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Land Use

Land Use

Competition for land is increasing due to a more diverse pattern of land use. The production of food, feed, bioenergy, and the replacement of fossil resources with renewable raw materials are all placing pressure on agricultural land in particular. In addition, soil degradation and the worldwide loss of fertile land are intensified by factors including erosion, contamination, and sealing.

Furthermore, other actors are penetrating the market: urban growth at the expense of agricultural land is causing a rise in purchase and lease prices in Germany and the EU. This results in decimated farm numbers and young farmers struggling to find affordable land. Innovative approaches to sustainable agriculture are becoming extremely difficult to finance.

A forward-looking land use policy is needed to meet the challenge of the increased pressure on land use in an ecologically and socially sustainable fashion. Ecologic Institute's research work focuses on what such policies could look like. This includes indicator-based qualitative and quantitative assessments along with the analysis, further development and of national and international policy instruments. For this purpose, the team works closely with various stakeholders and decision-makers.

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Related Topics

Cities

Biodiversity

Nature-based Solutions and Green Infrastructure

International Development

Adaptation

Land Use

Evaluation

McKenna Davis
Senior Fellow

Bioeconomy

Biodiversity

Land Use

Economics

Education

Holger Gerdes
Coordinator Bioeconomy
Senior Fellow

Biodiversity

Cities

International Development

Land Use

Nature-based Solutions and Green Infrastructure

Sandra Naumann
Coordinator Biodiversity and Nature-based Solutions
Senior Fellow

Cities

Food

Land Use

Soil

Agriculture

Education

Stephanie Wunder
Coordinator Land Use Policy
Coordinator Food Systems
Senior Fellow
Selected Projects for Land Use
Between 2016 and 2019 the project "Rural Urban Nexus – Global sustainable land use and urbanisation" developed conceptual approaches and policy recommendations directed at an integrated and sustainable rural and urban development.
 Background
 More than half of ... Read more
| Fotolia © lightpoet
The project Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals for Soils aimed to examine how the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Target 15.3 on 'Land Degradation Neutrality' could be implemented in Germany and at the global level. Ecologic Institute analysed... Read more

Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals for Soils

Duration
Oct 2015 - Jul 2017
Funding
The pressure on land and natural resources is increasing worldwide. While there are many sectoral policies tackling different environmental problems, land use is not regulated in an integrated and overarching way. The discussion on sustainable biofuels and biomass highl... Read more
| Fotolia © Focus finder
The project Legal Instruments to implement the objective "Land Degradation Neutral World" in International Law was commissioned by the German Federal Environmental Agency. It aimed to explore the legal instruments in three different case study countries which could pote... Read more
Fertile land areas to produce agricultural and forestry products are globally only available in a limited amount. The land footprint is a suitable indicator in order to assist the analysis of global land use related to consumption of a country or region and to monitor l... Read more
| Fotolia © Gina Sanders
There is still no specific soil protection law at EU level. In 2014 the European Commission withdrew its 2006 proposal for a soil protection directive, after two unofficial compromise proposals of 2010 and 2011 failed to secure an agreement. The project analyses and com... Read more
The discussion paper "Options to develop a Global Standard-Setting Scheme for products derived from Natural Resources (NRS)" developed by Ecologic with support of WWF and FSC outlines different options to design an international standard whose implementation would equit... Read more
All projects on Land Use