collective action in relation to urban ecosystems.</p>

<p>Denna uppsats handlar om hur den särskilda tillåtlighetsregeln i 11 kap. 6 § miljöbalken tillämpas vid tillståndsprövning av vattenverksamheter. Av paragrafen följer att en vattenverksamhet endast får bedrivas om den samlade nyttan av verksamheten överväger de kostnader samt skador och olägenheter som verksamheten medför. Syftet med paragrafen är att hindra vattenverksamheter som inte är <em>samhällsekonomiskt motiverade</em> samt utgöra ett extra skydd för miljön utöver miljöbalkens generella miljökrav.</p><p>Syftet med studien är undersöka hur denna paragraf tillämpas i praktiken – både i rättspraxis och i ansökningsförfarandet. Studien bygger i första hand på rättsvetenskaplig metod men ger även en mer allmän introduktion till samhällsekonomiska analysmetoder. Studien visar att det är mycket svårt att finna vägledning i praxis för <em>hur</em> en bedömning av samhällsnyttan bör gå till. Praxis visar dock att även faktorer som verksamhetens överensstämmelse med olika miljökvalitetsmål, art- och områdesskydd och estetiska värden kan få betydelse vid samhällsnyttobedömningen. Från sökandenas sida riktas generellt ett för stort fokus mot den privata eller företagsekonomiska nyttan av verksamheten. Sammantaget medför detta en risk för att miljövärden inte värderas på ett korrekt sätt när de vägs mot en mer konkret uttryckt monetär nytta. Ett bredare perspektiv på bedömningen bör därför antas. Vidare diskuteras även hur tillämpningen av bestämmelsen skulle kunna förbättras mot bakgrund av olika värderingsmetoder.</p> / <p>The subject matter of this Bachelor’s thesis is the special permit condition applying to water operations in accordance with chapter 11 section 6 of the Swedish Environmental Code. The article states that water operations may only be undertaken if the benefits, from the point of view of public and private interests, are greater than the costs and damages associated with them. The purpose of the regulation is to prevent water operations that are not socially efficient and to provide an additional protection for the environment, in excess of the general rules of consideration in the Code.</p><p>The purpose of this study is to look into how this particular article is applied in practice. This is done by analysing the legal usage as practiced by the court as well as by the applicants. The general rule is that the applicant has to show that the operation, for which the permit is being sought, is in compliance with the obligations associated with the activity. The study shows that it is very difficult to find guidance from case law on <em>how</em> an assessment of the social efficiency is to be carried out. Court practice indicates that circumstances such as whether the operation is in compliance with certain environmental objectives can be used to weight different aspects in the social efficiency assessment. However, the assessments carried out by the applicants are in general focused on the economic benefits for the applicant. This practice might entail a risk for environmental values not being properly valued when weighted against more tangible monetary benefits. A broader perspective is therefore called for. Potential improvements on the practice of the article are discussed against different valuation methods.</p>

This dissertation consists of three essays on private landowners' response to incentives for carbon sequestration in forests. The first essay examines private landowner response to incentives for carbon sequestration through various combinations of intermediate management practices. The second essay focuses on agricultural landowners' willingness to participate in an incentive program for carbon sequestration through afforestation, and estimates the potential for carbon sequestration from afforestation, as well as its cost. The third study examines relative performances of incentive targeting strategies for forest carbon sequestration under asymmetric information given spatially heterogeneous land types. The first essay uses an econometric approach to analyze the factors affecting non-industrial private forest landowners' choice of forest management practices, and examines how these choices might change in response to the use of incentives for carbon sequestration. I use estimated parameters to simulate the carbon sequestration potential for different combinations of management practices, and compare the effectiveness and costs of performance-based and practice-based incentive payment schemes in the Western U.S. The results suggest that incentive payments can increase the probability that desirable combinations of management practices are adopted, and particularly that incentives targeting increased fertilization yield the highest carbon sequestration potential. I also find that a performance-based payment scheme produces higher carbon sequestration than a practice-based payments scheme. However, the annual sequestration potential of intermediate forest management in response to incentive payment is not as large as the sequestration potential of afforestation. The second essay uses a survey-based stated preference approach to predict landowners' willingness to participate in a tree planting program for carbon sequestration as a function of various factors affecting landowners' decision making and different levels of incentive payments. The estimation results show that the annual payment for carbon sequestration significantly and positively affects landowners' stated level of enrollment in a tree planting program. I use the estimated parameters to conduct regional level simulations of carbon sequestration in response to incentive payments. These simulations show that the carbon supply function in the Pacific Northwest region is steeper than in the Southeast region because of the lower adoption rate and less available lands. The national level carbon supply functions derived from this study are steeper than those obtained from bottom-up engineering approaches and optimization models, and are in the same range as those from revealed preference approach studies. The third essay uses both a conceptual analysis and a numerical analysis to examine the relative performances of incentive programs for carbon sequestration using alternative targeting criteria in the presence of asymmetric information and heterogeneity in costs and benefits. The results show that in the presence of asymmetric information, the combination of high cost-high benefit variability and negative correlation, which is the combination that achieves the greatest benefit gains under perfect information, can result in the greatest benefit losses. Additionally, a comparison of two targeting schemes shows that if cost variability is greater than benefit variability with negative correlation, the benefit achieved under benefit-cost ratio targeting can be lower than that under acreage targeting, so that an optimal targeting strategy under perfect information may no longer be optimal under asymmetric information. / Graduation date: 2013

