@phdthesis{GalloBarbosaLima2017, author = {Gallo Barbosa Lima, Patricia}, title = {Brazil in the global forest governance: the Brazilian initiative of developing a national strategy on REDD+ policies}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus4-43989}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) is now a significant piece of the international climate agreement. This present dissertation aims to investigate the overall framework of REDD+ development as a national strategy in Brazil. Moreover, it focuses on identifying the major challenges and policy constraints of this development design process. A further aim is at the end of the research to proffer pathways for improvement of domestic forest governance in Brazil. Using the sustainable forest landscape governance approach as the overarching conceptual for an effective REDD+ implementation within the Brazilian context and, building on this analysis, the conclusions advance some considerations on what features should be prioritized in the development and establishment of the Brazilian REDD+ national strategy. This dissertation is a grounded theoretical analysis and is centered on the conception that although REDD+ is strongly treated by the Federal Government as an expansion of it's actions with regard to sustainable development, by turning forests into an economic asset and strengthening institutions and laws, it is much more likely that Brazil can deal with the environmental challenges it has been facing.}, subject = {REDD+; Landscape approach; Forest governance; Brazil; Grounded analysis; REDD+; Landschaftsansatz; Wald-Governance; Brasilien; Grundlegende theoretische Analyse; REDD; Landschaftsanalyse; Brasilien; Wald{\"o}kosystem; Umweltpolitik}, language = {en} } @misc{OrdunaMoncada2024, type = {Master Thesis}, author = {Ordu{\~n}a Moncada, Andres Felipe}, title = {Assessing the influence of communication in an agglomeration bonus model as a strategy for land conservation}, doi = {10.26127/BTUOpen-6805}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus4-68055}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2024}, abstract = {One of the major challenges for humanity is related to biodiversity conservation. This can be reflected by the fact that there exist institutionally induced instruments that most nations have adopted for this purpose such as "pay to conserve" programs, in which a compensation is provided to landowners for engaging in conservation and/or biodiversity-friendly activities on their lands. These payments are proportional to the conserved areas. Another associated strategy would be the agglomeration bonus, which involves extra payment on top of the initial base for the conservation of areas next to those that have already been conserved, so as to promote continuity and agglomeration for improving biodiversity. Over the past two decades, these conservation strategies have received significative attention from researchers, which have used ecological and economic models to analyze the performance of such strategies. On this background, this master's thesis particularly focuses on the evaluation of communication among landowners in coordination of their future decisions, in the context of the afore mentioned conservation strategies. More precisely, this is explored as a feature within one of the previously proposed models to evaluate its potential correlation and/or causality with the performance of the conservation scheme. Simulations were run using an agent-based model, whereby a large dataset was generated. Statistical and interpretable machine learning methods were then applied on the dataset to investigate correlations and possible causations between state variables of the model and chosen predictors including the feature on communication. Relevant results have been obtained so far to indicate that indeed, communication does affect most of the state variables of the conservation model. Although the strength may not be equal to other predictors, communication features structured as the number of chat rounds among landowners were shown to be statistically significant in most cases. It was also found that having at least three chat rounds among landowners could give results similar to those obtained when the model reaches a stable state in terms of time, which it found to be with eleven or more timesteps. Other significative observations viewed in respect to the predictors were that the slope value of the curve utilized within the sigmoid function for the model comes out to exert a considerable influence and needs further research to redefine its real values.}, subject = {Agglomeration bonus; Agent-based model; Biodiversity conservation; Pay per conserve; Ecologic-economic models; Agglomerationsbonus; Bezahlung pro Konservierung; {\"O}kologisch-{\"o}konomische Modelle; Biodiversit{\"a}tserhaltung; Agentenbasierte Modelle; Biodiversit{\"a}t; Naturschutzplanung; Fl{\"a}chenschutz; Umweltbewertung}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Schoettker2020, author = {Sch{\"o}ttker, Oliver}, title = {Make-or-Buy: Should nature conservation agencies buy land and perform conservation activities on their own behalves, or should they pay farmers for voluntarily performing conservation activities?