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This paper describes three relatively recent innovations in the Dutch agri-environment programme which have helped nature management to be contiguous with natural features allowing the landscape to be managed whole rather than piecemeal - and thus generate higher quality and greater scope in environmental management. The first two, joint submissions by neighbouring farmers and payments related to the level of environmental output delivered, are scheme innovations. The third, Environmental Co-operatives (EC) - clubs of neighbouring farmers that inter alia co-ordinate and help manage the scheme innovations - is an institutional innovation. None has an equivalent in the UK. Evidence from interviews with farmer and non-farmer members, policy makers, academics and other interested parties show the role EC play in overcoming some of the postulated problems of the two scheme innovations. Not all the problems have been overcome, and cost-benefit analyses have not been conducted, nevertheless there is sufficient evidence to suggest that these innovations have benefited all actors involved: farmers, the government, the environment and the rural economy. Analysis of UK agri-environment policy using actor network theory (ANT) suggests the UK government will need to show similar levels of trust in and commitment to the farming community before these innovations could be introduced in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental policy programmes are finding a new focus in the Netherlands: increasingly programmes are developed that deal with the environmental effects of the production, consumption, and waste activities around a product rather than with the effects of separate production processes. This development, which is also occurring in other European countries, coincides with the process of inter-nationalisation that is currently changing the face of Europe. As this latter process is to a great extent focused on economic activities, it is important to analyse the mutual influence of both developments. This analysis, which gives insight into the positive, as well as problematic aspects, is based on the example of the formulation of the EC-Directive concerning the control of chemicals, and its implementation in the Netherlands, Germany, and the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green parties achieved a major breakthrough in the 1989 European elections. Who voted green in these elections? This first comprehensive comparative analysis of the green voter in Europe reveals, that, as expected, green voting is more common among the young, well-educated, and middle class, and green voters also tend to be left-wing, post-materialist and concerned about the environment and arms limitation. But these stereotypical attributes of greenness closely apply to the German and Dutch Greens only: green voters in other countries comply far less, if at all, with this socio-demographic profile. The one pervasive predictor is environmental concern, which is dominant in Britain, France, Belgium and Ireland. It is rather less important in Germany and the Netherlands where post-materialism and a left-wing orientation are more prevalent instead. The basis of green voting is thus rather less narrow than previously thought. The sharper delineation of support for the German Greens has contributed to a relatively stable green vote in the past, but the potential for attracting other sectors of the electorate are clearly very limited. Green parties in most other countries appear to be able to attract votes from a wider spectrum of the population but the commitment of these voters is likely to be far more volatile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]