Issues of water quality, agri-food chains
Water resources are degraded mainly due to pollution by nitrates and pesticides. In Europe, agri-environmental policy encourages changes in agricultural practices that promote water quality. Current policy instruments based on individual incentives at the field or farm scale are ineffective. Then, innovative instruments targeting a broader scale, such as the landscape or the food-chain, are emerging.
This thesis aims to investigate the capacity of these innovative policy instruments to generate sustainable changes in agricultural practices enhancing water quality. After an initial inventory of public instruments in France and Europe, some local initiatives will be studied in detail. All this work will be carried out based on documentary analyses and interviews with institutional and local stakeholders.
Alice Berthet, PhD student