}, doi = {10.26127/BTUOpen-5271}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus4-52713}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Anthropogenic threat for the world's environment and ecosystems and financial constraints necessitate a wise use of resources for the implementation of biodiversity conservation measures. A cost-effective planning and governance of biodiversity conservation has to be done to achieve maximal ecological outcomes with given financial resources. A better understanding of available modes of governance can help to improve the cost-effectiveness of biodiversity conservation planning and implementation. This thesis investigates the influence of governance mode choice on the cost-effectiveness for biodiversity conservation measure implementation in selected conceptual and empirical settings, and identifies ecological, economic and climatic factors of influence. Linking the cost-effectiveness analysis for biodiversity conservation measures to the make-or-buy decision enables a novel perspective on cost-effective biodiversity conservation. In this context, conservation agencies are assumed to have two main options to implement biodiversity conservation measures in principle: (1) the buy alternative in which land is purchased for the purpose of biodiversity conservation measure implementation, and (2) the compensation alternative where a conservation agency compensates landowner's opportunity costs to incentivise voluntary conservation measure implementation by landowners. Two conceptual ecological-economic models were developed to analyse the cost-effective governance mode choice and their sensitivity to changing ecological, economic and climatic parameters. Two empirical case studies were conducted to address the question of cost-effective governance mode choice for a conservation project in Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) and a federal state wide comparison of conservation activities in California (USA). It was found that the buy alternative is more cost-effective than the compensation alternative if conservation budgets and interest are high. In addition, not only the choice of governance mode is relevant with respect to cost-effectiveness, but also the mechanism to spatially select conservation sites chosen within a selected governance mode. Changing climate change speed - among other factors - influences the cost-effectiveness of governance modes and site selection strategies. The cost-effective governance mode choice also crucially depends on the intended timeframe of a conservation project. For shorter timeframes, compensating landowners is the cost-effective governance mode, however for longer durations the buy alternative becomes more cost-effective. This effect arises specifically due high one-off costs for buying land, which however amortize over time, compared to high recurring costs for compensating landowners. Based on these findings, the policy recommendations are provided which aim to improve the cost-effectiveness of governance modes available for biodiversity conservation.}, subject = {Biodiversity conservation; Cost-effectiveness; Ecological-economic modelling; Make-or-buy decision; Mode of governance; Biodiversit{\"a}tsschutz; Eigenfertigung-oder-Fremdbezug; Kosten-Effizienz; {\"O}kologisch-{\"o}konomische Modellierung; Steuerungsmodus; Naturschutzorganisation; Biodiversit{\"a}t; Effizienz; Make or buy; Naturschutz}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Roy2025, author = {Roy, Ashley Comma}, title = {Economic analysis of invasive alien species management : a case study of ๐˜๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜บ๐˜ด in Germany}, doi = {10.26127/BTUOpen-7170}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus4-71703}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Invasive alien species (IAS) are major drivers of biodiversity loss and impose rising economic costs. Global trade and climate change facilitate their spread and establishment, threatening agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. Despite recognition of these risks, economic consequences are often underestimated, delaying effective responses. IAS management requires balancing ecological, economic, and social considerations. This study addresses two objectives: (1) to quantify the economic costs of invasive alien species under current and projected climate scenarios, and (2) to evaluate public preferences for IAS management, focusing on the trade-offs between chemical and biological control strategies through a case study of the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) invasion in German apple orchards. To address the first objective, the study combined a logistic spread model based on climate suitability projections for 2022-2050 with an economic model to estimate invasion costs under four management scenarios: no control, chemical control, biological control, and integrated pest management (IPM). Results show that even early infestations can cause significant economic losses if unmanaged. By 2050, as more areas become suitable for pest establishment, invasion costs rise sharply, demonstrating that delayed intervention greatly increases both damages and resources needed to control the invasion. For the second objective, a discrete choice experiment was employed to understand the public preference for managing IAS using no control, chemical control, and biological control. Respondents strongly favored biological control, even with risks of invasiveness, and rejected no control as an option. Willingness to pay reached โ‚ฌ2.32/kg for biological control, while chemical control received moderate support, mainly due to production concerns. Socio-demographic factors such as age, gender, education, income, political orientation, ecological involvement, and risk-taking shaped preferences. Political orientation proved significant: conservative and liberal respondents leaned toward chemical control, while ecologically oriented individuals preferred no intervention. Information framing also mattered: generalized descriptions increased support for biological control, while quantitative details revealed greater heterogeneity. These findings highlight the urgency of early IAS intervention and the need to integrate public preferences into policy. The study provides evidence for developing effective strategies to manage Halyomorpha halys and outlines avenues for future research.