IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v236y2025ics0921800925001466.html

Model-based analysis of the agglomeration bonus for the conservation of twelve meadow bird species in an agricultural landscape

Author

Listed:
  • Drechsler, Martin
  • Sturm, Astrid

Abstract

The agglomeration bonus has been proposed as an effective and cost-effective instrument for inducing the spatial aggregation of conservation measures. It consists of a spatially homogenous base payment (like most existing payment schemes) plus a bonus for each adjacent land parcel that is conserved, too. While the agglomeration bonus has been investigated in numerous theoretical studies, very few applied studies exist to date. We extend a recent modelling study which analysed the effect of several grassland conservation schemes on meadow bird species in the Federal State of Saxony in Germany, by adding to the homogenous payment the described bonus. As expected, the bonus induces a spatial aggregation of the conservation measures. However, for typical bird dispersal ranges this does not reflect in an increased scheme cost-effectiveness. Only for much smaller dispersal ranges, which would be typical for insect species, the cost-effectiveness of the scheme would increase. We conclude that in complex agricultural landscapes with many land-use measures and species the agglomeration bonus may have limited value. Instead it should be used as a targeted instrument for the conservation of selected species of high conservation value that depend on very particular types of land use and have a small dispersal range.

Suggested Citation

  • Drechsler, Martin & Sturm, Astrid, 2025. "Model-based analysis of the agglomeration bonus for the conservation of twelve meadow bird species in an agricultural landscape," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:236:y:2025:i:c:s0921800925001466
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108663
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800925001466
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108663?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kuhfuss, Laure & Préget, Raphaële & Thoyer, Sophie & de Vries, Frans P. & Hanley, Nick, 2022. "Enhancing spatial coordination in payment for ecosystem services schemes with non-pecuniary preferences," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    2. Md. Sayed Iftekhar & John G. Tisdell, 2016. "An Agent Based Analysis of Combinatorial Bidding for Spatially Targeted Multi-Objective Environmental Programs," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 64(4), pages 537-558, August.
    3. Arnott, David & Chadwick, David & Harris, Ian & Koj, Aleksandra & Jones, David L., 2019. "What can management option uptake tell us about ecosystem services delivery through agri-environment schemes?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 194-208.
    4. Banerjee, Simanti & Cason, Timothy N. & de Vries, Frans P. & Hanley, Nick, 2017. "Transaction costs, communication and spatial coordination in Payment for Ecosystem Services Schemes," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 68-89.
    5. Drechsler, Martin, 2023. "Improving models of coordination incentives for biodiversity conservation by fitting a multi-agent simulation model to a lab experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    6. Bamière, Laure & David, Maia & Vermont, Bruno, 2013. "Agri-environmental policies for biodiversity when the spatial pattern of the reserve matters," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 97-104.
    7. James Salzman & Genevieve Bennett & Nathaniel Carroll & Allie Goldstein & Michael Jenkins, 2018. "The global status and trends of Payments for Ecosystem Services," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(3), pages 136-144, March.
    8. Parkhurst, Gregory M. & Shogren, Jason F. & Bastian, Chris & Kivi, Paul & Donner, Jennifer & Smith, Rodney B. W., 2002. "Agglomeration bonus: an incentive mechanism to reunite fragmented habitat for biodiversity conservation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 305-328, May.
    9. Frank Wätzold & Martin Drechsler & Karin Johst & Melanie Mewes & Astrid Sturm, 2016. "A Novel, Spatiotemporally Explicit Ecological-economic Modeling Procedure for the Design of Cost-effective Agri-environment Schemes to Conserve Biodiversity," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 98(2), pages 489-512.
    10. Huber, Robert & Zabel, Astrid & Schleiffer, Mirjam & Vroege, Willemijn & Brändle, Julia M. & Finger, Robert, 2021. "Conservation Costs Drive Enrolment in Agglomeration Bonus Scheme," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    11. Bell, Andrew & Parkhurst, Gregory & Droppelmann, Klaus & Benton, Tim G., 2016. "Scaling up pro-environmental agricultural practice using agglomeration payments: Proof of concept from an agent-based model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 32-41.
    12. Drechsler, Martin, 2023. "Ecological and economic trade-offs between amount and spatial aggregation of conservation and the cost-effective design of coordination incentives," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    13. François Bareille & Matteo Zavalloni & Davide Viaggi, 2023. "Agglomeration bonus and endogenous group formation," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(1), pages 76-98, January.
    14. Sturm, Astrid & Drechsler, Martin & Johst, Karin & Mewes, Melanie & Wätzold, Frank, 2018. "DSS-Ecopay – A decision support software for designing ecologically effective and cost-effective agri-environment schemes to conserve endangered grassland biodiversity," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 113-116.
