Browsing by master's degree program "Maatalous-, ympäristö- ja luonnonvaraekonomian maisteriohjelma"

Vuoden 1945 maanhankintalailla perustettiin Suomeen noin 90 000 uutta tilaa tai tonttia, asuttamiseen käytettiin noin 2,5 miljoonaa hehtaaria maata. Sen tarkoituksena oli saada työtä ja asuntoja siirtoväelle sekä rintamamiehille. Maanhankintalain nojalla maatalous pientilavaltaistui ja sitä siirtyi heikkotuottoisimmille alueille, kuten Pohjois- ja Itä-Suomeen. Siirtoväestä valtaosa asutettiin Etelä-Suomeen, koska se vastasi siirtoväen entisen kotiseudun olosuhteita. Tutkielmassa verrataan Hämeen läänin maatalouden tunnusluvuissa vuosina 1945–1950 tapahtuneita muutoksia Uudenmaan, Vaasan, Mikkelin sekä Turun ja Porin lääneihin. Maisterintutkielman tavoitteena oli selvittää vuoden 1945 maanhankintalain vaikutuksia tuon ajan Hämeen läänin maatalouteen ja alueen maanluovuttajiin, näiden viljelyn jatkuvuuteen ja tilojen tuottavuuteen. Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan kirjallisuuden ja asiantuntijan haastattelun tuella Hämeen läänissä vuosien 1941 ja 1950 välillä maatalouden tunnusluvuissa tapahtuneita muutoksia, kuten teknologian määrää, tuotannon ja tilojen rakennetta. Tutkielmassa on tarkastelussa maanluovuttajia silloisen Hämeen läänin alueelta. Henkilökohtaisten haastattelujen ja arkistopohjaisen tiedon perusteella on pyritty selvittämään, miten maanluovutukset vaikuttivat viljelmien toimintaan ja tulevaisuuteen. Verrokkilääneistä viljelmien keskikoko laski eniten Hämeen läänissä maanhankintalain vaikutuksesta. Verrokkilääneistä Hämeen lääniin perustettiin eniten maanhankintalain mukaisia tiloja, josta on seurannut tilojen keskikoon huomattava lasku. Teknologinen kehitys on seurannut paljolti läänin viljelmien keskikokoa. Lypsykoneita on ollut sitä enemmän yhtä lehmää kohden, mitä korkeampi on läänin tilojen keskikoko. Vuoden 1941 perusteella traktoreidenkin yleisyys on perustunut läänin viljelmien keskikokoon. Sato- ja tuotostasot ovat nousseet tilakoon noustessa. Suuremmat tilat ovat pystyneet hyödyntämään paremmin tuotantopanoksia. Hämeessä myös navetoiden yksikkökoot laskivat ja maidontuotantoa siirtyi asutustiloille. Maanhankintalailla sovellettu ”kielipykälä” johti osittain siihen, että Hämeeseen muodostui asutustoimintaa enemmän kuin esimerkiksi Uudenmaan sekä Turun ja Porin lääniin. Kielipykälä rajoitti suomenkielisen väestön asuttamista ruotsinkielisille alueille. Maanhankintalain toimeenpanoon lunastettiin yksityisomisteista maata progressiivisen asteikon mukaan. Mitä suurempi tila oli, sitä enemmän sen piti asutuskäyttöön maata luovuttaa. Hämeen läänin maanluovuttajat joutuivat eriarvoiseen asemaan kielipykälän vuoksi. Monilla ruotsinkielisillä alueilla suuret tilat jäivät luovutusten ulkopuolelle, mutta Hämeen läänissä ei ruotsinkielisiä alueita ollut. Maanluovutuksista seurasi usein suoraan taloudellisia menetyksiä, kuten tuotannon ja tuottavuuden alentumista. Joissain tapauksissa tuotannon loppumista. Lisäksi osalle maanluovuttajista lunastetut alueet korvattiin valtion velkasitoumuksilla, joiden arvon inflaatio söi 10-vuodessa vain murto-osaan niiden todellisesta arvosta. Tämä oli lisäämään keskustelua valtion ”agraariryöstöstä”. Velkasitoumuksien arvon alenemisen riskit ovat maanhankintalakia valmistellessa tiedetty, koska aihe on ollut tuolloin poliittisessa keskustelussa. Suurempien maanluovuttajien kohdalla vaikutukset voivat olla edelleen nähtävissä, jos peltoala ei ole tänäkään päivänä noussut maanhankintalakia edeltävälle tasolle. Tällaisten tilojen kohdalla maanluovutukset johtivat elämäntavan muutokseen ja suuriin taloudellisiin menetyksiin. Valtaosa yksityisistä luovuttajista kuului 25–50 peltohehtaarin kokoluokkaan. Maanluovutusten aiheuttamat rakenteelliset vaikutukset ovat nähtävillä tämän kokoluokan tilojen kautta, vaikka yksittäisiä tapauksia tarkastellessa ovat vaikutukset olleet suurimmat yli 50 peltohehtaarin viljelmillä. Maanhankintalaki on vaikuttanut toimeenpanevasti moneen muutokseen, kuten 1950-luvulla ilmenneeseen maataloustuotteiden ylituotantoon, joka johti tuotannon tarkempaan sääntelyyn. Lain toimeenpanon myötä myös maataloutta siirtyi aiempaa enemmän Pohjois- ja Itä-Suomeen. Tilojen keskikoko laski ja maataloudesta tuli osa aluepolitiikkaa. Rakenteellisesti vaikutukset ovat edelleen nähtävillä, mutta yksittäisten tilojen kohdalla on tunnistettavuus usein hautautunut lukuisten maanhankintalain jälkeen tulleiden lakien, kiintiöiden, mietintöjen ja sopimusten taakse.