}, subject = {Invasion cost; Discrete choice experiment; Halyomorpha halys; German apple orchards; Invasive alien species; Invasionskosten; Discrete-Choice-Experiment; Deutsche Apfelplantagen; Invasive Arte; Deutschland; Obstanlage; Invasive Art; Baumwanzen; Kosten; Kontrolle; Diskrete Entscheidung}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Manhique2025, author = {Manhique, Henrique Andr{\ยดe}}, title = {Economic analysis of multifunctional fruit production landscapes to promote biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services}, doi = {10.26127/BTUOpen-7166}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus4-71664}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Anthropogenic activities, such as economic development and population growth, drive the conversion of natural habitats into agricultural land and intensify existing fields, causing biodiversity loss and degradation of ecosystem services (ES) vital to agriculture and society. Integrating natural and semi-natural habitats (landscape features) within agricultural landscapes can mitigate these impacts by promoting biodiversity and enhancing ES like pest control and pollination, which reduce pesticide use and bee-hive rental costs, benefiting both farmers and the environment. Despite strong ecological evidence, economic studies on landscape features are scarce but vital for assessing their costs and benefits to farmers and society, thus informing governance and public support for funding implementations. This thesis addresses this gap by economically evaluating specific landscape features and governance structures for biodiversity conservation and ES provision in orchards in a developing country (South Africa) and a developed country (Germany). The first case study uses a discrete choice experiment (DCE) survey to elicit preferences for biodiversity and ES enhancement measures and fund management organisations in South Africa's Cape Floristic Region. The second case study employs a DCE to explore preferences for ES measures and governance enforcement in German apple orchards. The third case study analyses costs and benefits of landscape features under conventional and organic management in German commercial apple orchards. Findings indicate support for biodiversity and ES promotion in both contexts. South African respondents prefer landscape features conserving endangered species over ES provision, while German respondents favour features delivering cultural alongside provisioning and regulating ES. Governance preferences reveal support for private institutions managing biodiversity funds in South Africa, and for multi-actor governance enforcing compliance in Germany. Cost-benefit analysis shows a wide gap between private and social net benefits, with significant societal gains but limited or negative private returns depending on management, highlighting the need for incentives like agri-environment schemes. Policy recommendations focus on designing such incentives, emphasising governance and targeted biodiversity and ES measures to bridge private-social interests and support landscape feature adoption.}, subject = {Flower strips; Hedgerows; Institutional distrust; Net present value; Political orientation; Bl{\"u}hstreifen; Hecken; Institutionelles Missvertrauen; Kapitalwert; Politische Orientierung; Deutschland; S{\"u}dafrika; Biodiversit{\"a}t; {\"O}kosystemdienstleistung; Obstanlage; Organisationsmodell; Anreizsystem}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Welling2024, author = {Welling, Malte}, title = {Choice experiments in the valuation of urban ecosystem services}, doi = {10.26127/BTUOpen-6651}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus4-66510}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Cities are major contributors to climate change and biodiversity loss, and at the same time particularly affected by some of their consequences. Urban green can help address these challenges and provide numerous other benefits to people. Economic valuation can estimate the value that people assign to these diverse urban ecosystem services. The environmental economics literature uses several valuation methods. This work examines the valuation of urban ecosystem services with choice experiments. It includes five articles that use empirical analysis to address three overarching research goals: First, to improve understanding of the value of urban ecosystem services to urban residents. Second, to contribute to improving the validity of choice experiments. Third, to develop modeling of spatial patterns in the value of urban ecosystem services. Chapter 1 describes the background and motivation of the valuation of urban ecosystem services with choice experiments, gives an overview over the relevant literature, and sets out the research objectives and methods of this dissertation. Chapter 2 presents a choice experiment on green spaces, street trees and green roofs in Bremen. It analyzes the effect of additional information that these measures are part of a climate adaptation strategy. The results show greater willingness to pay among informed respondents. Part of the effect can be explained by a higher credibility of the survey. Chapter 3 describes a choice experiment on urban gardens in Berlin and Stuttgart. It explores how respondents process the information provided in the questionnaire. It finds that questions about the information do