Contexte

Decision-makers in agriculture and forestry often struggle to implement optimal sustainable practices due to cognitive biases and behavioural inertia. These challenges are compounded by the complexity of choice environments and insufficient incentives for change. As a result, even well-intentioned policies can fall short of their sustainability goals. To address this, the EU-funded ForestAgriGreenNudge project introduces innovative solutions. ForestAgriGreenNudge focuses on improving decision-making through Green Nudges, which are subtle adjustments in how choices are framed and presented. The project will evaluate existing nudges for their effectiveness and ethical standards, then test and refine them in real-world settings. Successful strategies will be compiled into iNUDGE Academy, an online tool designed to guide stakeholders in adopting sustainable practices.

Objectives

Behavioural and cognitive biases reduce the ability of decision makers to adopt the best solutions among the alternatives available. Borrowed from pre-existing knowledge in psychology on priming, “nudges” are defined as gentle interventions in a decision maker’s choice architecture (default choice, information, presentation, framing etc.), which enhance the likelihood of optimal choices. ForestAgriGreenNudges will first review initiatives and projects which explicitly or implicitly use Green Nudges to promote the use of sustainable practices in farming and forestry. It will then assess each type of nudge according to two types of criteria: 1) Criteria associated with efficacy in promoting the use of the desired practices over a sufficiently long period and 2) Criteria dictated by ethics and good practice principles (transparency, nudgee awareness, participation/self-regulation, actor-specificity, etc.) that guarantee the quality of the implementation process. Nudges will then be tested in the field and assessed on a grid, reflecting the desiderata of efficacy and implementation quality. The set of successful nudges will be enriched by innovative nudges based on information regarding attitudes and strategies of actors along the entire value chain. The resulting set of nudges together with their corresponding implementation guidelines, and the business models and market conditions which favor their application in agroforestry will be collected on an online tool (iNUDGE Academy) whose target audience will include policy makers, wholesalers, retailers, farmers and foresters. The tool will associate each nudge with implementation rules, possible domains of application and possible risks in terms of efficacy/good practice tradeoffs. Diffusion of the results among farming and forestry experts, policy makers, and actors along the value chain will maximise the impact of the project, enhancing the adoption of sustainable practices in the farm and in the forest.

Activities

ForestAgriGreenNudges will first review initiatives and projects which explicitly or implicitly use Green Nudges to promote the use of sustainable practices in farming and forestry. 

It will assess each nudge according to two types of criteria:

1) Criteria associated with efficacy in promoting the use of the desired practices over a sufficiently long period

2) And Criteria dictated by ethics and good practice principles (transparency, nudgee awareness, participation/self-regulation, actor-specificity, etc.).  

Nudges will then be tested in the field and assessed on a grid, according to these criteria.    

Successful nudges will be enriched by innovative nudges based on information regarding attitudes and strategies of actors along the entire value chain.

The resulting set of nudges together with their corresponding implementation guidelines, and the business models and market conditions which favor their application in agroforestry will be collected on an online tool (iNUDGE Academy).

Diffusion of the results among farming and forestry experts, policy makers, and actors along the value chain will maximise the impact of the project, enhancing the adoption of sustainable practices in the farm and in the forest.