Reality Cheques - Agri-culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature - page 71

are also used to eliminate certain practices, and include bans on the
spraying of pesticides close to rivers and on straw-burning in the UK, as
well as the mandatory requirement to complete full nutrient accounts for
farms, such as in the Netherlands and Switzerland. A final use for
regulations is the designation and legal protection of certain habitats and
species, which are set at national or international levels.
Economic instruments can be used to ensure that the polluter bears
the costs of the pollution damage and the abatement costs incurred in
controlling the pollution. They can also be used to reward good behaviour.
A variety of economic instruments are available for achieving internal-
ization, including environmental taxes and charges, tradable permits, and
the targeted use of public subsidies and incentives. Environmental taxes
seek to shift the burden of taxation away from economic goods, such as
labour, and towards environmental bads, such as waste and pollution.
Clearly, the market prices for agricultural inputs do not currently reflect
the full costs of their use. Environmental taxes or pollution payments,
however, seek to internalize some of these costs, in this way encouraging
individuals and businesses to use them more efficiently. Such taxes offer
the opportunity of a double dividend by cutting environmental damage,
particularly from non-point sources of pollution, while promoting
welfare. However, many opponents still believe that environmental taxes
stifle economic growth, despite compelling evidence to the contrary. 45
There is now a wide range of environmental taxes used by countries
of Europe and North America. These include carbon and energy taxes
in Belgium, Denmark and Sweden; chlorofluorocarbon taxes in Denmark
and the US; sulphur taxes in Denmark, France, Finland and Sweden;
nitrogen oxide charges in France and Sweden; leaded and unleaded petrol
differentials in all European Union countries; landfill taxes in Denmark,
the Netherlands and the UK; groundwater extraction charges in the
Netherlands; and sewage charges in Spain and Sweden. However, environ-
mental taxes have rarely been applied to agriculture, with the notable
exception of pesticide taxes in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and in several
US states; fertilizer taxes in Austria, Finland, Sweden, and several US
states; and manure charges in Belgium and the Netherlands. 46
The alternative to penalizing farmers through taxation is to encourage
them to adopt non-polluting technologies and practices. This can be done
by offering direct subsidies for the adoption of sustainable technologies,
and by removing perverse subsidies that currently encourage polluting
activities. 47 An important policy principle suggests that it is more efficient
to promote practices that do not damage the environment, rather than
spend money on cleaning up after a problem has been created. Many
governments provide some direct or indirect public support to their