Browsing by Author "Todor, Arpad"

Now showing 1 - 10 of 10

EU microbial pest control: A revolution in waiting
(Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), 2022) Helepciuc, Florenta-Elena; Todor, Arpad
Recent evaluations of the microbial biological control sector indicate that implementing microbial control of pests is still slow in the EU. The top causal factors are the lengthy, expensive, and cumbersome two-stage procedure for approval of biological agents as active substances at the EU level and authorization of formulated products at the national level, limited funding, lack of EU level integrated approaches, and slow implementation of integrated pest management. This article contributes to a better understanding of the factors that limit microbial control of pests in EU agriculture by providing the first evaluation of the evolution of microbial biological control agent (MBCA) EU-level approval combined with that of microbial biological control product (MBCP) national-level authorization, discusses recent trends in research and offers some policy recommendations. By 2020, the EU had caught up with the USA regarding research output, approved MBCAs, and MBCA approval procedures (first stage). Despite improvements from 2014 to 2019, the number of authorized MBCPs (second stage) has progressed slowly and unevenly across the EU. Significant progress is concentrated in countries with more extensive agricultural land and higher research intensity. The EUʼs focus on promoting more sustainable agriculture by increasing the availability of low-risk pesticides of biological origin as alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides has gained traction in recent years. Nevertheless, more efforts to improve the capacity and expertise of laggard EU Member States to contribute to the approval of MBCA, authorization of MBCP, and stimulating market availability are needed. Furthermore, we recommend introducing more concrete measures to promote the adoption of the microbial control of pests in the National Action Plans for the sustainable use of pesticides.
Evaluating the effectiveness of the EU's approach to the sustainable use of pesticides
(Public Library of Science (PLOS), 2021) Helepciuc, Florența-Elena; Todor, Arpad
By adopting the 2009 "pesticide package," the EU proposed a common approach to limiting the harmful effects of pesticides, promoting Integrated Pest Management, and the progressive replacement of the most dangerous pesticides with low-risk alternatives through a comprehensive but flexible framework for all EU Member States. Each EU Member State had to develop a National Action Plan that would propose measures to achieve the package’s goals. Nevertheless, the choice of actions and indicators remained to be established at the national level. A series of recent evaluations of how Directive 2009/128/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive (SUD), a central piece of the "pesticide package," was implemented showed limited success in achieving its goals. Aiming to explain these failures, we compare the National Action Plans eight EU Member States adopted after the SUD. We assess the degree to which the countries’ proposed measures and indicators would achieve the Directive’s three overarching objectives (reduce risks and impact; promote Integrated Pest Management; promote approaches and techniques to reduce reliance on pesticides). We develop the comparative analysis along three dimensions: the promotion of measures to achieve SUD’s three goals; the evolution of the pre-and post-Directive action plans of some of the old EU Member States; and the differences between old and the new EU Member States. The comparison along ten variables shows that the SUD had a minimal effect in homogenizing different states’ approaches to develop their National Action Plans to systematically treat problems, propose measures, and timetables for implementation and indicators. Given that the overall effect in generating a common EU approach to raise the sustainability of pesticide use and agriculture, in general, was still limited, as no common measures, indicators, or process to planning were identified, we discuss some suggestions to improve the situation.
Greener European Agriculture? Evaluating EU Member States' Transition Efforts to Integrated Pest Management through Their National Action Plans
(MPDI, 2022) Helepciuc, Florența-Elena; Todor, Arpad
Integrated pest management (IPM) is among the most promising approaches for transforming today’s agronomical practices toward sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture. Aiming to become a global environmental leader, in 2009, the European Union (EU) embraced the idea of making IPM practices ubiquitously used by 2014 in all EU Member States (EU MSs). Through Directive 2009/128/EC (the Sustainable Use Directive (SUD), the EU required EU MSs to structure their transformative measures in National Action Plans (NAPs) in a comprehensive effort. These documents have a fundamental role in orienting the plans and activities of national stakeholders, such as agronomists, researchers, and local and national-level institutions. We analyze and compare the second-generation NAPs (2019–2022) of 10 EU MSs to assess their strengths and weakness and their modifications from the first generation of NAPs (2009). We advance several recommendations on how to make them more valuable instruments in structuring activities towards achieving the goals of the SUD.
