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Due to environmental impacts from anthropomorphic climate change, countries from around the world are committed to an energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable and sustainable energy sources. The heating and cooling sector represents the largest share of total energy consumption globally, not only for domestic use but also for commercial and industrial purposes of which only 11% is covered by renewable energy. One renewable source, geothermal energy, has the potential to cover much of this demand, particularly heating demand, for the agriculture and food sector. Geothermal use in the agri-food industry continues to be positive overall, yet slow adoption and inconsistent growth have not met its potential as claimed by experts. This trend may be explained by a lack of coherent policy and initiatives from regulating government bodies. This research explores the relationship and the degree of correlation between government support, expressed in terms of policy incentives, and the growth of geothermal energy use in the agri-food sector. Two hypotheses are constructed to test this relationship. The first assumes that government support through policy leads to positive growth in geothermal argi-food, and the second assumes that no relationship exists. The research is a multiple case study of twelve countries from 2010 to 2020. Methods used in this study include Likert summative scale, a statistical and content analysis of secondary sources such as policy documents, laws, and other government acts. The results show a strong correlation between policy incentives and adoption of geothermal energy in agri-food sector. However, only 23% of growth in capacity in case countries can be explained by the levels of government support. Additionally, not all policies hold equal weight in that they are implemented on different levels of governance (global, national, and local). The study observes that between these three levels, national policies have the most correlative effect on geothermal energy adoption, while global and local policies do not seem to have significant influence. These effects vary but the overall market trends are influenced heavily by leading performers. Countries that show the most growth are – Hungary, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Türkiye. They all share strong government support on a national level, targeted policies for geothermal agri-food, and geothermal energy is economically competitive when compared to other forms of energy.
Result-based payments (RBPs) reward land users for conservation outcomes and are a promising alternative to standard payments, which are targeted at specific land use measures. A major barrier to the implementation of RBPs, particularly for the conservation of mobile species, is the substantial monitoring cost. Passive acoustic monitoring may offer promising opportunities for low-cost monitoring as an alternative to human observation. We develop a costing framework for comparing human observation and passive acoustic monitoring and apply it to a hypothetical RBP scheme for farmland bird conservation. We consider three different monitoring scenarios: daytime monitoring for the whinchat and the ortolan bunting, nighttime monitoring for the gray partridge and the common quail, and day-and-night monitoring for all four species. We also examine the effect of changes in relevant parameters (such as participating area, travel distance and required monitoring time) on the cost comparison. Our results show that passive acoustic monitoring is still more expensive than human observation for daytime monitoring. In contrast, passive acoustic monitoring has a cost advantage for nighttime as well as day-and-nighttime monitoring in all considered scenarios.
Being one of Ukraine’s major sources of economic revenue, the country’s agro-industrial sector proved, at the same time, to be perhaps the most vulnerable branch of economy in the times of political and social turbulence. While the state is searching for the ways of strengthening its positions at the global market, its agricultural potential to a considerable extent remains both under- and misused. Based on comprehensive historic analysis, this research establishes the origins of the current situation and assesses the possibilities of positive change. Utilizing the experience of other European countries’ with regards to making agriculture more sustainable and competitive in the modern world, the author describes the ways of applying these practices against the background of Ukrainian socio-political system. Drawing knowledge from the experience of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) worldwide, this research aims at harmonizing their methods with evaluation demands in Ukrainian agriculture. It discusses and criticizes the existing assessment approach and suggests measures necessary for making it more comprehensive. The author offers profound analysis of Ukrainian agricultural policies to date, reviews national regulating directives and outlines country-specific challenges as to improving agricultural sustainability. In order to provide Ukrainian decision-makers with a clear and all-round tool for assessing the advances and failures of the acting state policies in the AIS, a set of reliable indices for evaluating agricultural performance has been developed by the author, which is largely based on the widely-acknowledged Driving Force – State – Response framework offered by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Human Development Index (HDI) from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) methodology. At the same time, the newly developed set takes into consideration the peculiarities of Ukrainian socio-political setting. Three major categories of indicators were chosen as a backbone for further elaboration, namely economic, social and political. Therefrom results a list of twelve relevant indices. At the concluding stage of the research, they were processed and transformed to three top-level indices: Economic Development Index, Environmental Situation Index and Social Development Index. These three indices are intended for clear and illustrative presentation of the current situation for high level decision-makers and governmental bodies. Methodology utilized for the purposes of this research with necessary adaptation and fine tuning can also be used with other set of initial data, indicators and indices. Application field can also be downscaled from the highest (national) to the lowest (regional) level by adapting the indicator-indices system to the initial input data. This will considerably simplify the compilation and presentation of regional reports and will provide transparency for interregional comparison within the country.