In theory, payment for environmental services (PES) is a market mechanism but, in practice, it depends on intervention from the state or community. This is the conclusion of a new review of case studies that indicates that PES relies on public bodies and communities to act as intermediaries in the trading of services.

Transaction costs can be incurred during various phases of environmental policy making, from planning through to enforcement. A recent study has examined what influences these costs and concluded that policy selection and evaluation could benefit from a better understanding of the causes of these transaction costs.

A new tool allows European businesses to see how, through informed decision-making, conserving the ecosystems they depend on is not only environmentally responsible, but can also increase profits, reduce risk and boost the value of their product or services.

According to a recent viewpoint article, future agri-environmental schemes (AES) can more effectively pay for the provision of ecosystem services at a landscape level if they are prepared, designed and implemented in a collaborative and coordinated manner.

A new study has developed a system to assess the potential of ecosystems to supply ecosystem services in the EU-25 plus Switzerland and Norway. It is one of the first to use historical and projected data on land use change at a continental scale to estimate the provision of ecosystem services and to assess possible trade-offs between them.

However, policies designed to improve ecosystem resilience have met with less success, potentially due to the longer timescales required to see progress in this area. The report concludes that Europe needs new policies and objectives that recognise the links between resource efficiency and ecosystem resilience if it is to move to a sustainable green economy.

There is increasing policy demand for the ‘scaling-up’ of ecosystem service valuations to a national or regional level, but available methods for doing this are limited. A new study has proposed a new scaling-up methodology and tested it by assessing the impact of climate change on European wetlands.

In economic terms, overfishing can be regarded as borrowing natural capital at a high rate of interest, according to a new study. Combining economic and biological principles, the study develops a concept that expresses overfishing in terms of the ‘interest’ that the fishing industry have to repay in future years as a result of lost income from depleted fish stocks.

Valuations of water quality as an ecosystem service often fail to include related services like recreation or human health, and do not consider the effects of water quality changes due to management. Researchers have now developed a template for valuation that considers multiple services and links management actions to changes in water quality and ultimate economic value.

Researchers have developed a new approach for identifying regions that are most suitable for expanding ecosystem services. This could be used to help inform spatial planning decisions. By modelling ecosystem services’ opportunity costs in relation to agricultural revenue, the study provides a map of suitable areas of ecosystem service expansion in Eastern Europe.

Interactions between population growth, consumption and the use of natural products and services have created an unsustainable pressure on the environment. New research has provided a detailed investigation into the relationships between these three trends, providing insight into how to alleviate these pressures. It concludes they cannot be addressed by market mechanisms or technological advances alone.

Ecosystem services, such as coastal protection or water supply, form an integral part of ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change. However, preserving and restoring ecosystems and their services relies on the economic system that supports these efforts. Ecosystem services will not be best protected by the classic market framework, new research suggests.

The use of important ecosystem services, such as carbon storage or hunting, can be estimated through ecosystem accounting methods, a new study demonstrates. The researchers tested models that could help policymakers to understand the capacity of ecosystems to generate ecosystem services, and how these services are used over time.

Nudges can foster greener public behaviour but they also raise some moral questions, concludes a recent analysis of behaviour-change schemes. How businesses' behaviour is influenced by consumer concerns for the environment is less clear - and may only result in 'greenwash' - the researchers suggest.

A framework to value marine and coastal zone ecosystem services, which acknowledges but transcends monetary value, has been proposed by researchers. Using this approach, coastal managers can integrate the different values placed on ecosystem goods and services by various stakeholders to assess how these values affect planning decisions.

A process to help identify and value cultural ecosystem services has been developed by researchers and is demonstrated in a recent Black Sea case study. This highlighted the value of anchovies to Turkish identity: respondents to a survey said that they would be willing to pay 135 Turkish lira (€49) per year in order to fund environmental management that protects this culturally important species.

Ecosystems services — the benefits that nature provides to people — are inadequately accounted for in Environmental Impact Assessments, a new study suggests. The researchers used a case study in France to illustrate the substantial economic losses that are incurred as a result of infrastructure development that goes ahead without sufficient consideration of the impacts on ecosystem services.

To increase energy efficiency, many countries are encouraging their citizens to make individual energy-saving changes, such as changing the type of light bulbs they use. This study investigated the relationship between understanding of environmental issues and effective energy-saving behaviour and shows that informed citizens are key to successful policy.

In the Mediterranean region the demand for natural resources and ecological services is two and half times greater than ecosystems’ capacity to provide them, recent research has found. To meet this demand, countries rely on imports, exposing themselves to price volatility and potential resource shortages. According to the authors, a 10% increase in global prices would particularly impact vulnerable countries such as Jordan, which would see its trade balance worsening by 2.4% of its gross domestic product.

The EU Waste Framework Directive aims to recycle or recover materially 70% of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste by 2020. This study evaluated the performance of the Finnish waste management system against this target. The results showed that the system generates environmental benefits and is profitable, but has not reached the 70% target. The researchers suggest ways the target could be met and recommend region-specific recycling objectives in the EU.

