Communication Processes in Agro-environmental Policy Development and Decision-Making: Case Study Sachsen-Anhalt

The development of a decision support approach with regard to agro-environmental programmes is part of a larger research project on agricultural transformation and structural change processes. Research objective are improved communication processes and an enhanced quality of political decision-making. The investigation is based on the assumption that the success of agro-environmental programmes depends largely on their acceptance by all major stakeholders. This implies an early integration of varying interests in the decision-making process. Introducing participatory approaches into a bureaucratic setting poses particular problems. In order to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness, the introduction of interactive modelling approaches has to be coupled with communication processes which increase transparency and allow for consensual decision-making.