not significantly affect either recall or the responses in the choice experiment. Chapter 4 is based on choice experiments on street trees, green spaces, and greenways in four German cities. It examines how choice experiment surveys should elicit perceived consequentiality. The results show advantages of elicitation before the choice experiment over the usual elicitation afterwards. Chapter 5 explores how valid policy makers perceive the results of choice experiments on urban green in several German cities, and what consequences this has for their use of the results. Interviews show that most policy makers use the results in their city to raise awareness or justify positions. Perceptions of validity are mixed, but do not play a major role in this type of use. Chapter 6 examines the spatial distribution of the value of urban ecosystem services using choice experiments on green spaces, urban trees, green roofs, and green facades in Berlin and Leipzig. It develops and tests new choice models that may better represent than the common approach how the value of urban green space decreases with distance. Based on the findings of the articles, Chapter 7 derives recommendations for practitioners of choice experiments and for urban green policy makers. Finally, it identifies research gaps that would be promising for future studies.}, subject = {Urban green; Stated preferences; Economic valuation; Validity; Discrete choice experiment; Stadtgr{\"u}n; {\"O}konomische Bewertung; Validit{\"a}t; Deutschland; Stadt; Gr{\"u}nfl{\"a}che; Dachbegr{\"u}nung; Strassenbaum; Klimaschutz; {\"O}kosystemdienstleistung; Nutzwertanalyse; Umfrage; Wahrnehmung}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{MarkovaNenova2021, author = {Markova-Nenova, Nonka}, title = {Distributive aspects in the design of payments for ecosystem services and agri-environmental schemes}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus4-58185}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Payments for ecosystem services (PES) and agri-environmental schemes (AES) are often introduced with the goal to counteract overexploitation of natural habitats and biodiversity loss in forests and agricultural landscapes. Their ecological effectiveness and cost-effectiveness have been, however, repeatedly questioned in the literature. One way of increasing the cost-effectiveness of such schemes is spatial differentiation of payments, which reflects regional differences in conservation benefits and costs and thus maximizes the ecological effect achieved with available financial resources. Another major critique for PES and AES is that they often pursue poverty alleviation and rural development objectives, which can compromise their cost-effectiveness. As the Tinbergen rule in economic theory suggests, each policy goal requires a separate policy instrument. However, as other policy instruments, PES and AES have distributional effects. Especially in developing countries, where governments are often weak and less able to successfully implement multiple policies, the distributional effects might not be adequately addressed. The distributional implications of PES and AES could even have an adverse effect on the cost-effectiveness of the schemes, if due to low acceptance among the potential ecosystem service (ES) providers, participation rates in these voluntary schemes are lower than optimal or if transaction costs are affected. From an economic perspective, if distributional goals are important for the design of PES and AES, the fairness preferences of potential ES buyers should be considered. This thesis uses three case studies to address selected aspects of distribution and fairness in PES and AES from different perspectives. It provides insights into the preferences of potential ES buyers in Germany for distribution and other fairness aspects in PES and AES using two choice experiments and analyses possible distributional effects of cost-effective homogeneous and regionalized payments in AES. The surveys among potential ES buyers suggest preferences for maximin and equal distribution of payments, and preferences for animal welfare and biodiversity conservation (for local as well as for distant biodiversity), which could be directions for improvement of AES and PES. Regarding distributional impacts of AES, a trade-off between equality and cost-effectiveness is confirmed. Equity generally increases with improved cost-effectiveness of homogeneous payments. Spatially differentiated payments improve the cost-effectiveness substantially, by aligning the payments to the regional costs and the measures to the regional specifics and potential ecological benefits. However, they have substantial redistribution effects, poorer regions are adversely affected. This shows the importance of analyzing the distributional implications of cost-effective AES and PES on different spatial levels and calls for a holistic approach in policy evaluation and implementation.