Defining environmental services from agriculture to better understand the implementation of European agri-environmental policy

Abstract

This article re-examines the question of environmental services from the perspective of agriculture policy, and in the framework of implementing European Union agri-environmental measures. The article develops a new typology highlighting two different understandings of services: environmental services as ‘services-based activities’ versus environmental services as ‘internalization of externalities’. The first concept is based on the theory of services; the second is based on the theory of externalities. We apply the typology to understand the definition and implementation of agri-environmental policies in Europe. Applying the typology helps to (i) identify the type of environmental services that could be promoted, (ii) clarify the choice of associated policy instruments, and (iii) potentially adapt policy evaluation to the type of environmental services provided by agriculture.