Policy makers must make decisions regarding budget allocation between policies and research. Only actions improve the state of the system, but knowledge increases the probability of effective action. The outcome of environmental policies is usually uncertain, and the question remains: should we invest more in research or use resources for additional policies? Under uncertain decision making, it is clear, that doing and knowing go hand in hand. Still, there is a lack of scientific analyses about the relationship between these features. This paper analyses how uncertainty in policy implementation outcome (i.e., Value- of- control, VoC) effects the need for additional knowledge, which is measured using value- of- information (VoI) analysis. Additionally, the paper analyses how the obtained results can help in the allocation of resources between policy and research. To answer these questions, I use a published Bayesian decision model by Helle et al. (2015) as a source for further analysis. It is an influence diagram model, consisting of two decision variables, 40 random variables and 13 utility variables which are described in euros, allowing the monetary summarisation of utility. I introduce levels of implementation uncertainty to the other decision by placing an additional random variable to influence the successor variables of the decision. I define the levels of uncertainty using two co-variation methods, first one being the proportional co-variation method, and the second one the order- preserving uniform method. By this way, I analyse and compare the effect of distinct levels of decreased controllability (VoC) to VoI analysis results. These two methods describe two alternative ways of modelling the uncertainty in implementation, which is always uncertain when we consider future actions that have yet to been implemented. I conduct the analysis separately for both co-variation approaches, and 10 alternative levels of implementation uncertainty, to enable systematic comparability between the chosen methods, and to learn alternative ways to consider the relationship of controllability and knowledge. First, I preform the VoI analysis only for the policy that is subjected to implementation uncertainty. Secondly, the analysis is done for both decision variables and the Single Policy Updating (SPU) algorithm of Hugin software is used for detecting optimal policies for different implementation uncertainty levels. In other words, I show how the various levels of controllability of the system impact the needs to carry out research. I argue, that this is a fundamental question for many environmental policy questions, such as climate change, eutrophication, loss of biodiversity and in my example, risks of oil spills. The results show a consistent, but interesting effect of decreased controllability to the VoI analysis results. Increase in implementation uncertainty raises the overall VoI and increases the number of variables presented with VoI, i.e., once the estimated uncertainty of controllability increases, the chance to achieve desired results increases only by knowing more. When only one decision variable is included, VoI increases to the point of no control, indicating that VoI is zero when controllability of the system is zero, indicating that there is no point of carrying out research, if the knowledge cannot be used to improve the effects of actions. When both decision variables are included in this case, VoI increases to a certain point and decreases after that. This study highlights the need for such analyses in decision problems, where uncertainty in policy implementation is often overlooked. This is the case with most deterministic, point estimate models. I argue, that this type of analysis would lead to more effective solving of environmental problems.

