Communication
on "Land as a
Resource"
WFD CIS Working Group on programme of Measures
26 March 2014
Jacques Delsalle
DG Environment
Unit B1 – Agriculture, Forests & Soil
Land multiple functions: how to deal
with synergies and trade-offs?
Europe 2020
Green Jobs
Health &
Pollution policies
Cohesion & Urban
Policy
Transport
Policy
Biodiversity Strategy
Energy
Water Policy
Bio-economy
Climate Adaptation
Forest Strategy
CAP
DPSIR
Pressures
Drivers
• Demography
• GDP, sectoral
production
• Trade, Globalization
• Consumption
patterns, behaviours
• Climate change and
variability
State
• land use changes
• urban sprawl,
artificialisation
• Agri. intensification /
abandonment
• Infrastructures
• Land tenure
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Land use/cover
Land degradation
Potential productivity
Soil quality
Water retention
EU  Global
Responses
Structural measures
• Land demand, land management
Policy Instruments
• Land regulations, economic instruments, communication
& information instruments
Action at EU level
•Need to act at EU level: subsidiarity/proportionality
•
New policy instruments
•
Use of existing policies and regulations
•
Soft approach, guidelines
•
Improvement knowledge base
Impacts
agri/forest production
ecosystem services
biodiversity
pollution
water resources
land price
wider economic
impacts
• social impacts
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•
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Problem definition (1/2)
• Land is a finite resource
• The resource is shrinking:
• Land take: almost 1000 km2 of agriculture or natural land
disappear every year in the EU
• Growing share of EU land affected by degradation process
(erosion, loss of organic matter) and loss of ecosystem
services provision potential.
• This is a global problem:
• EU-driven land degradation outside the EU
• Growing global land demand for settlement, food, biomass
• Climate change impacts on land demand, availability,
degradation…
Land take:
will trends 1990-2006 continue?
What could
be the
impacts of EU
policies?
(Agriculture,
Energy &
Climate,
Cohesion,
TEN-T, etc…)
What will be
the impacts
of economic
crisis? Fresh
insights to
come from
CORINE 2012
data…
Source: JRC (2012)
Land degradation in the EU
Tonnes of soil erosion per hectare per year, JRC
(RUSLE model)
• Complex phenomenon
including
Organic Carbon (%)
No Data
0-1
1-2
2-5
5 - 10
10 - 25
25 - 35
> 35
Pressures on soil biodiversity, JRC (from the
European Soil Biodiversity Atlas)
• loss of productive land,
• soil sealing,
• agro-silvo-pastoral land
abandonment,
• inappropriate agricultural
intensification,
• ecosystem fragmentation,
• pollution,
• increased frequency of
climatic extremes
• etc.
Global dimension
Source: Bringezu et al. (2014)
Problem definition (2/2)
• Lack of integration of sustainable land resource
management at various levels
• EU policies and funding instruments
• Public policies (national, regional, local, river
basin, etc..)
• Behaviour of firms, consumers, investors
• Insufficient knowledge and assessment tools
• Monitoring of land cover/use/management
changes
• Sustainable land planning tools
Background
• 2011 EU2020 Strategy / Road Map for resource-efficient Europe (RERM)
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Milestone: “By 2020, EU policies take into account their direct and
indirect impact on land use in the EU and globally, and the rate of land
take is on track with an aim to achieve no net land take by 2050;
soil erosion is reduced and the soil organic matter increased, with
remedial work on contaminated sites well underway".
• 2012 Rio+20 outcome document “The future we want”:
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land and soil degradation recognized as a global problem
Milestone on land: "strive to achieve a land degradation neutral world in
the context of sustainable development“
• 2013 7th Environment Action Programme for the EU
•
calls for setting targets on land take and on a number of crucial soil
quality aspects (erosion, organic matter and contamination).
• 2011 Biodiversity Strategy
• 2013 Climate Adaptation strategy, etc.
The Communication on “Land as a resource”
responds to these political mandates
Bringing together the
common elements from these
processes in order to ensure
that EU land management is
based on sustainable principle
Land
take
Land
Efficiency
Global impacts
Increase land efficiency by
optimizing the provision of
different land functions
Land
degradation
What will be the Communication
about?
• Raising awareness about :
•
•
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the value of land as a resource for crucial ecosystem services
(provisioning, regulating, cultural, etc.);
the limitation of the resource and how it is affected by land take and
land degradation;
how the gap can increase particularly in the context of global challenges
(increase in population, food demand, bioenergy, climate change)
• Providing pointers for further action at EU level:
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Evaluate the effectiveness of current policy instruments at National, EU
and global levels;
Define the sustainable level of ambition for a set of objectives (targets)
for pressures, state, impacts or responses
Assess options for EU contribution to a more sustainable management of
land as a resource.
Policy options
• We are currently assessing
the effectiveness of existing
policy instruments at EU,
national and local level.
Planning
tools
• On this basis, potential
policy options for action at
EU level will be identified, to
be subject to public and
stakeholder consultation and
impact assessed
Calendar, next steps
• 2014: support studies, preparation joint JRC-EEA report
• 19 June 2014: Conference in Brussels and launch of public
and stakeholder consultation
• Autumn 2014: workshop with Member States to discuss
shortlisted policy options
• Early 2015: internal decision process (new Commission)
• Mid-2015: publication Communication, Impact Assessment
and joint JRC-EEA report
Thank you for
your attention!
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/land_use/index_en.htm