Learning from agri-environment schemes in Australia

338 Pages·2016·5.09 MB·English

by  Dean Ansell

LEARNING FROM AGRI-ENVIRONMENT
SCHEMES IN AUSTRALIA
INVESTING IN BIODIVERSITY AND OTHER
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES ON FARMS

LEARNING FROM AGRI-ENVIRONMENT
SCHEMES IN AUSTRALIA
INVESTING IN BIODIVERSITY AND OTHER
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES ON FARMS
Edited by Dean Ansell, Fiona Gibson and David Salt
Published by ANU Press
The Australian National University
Acton ACT 2601, Australia
Email: [email protected]
This title is also available online at press.anu.edu.au
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Title: Learning from agri-environment schemes in Australia :
investing in biodiversity and other
ecosystem services on farms / Dean
Ansell, Fiona Gibson, David Salt.
ISBN: 9781760460150 (paperback) 9781760460167 (ebook)
Subjects: Ecosystem services--Australia.
Incentives in conservation of natural resources--Australia.
Biodiversity--Government policy--Australia
Biodiversity--Economic aspects--Australia.
Other Creators/Contributors:
Ansell, Dean, editor.
Gibson, Fiona, editor.
Salt, David, editor.
Dewey Number: 333.95160994
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Cover design and layout by ANU Press. Cover photograph by David Salt.
This edition © 2016 ANU Press
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
List of figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
List of tables and boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
List of acronyms and abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
1 . Introduction: Framing the agri‑environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Dean Ansell, Fiona Gibson, and David Salt
Part I. The agri‑environment in the real world
2 . Working effectively with farmers on agri‑environment
investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Graham Fifield
3 . The Environmental Stewardship Program: Lessons
on creating long‑term agri‑environment schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Emma Burns, Charlie Zammit, Simon Attwood
and David Lindenmayer
4 . Do farmers love brolgas, seagrass and coral reefs?
It depends on who’s paying, how much, and for how long! . . . . 53
Geoff Park
5 . The vital role of environmental NGOs: Trusted brokers
in complex markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
David Freudenberger
6 . Agricultural land use policy in the European Union:
A brief history and lessons learnt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Rob Fraser
7 . A brief history of agri‑environment policy in Australia:
From community‑based NRM to market‑based instruments . . . . 91
David Salt
Part II. The birds and the beef
8 . Can recognition of ecosystem services help biodiversity
conservation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Saul Cunningham
9 . A perspective on land sparing versus land sharing . . . . . . . . . . 117
Anna Renwick and Nancy Schellhorn
10 . Restoring ecosystem services on private farmlands:
Lessons from economics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Md Sayed Iftekhar, Maksym Polyakov and Fiona Gibson
11 . Scaling the benefits of agri‑environment schemes
for biodiversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Geoffrey Kay
12 . Social dimensions of biodiversity conservation programs . . . . . 151
Saan Ecker
13 . Contract preferences and psychological determinants
of participation in agri‑environment schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Romy Greiner
14 . Accounting for private benefits in ecological restoration
planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Maksym Polyakov and David Pannell
Part III. Planning, doing and learning
15 . Defining and designing cost‑effective agri‑environment
schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Dean Ansell
16 . Transaction costs in agri‑environment schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Stuart Whitten and Anthea Coggan
17 . What a difference a metric makes: Strong (and weak)
metrics for agri‑environment schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Fiona Gibson and David Pannell
18 . Public benefits, private benefits, and the choice
of policy tool for land‑use change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
David Pannell
19 . Controls and counterfactual information in agro‑ecological
investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
David Duncan and Paul Reich
20 . Achieving greater gains in biodiversity from
agri‑environment schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Philip Gibbons
21 . Lessons for policy from Australia’s experience with
conservation tenders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Graeme Doole and Louise Blackmore
22 . Improving the performance of agri‑environment programs:
Reflections on best practice in design and implementation . . . . 279
David Pannell
23 . Conclusion — Elements of good design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Dean Ansell, Fiona Gibson and David Salt

Preface
In times gone by, environmental issues on farmland were seen largely
through the lens of agricultural production — we viewed the problems
and their possible solutions in terms of how they affected agricultural
outputs. Weeds, pests and erosion were challenges because they
reduced the land’s productivity.
In recent decades, it has been recognised that farms can deliver much
more than the sum of their agricultural products. In Australia, farming
landscapes cover more than half our land mass, they provide refuge for
many unique native animals and plants, and they are home to people.
In acknowledgement of the multiple values associated with
farmland, Australian governments have been paying farmers to
provide public goods and services for many years. These goods and
services include habitat for wildlife, and healthier soil and water
quality. Many countries around the world have been doing this too.
These government  programs have been commonly referred to as
agri-environment schemes, as they are about improving environmental
values in an agricultural space.
The Australian experience goes back a little over a quarter of a
century, with well over $7 billion of public money having been
invested. Unfortunately, Australia’s National Audit Office has found
(repeatedly) that the programs have been unable to demonstrate
enduring environmental outcomes. Over the same period, the nation
has seen continuing declines in biodiversity, and land and water
quality. To turn this around, can we learn from what has been done in
the past (both here and overseas)?
Agri-environmental policy is an inherently complicated beast,
involving a raft of different players, from farmers and conservationists
to taxpayers and politicians. Each group brings with it a diverse set
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LEARNING FROM AGRI‑ENvIRONMENT SChEMES IN AUSTRALIA
of motivations and interests, including maximising profit, minimising
biodiversity loss, and everything in between. A proper evaluation
of agri-environment policies, therefore, requires a multi-disciplinary
approach.
Towards the end of 2014, a group of people interested in biodiversity
conservation and agriculture — ecologists, economists, social scientists,
practitioners, and policymakers — met at a workshop in Canberra to
share their knowledge and experience of agri-environment schemes
in Australia. This book draws together the diverse experiences, ideas,
and perspectives presented at that meeting.
Each chapter presents a different perspective on the challenge
of  designing and running effective agri-environment schemes.
For anyone with an interest or a stake in agri-environment investment
in Australia or overseas, we are confident there will be many lessons
and insights for you in the following pages.
The workshop on lessons from agri-environment schemes was
sponsored by the National Environmental Research Program
Environmental Decisions Hub with additional financial support from
Phil Gibbons (The Australian National University) and Dave Pannell
(University of Western Australia). Logistics support was provided by
Jane Campbell (University of Queensland). We are also indebted to
the Spillers, owners of ‘Woodlands’, for showing us through their
Whole of Paddock Rehabilitation site, and also Mick Woods, manager
of ‘Woolooware’, for taking the time to show us a Box Gum Grassy
Woodland Project site of the Environmental Stewardship Program.
Lastly, we also thank Graham Fifield and Greening Australia for
providing refreshments and guidance when we visited these two
field sites.
Dean Ansell, Fiona Gibson, and David Salt1
1 Dean, Fiona, and David jointly managed the workshop that led to this book and shared the
jobs of editing and authoring the introductory and concluding chapters. Each claims an equal
share of the book and names are ordered alphabetically.
x