One-fifth of Finland’s total greenhouse gas emissions and two-fifths of the Effort Sharing sector’s emissions come from domestic transportation. Of the domestic transportation emissions, 94% comes from road traffic. The target for Finland is to reduce 39% of the greenhouse gas emissions from the Effort Sharing sector by 2030, and Finland is committed to halving its emissions from traffic by the year 2030 compared to the 2005 level. The electrification of the vehicle fleet is one of the instruments set to achieve the emission reduction targets of the transportation sector. An ambitious goal of 700 000 electric vehicles, of which a significant part is battery electric vehicles, is suggested for 2030. The study explores the most significant attributes and the factors that affect the likelihood of adopting electric vehicles in Finland. The choice experiment data was collected by a survey questionnaire. The data comprises 409 respondents and represents the Finnish driving license holders well regarding age, gender, and living county. The data was analysed with econometric models using Nlogit and SPSS software. The results show that the most important attributes in vehicle purchase choice are purchase price, driving range, and charging time. Driving costs and CO2 emissions from driving were not statistically significant in this study. Plug-in hybrids were chosen more frequently than battery electric vehicles. The study finds many socio-demographic characteristics, and vehicle and driving-related factors that affect vehicle purchase choice. These simultaneously statistically significant characteristics for the vehicle purchase choice for battery electric vehicle are living county Uusimaa, university degree, gender woman, age less than 50 years, and driving less than 50 km per day. The variables found to increase the probability to choose a plug-in hybrid vehicle are residence in Northern or Eastern Finland, university degree, gender woman, row or semi-detached house, and the possibility to charge an electric vehicle at home. The study identifies the respondents who never chose an electric vehicle in the choice tasks and reveals a wide set of attitudes towards electric vehicles. The study reveals respondents' overall lack of information on electric vehicle and traffic emissions, and instruments for emission reductions.

Among financial institutions, there is a growing concern about risks in their portfolios related to biodiversity, and its closely related affiliate, climate change. Investors are demanding greater transparency and biodiversity management in order to make informed investment decisions in listed equity and to act as responsible shareholders. The aim of this thesis is to explore, from the Nordic pension investor point of view, how the risk related to biodiversity loss is assessed and managed in the financial markets. Following qualitative approach, primary data was collected with 14 semi-structured in-depth interviews of two target groups: pension investors in the Nordic countries and ESG specialists which refers to specialists in sustainable finance or biodiversity related sustainability fields. The results were analyzed using template analysis. The results show that taking biodiversity into consideration in investment processes is constantly evolving and Nordic pension investors are paying close attention to the topic. Among drivers to incorporate biodiversity into investment decision-making, risk management was the most important. ESG specialists' experience of institutional investors' means to influence biodiversity loss mitigation differed from pension investors' perspective. Nordic pension investors are not fully aware of the existing methods for analyzing the risks and impacts of biodiversity loss in their own investment portfolio. However, they are highly motivated to find reliable ways to manage portfolio risks. Integrating biodiversity risks and impacts into the investment process can be challenging due to a lack of investment tools and best practices. Investors are preparing for increasing statutory and voluntary regulation. Both ESG specialists and Nordic pension investors see that lack of comparable, transparent, reliable data is an essential barrier when it comes to listed-equity investments and biodiversity loss mitigation. The data available lacks financial materiality and the impacts of biodiversity loss on the real-world return expectations, and return-risk-profiles are unknown. To solve problems regarding the lack of data in general and especially transparent and comparable data, companies are expected to disclose material nature-related dependencies and impacts, and report associated metrics and targets.