A team of Italian scientists has published a study highlighting the important role of intersectoral linkages and eco-innovations in shaping industry’s environmental performance (a measure of its ability to meet environmental targets and objectives) across Europe. The research indicates that eco-innovation can produce positive effects, both directly (in the sector where it is developed) and indirectly (in linked sectors at home and abroad). These insights are relevant to corporate and policy governance strategies aimed at maximising the environmental and economic potential of novel green technologies.

Consumers are willing to pay more for food that has been produced via sustainable processes and with a reduced environmental impact. A large-scale US survey, that questioned strawberry consumers on aspects of sustainable food production, suggests that food producers could benefit from increased premiums if product ecolabels were to advertise specific environmental virtues.

Agri-environmental measures (AEM) are designed to encourage farmers to protect and enhance the environment on their farmland by paying them for the provision of environmental services. This study suggests that AEM would be more effective if payments were targeted to areas under the greatest environmental pressures, such as intensive agricultural regions — to gain maximum environmental benefits.

Dimension Data to help organisations on the enterprise mobility front through a dedicated Apple practice and managed mobility services for iOS

A joint delegation of Microsoft and Veriown Global Holdings met Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh here today to discuss a proposal to launch a pilot project in the state for the promotion of the gadget, to be linked through a tablet, to be provided by the companies for offering services across various sectors, including education and agriculture.

The mobility solution has enabled the enrolment and agreement process online, followed with the customer’s digital signature and the receipt along with a confirmation SMS.

Quick Claim Settlement will enable the company to settle claims of up to Rs. 20,000/- and release the settlement amount within 30 minutes in customer’s bank account.

Openwave Mobility released predictions for 2018 based on two major pieces of analysis- the mobile video index (MVI) based on live data gathered from over 30 global mobile operators and the NFV Playbook, based on NFV trials and deployments with insight from leading industry analysts.

Udupi-based Robosoft was started in 1996 with Apple as its first customer. It is now evolving beyond mobile app development to add advisory capabilities.

A mobile-centric approach and the emergence of new digital platforms fuelling greater adoption of e-commerce has driven reach and growth of MakeMyTrip, the online travel company said in a presentation to investors.

In a freewheeling discussion with ETCIO, Miao Song, Global CIO & Global VP of MARS group emphasized this different Covid-19 challenge which is new for CIOs to tackle and difficult too.

Mashreq bank's preparation for digitization has only helped the bank improve its profits during Coronavirus pandemic while most of its competitors continue to struggle

Several of Federal Bank’s digital initiatives are finally seeing massive adoption as the Kochi-based bank works on automation and self service tools to boost profits.

The insurance company is planning to make more investments in digital selling and workforce management, thus eyeing the covid-19 situation as an opportunity to strengthen the digital posture than a business challenge.

In an interview with ETCIO, Miao Song, Global CIO & Global VP of MARS, talks about the IT & Digital odyssey of the company in tackling the Covid-19 crisis.

Global lockdowns will change the way we work forever. This will make the CIO role more strategic than ever.

To tackle the Covid-19 situation, Kotak General Insurance is trying to prepare rapidly, test critical paths and scale up

As offices start to reopen, Biometric systems could pose a big threat to safety from coronavirus.

April was a month of heavy-lifting for Anand Natarajan, COO, DBS Bank India, but the company’s investments made towards building a robust tech infrastructure made pandemic substantially easier for him.

CIOs should focus their energy on the resolution of issues that arise as almost 100% of their workforce work remotely and building resistance towards the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The makers of Fevicol are leveraging this time to retrain staff and gear up technology infrastructure for the post-Covid world.

CIOs role is set to evolve post-Covid-19 with new demands coming in from the business. Here’s how they can be prepared.

Our global customers are looking at the cloud to more effectively meet their toughest business challenges. Yet something is stopping them from making the most of what cloud can deliver

At BT Global Services connections are our business. We are trusted by thousands of enterprises around the world, combining our global strength in networks, IT and innovation with local presence, expertise and delivery. Watch this video to find out how we can help you connect for a better future.

An executive in a large global enterprise claims to be losing 125 minutes per day due to poor communication, collaboration and information flows!*By unifying your voice, instant messaging, collaboration and mobility together, you can boost efficiency and simplify your operations.

The Art of Connecting is Rethinking the Risk. Be clear on where you stand with BT Security

BT decided to showcase its technology by hosting a virtual media summit for AMEA and we knew that we could save money and invite more people if we made it virtual.

People have high expectations of how they should be able to collaborate at work – driven by the impact of advanced technologies on the entertainment experience. We make things simple, and give users the best experience

You need to make sure that when a customer calls, they get a response first time, every time. If you fail, your customer might soon become somebody else’s. Inbound Contact global can help

Auto Contact, our range of self-service solutions, can help free up agents to handle more complex and revenue-generating calls –and at the same time improve the overall customer experience whilst reducing costs.