A tool for comparing the cost, the effectiveness and the acceptability of best management practices

Abstract

To design of the restoration plans requested by the EU Water Framework Directive, local regulators need to implement technically designed modifications of farming practices. Their main interest relies on the determination of which modifications are the most appropriate to the local conditions. To help this decision process, a selection grid has been built within the AgriBMPWater project (5th RTD Framework Program). The main interest of this grid is to allow the comparison of different "best management practices" regarding their environmental effectiveness, the associated costs and their acceptability. This paper presents the different steps of the method, some tools that have been used and their technical requirements, illustrates with some results the integrated tool that has been developed and provide keys for interpretation.