The potential of European abandoned agricultural lands to contribute to the Green Deal objectives: Policy perspectives

Catherine M.J. Fayet*, Kate H. Reilly, Chantal Van Ham, Peter H. Verburg

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The European Green Deal sets targets for biodiversity, climate change, sustainable farming, and rural development. For abandoned agricultural lands to contribute to these goals, specific policy measures to support appropriate land management are required. However, information is lacking on what these policies will mean for landowners and managers. This paper reviews the role of abandoned lands in European Union (EU) policies linked to the Green Deal. We interviewed 30 experts to identify the challenges faced by landowners in response to the identified policies and gather suggestions for future policy improvements. We found few explicit mentions of abandoned lands in policies. The potential of abandoned lands for alternative trajectories (beyond farming) was generally implicit. According to experts, landowners perceive the EU Common Agriculture Policy as the most influential to drive abandonment trajectories and support (or hinder) opportunities for re-management. The main challenges for landowners to (re-)use their lands included conflicting policies, lack of financial and technical support, and a feeling of disconnection with policies defined at EU level. To address the gap between objectives and implementation, policies need to secure support for landowners and managers. We provide three recommendations to uncover the potential of abandoned lands to contribute to the Green Deal targets: (1) increase their visibility in policies, (2) rely on an integrating policy approach, and (3) careful spatial planning to account for biophysical, socioeconomic, and cultural variations across regions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)44-53
Number of pages10
JournalEnvironmental Science and Policy
Volume133
Early online date21 Mar 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors express their gratitude to the 30 experts who participated in the interviews for their time and valuable contributions to this research. This work was supported by the project TERRANOVA the European Landscape Learning Initiative, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 813904. The output reflects the views only of the authors, and the European Union cannot be held responsible for any use, which may be made of the information contained therein.

Funding Information:
The authors express their gratitude to the 30 experts who participated in the interviews for their time and valuable contributions to this research. This work was supported by the project TERRANOVA the European Landscape Learning Initiative, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 813904. The output reflects the views only of the authors, and the European Union cannot be held responsible for any use, which may be made of the information contained therein.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors

Funding

The authors express their gratitude to the 30 experts who participated in the interviews for their time and valuable contributions to this research. This work was supported by the project TERRANOVA the European Landscape Learning Initiative, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 813904. The output reflects the views only of the authors, and the European Union cannot be held responsible for any use, which may be made of the information contained therein. The authors express their gratitude to the 30 experts who participated in the interviews for their time and valuable contributions to this research. This work was supported by the project TERRANOVA the European Landscape Learning Initiative, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 813904. The output reflects the views only of the authors, and the European Union cannot be held responsible for any use, which may be made of the information contained therein.

FundersFunder number
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions813904
H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
European Commission
Horizon 2020

    Keywords

    • Agricultural land abandonment
    • Decision-making
    • European Green Deal
    • Land use
    • Rural landscapes

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