Environmental and Agricultural Policies in the EU Agriculture & Economy Program Fall 2021 Semester - Florence

In the last few decades, the European Union (EU) has developed some of the world's highest environmental standards directed at protecting natural habitats, keeping air and water clean, and reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture.

This course aims to present students with the structure and functioning of the EU, identify the key areas of EU agri-environmental policies relevant for US students from a comparative perspective, and sharpen students' analytical skills when analyzing the effectiveness of environmental policies.

The course is divided into three parts. In the first part, the students are introduced to the developments of the EU including the history of European integration from its beginnings after WW2 until today. The aim of that part is to understand the institutional framework in which the EU environmental policy is developed and adopted. The second part presents the main EU fields of environmental policy such as nature, water and air protection, and defines the concept of environmental governance. That section aims to define the essential content of the EU environmental policy and to provide the students with the knowledge to compare the different approaches and guiding principles in the EU and the USA. Finally, the third part of the course is largely devoted to important cross-cutting issues such as climate change, biodiversity, and agriculture. This last section underlines the links between biodiversity, agri-environmental policy and food, and how non-strictly environmental issues have a relevant role in the EU trade relations and environmental policy.

*This course is cross-listed with ENV333FLR