Market, policy and institutional failures in agriculture and their environmental impacts

Abstract

Unsustainable and inefficient resource use in developing countries has often been attributed to markets and government decisions or policies not fully reflecting environmental values. This paper discusses various examples of market, policy and institutional failures in agriculture and their environmental
impacts. The paper also stresses that improved environmental management will require two sets of policies, namely, those that harness and build on the positive links between development and environment and those targeted at specific environmental problems and which ensure that environmental values are reflected in decision making.