Being serious about no net land take: Can other policy areas help to get closer to this goal?

Land take, i.e. the conversion of undeveloped land to artificial surfaces, may cause considerable ecological, economic and social problems. Therefore, it is crucial to take the EU target “no net land take until 2050” seriously. Progress so far has been poor, despite the target’s affirmation in the EU Soil Strategy for 2030 and respective commitments of some Member States at the national scale. While it remains decisive to implement specific legal and planning instruments in all EU countries that are tailored to effectively reduce the land take rate, it also seems important to explore the potentials of other policy areas.

Thus, in this workshop, panelists and participants will explore how certain policies in the EU or selected EU Member States, e.g. addressing climate change mitigation or environmental policies, may help in combatting excessive land take. Moreover, the workshop will give the opportunity to exchange experience in this regard amongst EU Member states and to discuss whether there is a need for further coordination of certain approaches at the EU level to make progress toward the ‘No net land take by 2050’ goal.

A detailed agenda for the workshop can be found here soon.