Result-oriented Agri-Environmental Climate Schemes as a means of promoting climate change mitigation in olive growing

Abstract

The climate change mitigation potential of olive farming has been widely acknowledged. It has particular relevance in regions such as Andalusia (southern Spain) where olive growing is a key land use activity with significant social, economic and environmental implications. This potential of olive farming, however, is not adequately embodied in current Agri-Environmental Climate Schemes (AECS), which often fail to deliver the expected outcomes. The present article proposes an alternative strategy based on a result-oriented approach to AECS for enhancing soil carbon sequestration in Andalusian olive growing. After reviewing the current legal and institutional situation which forbids the wide application of result-oriented agri-environmental schemes, we suggest the use of alternative territorial governance arrangements, such as hybrid governance structures (HGS), as a framework to support the implementation of a result-oriented approach in the specific case of olive growing. Results indicate that the application of HGS can provide valuable benefits in terms of soil carbon storage. The information provided may be useful in the proposed new legislative framework, at both European and regional level, to promote more sustainable farming systems.