(c) Policy Instruments

Coordinators: Elke Bertke/ Rainer Marggraf

The focus of this working group is the development of a result-oriented payment scheme for ecological services provided by agriculture, using auction mechanism. This scheme was developed for the Northeim County, Germany, in cooperation with representatives of the agricultural and the conservation administrations, environmental and agricultural NGOs, and local political groups. Our results indicate that the auction-supported payment procedures have the potential to combine positive ecological effects with minimal trade distortion as well as with a true appreciation of local farmers as entrepreneurs (and not as employees of the agricultural or conservation administration).
Cooperative instruments for developing the regional agri-environment and new agri-environmental schemes for intensively used agricultural regions are developed and tested in the Wolfenbüttel County, Germany, within the project “Lebensraum Börde”.
Recently, the transfer of the model to Israel is being studied.