Ecosystem services, or the benefits humans obtain from natural ecosystems, have long been recognized as critical to human health. Efforts have been taken by many to determine the non-market values of these services but few have offered a direct market valuation. Increasing awareness, scarcity, and regulation have fostered transactions, and markets are emerging that can allow for direct valuation and could provide landowners the opportunity to merchandise this natural capital. This paper provides a valuation and comparison, as a case study, of a traditional management scheme, including the marketing of fiber and recreational leases, and an ecosystem services management scheme, including the marketing of fiber, recreational leases, carbon sequestration, watershed services, and biodiversity. The traditional forest management scheme had an estimated present value at three pricing scenarios ranging from “pessimistic” at $538,714.63 to “optimistic” at $868,528.27 for the entire 3,976-acre project area. The ecosystem services management scheme had an estimated present value at three pricing scenarios ranging from “pessimistic” at $621,508.61 to “optimistic” at $1,363,628.13 for the entire 3,976-acre project area. This paper concludes that even in these early stages of ecosystem markets, an ecosystem services management scheme may offer more revenue to landowners than a traditional management scheme.

With accelerating urbanization it is crucial to understand how urban ecosystems play a part in generating ecosystem services for urban dwellers, such as clean water, spaces for recreation, stress relief and improved air quality. An equally important question relate to who gets to enjoy these benefits, i.e. the distribution of ecosystem services, and how issues of power and equity influence the management of ecosystems. Through case studies from the urban landscape of Stockholm, this doctoral thesis engages with these perspectives through combining ecological theory with social theory, including social network analysis, actor-network theory and social movement theory. Strategies for how to improve urban ecosystem management are presented along with frameworks for how to analyze issues of power and equity in relation to natural resource management. <b>Paper I </b>shows that ecosystem management can be studied through analyzing the structure of social networks, i.e. the patterns of relations between agencies, stake-holders and user groups. <b>Paper II</b> and <b>Paper III</b> analyze, based on a network survey of 62 civil society organizations and in-depth interviews, a transformational process of how an urban local movement managed to protect a large urban green area from exploitation (The Stockholm National Urban Park). <b>Paper IV</b> discusses, based on several case studies from Stockholm, a conducive network structure for linking managers and user groups (e.g. allotment gardens, cemetery managers, and urban planners) across spatial ecological scales so as to improve urban green area management. <b>Paper V</b> presents a framework to analyze the social-ecological dynamics behind the generation and distribution of ecosystem services in urban landscapes. The thesis points towards the notion of "a social production of ecosystem services" and argues for deeper engagement with urban political ecology and critical geography to inform governance and collective action in relation to urban ecosystems.