}, subject = {Agri-environmental schemes; Distribution; Fairness; Choice experiments; Regionalization; Agrarumweltprogramme; Verteilung; Gerechtigkeit; Choice Experimente; Regionalisierung; Ausgleichszahlung; {\"O}kosystemdienstleistung; Effektivit{\"a}t; Regionale Inzidenz}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Gerling2023, author = {Gerling, Charlotte}, title = {Economics of climate adaptation for biodiversity conservation}, doi = {10.26127/BTUOpen-6260}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus4-62601}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Climate change is a major threat to biodiversity and ecologists have identified necessary adaptation strategies. However, little research has been conducted so far on the economics of climate adaptation for biodiversity conservation. Three challenges arise from an economic perspective: How to (1) assess the impact of climate change on the cost-effectiveness of conservation, (2) consider the increasing uncertainty, and (3) evaluate conservation policy instruments under climate change. Addressing these challenges provides a thus far largely unexplored perspective on the economics of biodiversity conservation. This perspective relies on novel methodologies and provides policy-relevant insights. In this thesis, these challenges are addressed in eight articles. Chapter 2 presents a novel economic evaluation framework to assess policy instruments for climate adaptation. Specific criteria are developed, their relevance for different strategies is assessed and suitable instruments identified. Chapters 3 and 4 have a methodological focus as two climate-ecological-economic (CEE) models are developed. Chapter 3 presents an applied model integrating detailed sub-models able to assess the cost-effective spatio-temporal allocation of conservation measures. In chapter 4, methods from operations research are developed further to identify optimal time series of reserve networks. In both chapters, cost-effective conservation plans are identified in case study applications. In chapter 5, CEE modelling is applied to examine the role of uncertainties regarding future climatic conditions. It is found that a trade-off between expected performance and robustness emerges in the case study in the future. In chapters 6 to 8, CEE modelling is used to assess policy instruments under climate change. Chapter 6 examines an agri-environment scheme: cost-effectiveness requires flexibility in adapting the timing of conservation measures due to species' adaptations and changes in costs. Chapter 7 examines two versions of land purchase: a "no sale" policy which prohibits sales for ecological reasons and a "sale" policy to enhance spatial flexibility for adaptation. A new trade-off is identified: while "no sale" mainly increases habitat permanence of expanding habitat types, "sale" improves the outcome for increasingly threatened habitat types. Chapter 8 is novel in its comparative analysis of two policy instruments considering spatial and management flexibility in a case study. It is found that in the case study, conservation contracts are more cost-effective than land purchase, but that the relative suitability switches when the conservation agency is able to capture producer rents. Finally, chapter 9 uses the results of chapters 3 and 5 to develop an innovative teaching tool for students to learn about cost-effective biodiversity conservation under climate change.}, subject = {Biodiversity conservation; Climate change; Climate-ecological-economic modelling; Cost-effectiveness; Uncertainty; Biodiversit{\"a}tsschutz; Klimawandel; Klima-{\"o}kologisch-{\"o}konomische Modellierung; Kosteneffizienz; Unsicherheit; Umweltbewertung; Klima{\"a}nderung; {\"O}kologie; Konzeptionelle Modellierung; {\"O}koeffizienz}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Hecker2017, author = {Hecker, Lutz Philip}, title = {What does it take to treat municipal wastewater in developing countries? An econometric analysis of Mexican municipalities}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus4-44272}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Water pollution is a major issue in developing countries. 2.2 of the 2.3 billion people who suffer annually from waterborne diseases live in this part of the world. Moreover, it causes the deterioration of aquatic ecosystems the living of billions of poor people depend on. A major source of water pollution is the discharge of untreated municipal wastewater. On average, cities in developing countries discharge 80-90\% of their sewage untreated. Though treatment of municipal wastewater remains a huge challenge in developing countries, the situation is not equally adverse all over the place. Treatment rates vary substantially across localities. From this observation, the question arises what drives and what impairs wastewater treatment. No quantitative analysis of this topic has been performed yet at the municipal level in a developing country. Therefore, this thesis investigates the impact of social factors on municipal wastewater treatment in Mexican municipalities in order to gain insights on what improves wastewater treatment in a developing country. 846 of 2,456 Mexican municipalities treat a share of their municipal wastewater that ranges from single-digit percentages to full coverage while the majority of municipalities treats no wastewater. The study relies on econometric techniques to scrutinize 10 hypotheses on the relationship between social factors and wastewater treatment. More precisely, it applies binary outcome models to estimate the conditional probability wastewater treatment takes place in a municipality for a sample of 2,290 Mexican municipalities. In addition, it applies the Tobit and Fractional logit model to estimate the percentage of treated municipal wastewater depending on social factors for 425 municipalities. The thesis identifies geographic spillovers, environmental federalism, institutional aspects like the corporatization of municipal water service, urbanization, per capita income and its distribution as significant influencing factors. A significant effect of education, ethnic heterogeneity, female participation in municipal politics and water scarcity is not found. In addition, the involvement of superior government tiers of a developing country in the funding of municipal wastewater treatment infrastructure seems to mitigate the influence of social factors on wastewater treatment. Based on these findings, the thesis develops policy recommendations to improve municipal wastewater treatment in developing countries.