Property Institutions and Environmental Improvement

Pressures to limit levels of agricultural production create opportunities for the provision of new environmental benefits from rural land. However, the public good characteristics of these benefits mean that they are unlikely to be provided by conventional profit‐maximising firms. This paper examines the role of land ownership by public interest demand groups in the form of Conservation Amenity and Recreation Trusts. This form of ownership can establish incentives for the consideration of the external benefits of land use in land management decisions.