One of the tasks of the research stage of the CONSOLE project is to have a deliverable of the lessons learned (Deliverable 2.4) that are framed within the WP2 work package.

The objectives of the document are to provide lessons learned from a variety of existing (implemented) contractual solutions for the improved delivery of AECPG both within and outside the EU.

And to achieve this objective, a structural approach is adopted:

1. Introduction to the case studies, analyzing it in terms of the characteristics of the contract, Agro-Environmental-Climate Public Goods addressed (AECPGs), forestry and agricultural systems, contracting alliances, financial parties and payment mechanisms;
2. Through a qualitative analysis, the contract specifications and the reasons for the success and failure of the case studies are presented;
3. The reasons for the success of exemplary cases outside the EU and cases beyond the CONSOLE EU case studies (see deliverable 2.2);
4. General conclusions and recommendations are drawn, taking into account EU case studies, non-EU case studies and in-depth case studies.

Therefore, through this approach, deliverable 2.4 provides information on the specificities and framework conditions that drive the success of the contract solutions presented in the case studies. In addition, the deliverable can provide a knowledge base on what to consider when enhancing contract solutions for enhanced provision of AECPG.

This year’s theme of the World Soil Day 2020 ‘Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity’ is very much at the heart of the CONSOLE project where we are looking at innovative contract solutions for the delivery of environmental public goods.

Only by fostering the interlinkages between farming activities, soil organisms and natural processes from an ecological and a socio-economic point of view a transition to a more sustainable agricultural production is possible.

The CONSOLE factsheets provide a valuable source of voluntary environment and climate measures demonstrating that:

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You can download some of the CONSOLE project case studies related to soils.

• AT4-The Humus-Program of the Ökoregion Kaindorf
• BE2-FLANDERS – Flemish Forest Group
• BE4-Flemish nature management plan
• DE1-Viticulture on steep slopes creates diversity in the Moselle valley
• ES4-Monitoring and boosting environmentally beneficial practices in the olive grove within the framework of the new CAP measures
• IRL3– BRIDE – Biodiversity Regeneration in a Dairying Environment
• IT6- INTEGRATED TERRITORIAL PROJECTS – (ITPs) /territorial agreement
• NL1- Kromme Rijn Collective management
• NL2- Green Deal Dutch Soy
• UK1- Delivering multiple environmental benefits in the South Pennines
• UK3- Building natural flood management knowledge and capacity in Wensleydale

During these months, in the CONSOLE project we are making known the 58 case studies, from 13 European countries (2 case studies in non-European countries) in which we are carrying out our project through the information sheets. In them, you can find a series of data from more than 70 experts and interested parties.

The information structured in Infoboxes

These information sheets are structured in infoboxes in the margins of the pages that allow a quick understanding – and through the use of icons – of the types of contract, characteristics, public goods, payment mechanisms, duration of the contract, etc.

The four types of contracts

In this publication we want to present the four main types of contract of the CONSOLE project:

Figure shows that 22 contract solutions are assigned to the main contract type of collective implementation/cooperation (CO/COOP), including 18 cases representing collective implementation and 4 representing cooperations. Five collective case studies are double-counted because a second main contract type is involved. CO/COOP contract solutions are thus the most numerous in the project closely followed by result-based/result-oriented (RB/RO) solutions (21 cases). The distribution of RB and RO contract solutions in the RB/RO pillar is nearly half/half; 11 of the contract solutions are explicitly result-based, 10 contract solutions are result-oriented contracts. Again, 7 RB/RO contract solutions are characterised by incorporating a second main contract type. 15 case studies are assigned to the contract type group of value chain (VC) based solutions; 10 case studies belong to the group of land tenure (LT) based contracts (4 case studies each includes a second main contract type). Finally, there are 3 case studies which are not directly assignable to one of the four contract types, therefore, they are assigned to an additional category named “others”.

In principle, CONSOLE case studies are examples of existing, innovative and effective contract solutions aimed at improving the provision of AECPGs.
However, for the purposes of covering failures, CONSOLE case studies can also represent real life proposals of contract solutions that for some reasons have never arrived at the stage of generating impact, but that can provide relevant insights (e.g. measures that opened calls without participation, contract proposals with no uptake, measures proved impossible due to regulatory constraints at EU level, etc.)

Moreover, a CONSOLE case study is a case of real implementation of a specific contract “type”. In accordance with the CONSOLE deliverable D1.1. contract solutions suited to be a case study in CONSOLE are:

Also contract solutions representing combinations or hybrids of these contract “types” are suited to be case studies in CONSOLE. Practice- or action-based contracts, today’s dominating approach, have been excluded on purpose. Still there are some contrat solution case studies that contain practice-based elements, for example where the payments are (partly) based on management prescriptions.

Besides representing real cases of contract types emphasised by CONSOLE, additional requirements have been considered:

The CONSOLE cases studies cover: