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Land take in Europe

Gordon McInnes, EEAFifth Joint Task Force Meeting

Geneva , 04-06 July2012

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What is land take?EEA definition:

• Loss of agriculture, forest and other semi-natural and natural land taken by urban and other artificial land development.

• It includes areas where soil is sealed by construction and urban infrastructure as well as urban green areas and sport and leisure facilities.

Roadmap on Resource Efficient Europe:

• Milestone: no net land-take by 2050. What does this mean? No net change (increase) in built-up areas. If built-up new infrastructure have to reclaim the area some where else (e.g. transform brownfields into agriculture or natural land).

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Outline

• A reality check – land use and land take in Europe

• Policy responses to land take

A reality check -land use and land take in

Europe

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Full coverage CLC 2000

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CLC 2006 v.13 (status Feb 2011, base for the indicator)

Trend - land take is increasing

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Baltic States, 2000-2006

Residential growth Economic sites

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Lost land cover due to land take in Europe

Relative contribution of land-cover categories to urban and other artificial land development

2006

Where have the more important artificial land uptakes occurred?

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Mean annual land take before and after 2000

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What are the drivers of uptake for urban and other artificial land development?

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2000 – 2006 EUR36

Urban land take 1990-2006 (Copenhagen)

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Policy responses to land take

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What are the policy responses to land take? • Cohesion Policy (2014-2020) – thematic objective: environmental

protection and resource efficiency. Funds flow to infrastructure developments (e.g. in 2000-2006 period – 5100 km road built, 8400 km rail built, etc.)

• Roadmap on Resource Efficient Europe – milestone: no net land-take by 2050.

• Territorial Agenda 2020 - changes in land use (urbanisation, mass tourism, etc.) threaten landscapes and lead to fragmentation of natural habitats and ecological corridors.

• Guidelines to limit soil sealing - measures for limiting soil sealing include 'land take' targets, planning restrictions and rules on preferential development of brownfield sites.

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What are the policy responses to land take? • Rural Development Policy (towards 2020) - priorities include

restoring, preserving, and enhancing ecosystems e.g. N2000 , landscapes, soil management, etc.

• The Common Transport Policy - development of transport services must take account of their possible effects on the environment.

• European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) - advocates the development of a sustainable, polycentric and balanced urban system with compact cities.

• Leipzig Charter of Sustainable European Cities – compact settlement structure as especially sustainable.

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Thank you for your attention

http://www.eea.europa.eu

http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications-ru/emep-eea

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