Denna uppsats handlar om hur den särskilda tillåtlighetsregeln i 11 kap. 6 § miljöbalken tillämpas vid tillståndsprövning av vattenverksamheter. Av paragrafen följer att en vattenverksamhet endast får bedrivas om den samlade nyttan av verksamheten överväger de kostnader samt skador och olägenheter som verksamheten medför. Syftet med paragrafen är att hindra vattenverksamheter som inte är samhällsekonomiskt motiverade samt utgöra ett extra skydd för miljön utöver miljöbalkens generella miljökrav. Syftet med studien är undersöka hur denna paragraf tillämpas i praktiken – både i rättspraxis och i ansökningsförfarandet. Studien bygger i första hand på rättsvetenskaplig metod men ger även en mer allmän introduktion till samhällsekonomiska analysmetoder. Studien visar att det är mycket svårt att finna vägledning i praxis för hur en bedömning av samhällsnyttan bör gå till. Praxis visar dock att även faktorer som verksamhetens överensstämmelse med olika miljökvalitetsmål, art- och områdesskydd och estetiska värden kan få betydelse vid samhällsnyttobedömningen. Från sökandenas sida riktas generellt ett för stort fokus mot den privata eller företagsekonomiska nyttan av verksamheten. Sammantaget medför detta en risk för att miljövärden inte värderas på ett korrekt sätt när de vägs mot en mer konkret uttryckt monetär nytta. Ett bredare perspektiv på bedömningen bör därför antas. Vidare diskuteras även hur tillämpningen av bestämmelsen skulle kunna förbättras mot bakgrund av olika värderingsmetoder. / The subject matter of this Bachelor’s thesis is the special permit condition applying to water operations in accordance with chapter 11 section 6 of the Swedish Environmental Code. The article states that water operations may only be undertaken if the benefits, from the point of view of public and private interests, are greater than the costs and damages associated with them. The purpose of the regulation is to prevent water operations that are not socially efficient and to provide an additional protection for the environment, in excess of the general rules of consideration in the Code. The purpose of this study is to look into how this particular article is applied in practice. This is done by analysing the legal usage as practiced by the court as well as by the applicants. The general rule is that the applicant has to show that the operation, for which the permit is being sought, is in compliance with the obligations associated with the activity. The study shows that it is very difficult to find guidance from case law on how an assessment of the social efficiency is to be carried out. Court practice indicates that circumstances such as whether the operation is in compliance with certain environmental objectives can be used to weight different aspects in the social efficiency assessment. However, the assessments carried out by the applicants are in general focused on the economic benefits for the applicant. This practice might entail a risk for environmental values not being properly valued when weighted against more tangible monetary benefits. A broader perspective is therefore called for. Potential improvements on the practice of the article are discussed against different valuation methods.

Climate change has created potential major threats to global biodiversity. The multiple components of climate change are projected to affect all pillars of biodiversity, from genes over species to biome level. Of particular concerns are "tipping points" where the exceedance of ecosystem thresholds will possibly lead to irreversible shifts of ecosystems and their functioning. As biodiversity underlies all goods and services provided by ecosystems that are crucial for human survival and wellbeing, this paper presents potential effects of climate change on biodiversity, its plausible impacts on human society as well as the setting in addressing a global crisis. Species affected by climate change may respond in three ways: change, move or die. Local species extinctions or a rapidly affected ecosystem as a whole respectively might move toward its particular "tipping point", thereby probably depriving its services to human society and ending up in a global crisis. Urgent and appropriate actions within various scenarios of climate change impacts on biodiversity, especially in tropical regions, are needed to be considered. Foremost a multisectoral approach on biodiversity issues with broader policies, stringent strategies and programs at international, national and local levels is essential to meet the challenges of climate change impacts on biodiversity.

