Environmental policy, agri-environmental indicators and landscape indicators

Research for a concept of sustainable agriculture and for the sustainable use of agricultural landscapes are closely related to the development of an international acknowledged indicator framework for the analysis and valuation of the environmental situation by the OECD. Worldwide efforts are focussing on this new topic in the environmental discussion: quantifying and valuation of impacts of agricultural practice on the animated and unanimated environment to draw conclusions for agricultural policy. A key function holds the term sustainability, which is assumed to dominate future policy approaches. The growing insecurity about the environmental impacts of agricultural land use systems led to the overall goal to avoid irreversible damages by agriculture. The development of tools for decision-makers on all decision levels are to: 1. recognise and value impacts degrading the environment; 2. assess future sources of danger; 3. develop sustainable land use systems. Decision supporting tools are worked out since few years for diverse purposes. As a term reflecting the most relevant environmental aspects on the global level agri-environmental indicators (AEIs) are in the focus of interest. Latest since the [Environmental Indicators for Agriculture, vol. 1: Concepts and Framework. Publications Service, OECD, Paris, 1997] launched the driving force-state-response (DSR) model and a catalogue with 14 AUI areas, which resulted from international discussions started on the Rio Conference in 1992, the political significance of an environmental measuring system was recognised. One of the focal points was the indicator issue concerning landscapes and to define indicators which are capable to describe landscapes. Actual indicator concepts for landscape of the OECD, the EU and the PAIS research project illustrate the efforts to integrate landscapes in agricultural policies. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.