An economic approach for a better understanding of conflicts between farmers and nature conservationists – an application of the decision support system MODEM to the Lower Odra Valley National Park

The establishment of expansive nature conservation areas is among the most important measures for maintaining bio-diversity. Recently, these areas have increasingly been established in agrarian regions, leading to conflicts between farmers and nature conservationists. In the context of the German national park, Lower Odra Valley, an economic approach for achieving a comprehensive understanding of the divergent objectives of participants is introduced. The calculations were made with support of the modelling system MODAM (Multiple Objective Decision Support Tool for Agro-Ecosystem Management), previously introduced in detail. Several scenarios of various national park concepts were analysed. A nature conservationist-defined scenario resulted in an income loss 2.5 times greater than the compensation payment amount available. While a farmer-favoured scenario resulted in a income loss considerably less than the subsidy limit, the resulting fragmentation of the total reserve area is unacceptable from the ecological perspective. It is shown that a step-by-step approach by both parties is required to determine a joint solution. Another interesting perspective is presented in a discussion of the political dimension of the conflict. The results of the study show that the opportunity costs of the establishment of total reserve areas largely depend on the availability of subsidy payments for agricultural and ecological programmes offered in the polder region of the national park. It is likely that much of the conflict concerns different government objectives. While ecological programmes are dominated by allocative objectives, a number of agricultural programmes aim for a redistribution of income between different groups in society. One of the most valuable results of the study in the Lower Oda region is the realisation of the important influence that unrecognised conflicts at the political level may have on local conflicts. It can be shown that the establishment of nature conservation areas does not automatically increase the demand for public funds, but requires a skilful reallocation of the existing funds for agro-ecological programmes. Ideally this could lead to win-win solutions for all the stakeholders involved.