Incoherence of natural resource production and conservation policies (biomass & biodiversity) Mikael Hildén ALTER-Net Conference Ghent 18.4.

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1 Incoherence of natural resource production and conservation policies (biomass & biodiversity) Mikael Hildén ALTER-Net Conference Ghent

2 What is policy coherence? OECD (2002): Policy coherence means different policy communities working together in ways that result in more powerful tools and products for all concerned. It means looking for synergies and complementarities and filling gaps among different policy areas so as to meet common and shared objectives. 2

3 Why does incoherence arise? Policy communities rely on fundamentally conflicting or incompatible objectives ( strategic incoherence ) Policy communities develop their own agendas and tools and implement them without considering interactions with other tools and agendas ( street level incoherence ) 3

4 Actors create and transmit (in)coherence Policy makers Strategies Instruments Implementers Target groups Outputs Outcomes 4

5 The case of biodiversity and biomass Strategy: Increase biomass production for biofuels Instrument: Pay for worthless wood Strategy: Increase dead wood for biodiversity Instrument: Sustainability criteria Perceptions: What should a forest look like? Resources: Benefits ( ) Practices: Management system and machinery Actor groups Communication: Extension services 5

6 Solving the dilemma? Stricter conditions for biomass production sacrificing part of the production for conservation (Regulatory approach) Create economic value for a wider range of products (and services) so that the production of diversity becomes profitable - finding new alliances (Ecosystem services approach) Accept incoherence and encourage and support diversity in action at the local level (Diversity approach) 6

7 Regulating woody biomass exploitation Advantages Spatial regulation Activity regulation Target on high nature value biomass Disadvantages Laborious, requires strong knowledge base to be effective/ legitimate => costly for regulators Easy to standardise: fixed volume to be left on site Crude and inefficient for specific targets => costly for the regulated 7

8 Balancing economic value of biodiversity, ecosystem services and biomass exploitation Advantages Paying for biodiversity Possible to target on primary goal Disadvantages Laborious, requires strong knowledge; Payment needs to compete with markets => costly Paying for other services contributing to biodiversity protection New alliances and markets (e.g. carbon sequestration, tourism) contribute => lower costs Full compatibility with primary objective may not be achievable 8

9 Benefiting from street (forest) level incoherence Advantages Disadvantages Removing all subsidies for biomass use Low cost libertarian solution; Uncertain outcomes, high sensitivity to external conditions (such as demand and price for biomass) Creating niche support for specific values Possible to encourage innovative solutions Uncertainty, depends on actor interests and activities 9

10 Adjusting instruments for distributed coherence Strategy: Increase biomass production for biofuels Instrument: Pay for worthless wood Strategy: Increase dead wood for biodiversity Instrument: Sustainability criteria Additional instrument: Pay for diversity Perceptions: What should a forest look like? Resources: Benefits ( ) Actor group 2 Practices: Management system and machinery Actor group 1 Communication: Extension services 10

11 The nature of the biomass and the biodiversity to be protected affects how incoherence can be dealt with Degree of clustering Regulatory approches based on spatial designation; Paying for biodiversity Paying for other ecosystem services; Creating niche support Information on BD values Regulatory approaches based on standards; Removing all subsidies for biomass use Spatial scale 11

12 Thank you! For contacts: Manuscript: Climate policy coherence in forest bioenergy: an actor perspective Suvi Huttunen, Paula Kivimaa and Mikael Hildén Finnish Environment Institute 12

of bioenergy and actions

of bioenergy and actions SustainabILITY of bioenergy Fortum s POSITION and actions The key opinions and actions in the sustainable utilisation of bioenergy at Fortum are presented below. The guidelines contribute to Fortum s Sustainability