Water Quality and Agriculture
Meeting the Policy Challenge
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Improving water quality is consistently ranked as a top environmental concern in OECD public opinion surveys. The key challenges for policy makers in addressing water quality issues in agriculture are to reduce water pollution while encourage benefits, such as maintaining aquatic life. This book examines linking policies, farm management and water quality. It looks at recent trends and prospects for water pollution from agriculture and the implications of climate change. It assesses the costs and benefits of agriculture's impact on water systems, and presents a series of case studies. Finally the report provides a set of recommendations for countries for meeting the challenge of improving agricultural water quality.
Also available in: French
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Executive Summary
A major challenge for agriculture is to produce more food, feed, fuel and fibre, to meet growing global demand. Agricultural production also generates effects external to markets, both positive, conserving a wetland, and negative, such as water pollution. As there are no markets for these externalities, although they can provide a great benefit or impose a high cost on society, there is little incentive for farmers to internalise the costs of these external production effects, other than the farmer’s own motivation to do so.
Also available in: French
- Click to access:
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Click to download PDF - 333.73KBPDF