Improving the Authorization of Microbial Biological Control Products (MBCP) in the European Union within the EU Green Deal Framework
(MPDI, 2022) Helepciuc, Florența-Elena; Todor, Arpad
Developing sustainable agriculture by identifying non-chemical alternative Plant Protection Products (PPP) is a cornerstone in achieving long-sought environmental friendliness. Despite significant legislative and political efforts to promote biocontrol solutions and Integrated Pest Management (IPM), the literature points out the disadvantages posed by European Union’s (EU) two-tier system for Microbial Biological Control Agents (MBCA) approval and subsequent Microbial Biological Control Products (MBCP) authorization by each EU Member State (MS). Despite the disadvantages, in a recent article, we showed that the EU had outcompeted the US and other countries in approved MBCA in the last decades; however, MBCP approval at the national level lags. Achieving the EU Green Deal’s aim set out in the ‘Farm to Fork Strategy’ to reduce the use and risk of pesticides by 50% by 2030 is difficult without developing viable alternatives. Why do we not have higher MBCP availability and usage in the EU? Is it the current legislation, its poor application, or some other factors? The current legislative framework stimulated MBCA approval. Thus, we compare MBCA approval and MBCP authorization procedure to evaluate if MBCP authorization is more difficult and thus causes a bottleneck. We find that requirements for MBCP authorization are unnecessarily more complex. We recommend simplifying the MBCP dossier requirements and making them as similar to MBCA as possible to accelerate the MBCP authorization in more EU MS to increase their availability and integration in agronomic crops’ pest management plans.
Making the best of research investment in pathogens control through biocontrol. How is research correlated with agricultural microbial biological control product availability?
(Public Library of Science (PLOS), 2023) Helepciuc, Florența-Elena; Todor, Arpad
While using microbial biological control products (MBCPs) to limit pathogens is one of the alternatives to the ecologically unsustainable use of synthetic pesticides that received attention, the last 2 decades have not brought the foreseen leap in developing systematic alternatives based on low-risk plant protection products (PPPs) across the globe. To explain this limited progress, we map the evolution of research on the most successful microbial biological control agents (MBCAs) worldwide. We also map the financing structure in the top funding countries and the European Union (EU) to discern the relevant trends. Available data for the European Union Member States allowed us to discover a country-level and EU-level correlation between strain-level research and biocontrol products’ approval based on those strains
Policies to bring about social-ecological tipping points in coal and carbon intensive regions
(Elsevier, 2025) Todor, Arpad; Tăranu, Andrei; Udrea, Robert; Dănilă, Mihai; Helepciuc, Florența-Elena
Achieving the worldwide greenhouse gases (GHGs) reduction targets set in the 2015 Paris Agreement and other international treaties requires reaching a fast tipping point towards sustainably decreasing emissions. Compared to sectoral energy transitions, where different parameters can be easily measured, transitions in Coal and Carbon Intensive Regions (CCIRs) are more complex and thus more challenging to plan, implement, and study. Despite CCIRs' heterogeneity in the population, level of development, economic structure, surface, and transition timing, achieving Social-Ecological Tipping Points (SETPs) poses some common dilemmas to the local, regional, and national authorities. Simultaneously, the transition process poses significant challenges to the economies and local populations. To understand how policy choices can accelerate reaching positive SETPs, we systematically analyze policy responses since the start of the transition to a low-carbon economy for thirteen CCIRs. We evaluate whether, despite the heterogeneity, we can identify policy response patterns and whether these patterns correlate with other features of these regions. We extrapolate the characteristics of policy changes and local developments needed to generate SETPs and discuss the effects of different events on the regional transition's overall justness of this process. Finally, we advance some recommendations on designing policies to achieve positive SETPs.
