Towards Sustainable Land Use
Aligning Biodiversity, Climate and Food Policies
Land use is central to many of the environmental and socio-economic issues facing society today. This report examines on-going challenges for aligning land-use policy with climate, biodiversity and food objectives, and the opportunities to enhance the sustainability of land-use systems. It looks at six countries – Brazil, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Mexico and New Zealand – with relatively large agricultural and forestry sectors and associated greenhouse gas emissions, many of which also host globally important biodiversity. Drawing on these countries’ relevant national strategies and plans, institutional co-ordination and policy instruments, the report provides good practice insights on how to better align land use decision-making processes and to achieve stronger coherence between land use, climate, ecosystems and food objectives.
Also available in: French
Institutional co-ordination and coherence for sustainable land use
National and sub-national institutions play a key role in land use. Ensuring co-ordination both between national institutions (horizontal co-ordination) and national and sub-national institutions (vertical co-ordination) is important for policy alignment in the land-use, biodiversity, climate and food nexus. This chapter highlights the degree of co-ordination between relevant government institutions and the mechanisms for co-ordination in the case study countries (Brazil, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Mexico and New Zealand). The chapter provides examples of horizontal co-ordination and how relevant national level ministries work together to produce policy and manage nexus areas. It then highlights the challenges facing existing mechanisms for vertical co-ordination. The chapter also discusses the role of institutions in international trade including the role of the private sector for managing nexus impacts.
Also available in: French