Policy instruments for soil protection among the EU member states: A comparative analysis

Ronchi, Silvia; Salata, Stefano; Arcidiacono, Andrea; Piroli, Erika; Montanarella, Luca

doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.01.017

Cited by 85 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Addressing soil erosion was the most commonly mentioned environmental issue in need of direct regulatory intervention. There is a wealth of research to support the effect of the excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides on soils, which is reflected also in the soil protection measures that are being introduced in various European countries in the absence of a common EU directive for soil protection [45].…”

Section: Discussion and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stakeholder Perceptions of Policy Tools in Support of Sustainable Food Consumption in Europe: Policy Implications

et al. 2020

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Transitioning agri-food systems towards increased sustainability and resilience requires that attention be paid to sustainable food consumption policies. Policy-making processes often require the engagement and acceptance of key stakeholders. This study analyses stakeholders’ solutions for creating sustainable agri-food systems, through interviews with a broad range of stakeholders including food value chain actors, non-governmental organizations, governmental institutions, research institutions and academic experts. The study draws on 38 in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted in four European countries: France, Iceland, Italy and the UK, as well as three interviews with high-level EU experts. The interviewees’ solutions were analysed according to a five-category typology of policy tools, encompassing direct activity regulations, and market-based, knowledge-based, governance and strategic policy tools. Most of the identified solutions were located in the strategic tools category, reflecting shared recognition of the need to integrate food policy to achieve long-term goals. Emerging solutions—those which were most commonly identified among the different national contexts—were then used to derive empirically-grounded and more universally applicable recommendations for the advancement of sustainable food consumption policies.

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Section: Discussion and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stakeholder Perceptions of Policy Tools in Support of Sustainable Food Consumption in Europe: Policy Implications

et al. 2020

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“…In Italy, for example, the National Strategy of Adaptation to Climate Change (2015) provides a vision to address adaptation to climate change, actions and guidelines to develop adaptive capacity and concrete proposals on measures and adaptation priorities. As [14] (p. 771) point out, it also faces the issues of desertification and soil degradation, outlining the measures of protection and mitigation in relation to global warming in relation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Most of the interventions focus on urban and rural areas (195/227).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Sustainable Are Land Use Tools? A Europe-Wide Typological Investigation

et al. 2020

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Sustainable land use depends on both the socio-economic processes that trigger spatial development and the effectiveness of spatial governance tools that aim to regulate these processes. The ESPON Sustainable Urbanization and land-use Practices in European Regions (SUPER) research project aims to analyze the main land-use dynamics in Europe, looking at and comparing the interventions implemented in the various countries in order to promote sustainability. In particular, a sample of 227 interventions was chosen from a total of 39 European countries. This paper analyzes them on the basis of four different variables: (i) the scale at which the interventions are conceived; (ii) the type of territories subject to them; (iii) the type of interventions; (iv) the type of instruments behind these interventions. On this basis, it develops a number of considerations concerning the effectiveness of the interventions implemented in Europe to promote more sustainable use of land.Sustainability 2020, 12, 1257 2 of 21 these systems interact with and evolve in response to the contextual socio-economic conditions that characterizes each country [8][9][10][11], makes providing any systematic assessment difficult. Among the variety of comparative studies on the matter [3] (p. 5), it seems that no comprehensive study exists that investigates the interventions in Europe that aim at sustainable land use.Aiming at providing the first contribution in this direction, the authors analyze a wide and heterogeneous set of interventions put in place in European regions towards achieving a more sustainable urbanization and land use. More precisely, the scope of this contribution is to shed some light on what type of interventions are put in place in Europe to address the sustainable development of different types of territories, through what instruments are they implemented and at what scale. To do this, it builds on some of the results of the ESPON SUPER project -Sustainable Urbanization and Land-Use Practices in European Regions [12], which is set to analyze, on the one hand, the nature of urbanization processes and, on the other, to identify the more suitable instruments for sustainable land use management. In particular, the SUPER project seeks to analyze the degree of success of the interventions affecting urbanization, such as (spatial) strategies, instruments, and mechanisms (financial, fiscal, and economic), from the European to the local level. More specifically, the study aims to understand how the interventions affect development practices, and hence, land-use changes [13] (p. 1).After this brief introduction, the second section presents the theoretical framework of the SUPER project. The third section then focuses on the methodology adopted for the collection and classification of 227 interventions from 39 countries (28 member states of the European Union, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, the countries of the Western Balkan Region and Turkey). These interventions are evaluated in the fourth section in relation to...

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“…The attempt promoted by the EU Commission to design a community framework for soil protection, the Soil Framework Directive, was withdrawn in 2014 [16]. Consequently, soil legislation was extremely fragmented across EU countries, governance levels, and policy domains [17,18]. In Italy, even if there were no laws to safeguard soil enforced at the national level, some regions have written their own laws over the last few years.…”

Section: Soil Sealing In Europe and Italymentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotope Area Factor: An Ecological Urban Index to Geovisualize Soil Sealing in Padua, Italy

et al. 2019

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Over the last few years, soil sealing has been recognized as one of the major threats in terms of soil degradation and loss of ecosystem services. Although many efforts have been promoted to increase the awareness of safeguarding soil for stakeholders, its value as a non-renewable resource as well as soil-related services in urban ecosystems is not implemented enough in urban planning and policies. Due to the spatially explicit component and the geographical scale of soil sealing, mapping and quantifying the number of sealed surfaces is crucial. The aim of this paper was to estimate and geovisualize the soil sealed in the city of Padua (Italy) at a very detailed scale, testing the use of the Biotope Area Factor (BAF) index. Moreover, the paper aimed to simulate an alternative mitigation scenario in a specific study area of the city. Spatial analysis was performed testing the BAF index in a Geographic Information Sistem (GIS) environment and using aerial ortho-photos at very high resolution. The results show different values of the BAF index for all four neighborhoods from 0.35 to 0.69. In the mitigation scenario, the value of the BAF index was improved using a measure of green roofs. In conclusion, the paper provides an insightful case study for enriching the debate about soil sealing and gives scientific support for sustainable urban planning.

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Policy instruments for soil protection among the EU member states: A comparative analysis

Cited by 85 publications

References 22 publications

Stakeholder Perceptions of Policy Tools in Support of Sustainable Food Consumption in Europe: Policy Implications

Stakeholder Perceptions of Policy Tools in Support of Sustainable Food Consumption in Europe: Policy Implications

How Sustainable Are Land Use Tools? A Europe-Wide Typological Investigation

Biotope Area Factor: An Ecological Urban Index to Geovisualize Soil Sealing in Padua, Italy

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