Zahlungen für Ökosystemdienstleistungen (Payments for Ecosystem Services – PES) und auktionsbasierte Vergabeverfahren sind ein wichtiges und innovatives Instrument im Kampf gegen den fortwährenden Verlust von biologischer Vielfalt. Basierend auf einem Vertrag zwischen einem Leistungserbringer und einem öffentlichen oder privaten Leistungsempfänger, der die Naturschutzleistung entlohnt, können bestimmte Vorgaben der Landschaftspflege oder der agrarwirtschaftlichen Bearbeitung verbindlich festgelegt werden. Die Vorteile von PES liegen in dem direkten monetären Anreiz zur Bereitstellung von Naturschutzleistungen und zudem in der Möglichkeit, ein Niveau an Umweltschutz und –qualität jenseits des von der Umweltgesetzgebung sichergestellten Mindestniveaus zu implementieren. Der Nachteil liegt in der hohen Informationsasymmetrie in der Vertragsbeziehung, welche einerseits dem Umweltgut als Vertragsgegenstand und andererseits der Natur ökonomischen Handelns geschuldet ist. Thema dieser Dissertation ist die Analyse der interdependenten Beziehung von Kompetitivität und Vertragserfüllung und das Aufzeigen der Relevanz von Vertrauen und Reziprozität in Verträgen über Umweltgüter. Auf diese Weise leistet sie einen Beitrag zu der umfangreichen und multidisziplinären Literatur über Zahlungen für Ökosystemdienstleistungen und Naturschutzauktionen. Während der vergangenen 25 Jahre habe Praktiker und Wissenschaftler unser Verständnis der Funktionsweise von Ausschreibungen zur Allokation von Zahlungen für Ökosystemdienstleistungen konstant verbessert und erweitert. Ein Großteil der Forschungsaktivität war jedoch auf die Auktionsmetrik und das Bieterverhalten gerichtet, wohingegen die resultierende Vertragsbeziehung zwischen Programmverwaltern (den Käufern) und Landbesitzern (den Ausführenden) weitgehend unbeachtet blieb. Wie in dieser Dissertation bewiesen wird, ist jedoch genau diese Beziehung der Schlüssel für ein erfolgreiches marktbasiertes Naturschutzprogramm. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird in drei Artikeln argumentiert, dass Vertrauen und Reziprozität für die Überwindung von asymmetrischer Information in kompetitiv alloziierten PES-Verträgen von herausragender Bedeutung sind. Anhand eines für diese Arbeit entwickelten, zweistufigen experimentellen Testszenarios wird der Entscheidungsprozess in der inversen Auktion und in der anschließenden Vertragserfüllung in der kontrollierten Laborumgebung simuliert. In einem ersten Experiment kann auf Basis dieses Untersuchungsdesigns gezeigt werden, dass die Informations- und Anreizkonstellation in Naturschutzauktionen ein erhöhtes Risiko für vorvertragliche adverse Selektion, opportunistisches Verhalten bei Vertragserfüllung und somit suboptimale Ergebnisse birgt. Das Marktversagen kann jedoch durch eine vertrauensstiftende Institution, wie zum Beispiel Kommunikation zwischen Käufern und Verkäufern, verhindert werden. Persönliche Interaktion veranlasst Marktteilnehmer ihr individuell-rationales Verhalten zugunsten einer sozial-verträglicheren Verhaltensweise zu ändern. Dabei entsteht ein erhebliches Potential für die Bilateralisierung der Vertragsbeziehungen. Ein zweites Experiment verdeutlicht jedoch, wie wichtig vertrauensbasierte Vertragsbeziehungen insbesondere in Bereitstellungsumgebungen sind, die stark von externen, stochastischen Einflüssen verzerrt werden können. Ohne das nötige Vertrauen bricht die Kooperation in einem derartigen Szenario fast vollständig zusammen. Schließlich lässt der systematische Vergleich der Ergebnisse aus beiden Experimenten in einem dritten Aufsatz keinen Zweifel daran, dass stabile Langzeitvertragsbeziehungen in auktionsbasierten Vertragsnaturschutzprogrammen gefördert und nicht verhindert werden sollten. Langzeitverträge sind randomisierten Kurzzeitverträgen aus der Perspektive des Naturschutzes aber auch hinsichtlich der Kosteneffektivität überlegen. Daher liegt eine wesentliche Herausforderung für Programmentwickler darin, einerseits die Bildung von ausreichend Sozialkapital zu ermöglichen und andererseits faire Markt- und Vergabestrukturen zu erhalten.

Die Jahrestagung 2013 der deutschen Sektion der International Assiciation for Landscape Ecology (IALE) fand vom 10.-12.Oktober 2013 in Dresden statt. Motto der Tagung mit circa 70 Teilnehmern war "Vielfältige Landschaften: Biodiversität, Ökosystemdienstleistungen und Lebensqualität". Der Tagungsband entält die Kurzfassung der ca. 30 Tagungsbeiträge und 20 Poster.