Integrated development of agricultural and rural institutions

The research undertaken in Work Package 1 (Bio-diversity and environmental sustainability, social capital, migration, rural entrepreneurship - Strand II: Entrepreneurship, institutions and environmental quality and Strand IV: Population and Migration, resulted in the development of two micro-simulation models: ESTEEM - the Estonian Economy-Environment Tax Benefit Model - which estimates the redistributional and spatial impact of environmental policy and LITSIM - a micro- simulation model developed to estimate the impact of migration.

Title: Rural tourism and the resilience of regions. Most new EU Member States started from very low levels of tourism activities, especially in rural areas. Over the last 15 years tourism has become increasingly important in some regions, especially in areas with some natural beauty (see also Kaufmann, et al. 2006 for developments of tourism in combination with organic farming), or in more traditional locations. The nature of the emerging tourism sector differs significantly between regions. Some regions focus on a specific tourism activity, while others foster and support a range of different activities. As a general pattern we found that more diverse tourism helps to maintain or increase the resilience of a region. However the evidence is much more mixed when it comes to areas, which have already high levels of tourism activities, such as some regions in Slovenia. Hence, the positive impact of increased diversified tourism is highest were its original level was low. Social memory and social networks are important factors enhancing the adaptive capacity of regions. But keeping social memory in a region, with its very nature of constant renewal, can pose a challenge when labour mobility is high. Another threat to the adaptive capacity of regions is the (un) skilful leadership of local elites and administrations. This is especially the case if the distribution of power in the community is very uneven, and local elites protect each other to form a system with little permeability to outsiders. The extent to which they seek cooperation for developing solutions on the regional or cross-local levels remains limited. A typical reason for missing opportunities for cooperation and development is short-term oriented local egoism. By increasing the reaction time to shocks, this can increase the renewal process after a disturbance and hence limit the speed of the development process for the region. Supporting factors of social memory, in turn, is for example, the increased engagement of local stakeholders in broader participatory process of decision-making about natural resource management. In a few cases, we also found that high support of the government and park administration for nature protection combined with a lack of consistent policies can cause local populations to perceive their protected areas as a limitation for the development of tourism and other economic activities. We conclude that in the context of such complex relationships within and between local and regional social-ecological systems, for local communities and regions to harvest their full development potential while staying within the environmental limits, adaptive governance systems are needed for facilitating between different interests horizontally (regional/local integration of sector policies, interests of local people, etc.) and vertically, by influencing different levels with their specific internal logics and speeds of development. There are currently new institutional arrangements being negotiated in several regions and some regions are already putting elements of adaptive management structures in place. Targeted support in this institution-building phase could support natural resource management in European biodiversity-rich areas in the long term. Skilful development of local leaders/facilitators is of particular importance, as individuals in crucial positions can greatly influence development especially on the local level, but also on the regional level.

Policy can have a direct or indirect effect on existing networks for rural cooperation The newly acceded CEE states find their rural development strategy should fit into the European Union's framework and policy for rural development. The EU's approach is based on using rural networks for policy implementation, or building networks where they are missing in a participatory manner. The project has explored cases where cooperation is evident in rural CEE, and highlighted cases where cooperation is desirable, yet unattainable in current circumstances. Rural policy in CEE should be sensitive to the local institutions and conditions. An evaluation tool was developed to classify the effect of policy on cooperation. Policy can have a direct or indirect effect on existing networks, both of which should be understood at the policy design stage. An example of a direct effect on cooperation would be a rural development policy with the specific goals of creating cooperation between rural people. An example of indirect effect would be a policy that was not necessarily focused on rural development but impinged on the activities of rural people. Examples of benign and malign indirect effects were discussed. The paper on main result 1, entitled "The Governance of Cooperation - Policy implications for rural Central and Eastern Europe" by Catherine Murray, Volker Beckmann and Annette Hurrelmann, will be revised and submitted to a journal for publication. It may also become part of a special issue of a journal (see below under main result 3).

The institutions of rural CEE are unique to their geographical region and historical legacy The transition process in central and Eastern Europe had a profound effect on how individuals interact. Economic and social institutions have changed, requiring an adaptation process by individuals in the move toward a market economy. How each individual accesses, manipulates and uses their networks will determine the use of their social capital. Within CEE, there is a presumption of low levels of social capital. However the term social capital was devised in a western democratic context. Thus, an analytical framework, especially adapted for the CEE context is required for research into social capital. There is controversy about the potential for collective action in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs). Many authors argue that the level of social capital is low in CEECs, whereas others underline that, while trust in authorities and the state may be low, interpersonal networks are present. A result of the research using the framework is that two main obstacles for collective action in rural CEECs are low bridging and linking social capital as well as unclear gains from cooperation. In such a situation, well connected local leaders who provide credible information and establish links among different actor groups and with authorities can be of crucial importance to achieve collective action. This finding is interesting because most of the literature on social capital does not acknowledge the need for a "mediating agency" but expects cooperation to happen "automatically" where enough social capital is present. However, it also results that leadership becomes difficult where conflicting interests, low general trust and little initiative of actors prevail. A policy conclusion is that better financial and technical support for prospective leaders in rural cooperation projects in CEECs could contribute to the success of initiatives. The paper entitled "Social Capital and Leadership: Rural Cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe" by Annette Hurrelmann, Catherine Murray and Volker Beckmann, has been submitted to the Journal of Rural Studies in June 2006. One paper entitled "Social Capital and Cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe - a Theoretical Perspective" by Catherine Murray has been published as an ICAR discussion paper, and will be submitted to a journal for publication.

Title: The Adoption of Organic Farming Practices in six high diffusion regions of new EU member states. Current organic markets are underdeveloped in New Member States, but diffusion is increasing due to the policy framework put in place during EU accession. Though, diffusion speed is very varied, depending on the design and delivery of the agri-environmental measure and the implementation of a functioning institutional, in terms of delivery of support infrastructure, and a framework to explore opportunities for market development. The creativity of a strong bottom-up movement of farmers and support institutions, embedded in an active policy framework promoting integrated rural development is the most distinctive advantage to develop market potentials successfully. A positive example for this could be found in the Latvian case study. In some instances like in Hungary, the rising demand in Western Europe constitutes a demand-pull factor for larger farms, but this is not matched by appropriate developments on the home market. If the development is only initiated top-down without the associate implementation of a broader vision for integrated policy and activation of varied stakeholders, the danger is given that the diffusion will stay dependent on the level of the agri-environmental measure also in the future. The main influencing factors for the conversion to organic farming are the agri-environmental measure, prospects for market development, and peer influence. Attitudes of farmers are less importance.

Networks involving researchers from the Central and Eastern European Countries, the UK and Ireland were formed in the area of land fragmentation and biodiversity and social networks and partnerships. These networks have developed proposals for future research activities in these areas.

Case study research provides good insights into rural cooperation in CEECs Altogether seven case studies were completed by subcontractors from six Central and Eastern European Countries. Each subcontractor analyses in detail the history, successes and problems of a rural cooperation project in his/her country. The reports provide an excellent basis for comparative and/or more focussed research into the topic of rural cooperation. Furthermore, the reports in the current form build a very valuable source of information on particular cases. The case study reports produced in WP3 are available for download on the IDARI website. One paper based on the case study in Slovakia, entitled "Shifting Governance. Managing the Commons: The Case of Slovensky Raj National Park" by Tatiana Kluvankova-Oravska and Veronika Chobotova, has been published in the journal Sociologia 38, 2006, c. 3 A special issue of a journal may be produced, pooling papers that will be produced by the subcontractors based on their case studies. The paper on main result 1 could also be contained in this special issue.

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