Politicization of climate change and Central and Eastern European countries’ stance towards the European Green Deal
(Elsevier, 2024) Witajewska-Baltvilka, Baiba; Helepciuc, Florentina Elena; Mangalagiu, Diana; Todor, Arpad
This paper investigates the factors that led to the national adoption of the European Green Deal (EGD) in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and shows how politicization affects national governments’ positions and commitments. Using a comparative analysis of Hungary, Poland, and Romania, our study shows that while issues of public opinion ideological leaning, fossil fuel dependency, economic context, and parties’ ideological leaning all contribute to the national position on the EGD, the influence of these factors is mediated and shaped by the politicization of climate change issues. Our analysis unveils the process and actors of climate change politicization and shows the non-linearity of this process. This study sheds light on the highly intricated mechanisms between climate change and climate change action at the national level and underlines the importance of understanding the political mechanisms through which international regulation can be operationalized through national-level policies and strategies.
Preferences for honesty can support cooperation
(John Wiley & Sons, 2023-04-16) Szekely, Aron; Bruner, David; Steinmo, Sven; Volintiru, Clara; Andrighetto, Giulia; Todor, Arpad
Many collective action problems are inherently linked to honesty. By deciding to behave honestly, people contribute to solving the collective action problem. We use a laboratory experiment from two sites (n = 331 and n = 319) to test whether honest preferences can drive cooperation and whether these preferences can be differentially activated by framing. Subjects participate in an asymmetric information variant of the public goods game in one of two treatments that vary only in their wording: The Contribution Frame uses a standard public good game framing, while in the Honesty Frame, words aimed to trigger honesty are used. We measure subjects' honesty in three ways using the (i) sender–receiver task, (ii) the die-roll task, and (iii) self-reported honesty levels and account for other-regarding preferences and social norms to disentangle key alternative motives. We find that all three measures of honesty preferences robustly predict contributions, as do other-regarding preferences and empirical expectations but not normative expectations. Additionally, honesty preferences predict contributions in the Honesty Frame but not in the Contribution Frame, although the difference between these is not consistently significant. Finally, we find no differences in average cooperation across the treatments.
The Historical Roots of Post-Communist Taxation
(Oxford University Press, 2022) Todor, Arpad
The chapter investigates whether and how communist and pre-communist legacies have shaped post-communist taxation in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It starts with a literature review showing that post-communist tax outcomes are usually explained by post-communist political, institutional and economic variables. Historical legacy effects are largely ignored. The chapter then provides a short historical overview of the spread of modern taxes in Eastern Europe and Central Asia before the rise of Communism. It reconstructs breaks and continuities in national tax systems during Communism. Finally, it uses regression analysis to gauge the influence of pre-communist and communist legacies on post-communist tax systems. It shows that the timing of income tax introductions before Communism and the role of income taxation during Communism have shaped post-communist taxation in important ways.
Towards Sustainable European Agriculture? Assessing the EU's Progress in Limiting the Negative Ecological Effects of Agriculture on Aquatic Environments
(MDPI, 2023-04-02) Helepciuc, Florența-Elena; Todor, Arpad; Bîrsan, Constantin-Ciprian; Mitoi, Monica-Elena
The degradation of terrestrial and aquatic environments has significant adverse effects on biodiversity and environmental sustainability. The ever-increasing population and constant economic growth strain various ecosystems’ resistance and resilience. An important factor that negatively influences terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems is the use of products used in crop management. In this article, we analyze the pesticide-related European Directives and the Nationals Action Plans (NAP) regarding the sustainable use of pesticides and other documents evaluating the NAPs implementation. We assess the first and second-generation NAPs of nine EU Member States (MS)’ to evaluate if we can identify a significant shift in managing the adverse effects of pesticide use on aquatic environments. Furthermore, we evaluate the degree to which these NAPs are synergic with the EU’s strategic approach to soil protection, aquatic environments, and biodiversity.