Decision Support for selecting economic instruments

Purpose of the tool
The tool assists in the process of selecting economic instruments that can provide effective incentives for improved environmental management. Examples of economic instruments are tradable permits, environmental subsidies, pollution charges or environmental certification. The tool enables natural resource managers to compare the suitability of various economic instruments within their specific situation to develop a more sustainable system.

Target group: Policy makers, Planners

Tool description
The user needs to answer a set of questions related to environmental, social, economic, and governance criteria. After finishing the survey an assessment for the selection of economic instruments is developed. The assessment provides scores per instrument, per set of criteria and an overall assessment. Based on this assessment planners have a first idea on the suitability of specific economic instruments within their physical and social context.

Result description
Once all the criteria have been rated, the score can be calculated for all the instruments for the given context.

It is also simultaneously calculated for an overall score across all four categories (Environmental criteria, Social criteria, Market criteria, Governance criteria).
 
 
The tool in practice
The tool was applied in the Afromaison project - Case Rwenzori Mountains & Albertine Rift, Uganda. This case study focuses on Payment for Environment Services (PES) approaches for improved soil management and ecosystem integrity.

Necessary inputs and conditions
It is a decision support tool for natural resources managers to decide which economic policy instruments are applicable for natural resources management in their situation. Users need to have basic knowledge on the different kinds of available economic instruments and the context of the local governance system.

Contact data
This tool has been developed within the Afromaison project framework. It was funded by the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme through the AFROMAISON project (Grant agreement no 266379).

Supported and Developed by:

• Institute of Natural Resources (INR) (South Africa)
• InterSus Sustainability Services (InterSus) (Germany) - subcontractor for ANTEA (Belgium)
• University of Geneva/enviroSPACE (Switzerland).
  Translated from English into French by: Ms Aida Zare (2iE in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso)

Contact:

• Economic: Ms Fonda Lewis (INR) and Mr Eduard Interwies (InterSus)
• Technical: Dr Grégory Giuliani or Mr Yaniss Guigoz (University of Geneva)

Phase and tool category: Strategy development and Planning | Economic tool

Spatial scale and time scale
Spatial Scale: National to local
Time scale: Months - years

Tool availability
Available free online.

Download: The tool can be used online and be downloaded for off-line use here.