Conservation Technical Assistance Program (CTA)

      Category:  Environmental Outreach & Education
      Policy Type:  Technical Assistance
      Sector:  Agriculture
      Region:  North America
      Country:  United States
      Description: The Conservation Technical Assistance Program (CTA) provides landowners with proven conservation technology and the delivery systems needed to achieve the benefits of a healthy and productive landscape. Technical assistance is provided by the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) or other entities under the technical supervision of NRCS, to clients to address opportunities, concerns, and problems related to the use of natural resources.
      Outcome:  The Conservation Technical Assistance Program provices technical assistance to help reduce soil loss from erosion and solve water quality and agricultural waste management problems.

      Reference:  Conservation Technical Assistance Program (US)

      Cooperative Extension System

      Category:  Environmental Outreach & Education
      Policy Type:  Technical Assistance
      Sector:  Agriculture
      Region:  North America
      Country:  United States
      Description: The Cooperative Extension System is a nationwide network operated by the United States Department of Agriculture that provides useful, practical, and research-based information to agricultural producers, small business owners, youth, consumers, and others in rural areas and communities of all sizes.
      Outcome:  The Cooperative Extension System provides technical assistance to implement nutrient reduction practices.

      Reference:  Cooperative Extension Services (US)

      Danube River Enterprise Pollution Reduction GEF Project

      Category:  Price-based instruments
      Policy Type:  Subsidies, Grants & Incentive Payments
      Sector:  Agriculture
      Region:  Europe
      Country:  Serbia
      Description: The Danube River Enterprise Pollution Reduction Project for Serbia aims to reduce nutrient flows into water bodies connected to the Danube River from selected Republic of Serbia (ROS) enterprises. Financing is provided for livestock and nutrient management efforts. It is a Global Environmental Facility (GEF) sponsored project.
      Outcome:  The project has financed manure management investments on 105 livestock farms compared with 60 planned farms. It is estimated that the annual discharges of nutrients from project beneficiary farms is reduced by 44 percent for nitrogen and 100 percent for phosphorus compared to the baseline levels.

      Reference:  Danube River Enterprise Pollution Reduction GEF Project (Serbia)

      Danube River Protection Convention (DRPC)

      Category:  Institutions & Capacity; Regulatory Approaches
      Policy Type:  Bridging Institutions; Environmental Caps & Limits
      Sector:  Mixed
      Region:  Europe
      Country:  Austria; Bulgaria; Croatia; Czech Republic; Germany; Hungary; Moldova; Romania; Slovakia; Slovenia; Ukraine
      Description: The Danube River Protection Convention (DRPC) forms the overall legal instrument for cooperation on transboundary water management in the Danube River Basin. This involves measures to reduce the pollution loads entering the Black Sea from sources in the Danube River Basin, which are based on the polluter pays principle and the precautionary principle.
      Outcome:  The Danube River Protection Convention (DRPC) aims to ensure that surface waters and groundwater within the Danube River Basin are managed and used sustainably and equitably.

      Reference:  Danube River Protection Convention (DRPC)

      Demonstration Test Catchments (DTC)

      Category:  Institutions & Capacity; Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation
      Policy Type:  Partnerships; Research
      Sector:  Agriculture
      Region:  Europe
      Country:  United Kingdom
      Description: Demonstration Test Catchments (DTC) is funded by UK government with the purpose of providing robust evidence regarding how diffuse pollution from agriculture can be cost-effectively controlled to improve and maintain water quality in rural river catchment areas. By setting up a platform with a community of researchers working closely with local stakeholders (practitioners and policy-delivery agents) and policymakers, the DTC addresses the gap in empirical evidence on the cost effectiveness of combinations of diffuse pollution mitigation measures at catchment scales.
      Outcome:  By adopting an open and transparent approach to catchment research, the DTC aims to accelerate collective understanding of diffuse pollution and its transfer to policy development to aid better practical and cost-effective approaches.

      Reference:  Demonstration Test Catchments Project