Territorial Trends and Policy Impacts in

the Field of EU Environmental Policy

ESPON Project 2.4.1

The Project

• September 2005 – May 2006• Interim Report, 15th February 2006• Final Report, 31st May 2006• Partners:

– Geological Survey of Finland (LP)– European Topic Centre on Terrestrial Environment –

Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona, Spain– Plan + Risk Consult, Germany– Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning –

Office for Spatial Development, Slovenia– GeoVille, Austria– Geographic Information Management SA, Luxembourg

The Main Objectives

• Territorial trends, situations and structures in relation to the

main environmental issues of relevance for the development of

regions and larger territories

• Proposal on a Territorial Impact Assessment (TIA) of EU

Environmental Policy and testing TIA approach on three major

elements of EU Environmental Policy

• Recommendations and proposals on future applied research

projects

Results so far

• Review of EU Environmental Policy documents

• Identifying spatial relevant elements and documents of EU Environmental Policy

• Territorial Impact Assessment for European Environmental Policy – three test cases: Water, Nature & Biodiversity, Civil Protection

• Review of European environmental indicators and identification of spatial relevant indicators

• Development of indicators on urban growth & productivity, area of the Natura2000 network

• Preliminary recommendations for future applied research

Territorial Impact Assessment for EU Environmental Policy

Environmental PolicyElement

• Nature & Biodiversity• Water• Civil Protection• Soil • Waste• Land Use

TerritorialObjectives

Cohesion• territorial quality• territorial efficiency• territorial identity

General TerritorialTrend

SpecificEnvironmentalTrend

+ Story line (increasing/decreasing effect)+ Best needed/available indicators

Example

Story line:The territorial efficiency gets benefit from the gradual increasein total activity rate, but reserving the land for protected areasmay have negative impact on it. Reservation of land for protectionareas prevents other use of land and may hinder other importantactivities in the region.

Indicator for case study Finland:% of people working in mining or quarrying industry

X% of NATURA 2000 network area of the whole region

decreasing effect: -1

increasing effect: +2

…and maps: Natura 2000 network area x mining workers

X

… and more maps and indicators under development

Contact

ESPON 2.4.1 Territorial Trends and Policy Impacts in the Field of EU Environmental Policy

Geological Survey of Finland (GTK)

jaana.jarva@gtk.fi

johannes.klein@gtk.fi