Evaluating agri-environmental indicators (AEIs) -: Use and limitations of international indicators at national level

The assessment of agricultural performance in the last decades has been forced to move away from a single criterion of productivity towards broader viewpoints. This article focuses on the feasibility of agri-environmental indicators that are aimed to be used for international comparisons. Indicators of two widely known international organizations, OECD and the Commission of European Communities, were evaluated from the viewpoint of national case study. There exist already plenty of methodology to describe agri-environmental development, which mean that future decision-makers will be better informed about the changes of agricultural systems. Data sets are, however, heterogeneous, which needs be carefully acknowledged by the users. Moreover, characteristic feature of agri-environmental indicators is, that they are producing information in a given problem structuring. Therefore, they are unable to recognize the specific properties of each case study. They are providing relevant statistics, but are still missing for the framework, which would open the meaning of numbers and show the relevance of notices within the particular case study. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.