Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The roles of organic farming, renewable energy, and corruption on biodiversity crisis: a European perspective

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The loss of biodiversity has profound implications for nature’s contributions to people and their health. This study intends to examine the factors responsible for biodiversity loss as well as the coping mechanisms to address this crisis in the context of 35 European economies covering the 2009–2018 period. The study utilises both the static and dynamic panel estimation techniques to examine the above issue. Specifically, the study applied Driscoll and Kraay (1998a), Driscoll and Kraay (Rev Econ Stat 80:549-560, 1998b) and Panel Corrected Standard Approach (PCSE) for the static panel models. As for dynamic panel models, the study employs linear dynamic panel model by Arrelano and Bond (Rev Econ Stud 58:277-297, 1991) and Arrelano and Bover (J Econom 68:29-51, 1995)/Blundell and Bond (J Econom 87:115-143, 1998) system generalised methods of moments (GMM). Morandeover for robustness purposes, fixed and random effect models are also applied. The findings indicate that renewable energy use increases biodiversity crisis whereas organic farming is beneficial for biodiversity preservation in Europe. Corruption and gender gap were found to increase the biodiversity crisis. The evidence also suggests a positive and significant effect of forest area, e-governance and social progress on biodiversity. Finally, the study provides insightful implications for stakeholders and practitioners associated with energy and biodiversity conservation in Europe.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

Available upon request from the corresponding author.

References

  • Adebayo TS, Adedoyin FF, Kirikkaleli D (2021) Toward a sustainable environment: nexus between consumption-based carbon emissions, economic growth, renewable energy and technological innovation in Brazil. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(37):52272–52282

  • Ahnsrom J, Weibull A-C, Bengtsson J (2005) The effect of organic agriculture on biodiversity and abundance: a meta analysis. 261–269

  • Almond RE, Grooten, M, Peterson T (2020) Living Planet Report 2020-Bending the curve of biodiversity loss. World Wildlife Fund

  • Alvarez ML (2013) From unheard screams to powerful voices: A case study of women’s political empowerment in the Philippines. In: 12th National Convention on statistics, pp 1–73

  • Anghel B, Rodríguez-Planas N, Sanz-de-Galdeano A (2020) Is the math gender gap associated with gender equality? Only in low-income countries. Econ Educ Rev 79:102064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2020.102064

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arrelano M, Bond S (1991) Some tests of specification for panel data: Monte Carlo evidence and application to employment equations. Rev Econ Stud 58:277–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arrelano M, Bover O (1995) Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error components model. J Econom 68:29–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arts K, van der Wal R, Adams WM (2015) Digital technology and the conservation of nature. Ambio 44(4):661–673

  • Awosusi AA, Adebayo TS, Kirikkaleli D, Altuntaş M (2022) Role of technological innovation and globalization in BRICS economies: policy towards environmental sustainability 29(7):593–610. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2022.2059032

  • Baloch MA, Danish Khan SU, Ulucak ZS, Ahmad A (2020) Analyzing the relationship between poverty, income inequality, and CO2 emission in Sub-Saharan African countries. Sci Total Environ 740:139867. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139867

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barbier EB, Damania R, Léonard D (2005) Corruption, trade and resource conversion. J Environ Econ Manag 50(2):276–299

  • Batuo Enowbi, M., & Kupukile, M. (2012). Financial instability, financial openness and economic growth in African countries. Available at: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/43340/ 

  • Bayeh E (2016) The role of empowering women and achieving gender equality to the sustainable development of Ethiopia. Pacific Science Review B: Humanities and Social Sciences 2(1):37–42

  • Beck N, Katz JN (1995) What to do (and not to do) with time-series cross-section data. Am Polit Sci Rev 89(3):634e647. https://doi.org/10.2307/2082979

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bengtsson J, Ahnstrom J, Weibull AC (2005) The effects of organic agriculture on biodiversity and abundance: a meta-analysis. J Appl Ecol 42:261–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkhout F, Hertin J (2001) Impacts of information and communication technologies on environmental sustainability:speculations and evidence. In: Report to the OECD, Brighton, p 21

  • Birdlife International (2019) The EU biodiversity strategy to 2030. Birdlife International, Europe and Central Asia. Available at: https://www.birdlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/birdlife_position_biodiversity_web_01.pdf

  • Blundell RW, Bond S (1998) Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel models. J Econom 87:115–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brack D (2017) The impacts of the demand for woody biomass for power and heat on climate and forests. Chatam House, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Bulte EH, Damania R, Lopez R (2007) On the gains of committing to inefficiency: corruption, deforestation and low land productivity in Latin America. J Environ Econ Manag 54(3):277–295

  • CBD (2021) Addressing gender issues and actions in biodiversity objectives. 2020:1–30