Biokaasu on uusiutuva energianlähde, jolla pystytään korvaamaan fossiilisten polttoaineiden käyttöä teollisuudessa sekä liikenteessä. Tämän vuoksi Euroopan unionin ja Suomen tavoitteena on lisätä biokaasun tuotannon määrää. Suomessa on muihin Euroopan maihin kuten Saksaan ja Tanskaan verrattuna vähän biokaasulaitoksia, mikä johtuu osittain heikosta kannattavuudesta. Tämä tutkielma on tapaustutkimus, jonka tavoitteena on selvittää neljän eri biokaasulaitosvaihtoehdon kannattavuus ja vaikutus tilan energiaomavaraisuuteen loimaalaisella sikatilalla. Tilalla on noin 200 emakkopaikan yhdistelmäsikala sekä noin 160 hehtaaria peltoa viljelyssään. Pienissä biokaasulaitosvaihtoehdoissa syötteinä käytetään 6000 tonnia lietettä, 1000 tonnia kuivalantaa sekä 50 tonnia nurmea. Suurissa laitosvaihtoehdoissa nurmen määrä nostetaan 500 tonniin. Tutkielman teoriaosuudessa käydään yleisesti läpi biokaasuntuotantoa, eli syötteitä, tuotteita ja biokaasuprosesseja sekä maatilakohtaisia biokaasulaitoksia koskevia lakisääteisiä vaatimuksia ja biokaasulaitosinvestoinnille haettavia tukia. Kannattavuuslaskelmat suoritetaan Luken biokaasulaskurilla, joka on suunniteltu alle 35 000 tonnia syötteitä käyttävien biokaasulaitosten kannattavuuksien arviointiin. Biokaasulaskurin lähtötiedot asetetaan sopiviksi tilalta saatujen tietojen mukaan. Tutkimuksen tuloksissa todettiin, että vain suuri biometaania tuottava biokaasulaitosvaihtoehto oli käytetyillä lähtöarvoilla kannattava. Herkkyysanalyyseissä todettiin, että kaikki laitosvaihtoehdot olivat kannattavia, jos käytettävien syötteiden laatu oli lähtöarvoja korkeampi. Lämmön ja sähkön yhteistuotanto (CHP) oli kannattavaa pienessä sekä suuressa laitoksessa, jos ostosähkön hinta nostettiin 12 senttiin kilowattitunnilta. Biometaanin tuotanto oli pienessä laitosvaihtoehdossa kannattavaa, jos myytävän biometaanin hinta oli 1,1 €/kg. Suuressa laitosvaihtoehdossa se oli kannattavaa, kun hinta oli 0,85 €/kg. Lämpöenergian suhteen tila ei päässyt energiaomavaraisuuteen millään laitosvaihtoehdolla. Sähkön osalta suuri CHP:tä tuottava laitos tuotti kaiken tilan kuluttaman sähkön ja pieni CHP:tä tuottava laitos tuotti noin kolme neljäsosaa tilan vuosittaisesta sähkönkulutuksesta.

Climate change and the biodiversity loss have created a need to change forest management in commercial forests. Carbon sequestration, climate change adaptation, and biodiversity conservation can be promoted in commercial forests through various measures, and this thesis examines what factors affect non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners’ willingness to adopt such forest management practices. Additionally, the aim was to examine whether these factors vary among different measures. A systematic literature review was conducted to summarize previous research on the subject and to serve as reference for an empirical analysis. In the empirical part of the study, survey data of 405 Finnish NIPF owners was utilized to establish binary logistic regression models for forest owners’ willingness to adopt 13 distinct forest management practices. In the empirical analysis statistically significant factors varied among assessed forest management practices, although some patterns were recognized. The most striking consistencies were found concerning older forest owners reluctance towards deadwood in general, and positive effect of environmental motivation in willingness to adopt variety of measures, as long as they do not conflict with biodiversity. Overall, the results imply that the diversity of NIPF owners concerns also their stances on various forest management practices, and they are not indifferent in terms of what forest management practices they are willing to adopt. Thus, when designing and implementing policies and advisory services aiming to promote carbon sequestration, climate change adaptation, or biodiversity protection in commercial forests, policy makers should take into account forest owners’ heterogenous preferences regarding different forest management practices.

