Optimizing environmental measures for landscape multifunctionality: Effectiveness, efficiency and recommendations for agri-environmental programs

Agri-environmental measures differ in their capacity to simultaneously enhance the provision of multiple ecosystem services. Multifunctional approaches are hampered by funding schemes that are usually administered by individual administrative sectors that each predominantly focus on one single environmental objective. Developing integrative management strategies that exploit synergies from implementing multifunctional measures is challenged by the need to quantify expected management effects on different ecosystem services. The objective of this paper is to compare uncoordinated versus coordinated management strategies in their contribution to multiple environmental objectives. We developed and applied a method for quantifying effectiveness, as well as spatial and cost efficiency with respect to four key landscape functions: erosion prevention, water quality conservation, climate change mitigation and safeguarding biodiversity. The case study area was the county of Verden, Germany. The following findings can be drawn: Measures for safeguarding biodiversity and climate change mitigation have generally high multifunctional effects, which makes them suitable for integrative management strategies. To make use of the added value of potential multifunctional measures, a spatially targeted allocation of agri-environmental measures is necessary. Compared to uncoordinated strategies, coordinated integrative management strategies either allow the optimization, of the ratio of costs to environmental effects or an increase in the effects that can be achieved within an area unit. This is however, usually not simultaneous. Future research should seek to refine the assessment and valuation indicators. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.