  • Chudik A, Pesaran MH (2015) Common correlated effects estimation of heterogeneous dynamic panel data models with weakly exogenous regressors. J Econ 188(2):393–420

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark TS, Linzer DA (2015) Should I use fixed or random effects? Polit Sci Res Methods 3(2):399–408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosti R, Arcangeli A, Campagnuolo S, Castriota L, Falautano M, Maggio T, Andaloro T (2020) Assessing worth of marine protected areas for the protection of threatened biodiversity using IUCN Red List and Red List Index. A pilot study in six mediterranean areas. Ecol Indic 119:106765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106765

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dabbous A, Tarhini A (2020) Does sharing economy promote sustainable economic development and energy efficiency? Evid OECD Countries J Innov Knowledge 6:58–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2020.11.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delgado M, Porter ME, Stern S (2014) Clusters, convergence, and economic performance. Res Policy 43(10):1785–1799

  • Driscoll, JC, Kraay AC (1998a) Consistent covariance matrix estimation with spatially dependent panel data. Rev Econ Stat 80(4):549–560

  • Driscoll JC, Kraay AC (1998b) Consistent covariance matrix estimation with spatially dependent panel data. Rev Econ Stat 80:549–560. https://doi.org/10.1162/003465398557825

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emmerson M, Morales MB, Oñate JJ, Batáry P, Berendse F, Liira J, Bengtsson J (2016) How agricultural intensification affects biodiversity and ecosystem services. Adv Ecol Res 55:43–97

  • Enowbi MB, Kupukile M (2012) Financial institutions, financial openness and economic growth in African countries. MPRA Paper No.43340, mpra.ub.uni.muenchen. de/43340

  • European Commission (2011) Social aspects of biodiversity : creating jobs and sustaining people. Sustain Dev 263:2011

  • European Commission (2020) Communication from the commission to the European parliament, the council, the European economic and social committee and the committee of the regions. Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52012DC0673:EN:NOT

  • European Enviromental Agency (2021) Europe's marine biodiversity remains under pressure. EEA Publications Available at: https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/europes-marine-biodiversity-remains-under-pressure/europes-marine-biodiversity-remainsunder-pressure/folder_contents

  • European Environmental Agency (2018) Biodiversity policies. Retrieved from EEA website: https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/biodiversity/policy-context

  • European Union (2014) European Union Regulation (EU) No 538/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 amending Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts. Official J Eur Union 158(27.5):113–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Eurostat, Classification of Environmental Protection Activities and Expenditure (CEPA 2000) (2000). Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/nomenclatures/index.cfm?TargetUrl=LST_NOM_DTL&StrNom=CEPA_2000&StrLanguageCode=EN&IntPcKey=&StrLayoutCode=HIERARCHIC

  • Everett T, Ishwaran M, Ansaloni GP, Rubin A (2010) Economic growth and the environment, Defra evidence and analysis series paper 2, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

  • Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2020) Global forest resources assessment 2020 main report. In: Forest resources assessment working paper 188. Available at: https://www.fao.org/3/ca9825en/ca9825en.pdf

  • Gabriel D, Sait SM, Kunin WE, Benton TG (2013) Food production vs. biodiversity: comparing organic and conventional agriculture. J Appl Ecol 50(2):355–364

  • Gardner SM, Brown RW (1998) Review of the comparative effects of organic farming on biodiversity. MAFF Contract OF0149. Available at: https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/8088/1/OF0149_536_FRA.pdf

  • Gasparatos A, Doll CN, Esteban M, Ahmed A, Olang TA (2017) Renewable energy and biodiversity: implications for transitioning to a green economy. Renew Sust Energ Rev 70:161–184

  • Grilli G, Balest J, De Meo I, Garegnani G, Paletto A (2016) Experts' opinions on the effects of renewable energy development on ecosystem services in the Alpine region. J Renew Sustain Energy 8(1):013115

  • Grotten M, Almond REA (2018) Living planet report: aiming higher. World wide fund for nature, Gland, Switzerland. Available at: https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/living-planet-report-2018

  • Hashemizadeh B, Kongbuamai N (2021) Unpacking the role of public debt irenewable energy consumption: new insights from the emerging countries. Energy 224:120187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2021.120187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hashmi R, Alam K (2019) Dynamic relationship among environmental regulation, innovation, CO2 emissions, population, and economic growth in OECD countries: a panel investigation. J Clean Prod 231:1100e1109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.05.325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill SLL, Arnell A, Maney C, Butchart SHM, Hilton-Taylor C, Ciciarelli C, Davis C, Dinerstein E, Purvis A, Burgess ND (2019) Measuring forest biodiversity status and changes globally. Front For Glob Change 2(November):1–11. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2019.00070

  • Hole DG, Perkins AJ, Wilson JD, Alexander IH, Grice PV, Evans AD (2005) Does organic farming benefit biodiversity? Biol Conserv 122(1):113–130