We study the compensation required to increase carbon sequestration in privately owned forests as a part of effective climate policy. We develop a theoretically correct understanding of compensating additional carbon sequestration in a voluntary stand-level carbon offset scheme by creating incentives for extending the rotation from the privately optimal length. We examine the cost of extending the length of the rotation to a socially desired level. The resulting costs and the increase in carbon sequestration determine the level of compensation required to make the private forest owner indifferent between joining the compensation scheme and resuming privately optimal forest management. A correctly defined subsidy scheme is required as forests are expected to play a major role in meeting national climate change mitigation targets, and so far, the existing schemes have failed to attract voluntary participants. The well-established univariate optimal rotation model (Faustmann 1894, Samuelson 1976) with a net carbon subsidy (van Kooten et al. 1995) is used to evaluate the compensation structure in the California Forest Offset Protocol and the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme, and to present a theoretically sound framework for subsidizing additional carbon sequestration in forests. An empirically more realistic size-structured forestry model with carbon storage (Assmuth et al. 2018) is used to verify the understanding of a correctly defined subsidy scheme when thinnings and multiple carbon pools are included. The results of the theoretical modelling are compared to practical applications in California Cap-and-Trade and the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme. These practical applications have faced various problems and have been subject to numerous revisions, due to issues with baseline establishment, over-crediting, questionable additionality, and leakage. We show that if the compensation scheme follows the Californian structure, a significantly high compensation is required to create sufficient incentives for private forest owners to participate in the sequestration program. The exclusion of carbon stored in harvested wood products may have decreased voluntary participation of post-1989 forests in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme. These schemes serve as an example for the rest of the world of constructing a carbon sequestration compensation scheme. Thus, it is paramount to evaluate the choices in policy design, by comparing the compensation structure to a theoretically sound way of incentivizing additional carbon sequestration.

The accumulation of biological material, i.e., biofouling, on ship`s hulls is a significant issue both for the shipping companies and the environment. Biofouling on a ship`s hull increases friction, leading to increased fuel consumption and hence, an increase in the fuel costs and emissions from shipping. Furthermore, the EU maritime traffic will be included in the EU Emissions Trading System in 2024, meaning that shipping companies must pay for their carbon dioxide emissions. This creates an additional economic incentive for the companies to prevent biofouling. The main methods for preventing biofouling on a ship`s hull are different coatings and possible in-water cleaning of the coated surfaces. The coating types include biocidal coatings, fouling release coatings, and hard coatings. Despite the notable problems from biofouling, there is currently no international regulation concerning biofouling management of shipping companies. A holistic understanding of this complex issue is needed to develop more sustainable shipping in the future. In this thesis, I analyze this topic by further developing an existing Bayesian network model, which is a decision tool for examining the outcomes from different biofouling management strategies. My focus on the topic is the costs of shipping companies from biofouling and its management. The existing model concerns the costs of coating, in-water cleaning, and fuel consumption. In this thesis, I add emission allowance costs and uncertainty to the fuel prices in the model to study whether these additions would change the profitability of different biofouling management strategies. My hypothesis is that to minimize the costs of biofouling and its management, shipping companies should increase the in-water cleaning times when the emission allowance costs are included in the model. The study revealed that the most cost-effective coating type, for a general cargo ship and a tanker, is a fouling release coating. For a passenger ship, the cost-effectiveness depends on the age of the coating, but a biocidal coating is the most cost-effective option when the age of the coatings is two years. My additions to the existing model did not change the result concerning the cost-effectiveness of the coating types. The results also revealed that the future inclusion of maritime transport to the EU Emissions Trading System will increase the costs of shipping companies from biofouling. Despite this, my hypothesis got rejected since the inclusion of the emission allowance costs did not lead to increased in-water cleaning times. My changes in the fuel prices led to a decrease in the in-water cleaning times, for some ship types, compared to the original model. This is not due to the uncertainty itself but because the fuel price distributions, which I used, led to lower expected fuel costs than in the original model. The study highlights that fuel costs might be one of the most important factors in determining whether enhanced biofouling management will be profitable for shipping companies in the future.

