Analysis of economic instruments for groundwater protection in the context of the Austrian agri-environmental programme ÖPUL.

In this project an attempt will be made - to our knowledge the first time in Austria - to link natural sciences simulation models with models simulating economic behaviour. The aim is to model the complex inter-relationships between economy and ecology in a quantiative way. The research goal is to quantify what effects the Austrian agri-environmental program ÖPUL has on the emission of nitrates into groundwater. For this purpose findings of the models 'SIMWASSER', 'EPIC', and 'APEX' will be used in an economic regional partial equilibrium model. With this eco-ecomodelling effort the economic effects, as well as the environmental consequences of the ÖPUL programme will be measured and evaluated. One of the research objectives is to make recommendations how to improve the effectivity and efficiency of agri-envrionmental programs aiming at groundwater protection. The models will be calibrated using soil information data, long-run climatic data, crop yield data from a 2.000 farms sample, and agricultural structural data and market data from the periods before and after Austria's accession to the EU. In the research team methods and procedures of the following disciplines will be used: agronomy, meteorology, soil sciences, rural water management, econometrics, statistics, agricultural economics, data-base applications, GIS, and environmental economics.