Seeds of Change: Sustainable Agriculture as a Path to Prosperity for the Western Balkans

December 15, 2014

“Seeds of Change: Sustainable Agriculture as a Path to Prosperity for the Western Balkans” is a study undertaken to try to assess the environmental and economic consequences of a shift to “sustainable” agriculture in the four Western Balkan countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. The study, along with a related upcoming study on the energy sector aims to help policy makers and other stakeholders in the Western Balkan countries understand the potential positive impacts which could occur by investing in and designing sustainable policies for the agriculture and energy sectors.

 
One of the innovative aspects of this study is that it examines the externalities involved in agricultural production — comparing those of sustainable (organic) agriculture and conventional (high-input) agriculture. In economics, an externality is a cost or benefit which results from an activity or transaction and which affects an otherwise uninvolved party who did not choose to incur that cost or benefit. This study takes an approach which involves the economic valuation of ecosystem services and both positive and negative externalities.

Tags: Europe, sustainable agriculture

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