Lack of finance is a major constraint for the smallholder soybean farmers in northern Ghana. The area is affected by soil degradation, poverty, and food insecurity, while a majority of the people in the area get their livelihood from agriculture. As a possible solution for the three problems, a natural biofertilizer and biocontrol agent, rhizobium bacteria, can be introduced to the rhizospheres of the soybean. This is usually done by applying rhizobium bacteria to the seeds of a legume prior to planting. This rhizobial inoculation technology improves plant growth, nutrient availability and uptake, as well as yields, thereby increasing the income and food security of the smallholder farmers. A credit to be invested in rhizobium inoculation technology would provide smallholder farmers with the opportunity to improve soil fertility and increase farm productivity, improving their food security and enabling them to earn additional income. The private market for rhizobial inoculants is nascent, but many of the farmers report financial constraints. To create a functioning market and to realise the social and environmental benefits of soybean cultivation and rhizobium inoculation technology, it is important to understand the causes of credit constraints of smallholder farmers and how to reduce them. In this thesis, I study the prevalence and the determinants of credit constraints among smallholder soybean farmers by applying a logistic regression model to a sample of 133 smallholder farmers in northern Ghana. I first define credit constrained status of the farmers and conclude that the prevalence of observable credit constraints in the sample is 57.1%. I conclude that there are two broad categories of variables affecting a farmer’s status as credit constrained. The first of these is the type of guarantees that a farmer can offer to the lender. Such guarantees are represented by membership in a farmers' association (and hence access to possible joint guarantees), existing assets such as ownership of cows, and a farmer's experience in soybean production (reflecting knowledge of good investment decisions in the sector). The second category relates to the supply of credit and the factors affecting it. The factors affecting credit supply identified in this study are regional disparities and loans targeted to a certain group, such as women. By influencing the supply and conditions of credit, the financial constraints of smallholder farmers can be alleviated. Such policy interventions, combined with other leverage points such as social learning and access to information, contribute to the adoption of desirable farming practices. Because of the many benefits of rhizobial inoculation in soybean production, its adoption could be promoted by offering credit directed particularly for the adoption of this technology. This would benefit not only the farmers but have broader benefits in the form of climate change adaptation and mitigation

Maatalouden rakennemuutos ja liiketoimintaympäristön muuttuminen edellyttävät nykypäivän maatiloilta uudenlaisia kyvykkyyksiä. Miksi toiset tilat selviävät muutoksessa paremmin kuin toiset tilat? Strategiatutkimus lähestyy kysymystä käyttäen selittäjänä dynaamisten kyvykkyyksien teoriaa. Kyvykkyyksien avulla selvitetään, miten maatilayrittäjä aistii muutoksen liiketoimintaympäristössään ja miten hän tarttuu havaittuun muutokseen miettien tilansa jatkuvaa uudistamista. Tutkimuksessa haastateltiin seitsemää yrittäjää, joiden päätuotantosuuntana oli emolehmät. Yrittäjät olivat päätoimisia yrittäjiä tai emolehmätuotanto oli eriytetty tilan muista toiminnoista, joten tuotannon kannattavuuden arvioiminen oli konkreettisempaa. Teemahaastatteluna toteutetut haastattelut tehtiin kyselylomakkeen pohjalta, joka oli muotoiltu Teecen (2007b) ajatusten perustalle dynaamisista kyvykkyyksistä. Miten tunnistetaan, tartutaan sekä otetaan muutos käytäntöön suomalaisilla emolehmätiloilla. Yrittäjän päätöksiin tutkimuksessa vaikuttivat tilan resurssit, strategia sekä yrittäjän oma arvomaailma tilan historiaan kytkettynä. Yrittäjät olivat kyllä avoimia uudelle, keräsivät tietoa toimintaympäristöstään sisä- ja ulkopuolelta mutta käytännön toteutuksen suhteen monella tilalla oli parannettavaa. Pitkän- ja lyhyen aikavälin suunnitelmia olisi hyvä tehdä myös paperille asti. Tavoitteena tutkielmassa ei ole tehdä yleistettäviä päätelmiä emolehmätuotannon johtamistavoista. Tulosten avulla voidaan havainnoida vain, miten pieni määrä emolehmätiloja tekee päätöksiä tuotantonsa suhteen. Tulevaisuuden tutkimuksissa tulisikin perehtyä laajemmin dynaamisten kyvykkyyksien vaikutuksiin yleensä maatilojen johtamisessa.