Land and biodiversity policies/Land-use regulation

Relevant overviews

Policy interventions overview

References

Overmars et al., 2012 UNEP-WCMC, 2008

Land-use planning

Land-use planning, such as the application of zoning laws or cadastres, assign areas to certain land uses. This could include natural corridors that are interwoven with agricultural land use. The purpose, in this case, would be to limit the impact on biodiversity in large agricultural areas and to connect the individual spots that are rich in biodiversity. Land-use planning directly influences the land-use pattern, which in turn determines the impacts on climate and biodiversity and could enhance the use of available ecosystem functions. Restricting the availability of land for agriculture could affect land prices and, therefore, decrease the relative costs of other production factors, i.e. labour and capital, or other inputs. In this way, such an intervention may induce changes in the production system (figure B on the right) and in impacts on biodiversity and climate, also on that level.

Table: Policy interventions Land-use planning

Policy intervention	Description	Implemented in/affected component
Land use planning

(*) Implementing component.

Land-use regulation

Land-use regulation could also include economic instruments. In such cases, certain land uses that also provide ecosystem services could generate additional returns via REDD+ schemes or payments for ecosystem services. Such payments would place a value on ecosystem services that do not have a market value at the moment. These ecosystem services would then compete with other economic activities over the same piece of land. In this way, this intervention restricts the land available for agriculture or forestry, which will affect land prices and, therefore, decrease the relative costs of using any of the other production factors, i.e. labour and capital, or input, or reduce consumption. Adaptations in the production system can be induced in this way (figure B on the right), and consequently change the impacts on biodiversity and climate on that level. Compared to the other two interventions mentioned here, the outcome of this intervention, ultimately, will be the most uncertain for impacts on biodiversity and climate change, since the areas excluded from agriculture and the final land-use pattern are the result of individual decisions. Zoning could be a way to reduce this level of uncertainty.

Table: Policy interventions Land-use regulation

Policy intervention	Description	Implemented in/affected component
Avoiding deforestation	Here comes description
REDD policies	The objective of REDD policies it to reduce land-use related emissions by protecting existing forests in the world; The implementation of REDD includes also costs of policies.	Agricultural economy(*) Carbon cycle and natural vegetation Emissions

(*) Implementing component.

Expansion of bio-reserves

Expansion of bio-reserves should result in higher biodiversity values, if their locations are carefully chosen. The impact on climate resulting from the protection of those areas depends on the carbon content of the standing biomass. Most of the hot spots for biodiversity protection also have a high carbon content (UNEP-WCMC, 2008). The impact of this intervention on agricultural production depends on the productivity level in these areas. Restricting the amount of land available for agriculture could affect land prices. Consequently, the same impacts as described in land-use planning could be expected.

Expansion of bio-reserves has been analysed in several PBL reports (PBL, 2010; PBL, 2012). An evaluation of costs and CO2 emission reductions via REDD+ schemes can be found in Overmars et al., 2012.

Table: Policy interventions Expansion of bio-reserves

Policy intervention	Description	Implemented in/affected component
Protection of ecosystems

(*) Implementing component.