  • Hsiao C (1986) Analysis of Panel Data. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang Y, Haseeb M, Usman M, Ozturk I (2022) Dynamic association between ICT, renewable energy, economic complexity and ecological footprint: Is there any difference between E-7 (developing) and G-7 (developed) countries? Technol Soc 68:101853

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes AC (2017) Understanding the drivers of southeast Asian biodiversity loss. Ecosphere 8(1):e01624

  • IPBES (2018) The regional assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services for Europe and Central Asia. IPBES Secretariat, Bohn, Germany. Available at: https://ipbes.net/assessment-reports/eca

  • Joshi JM, Dalei NN, Mehta P (2021) Estimation of gross refining margin of Indian petroleum refineries using Driscoll-Kraay standard error estimator. Energy Policy 150:112148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan A, Chenggang Y, Khan G, Muhammad F (2020) The dilemma of natural disasters: Impact on economy, fiscal position, and foreign direct investment alongside Belt and Road Initiative countries. Sci Total Environ 743:140578. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140578

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kirikkaleli D, Sowah JK (2021) Time-frequency dependency of temperature and sea level: a global perspective. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(41):58787–58798

  • Kirikkaleli D, Shah MI, Adebayo TS, Altuntaş M (2022) Does political risk spur environmental issues in China? Environ Sci Pollut Res 29:62637–62647. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19951-z

  • Koh LP, Ghazoul J (2008) Biofuels, biodiversity, and people: understanding the conflicts and finding opportunities. Biol Conserv 141(10):2450–2460

  • Koyuncu C, Yilmaz R (2008) The impact of corruption on deforestation: a cross-country evidence. Journal of Developing Areas 42(2):213–222. https://doi.org/10.1353/jda.0.0010

  • Laurance WF (2004) The perils of payoff: corruption as a threat to global biodiversity. Trends Ecol Evol 19(8):399–401

  • Leal PH, Marques AC (2019) Are de jure and de facto globalization undermining the environment? Evidence from high and low globalized EU countries. J Environ Manage 250:109460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.109460

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu H, Liang S (2019) The Nexus between energy consumption, biodiversity, and economic growth in lancang-mekong cooperation (LMC): evidence from cointegration and granger causality tests. Int J Environ Res Public Health 16(18):3269

  • Martín-López B, Iniesta-Arandia I, García-Llorente M, Palomo I, Casado-Arzuaga I, Amo DGD et al (2012) Uncovering ecosystem service bundles through social preferences. PLoS One 7(6):e38970

  • Megesa JT, Chelule JC, Odhiambo RO (2016) Comparison of some panel data regression model estimators using simulated data. Jomo Kenyatta Univ Agric Technol JAGST 17(2):97–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Moutinho V, Madaleno M, Elheddad M (2020) Determinants of the Environmental Kuznets Curve considering economic activity sector diversification in the OPEC countries. J Clean Prod 271:122642. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122642

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nathaniel SP, Adeleye N (2021) Environmental preservation amidst carbon emissions, energy consumption, and urbanization in selected African countries: implication for sustainability. J Clean Prod 285:125409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125409

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pedroli B, Elbersen B, Frederiksen P, Grandin U, Heikkilä R, Krogh PH, Izakovičová Z, Johansen A, Meiresonne L (2013) Is energy cropping in Europe compatible with biodiversity?–opportunities and threats to biodiversity from land-based production of biomass for bioenergy purposes. Biomass Bioenergy 55:73–86

  • Pillai, R., & Suchintha, B. (2006). Women empowerment for biodiversity conservation through self help groups: a case from Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala, India. Int J Agric Resour Gov Ecol 338–355

  • Pimm SL, Jenkins CN, Abell R, Brooks TM, Gittleman JL, Joppa LN et al (2014) The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection. Science 344(6187):1246752

  • Ramzan M, Raza SA, Usman M, Sharma GD, Iqbal HA (2022) Environmental cost of non-renewable energy and economic progress: Do ICT and financial development mitigate some burden? J Clean Prod 333:130066

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rayment M, Arroyo A, Baldock D, Becerra G (2019) Valuing biodiversity and reversing its decline by 2030. IEEP Policy Paper. Available at: https://ieep.eu/uploads/articles/attachments/947eb8aa-1694-41b1-8037-a4f16a7d2ace/Think%202030%20Biodiversity.pdf?v=63710011292

  • Rehbein JA, Watson JE, Lane JL, Sonter LJ, Venter O, Atkinson SC, Allan JR (2020) Renewable energy development threatens many globally important biodiversity areas. Glob Chang Biol 26(5):3040–3051

  • Riveros JM (2020) Ramsey RESET Test on Panel Data using Stata. MSR Economic Perspectives. Available at: https://blog.ms-researchhub.com/2020/05/14/ramsey-reset-test-on-panel-data-using-stata/. Accessed 4 Nov 2022