    15. Häusler, Mara-Magdalena & Zabel, Astrid, 2024. "Sites side by side: Can an agglomeration bonus with an adjacency rule connect agri-environmental sites?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    16. Nguyen, Chi & Latacz-Lohmann, Uwe & Hanley, Nick & Schilizzi, Steven & Iftekhar, Sayed, 2022. "Spatial Coordination Incentives for landscape-scale environmental management: A systematic review," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    17. Drechsler, Martin & Wätzold, Frank & Johst, Karin & Shogren, Jason F., 2010. "An agglomeration payment for cost-effective biodiversity conservation in spatially structured landscapes," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 261-275, April.
    18. Krawczyk, Michał & Bartczak, Anna & Hanley, Nick & Stenger, Anne, 2016. "Buying spatially-coordinated ecosystem services: An experiment on the role of auction format and communication," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 36-48.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Drechsler, Martin, 2025. "Learning coalition formation under an agglomeration bonus: Impacts on coalition structure and scheme performance," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Drechsler, Martin, 2025. "Learning coalition formation under an agglomeration bonus: Impacts on coalition structure and scheme performance," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    2. Nguyen, Chi & Latacz-Lohmann, Uwe & Hanley, Nick & Schilizzi, Steven & Iftekhar, Sayed, 2022. "Spatial Coordination Incentives for landscape-scale environmental management: A systematic review," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    3. Drechsler, Martin, 2023. "Improving models of coordination incentives for biodiversity conservation by fitting a multi-agent simulation model to a lab experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    4. Nguyen, Chi & Latacz-Lohmann, Uwe & Hanley, Nick & Iftekhar, Sayed, 2025. "Conservation auctions for landscape-scale environmental management: Does spatial configuration matter for economic and ecological outcomes?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    5. Häusler, Mara-Magdalena & Zabel, Astrid, 2024. "Sites side by side: Can an agglomeration bonus with an adjacency rule connect agri-environmental sites?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    6. Chi Nguyen & Uwe Latacz‐Lohmann & Nick Hanley, 2024. "Landscape‐level determinants of the performance of an agglomeration bonus in conservation auctions," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(2), pages 592-616, June.
    7. Hecker, Lutz Philip & Sturm, Astrid & Querhammer, Lisa & Wätzold, Frank, 2024. "Cost-effectiveness of state-dependent versus state-independent agri-environment schemes for biodiversity conservation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    8. François Bareille & Matteo Zavalloni & Davide Viaggi, 2023. "Agglomeration bonus and endogenous group formation," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(1), pages 76-98, January.
    9. Nyanghura, Qambemeda M. & Biber-Freudenberger, Lisa & Börner, Jan, 2024. "Incentives for biodiversity conservation under asymmetric land ownership," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    10. Nguyen, Chi & Latacz-Lohmann, Uwe, 2023. "Assessing the performance of agglomeration bonus in budget-constrained conservation auctions," 97th Annual Conference, March 27-29, 2023, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 334544, Agricultural Economics Society - AES.
    11. Drechsler, Martin, 2023. "A game-theoretic systematic of interactions and dynamics in the conservation and management of spatial ecosystem services," MPRA Paper 117605, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Ferré, Marie & Engel, Stefanie & Gsottbauer, Elisabeth, 2018. "Which Agglomeration Payment for a Sustainable Management of Organic Soils in Switzerland? – An Experiment Accounting for Farmers' Cost Heterogeneity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 24-33.
    13. Drechsler, Martin & Wätzold, Frank & Grimm, Volker, 2022. "The hitchhiker's guide to generic ecological-economic modelling of land-use-based biodiversity conservation policies," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 465(C).
    14. Justin Dijk & Erik Ansink & Daan van Soest, 2017. "Buyouts and Agglomeration Bonuses in Wildlife Corridor Auctions," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 17-036/VIII, Tinbergen Institute.
    15. Huber, Robert & Ammann, Sara & Bethwell, Claudia & Carlin, Caitriona & Fahrni, Viviane & Fürholz, Andrea & Karner, Katrin & Hussain, Raja Imran & Kindermann, Gesche & Suškevičs, Monika, 2025. "Human–AI framework reveals design levers for collective landscape stewardship in agriculture," SocArXiv pfhk5_v1, Center for Open Science.
    16. Drechsler, Martin, 2023. "Ecological and economic trade-offs between amount and spatial aggregation of conservation and the cost-effective design of coordination incentives," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    17. Huber, Robert & Zabel, Astrid & Schleiffer, Mirjam & Vroege, Willemijn & Brändle, Julia M. & Finger, Robert, 2021. "Conservation Costs Drive Enrolment in Agglomeration Bonus Scheme," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    18. Simanti Banerjee & Timothy N. Cason & Frans P. de Vries & Nick Hanley, 2021. "Spatial Coordination and Joint Bidding in Conservation Auctions," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(5), pages 1013-1049.
    19. Panchalingam, Thadchaigeni & Jones Ritten, Chian & Shogren, Jason F. & Ehmke, Mariah D. & Bastian, Christopher T. & Parkhurst, Gregory M., 2019. "Adding realism to the Agglomeration Bonus: How endogenous land returns affect habitat fragmentation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.
    20. Ferré, Marie & Engel, Stefanie & Gsottbauer, Elisabeth, 2022. "Incentivizing coordination in the adoption of sustainable land use when costs are heterogeneous: An economic experiment," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • Q57 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Ecological Economics
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:236:y:2025:i:c:s0921800925001466. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.