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Fishing vessels run on fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gases, which are harmful to the environment and costly to society. Since fuel use in fisheries is often subsidized through tax concessions, private fuel consumption will be higher than what is socially optimal. Furthermore,fuel tax concessions will lead to greater fishing effort, with overfishing as a possible consequence. This thesis deals with these negative externalities associated with fisheries. The aim of the study is to elicit the economic and environmental effects fromremoving fuel tax concessions, and to view these effects in relation to the results of current and optimal fisheries management.To this end, four different fuel costscenarios are introducedas basis for the analysis.The current situation of the fishery is compared to an optimized fishery with fuel tax concessions maintained andremoved, i.e. with fuel costs implemented. The target of the studyis thecommercial Baltic salmon fishery, which is a small-scale coastal fishery carried out with trapnets. The analysis employs a bioeconomic model, which accounts for the economic and biological features of this specific fishery. Results from the analysis conveyed that the fishery is currently unprofitable, and therefore not capable of coping withadditional costsimposed on it. However, results from the optimization suggest that economic performance can be improvedby managing the fishery in an optimal way, i.e. by adjustingthe fishing effort to an efficient level. Furthermore, amovement to optimal management is suggested to be an efficient way of gaining both economic and environmental benefits. An optimally managed fishery is thus better equipped to pay for the external costs fromtheCO2 emissions arising from its fishing operations.

Economic integration refers to the theoretical background which is based on the functioning of regional trade agree-ments (RTAs). Trade in context of economic integration embodies special characteristics in comparison to classical free trade. The special characteristics are contested whether they are welfare enhancing or diverting. RTAs are trade agree-ments between two or more countries and their number has been increasing during the last decades. Such agreements play an important role in international agro-food trade as already over 50% of agricultural products are traded within or between RTAs. The increase in number of RTAs and wider inclusion of agricultural trade in these agreements have revealed new agricultural trade policy measures which distort trade in agro-food products. These are so called non-tariff measures of which this study focuses on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures. The legitimate intention of such measures is to protect plant, animal and human health and prevent the spreading of harmful pathogens through international trade. This study attempted to create a theoretical framework for analysis of trade effects caused by SPS measures. The ef-fects were found to depend first of all on the burden of compliance and the nature of a SPS measure. Burden of com-pliance was divided into three dimensions of specific, uniform or universal measures according to whom the costs are due. For the nature of the SPS measures three categories were identified: cost-increasing, quantity-restricting and combining SPS measures. The developed theoretical framework was applied to analyze the case of poultry meat trade between the EU and the US in a case where the SPS measure becomes ineffective. The SPS measure of pathogen reduction treatments (PRTs) applied by the EU was identified as a combining measure. After having analyzed the trade effects in partial equilibrium framework, the changes in economic welfare for the EU poultry meat market were quanti-fied. The quantification of the economic welfare measures was made by using partial equilibrium comparative static analysis combined with Marshallian economic surplus framework. Economic surplus measures were calculated by comparing the initial welfare levels with the corresponding levels after the policy change. The analysis concentrated on short-term effects and the base year used was 2013. The calculations proceeded by defining supply and demand equations to calculate equilibrium price and quantity in the present policy regime which enabled calculations of consumer and pro-ducer surpluses. Then, the new trade policy regime was introduced by manipulating producer price. Equations defined in the first stage were used to calculate new quantities for production and consumption in the EU. Then, consumer and producer surpluses were calculated in the new trade policy regime. Finally the obtained results were compared with each other. The results of the welfare analysis show that the SPS measure concerning the use of PRTs in poultry meat has impact on producer and consumer welfare in the EU. Consumer welfare increased after the SPS measure became ineffective. The explanation is the decrease in price which lead to increase in consumption. However, producer welfare decreased as a consequence of lower price. The production of poultry meat decreased which meant that the gap between the EU production and consumption increased. This indicated that the import demand for poultry meat increased for the EU. If the imports were not restricted from the US, consumers would be able to obtain the higher welfare level than before the change in policy regime.

