File:Policy characteristics of agri-environmental policies from 1960 to 2022.webp

English: (N = 6,124) "a–c, Plots illustrate some of the ways in which the policies can be classified: policy types (a), timing (b) and targets (c). The keywords are not mutually exclusive. A typical policy is characterized by multiple keywords, such as ‘soil’, ‘land use’ and ‘pesticides’, for example, if a policy aims to make land use more sustainable by protecting the soil from pesticide pollution. In combination, the policy characteristics and keywords make it simple to construct policy measures. Examples could be the number of ecosystem service payment schemes that aim to conserve agricultural biodiversity per country since 2000, or fertilizer regulations since 1960. For a snapshot of the database, see Supplementary Fig. 6."

Here is a university press release about the study.

Abstract: "For both research and practice, it is paramount to understand what, where and when agri-environmental policies have been put in place. Here we present a database of 6,124 agri-environmental policies implemented between 1960 and 2022 in about 200 countries. The database comprises a wide range of policy types (including regulations and payment schemes) and goals (such as biodiversity conservation, safer pesticide use and reducing nutrient pollution). We illustrate the application of the database by exploring the association between economic development and agri-environmental policies and between the soil-related, agri-environmental policies of countries and their border discontinuities in cropland erosion. A strong, positive link between economic development and implemented agri-environmental policies is revealed, and it is found that 43% of all global border discontinuities in soil erosion between countries can be explained by differences in their policies."