Contracts2.0 – Co-design of novel contract models for innovative agri-environmental-climate measures and for valorisation of environmental public goods

Projektbeschreibung

In addition to providing private goods such as food and fibre, agriculture can deliver a variety of environmental public goods and ecosystem services, such as biodiversity conservation or landscape aesthetics for recreation. Often, however, the use of agricultural landscapes prioritizes the provision of private goods, resulting in negative environmental impacts, such as soil erosion or habitat and biodiversity loss. This also decreases the ability to provide environmental public goods and ecosystem services. To address this imbalance, targeted policy instruments are required to ensure that public goods are provided at the level desired by society. Such instruments are e.g. contract-based approaches such as publicly funded agri-environmental-climate measures or privately negotiated and funded Payments for Ecosystem Services. But even though such contract-based approaches already exist, the provision of environmental public goods is not optimal. Improved approaches are urgently needed which provide tangible support to farmers through additional public and private incentives to produce a mix of private and public goods that better reflects society’s preferences, and allow them at the same time to reduce the conflict to reconcile the profitability of their farms with sustainability objectives.

The main objective of Contracts2.0 is to develop such novel contract-based approaches to incentivise farmers for the increased provision of environmental public goods alongside with private goods. These newly developed approaches should be environmentally more efficient, economically viable for farmers and support the longevity of contractual arrangements. Therefore, Contracts2.0 cooperates closely with partners from practice.

Further information will soon be available on the upcoming project website.