}, subject = {Environmental performance; Wastewater treatment; Geographic spillovers; Municipal water governance; Developing countries; Abwasserbehandlung; Umweltperformance; Spillover-Effekte; Kommunales Wassermanagement; Entwicklungsl{\"a}nder; Entwicklungsl{\"a}nder; Umweltbezogenes Management; Abwasserreinigung; Spill-over-Effekt}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Goetter2022, author = {G{\"o}tter, Johanna Friederike}, title = {Mahafaly pastoralists between structure and agency : development, institutional change and adaptation in South-West Madagascar}, doi = {10.26127/BTUOpen-5760}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus4-57600}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2022}, abstract = {It is well known that the development and adaptation capacities of rural communities in the developing world largely depend on the flexibility of the communities' 'social structure' (the community as a norm-group itself, together with its 'institutions' as the legal, moral and ideological framework). 'Structures' that have been identified by research as being crucial for rural livelihoods are found to be specific non-market security structures that are based on concepts of solidarity, reciprocity, and kinship. It is also widely acknowledged that 'agency' (understood as the decision-making and action-taking of individuals, including their aims to influence others) also plays a role. However, very little is known about how the interplay between 'structure' and 'agency' shapes institutional change and adaptation. Specifically, proper analytical frameworks for analyzing this interplay are missing. This dissertation aims to contribute to our understanding of development and adaptation capacities of rural communities against the backdrop of current mechanisms of social security and their evolution, to the interplay of different factors in such processes of institutional change, and the relationship between structure and agency, as well as to the required development of appropriate analytical frameworks. Empirical research was conducted on the Mahafaly Plateau in South-West Madagascar with three detailed micro-studies on cases of change, analyzing them through the lens of Contemporary Classical Institutional Economics and the Framework for Modeling Institutional Change (Ensminger 1992), then proposing suggestions on how to improve the framework. The cases reveal that indeed 'agency' is an important factor shaping institutional change on the local or regional level. Institutional change is found to be both driven by collective action as well as evolutionary mechanisms. Importantly, agency is influencing both of these mechanisms. The results may be transferred to other rural societies of the developing world that also base the enforcement of their formal institutions on orality, ideologically value personal freedom and procedural liberty, and show a high diversity of institutions of all kinds. For such societies, the results suggest that the societal environment on the one hand favors adaptation on the level of individuals or small groups and allows these actions to evolutionary change institutions. On the other hand, adaptation based on designed institutional change and collective action is difficult to plan and execute. The framework applied to the cases is shown to be suitable as it allows us to shed light on changes in institutions including ideology as a result of the interplay between individual actors and their behavior, changes in external factors such as relative prices, the constellations of actors, and their bargaining power. By modifying the framework by adding 'agency' as one of the core elements, the analysis becomes even more comprehensive.}, subject = {Institutional change; Institutions; Social change; Madagascar; Agency; Institutioneller Wandel; Institutionen; Sozialer Wandel; Madagaskar; Anpassung; Madagascar; L{\"a}ndliche Entwicklung; Institutionen{\"o}konomie; Sozio{\"o}konomischer Wandel}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Apau2017, author = {Apau, Kwaku Boakye}, title = {Developing a conceptual solution for domestic wastewater management in developing countries: Kumasi (Ghana) as a case study}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus4-41544}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Wastewater treatment systems abound as a result of technological improvements in treatment processes. Therefore in the selection of a wastewater treatment system for a particular wastewater treatment situation there are many alternatives to choose from. Despite this development municipal wastewater treatment in communities in developing countries are not always sustainable due to the application of inappropriate treatment systems. The question is how can an appropriate treatment system be identified for a certain location? The answer to this question is of importance to developing countries where wastewater treatment is usually not sustainable. In this study a framework for assessing wastewater treatment systems was developed. First, a comprehensive set of indicators representing parameters of treatment systems and properties of the study area that impacts on wastewater treatment were identified. Secondly, assessment of these indicators were carried out through expert and community survey to identify a final set of indicators whose composition consist of efficiency, reliability and simplicity of treatment systems and resource constraint, resource recovery and environmental concerns of the study area. Thirdly, four