Diffuse nutrient reduction in the German Baltic Sea catchment: Cost-effectiveness analysis of water protection measures

The policy recommendations derived from this study deliver insights for the strategic orientation of water protection policy and useful indicators to measure the performance. The results are of interest not only in the Baltic Sea context, but also for supporting and facilitating the application of the cost-effectiveness analysis postulated in the Water Framework Directive. Future research should concentrate on improving data availability (e.g. livestock husbandry) and models and on implementing further transaction costs and additional indicators like nutrient retention of wetlands.