This study optimizes the management regime of boreal Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestric L.) stands. The aim is to compare the economic profitability of continuous cover management and clearcut management and to study the hypothesis that continuous cover forestry is more favorable in the case of Norway spruce, compared to Scots pine. Additionally, the study analyses the outcomes of two different growth models for these tree species and compares the results with the requirements of the Finnish Forest Act of 2014. Earlier studies comparing the suitability of Norway spruce and Scots pine to continuous cover forestry have applied unclear model specifications and unnecessary limitations in the optimization methods. In this study, the optimization is carried out using a theoretically sound economic optimization model that determines the choice of the management regime as an outcome of the optimization. The model uses empirically estimated ecological growth models and includes both fixed and variable harvesting costs. Two different empirically estimated ecological growth models are used and compared. The optimization model is solved as a bi-level problem where harvest timing is the upper-level problem and harvesting intensity the lower-level problem. The optimization is solved using gradient-based methods for the lower-level problems and genetic and hill-climbing algorithms for the upper-level problems. This is the first study using this method to solve optimal continuous cover solutions for Scots pine. The results show that the main differences in optimal solutions between the two species are independent of the ecological two growth models used. According to both ecological models, continuous cover forestry is less favorable for Scots pine compared to Norway spruce, in both low and average fertility sites. However, the magnitude of this favorability and the characteristics of the optimal solutions strongly depend on the ecological model. Optimal continuous cover solutions for Scots pine are also found to have very low stand densities. Almost all economically optimal solutions are illegal because of their low number of trees or basal area per hectare.

The main aim of this thesis was to study the ecosystem services provided by large-scale industrial eucalypt plantations of UPM in Paysandú region, Uruguay. In the landscape, natural pastures and forests are combined with rows of planted trees. The second aim was to study how various stakeholder groups use ecosystem services from the plantation landscape, and to what extent the rights and expectations related to their use vary among these groups. The third aim was to study the best ways to combine the production of ecosystem services with large-scale industrial tree plantations in the study area. The data used in this study consisted of 55 semi-structured interviews, which were recorded in Uruguay during summer of 2015. Among the persons interviewed, 15 people were classified as key-informants with a broad view on plantation industry in the study area. They were from educational institutions, companies, ministries and from non-governmental organizations. Based on results of the key-informants interviews, a total of 40 persons were selected for stakeholder interviews. They represented four groups; 1) cattle ranchers, 2) honey producers, 3) tree growers and 4) general public from the surrounding communities. With stakeholder interviews, the aim was to collect quantitative data with structured questionnaires. The key-informants and stakeholders were asked about the same issues, but the key-informant interviews had open questions for collecting both qualitative and quantitative data. The results of this study show that industrial tree plantation landscapes provide a plenitude of ecosystem services. However, the perceived changes in the landscape during the past ten years were in some cases more negative than positive. According to the key-informants, the most important ecosystem services provided included industrial wood, animal shelter, fodder and foods. This indicates that local livelihoods can be combined with industrial plantations and the stakeholders benefit from them in many ways. The cattle ranchers obtained mainly animal shelter and fodder. For them, also the regulation of natural hazards was important. The honey producers valued foods, pollination and biodiversity services. The tree growers valued industrial wood and, similarly as the cattle ranchers, animal shelter and fodder. For the general community, educational information was the most important service. Food, honey and mushrooms, and fuel wood were also highly valued ecosystem services. Industrial tree plantations create a wealth of ecosystem services, often with low or no cost. UPM Uruguay considers local stakeholders and their livelihoods in many ways. According to the company, the best ways to integrate industrial tree plantations and ecosystem services are already used in many parts, although there was no data disclosed about all of them. However, it seems that UPM is well aware of the local conditions. In the future, there is a need to study the monetary value and benefit sharing of ecosystem services e.g. through payments of ecosystem services schemes.

Plantation forestry has increased dramatically in Uruguay during the past 25 years. Thus, planted forests have an increasing importance in providing other ecosystem services in addition to wood provision in landscape scale. Forest sector company UPM owns more than 250 000 hectares of Eucalyptus plantations in Uruguay. UPM seeks to enhance their systems to measure and monitor ecosystem services, to better understand sustainable provision of ecosystem services in their plantation landscapes, and to mitigate negative and maximize positive impacts. Benefits of monitoring and incorporating ecosystem services at management level include strengthened decision-making and communication, license to operate in long-term and better corporate image. Four ecosystem services were selected for analysis based on their relevance in UPM’s corporate strategy: wood provision, climate regulation, water provision and biodiversity maintenance. Provision of the ecosystem services were estimated quantitatively and compared to a pasture land baseline. Provision of ecosystem services was also linked to product level, tonne of pulp, when applicable. Data for the analysis was partly provided by UPM and partly by literature meta-analysis. Climate benefit of converting pasture to Eucalyptus is 8–31 MgC/ha or 29–115 MgCO2/ha depending on species and rotation number. Planting 40% of a micro water-shed with Eucalyptus reduces water streamflow approximately by 20–27%, while reducing streamflow of peak rainfall months by up to 40%, potentially alleviating floods. Pastures in UPM’s landscapes are well connected, but provided little core habitats. Native riparian forests are fragmented and maintain biodiversity poorly. Suggestions for future monitoring and measuring are presented. This thesis works as a waypoint for future studies of holistic ecosystem services provision in UPM assets.

The purpose of the thesis is to portray the attitude of a Finnish consumer towards ethical consumption. Ethical consumption is studied by dividing it into three different sectors. Ethical consumption is studied through consumers' attitudes, action and the information available from ethical products and companies. Data for the empirical part of the thesis was collected with an internet survey. A link for the survey was on the Finnish Consumers' Associations front webpage. Link was also posted on two different discussion forums in internet. The survey was also sent to my acquaintances. Target for this survey was hence hard to forecast in advance. As a result I got 247 respondents. The concept of ethical consumption is hard to define. Everyone's moral defines what is ethical and what is not. Ethical action aims for the well being of an individual and humankind. A consumer who acts ethically takes care of others wellbeing and does not concentrate on himself only. In this study ethical consumption takes into account the environmental problems and the social problems. Social problems are ethical problems which consider the wellbeing and rights of animals, human and nature. Ethical problems are for example animal testing, poor working and employment conditions, child labour and the environmental pollution. According to my findings people think really positively about ethical consumption. They are interested on ethical aspects but on the other hand they do not want to make any extra effort, for example finding information. Consumers are easily ready to abandon ethical aspects in their action. According to the research consumers think that their choices do matter in companies' action. Consumers are ready to boycott companies but they are also ready to buy ethically acting companies' products, even with a premium price. Consumers suffer from a lack of information and they do not trust on the information that companies deliver. On the other hand there is quite a lot of information available which might confuse some consumers. To consume ethically is complicated but it also gives pleasure for many consumers.

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää millainen merkitys eettisyydestä kertovilla sertifiointimerkeillä on ostopäätöksissä Alkon myymälässä. Erityisesti oltiin kiinnostuneita selvittämään mitkä ja millaiset merkit kannustavat tai eivät kannusta valitsemaan tuotetta myymälässä. Tutkittiin myös sitä, kuinka mielipiteet merkkien selkeydestä ja eettisyyssertifioitujen tuotteiden hinnoista ja laadusta vaikuttavat tuotteiden suosimisen määrään. Myös taustamuuttujien, kuten esimerkiksi sukupuolen, iän ja koulutuksen vaikutusta tuotteiden suosimisen määrään selvitettiin. Työn teoriaosiossa tarkasteltiin alkoholimarkkinoita maailmalla yleensä ja eettisyyssertifioitujen alkoholituotteiden kulutusta ja myyntiä erityisesti Suomessa. Käsiteltiin myös alkoholituotteisiin liittyviä eettisyyssertifiointeja ja niihin liittyviä merkkejä. Lisäksi käsiteltiin eettisyydestä kertovia sertifiointimerkkejä osana ostopäätöksen tekoa myymälässä. Myös eettisyyssertifioitujen alkoholituotteiden hinnat olivat osana keskustelua. Tutkimus suoritettiin kvantitatiivisin tutkimusmenetelmin survey-tyyppisellä kyselylomakkeella. Empiirinen tutkimus rakentui aiheista, joita käsiteltiin työn teoriaosiossa. Aineiston keruu suoritettiin Alkon Arkadian myymälän sertifioitujen tuotteiden puodissa ja lomakkeella kysyttiin vastaajien mielipiteitä Alkon sertifioiduista tuotteista ja eettisyysmerkeistä. Kyselylomakkeita kertyi lopulta yht. 125 kpl. Tutkimustulosten mukaan naiset, muut kuin nuorimmat vastaajat ja korkeasti kouluttautuneet henkilöt suosivat eettisyyssertifioituja alkoholituotteita useammin kuin muut vastaajat. Eettisyydestä kertovista sertifiointimerkeistä vain Luomu- ja Reilun Kaupan merkit tunnistettiin hyvin ja myös ne kannustivat useimmiten valitsemaan sertifioidun tuotteen. Merkit yleensä koetaan usein vähintäänkin melko epäselvinä: vajaa puolet vastaajista oli sitä mieltä. Sertifioitujen tuotteiden hintoihin suhtautuminen vaikutti tässä tutkimuksessa tuotteiden suosimisen määrään. Yli puolet vastaajista koki eettisen- tai luomusertifioinnin nostavan tuotteen laatua vähintäänkin hieman. Tuotteiden eettisyydestä kertovien sertifiointimerkkien avulla tapahtuvaa viestintää tulisi kehittää ymmärrettävämpään ja yksinkertaisempaan suuntaan. Siihen voidaan vaikuttaa lisäämällä merkkien tunnettuutta yleensä ja kehittämällä merkkien eri ominaisuuksia, kuten esimerkiksi ulkoasua ja informatiivisuutta.

Peat lands are net sinks of carbon (C) and a net source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions owing to drainage during the growing season. The surface peat layer can be lost because of aerobic decomposition (oxidation) after drainage resulting in emissions of CO2. One way to reduce these emissions is to keep the water table at a high level as much as possible. The resulting anoxic conditions reduce the decomposition of organic matter and hence CO2 emissions. In the current Finnish agri-environmental scheme, the farmers may receive subsidies for controlled drainage on peatlands, and a raised ground water level through controlled drainage could be used as a greenhouse gas mitigation measure. This study reports the carbon balance of drained peatland under controlled drainage during the growing season in Mouhijärvi, Southwestern Finland. The CO2 fluxes measured with a transparent chamber method were divided into gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) for modelling based on environmental factors (light and temperature) and canopy reflectance (leaf area index, LAI). The GPP model estimates the effect of light and vegetation status, whereas the ER model captures the share of foliar biomass-dependent respiration and the ground water table. The sum of the study period (June–August 2016) GPP varied from -1301 to -670 g C m-2, ER from 632 to 1029 g C m-2 and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) from -322 to 68.5 g C m-2. NEE indicated a net sink of C in all plots except one with poor crop growth. The net ecosystem carbon balance (as the sum of NEE and carbon export as grains), indicated a net source of carbon in both plots with controlled drainage and a net sink in conventionally drained plots during the cultivation period. The greatest sink reported either as NEE or with the harvest included was the wettest plot, indicating that cereal production is possible in wetter than normal conditions.

The literature review deals with water distribution in meat, the structure of the myofibrillar matrix, and the aspects related to the water-protein interaction. Special focus was given to the large water accessible area of myosin S1 units, surface hydrophobicity of proteins and factors affecting the hydrophobicity. Also the possible mechanisms of water-holding in meat were briefly introduced. The aim of the thesis was to study the effect of different ions and pH values on the surface hydrophobicity of the myosin S1 units, adding knowledge to the understanding of the interaction between myosin S1 units and water. Myosin S1 units were prepared from porcine longissimus dorsi muscle 48 h postmortem. Obtained myosin S1 units were subjected to 0.2 M, 0.4 M and 0.6 M ionic strength of NaCl and KCl and to pH 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0. The surface hydrophobicity of myosin S1 units was measured by fluorescent molecular probe (cis-Parinaric acid) method. The method of purifying myosin S1 units from porcine longissimus dorsi muscle 48 h postmortem was established under the conditions of our laboratory. Surface hydrophobicity was found to increase with increasing ionic strength of both KCl and NaCl. Concerning the different ions studied, only at 0.6 M, significantly higher surface hydrophobicity of myosin S1 units was measured in KCl compared to NaCl. This phenomenon is in accordance with chaotropic effect of K+ and Cl- and kosmotropic effect of Na+. Regarding the effect of pH, within KCl samples, more hydrophobicity myosin S1 unit was detected towards to the more acidic direction pH values than pH 6.0. For NaCl samples, at pH 5.5 and 6.0, surface hydrophobicity was significantly higher than at pH 5.0, 6.5 and 7.0. Differences may have been induced by the changes in the net charges of protein, and further in protein conformation. Considering the property of the protein surface, more hydrophobic protein results in less water-protein interaction. However, to look at the whole scenario of the interaction between myosin S1 units and water, changes of net charges of myosin S1 units and water structure at vicinity of them should be further studied.

Poultry meat has become popular in human diet and to secure the growing demand of poultry meat, breeders have developed broilers with fast growth and high breast muscle yield. Because of this genetic selection modern broilers are suffering from various quality defects in their breast muscles, one of which is called WB myopathy. The aim of the thesis was to study whether exercise, WB status or age have effects on ultimate pH and glycolytic potential (sum of total glucose and lactic acid content, given as lactate) in M. pectoralis major of modern broilers chickens. A total of 154 post-rigor breast muscle samples of male broilers of hybrid Ross 308 were used in this study. Broilers were divided randomly into three groups (A-C). Group A birds were not subjected to any exercise during the experiment. Group B birds lived 25 days exactly like group A but after that the drinking water dispensers was elevated to a higher level. Group C birds had their drinking water dispensers elevated to a 5 cm higher level after three days, and it was risen stepwise to 25 cm during the study. Broilers were slaughtered randomly from different groups at 20, 30 or 41 days old. Group B results were disregarded due to technical problems. Initial and ultimate pH, total glucose, free and in glycogen, and lactic acid contents for glycolytic potential, were determined from the breast muscle samples. The results showed that there were no differences between groups A and C (p > 0.05). There were differences between normal and WB cases in ultimate pH (pHu; p = 0.000), total glucose content (p = 0.000), lactate content (p = 0.007) and glycolytic potential (p = 0.000), but the pH values 5 minutes after death showed no significance (pH5; p = 0.190). There were differences in pHu, total glucose and glycolytic potential (p = 0.000), and lactate (p = 0.007), between ages 20, 30 and 41 days old birds. As the severity of WB increased in the breast muscle, the pHu increased and total glucose, lactate content and glycolytic potential decreased. The correlations showed significant relationships between WB score and all the above variables (p < 0.000). The results of the current study show that exercise does not have an effect on the levels of carbohydrates in M. pectoralis major of modern broiler chickens, but WB status and increasing slaughter age result a decrease in glycolytic potential and increase in ultimate pH.