Toggle Main Menu Toggle Search

Open Access padlockePrints

Policy gaps and diverging perceptions of effectiveness: An assessment of sustainable permanent grassland management in Switzerland

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Sophie Tindale, Professor Lynn FrewerORCiD

Downloads


Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

This article focuses on the effectiveness of the Swiss policy mix promoting sustainable permanent grassland (PG) management in the country. We use the Cascade Framework and stakeholder’s sentiment analysis to qualitatively assess propagation pathways to generate policy effectiveness in terms of PGs’ delivery of ecosystem services (ES), ultimately enabling sustainable PG management. We employ a mixed method approach combining a review of governmental documents, formal policies and policy evaluations with semi‐structured interviews with Swiss stakeholders. Through this analysis, we find 16 policy instruments influencing PG management, of which 3 are regulatory instruments, 11 are incentive instruments, and 2 are informational instruments. Results show that these instruments primarily aim to promote sustainable PG management by implementing measures that focus on the fundamental make-up and structure of the landscape. As such, we find gaps in the types of instruments employed, particularly in terms of demand‐side policies, which can explain poor policy outcomes in a number of environmental quality objectives. In parallel, we find that most of the interviewed stakeholders consider Swiss grassland policy as generally effective, mainly because it is perceived as democratic. While the study focused on Switzerland, its novel conceptual and methodological approach of using the cascade-framework for policy analysis can be applied to other biogeographical regions and socio‐economic contexts. Our findings can improve the calibration of future policy instruments to enable land managers and grassland landscape users to restore or maintain PGs in good ecological condition, by targeting mechanisms that can ensure achieving environmental quality objectives while remaining democratically legitimate.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Quatrini S, Hunter E, Tindale S, Newell -Price P, Frewer LJ, Lieberherr E

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Agronomy

Year: 2024

Volume: 14

Issue: 11

Print publication date: 01/11/2024

Online publication date: 04/11/2024

Acceptance date: 05/10/2024

Date deposited: 11/11/2024

ISSN (electronic): 2073-4395

Publisher: MDPI AG

URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14112599

DOI: 10.3390/agronomy14112599

Data Access Statement: The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Materials. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.


Altmetrics

Altmetrics provided by Altmetric


Funding

Funder referenceFunder name
774124Commission of the European Communities
European Union Horizon 2020
SUPER-G project

Share