  • Robust HD (2007) standard errors for panel regressions with cross-sectional dependence. STATA J 7:281e312. https://doi.org/10.1177/1536867x0700700301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schiller C, Hellmann T, Paulini P (2020) Sustainable governance indicators 2020. Retrieved from, Bertelsmann Stiftung. https://www.sgi-network.org/2020/Downloads

  • Sheffield H (2021) This is Europe. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/14/carbon-neutrality-is-a-fairy-tale-how-the-race-for-renewables-is-burning-europes-forests

  • Slingenberg A, Braat L, Van Der Windt H, Rademaekers K, Eichler L, Turner K (2009) Study on understanding the causes of biodiversity loss and the policy assessment framework. In: European Commission Directorate-general for environment. Available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/enveco/biodiversity/pdf/causes_biodiv_loss.Pdf

  • Smith P, Ashmore MR, Black HI, Burgess PJ, Evans CD, Quine TA et al (2013) The role of ecosystems and their management in regulating climate, and soil, water and air quality. J Appl Ecol 50(4):812–829

  • Sova C, McGarry M (2021) Birds, bees and bats: we need an environmental intervention today to achieve zero hunger. Available at: https://www.wfpusa.org/articles/environmental-intervention-to-achieve-zero-hunger/

  • Standaet S (2015) Divining the level of corruption: a Bayesian state-space approach. J Comp Econ 43(3):782–803

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stein-Bachinger K, Gottwald F, Haub A, Schmidt E (2021) To what extent does organic farming promote species richness and abundance in temperate climates? A review. Org Agric 11(1):1–12

  • Stevens C (2010) Are women the key to sustainable development. Sustainable Development Insights 3(11):1–8

  • Su ZW, Umar M, Kirikkaleli D, Adebayo TS (2021) Role of political risk to achieve carbon neutrality: Evidence from Brazil. J Environ Manage 298:113463

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tekalign M, Van Meerbeek K, Aerts R, Norgrove L, Poesen J, Nyssen J, Muys B (2017) Effects of biodiversity loss and restoration scenarios on tree-related ecosystem services. International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management 13(1):434–443

  • Ugwuishiwu BO, Obi OF, Ugwuishiwu CH (2013) Information and communication technologies: benefits and challenges to the environment. International Journal of Soft Computing and Engineering 2(6):96–100. https://www.ijsce.org/portfolioitem/F1112112612/

  • UN Women (2021) Measuring the nexus between gender equality and women’s empowerment and the environment, including climate change and disaster risk reduction

  • Women UN (2014) World survey on the role of women in development 2014: gender equality and sustainable development. United Nations, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • White H (1980) A heteroskedasticity-consistent covariance matrix estimator and a direct test for heteroskedasticity. Econometrics 48(4):817–838 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1912934?seq=1)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Windley BF, East TM, Gordon, William H (2020) Europe. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.: https://www.britannica.com/place/Europe

  • World Economic Forum (2018) In The global gender gap report. Available at https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-gender-gap-report-2018

  • Young RP, Hudson AMA, Terry MR, Jones CG, Lewis RE, Tatayah V, Zuël N, Butchart SHM (2014) Accounting for conservation: Using the IUCN Red List Index to evaluate the impact of a conservation organization. Biol Cons 180:84–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2014.09.039

  • Zelezny LC, Chua PP, Aldrich C (2000) New ways of thinking about environmentalism: elaborating on gender differences in environmentalism. J Soc Issues 56(3):443–457

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, 830046, China

    Qingran Guo

  2. Independent Researcher, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    Muhammad Ibrahim Shah

  3. Alma Mater Department of Economics, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Muhammad Ibrahim Shah

  4. Assistant Professor, BFSI, Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University, New Delhi, India

    Siddharth Kumar

  5. Department of Economics and Development Studies, Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria

    Hauwah K. K. AbdulKareem

  6. Department of Economics, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Gombe State University, P.M.B 127, Gombe, Nigeria

    Nasiru Inuwa

Authors
  1. Qingran Guo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Muhammad Ibrahim Shah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Siddharth Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hauwah K. K. AbdulKareem
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Nasiru Inuwa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Q.G.: resources, writing—original draft, investigation, supervision. M.I.S.: conceptualisation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, software, writing—original draft, supervision. S.K.: resources, writing—original draft, formal analysis. H.K.K.A.: resources, formal analysis, writing—review and editing. N.I.: writing—original draft.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Muhammad Ibrahim Shah.

Ethics declarations

Ethical approval

Not applicable.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

All authors have given explicit consent to submit and publish this work.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Guo, Q., Shah, M.I., Kumar, S. et al. The roles of organic farming, renewable energy, and corruption on biodiversity crisis: a European perspective. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 31696–31710 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24344-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24344-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation