Policy Briefs

In the context of agricultural production in the Atlantic Area, communities face challenges from changing temperatures and rainfall patterns, sea level rises and the impact of extreme climate events that could interrupt agricultural activity.  To address these challenges, it is important for the agricultural sector to manage risks and adapt to challenging and changing climate… | Read on »

Evaluating behavioural change initiatives or interventions is normally done through outcome evaluations. Outcome evaluations measure participant numbers, demographics and reported changes in behaviour, knowledge, beliefs, values or awareness. They also look at finding and funding solutions at an individual level, such as one single community group or priority groups in a specific location. Agenda 2030… | Read on »

Ecological restoration is now regarded as an important management tool to reverse the degradation of many marine ecosystems. The United Nation has launched a new initiative entitled the “Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030)” that aims to halt further degradation and to accelerate existing restoration efforts for land, aquatic, and marine ecosystems. The need for restoration… | Read on »

Blue-green infrastructure (BGI) is becoming a more popular means of dealing with climate change and climate change-related events. The idea behind BGI is to use natural or semi-natural infrastructure to reduce the risk of harmful natural events in a manner that also delivers additional ecosystem services to a wide range of individuals. As the concept… | Read on »

The Covid-19 emergency has provided a shock to societies unlike anything in recent memory. Often lacking good information, governments have had to formulate policy responses in a fog of uncertainty. The policy-imposed shutdown has had significant implications for the income of households, with differing effects across the income distribution. Governments have responded with temporary income… | Read on »

Ecosystem restoration implies policies that focus on remediating environmental degradation. In this research, the welfare impacts of restoring Norwegian kelp forests to areas where they once were dominant but which now lie barren are estimated using the discrete choice modelling approach. The research also examined if direct contact with the marine environment through recreation influences… | Read on »

Globally, direct and indirect human impacts have led to the widespread degradation of marine ecosystems. The resulting loss of habitat and marine biodiversity has led to increased impetus for marine ecosystem restoration at a policy level. Restoration success is judged on ecological outcomes but with limited resources, the magnitude of the societal benefits achieved is… | Read on »

The ‘new normal’ for policy making, in the face of Covid-19, climate change and the UN SDGs, is to broaden its focus beyond ad hoc, short term sectoral issues to address the systemic, non-linear feedbacks and dynamics that form, grow and evolve in local to global provisioning systems. Policymaking is increasingly an iterative process of complex,… | Read on »

Flood reduction infrastructure is a vital aspect of many urban and peri-urban areas.  To date, the majority of flood reduction projects use traditional “grey” materials and techniques. However, the use of blue-green infrastructure (BGI) such as, restoration of floodplains or wetlands and bioswales are becoming more popular. The move towards BGI is, in part, due… | Read on »

Fiscal equalisation is a key element of a country’s intergovernmental fiscal arrangements where functions and funding are decentralised to subnational government. Equalisation transfers are used to reduce horizontal fiscal imbalances between local authorities, so that fiscal equity can be achieved whereby citizens are not disadvantaged in their access to public services by their place or… | Read on »