Dean, Angela J., Eberhard, Rachel, Baresi, Umberto, Coggan, Anthea, Deane, Felicity, Hamman, Evan, Helmstedt, Kate J., Loechel, Barton, Jarvis, Diane, Mayfield, Helen, Stevens, Lillian, Taylor, Bruce, and Vella, Karen (2023) Scrutinizing the impact of policy instruments on adoption of agricultural conservation practices using Bayesian expert models. Conservation Letters, 16 (6). e12988.

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Abstract

Policy instruments—such as regulation, financial incentives, and agricultural extension—are commonly applied by governments to promote sustainable agricultural practices and tackle ecosystem degradation. Despite substantial investment, little data are available to gauge the impact of evolving policy mixes. We constructed a Bayesian network model to explore relationships between pol-icy instruments, contextual factors, and adoption. Applying a series of scenarios, we present examples of how different instruments influence adoption and how their effectiveness is shaped by contextual factors. Scenarios highlight that the effect of policy instruments is often modest, and constrained by diverse practice and population characteristics. These findings allow us to reflect on the role of policy instruments, and the conditions necessary to support practice change. For example, our findings raise questions about the role of financial benefits versus financial capacity, and highlight the potential importance of concepts such as mental bandwidth in shaping both motivation and capacity to adopt.

Item ID:	80990
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1755-263X
Keywords:	agricultural practices, behavior change, extension, livelihoods, practice adoption, regulation
Copyright Information:	This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Funders:	Queensland Government (QG)
Projects and Grants:	QG Reef water quality program RP225
Date Deposited:	08 Nov 2023 01:25
FoR Codes:	38 ECONOMICS > 3801 Applied economics > 380105 Environment and resource economics @ 50% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410404 Environmental management @ 50%
SEO Codes:	15 ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK > 1505 Microeconomics > 150509 Preference, behaviour and welfare @ 50% 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180201 Assessment and management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems @ 50%
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