wastewater treatment systems, namely: Waste Stabilization Ponds, Trickling Filter, reed bed and free water surface Constructed Wetlands considered to be feasible for the study area were evaluated by the application of the identified indicators. Finally, a decision matrix produced was processed by multi-attribute decision making methods using two indicator weights to identify the most appropriate treatment system among the four alternatives. Results of the study show that in a scenario where equal indicator weights are assumed, reed bed is identified as the most appropriate with stabilization ponds being ranked as the least appropriate. In a more practical scenario where the weights of the indicators are allocated to reflect conditions of the study area, free water surface is ranked as the most appropriate. This outcome is at variance with stabilization pond technologies currently installed at communities in the study area. The performance of constructed wetlands is at the midpoint as far as most of the high to medium weighted assessment indicators are concern. It therefore represents a compromising solution between waste stabilization pond and trickling filter. The study also shows a change in variants of constructed wetland with a change in indicator weights. An indication that the decision situation determines the appropriateness of a treatment system and not the treatment system itself. The selection framework employed in this study can be said to be reliable and capable of identifying a treatment system that can be appropriate for a particular location. This is because the choice of a constructed wetland for the study area fits the definition of appropriate treatment system defined by the final indicators identified in this study.}, subject = {Wastewater treatment; Treatment efficiency; Land requirement; Multi-attribute decision making; Assessment indicators; Behandlungseffizienz; Bodenbedarf; Abwasserbehandlung; Entscheidungsfindung f{\"u}r Mehrfachattribute; Bewertungsindikatoren; Entwicklungsl{\"a}nder; Abwasserreinigung; Umweltbewertung}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Acquah2025, author = {Acquah, Michael}, title = {Tracking electricity access for sustainable rural electrification management : the case of mini-grid experience in Pediatorkope Island, Ghana}, doi = {10.26127/BTUOpen-7282}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus4-72822}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2025}, abstract = {The principal aim of the study was to develop people-centered strategies for sustainable management of rural electrification that is based on the experience of a rural livelihood in Ghana. The concurrent mixed methods were used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data through interviews with sector experts, key informants and community members regarding the delivery, management and usage of electricity. The hybrid mini-grid electricity supply in Pediatorkope, an Island community in Ghana, was adopted as a case of rural electrification for this study. Seven experts (including heads of institutions, agencies and departments), seven community participants and 120 heads of households were surveyed through the administration of semi-structured questionnaire to retrieve the requisite data. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically with 2019 NVivo. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data in this study. Analysis such as central tendency including mean, median, maximum, minimum and percentiles were covered. Multi-dimensional analysis, principal component analysis, bivariate analysis standard deviations and frequency analysis were also carried out to ascertain the details of tiers of access to electricity, demographic characteristics of participants and attributes of electricity supply. The results reveal four level of institutional engagement and five stages of policy and regulatory growth from the colonial past to the sustainable era that have shaped the development of rural electrification in Ghana. Two categories of uses of electricity were identified as basic and regular services. Furthermore, exchange value, use value and sign values were identified as important value strands for application in rural electrification. Even though the mini-grid system was designed to allow Tier 5 of electricity access, the quantitative results revealed that the highest experience of access in the community was Tier 4 with the overall access rate of 35\%. Supply side attributes such as capacity of supply, availability of supply and reliability affected access and usage of electricity in the community. Demand side issues identified were misuse of appliance and tariffs misapplication due to non-management of energy culture transition and characteristic additive nature of electricity demand and usage. The various findings based on the experience of electricity usage were consolidated in a proposed model known as multi-value mini-grid to address the identified challenges associated with the use of electricity services from the mini-grid. The multi-value mini-grid, as the name suggests, provides more than one value in a simplified model to meet the different energy needs of higher population of end-users with multiple streams of revenue generation, which enhances the financial feasibility of mini-grids and the livelihoods of the people.}, subject = {Rural electrification; Mini-grid; Sustainable livelihoods; Nationally determined contributions; Pediatorkope Island; L{\"a}ndliche Elektrifizierung; Mini-Grid; Nachhaltige Lebensgrundlagen; National festgelegte Beitr{\"a}ge; Ghana; Ghana; L{\"a}ndliche Entwicklung; Elektrifizierung; Nachhaltigkeit}, language = {en} }