• Work Package 4 – Economics
The aim of WP4 is to investigate the economic consequences of the cooperative implementation of AUM at landscape level in order to reconcile the economic activities of agricultural enterprises with the conservation of biodiversity. This is based on an analysis of the costs and benefits of a cooperative implementation of biodiversity measures. The chances and obstacles of a cooperative implementation of AEM should be estimated and evaluated. The project results offer the opportunity to examine agricultural and environmental policy measures for sustainability and to identify economically reasonable possibilities for further improving nature compatibility within the framework of EU agricultural funding and national and European agricultural and environmental policy. WP4 is divided into three steps: (a) the importance of biodiversity measures within the farm structure is presented. (b) The measures to improve biodiversity are analyzed with regard to their costs (process costs, diseconomies of scale and transaction costs) based on individual farm data. (c) Finally, the costs of the measures are related to the performance of the biodiversity measures. Recommendations for practical implementation are derived from the analyses, which can be used to inform and advise land users about the possibilities, potentials and goals of biodiversity conservation.
The University of Rostock is responsible for WP 4.