Increased use of annual payments to land managers for ecological outcomes indicates a growing interest in exploring the potential of this approach. In this viewpoint, we drew on the experiences of all schemes paying for biodiversity outcomes/results on agricultural land operating in the EU and EFTA countries with the aim of reviewing the decisive elements of the schemes' design and implementation as well as the challenges and opportunities of adopting a results-based approach. We analysed the characteristics of results-based schemes using evidence from peer-reviewed literature, technical reports, scheme practitioners and experts in agri-environment-climate policy. We developed a typology of the schemes and explored critical issues influencing the feasibility and performance of results-based schemes. The evidence to date shows that there are at least 11 advantages to the results-based approach not found in management-based schemes with similar objectives, dealing with environmental efficiency, farmers' participation and development of local biodiversity-based projects. Although results-based approaches have specific challenges at every stage of design and implementation, for many of these the existing schemes provide potential solutions. There is also some apprehension about trying a results-based approach in Mediterranean, central and eastern EU Member States. We conclude that there is clear potential to expand the approach in the European Union for the Rural Development programming period for 2021-2028. Nevertheless, evidence is needed about the approach's efficiency in delivering conservation outcomes in the long term, its additionality, impact on the knowledge and attitudes of land managers and society at large, development of ways of rewarding the achievement of actual results, as well as its potential for stimulating innovative grassroots solutions.

Conservation of agricultural soil is an important issue in the Czech Republic. This paper is focused on the assessment of the institutions and policies targeted at soil conservation in order to explain the degree to which they are effective and why. The study was carried out at both national and regional level (Svratka River basin) to document the performance of policies. The most important types of soil degradation in the case study area are soil erosion, soil compaction and loss of organic matter. Farming adds to soil degradation because soil protection practices are not applied. Farmers lack motivation to protect soil when they do not trust policies. Evidence from the case study area suggests that agri-environmental schemes are the most effective policy. Land consolidation could be more successful if the process is better managed. The Law on Soil Protection is not a powerful tool to prevent land degradation because it is not enforced sufficiently. Farmers currently do not have partners in the case study area who could facilitate policy implementation. A lack of political support and the unfavourable division of responsibilities concerning soil conservation has not allowed the design of an integrated policy framework. Areas to be addressed in order to increase the effectiveness of policies are: (i) design e.g. the vague wording of legislation, (ii) implementation e.g. conflicts of interests and lack of advice, (iii) policy evaluation and (iv) policy integration. We suggest integrating the existing measures in an overarching soil conservation strategy.

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Agri-Environmental Schemes are a voluntary policy measure of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union. Since 2004, these have been implemented in the post-socialist new Member States. Agri-Environmental Schemes could help to achieve a higher level of biodiversity on agricultural land. We focus here specifically on protected landscapes. In particular, we analyse whether such types of contracts between farmers and state organisations represent a useful tool in the protection of shared natural resources, such as biodiversity. We analyse the determinants that allow for such a policy to be implemented more successfully. In addition, the administrative structure of such a policy measure is very complex since responsibilities overlap among various administrative units, and transactions between farmers and governmental bodies need to be regulated. Cooperation among so many parties is challenging. The aim of this article is to clarify the impact of some contract characteristics on its effectiveness. We analyse why implementation has been easier in some Protected Landscape Areas (PLAs) than in others. The research focuses on selected factors which showed differences in performance. In particular, these factors are trust and reciprocity between farmers and state administrative bodies, information spreading and the availability of advisory services. Despite the demanding implementation process, we find an indication that trust tends to grow following a previous good experience. The case study was carried out in two large and two small PLAs in the Czech Republic. Jaroslav Prazan and Insa Theesfeld

In recent decades, various public policies have targeted agriculture and forestry's relationship with environmental protection and management. Among environmental policy communities the approach is increasingly framed through the theoretical concepts of ecosystem services (ES) or public goods (PG). Both offer useful perspectives to enhance understanding, but each only partially reflects the complex inter-linkages between productive land management and multiple environmental and social assets (biodiversity, landscapes, water, soil and air quality, rural vitality, culture and heritage), constraining their capacity for effective policy development. The Social-Ecological-Systems framework (SES), considering both natural and socio-economic elements in complex systems and interrogating these joint production relationships, offers added value in this context. The PEGASUS project 1 applied an adapted SES framework to identify the potential complementary and synergistic roles of policy, private and community actors in promoting socially beneficial outcomes, strengthening ecosystem services and sustainability. Two case studies illustrate the analytical process and its ability to connect top-down and bottom-up perspectives. This generated an expanded range of options focused on social processes and market development 1 The authors gratefully acknowledge project funding from the EU H2020 RTD programme, grant agreement 633814.facilitated by an enabling, responsive policy framework. Lessons for governance and practice, as well as international relevance, are briefly considered.