Research concept

A team member per subproject (based on seven subprojects) works to create the research subjects for CIVILand placing great importance on the linking of individual topics and related interdisciplinary cooperation.

Three subprojects have their research focus in the civil-society initiatives as organizational forms, which finance and/or develop and apply the PES.

Four subprojects are devoted with different research perspectives, to the applied financial incentive instruments (PES). Depending on these two research objectives and their respective research subjects, the project will be conducted either by comparing societies or by focussing specifically on case studies. The subprojects will be based on a jointly compiled secondary database as well as a joint primary data survey in Germany, Great Britain and the USA.

Research concepts of the subprojects

• Subproject 1Significance and innovation potential of non-governmental versus governmental PES in dependence of the institutional framework
• Subproject 2Who pays for which ecosystem service – where, how much and why? The social and cultural comparison of PES
• Subproject 3Analysis of the nature of the remunerated ecological and cultural landscape services and the use of ecological models in the course of the instrument design
• Subproject 4Analysis of the relevant civil society organizations with focus on foundations and trusts
• Subproject 5Participation in the designing of payments for ecosystem services (PES) - a comparison of PES design processes in Germany and Great Britain
• Subproject 6Civil Society Initiatives and Payments for Ecosystem Services: A New Institutional Economics Approach
• Subproject 7Strengths and weaknesses of governmental PES in the three study areas