Abandoned farmlands have “high potential” for carbon sequestration and ecosystem restoration, but current EU environment policy does not overtly highlight this value, according to analysts from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
In research led by Catherine Fayet, the increasing trend of agricultural abandonment is underlined, noting estimates of 3% of total agricultural lands in the EU abandoned by 2030. However, at the same time, the issue gets few mentions in policies linked to the European Green Deal, which sets targets for climate change, biodiversity and sustainable farming.
“With such limited explicit visibility of abandoned lands in the overall Green Deal policy framework, there is a risk of missing opportunities for new land uses, as few legal incentives or supports exist. In addition, there is a risk of failing to protect or restore lands that need it, especially when they have high carbon sequestration or biodiversity values,” Fayet and her colleagues wrote.
Broader view of rural challenges needed
Abandoned lands need to be integrated within biodiversity and climate policies, they said – but broader socio-economic issues also need to be addressed for change to be seen on the ground. Abandoned agricultural land tends to be synonymous with declining local populations, leading to a question of who would be around to implement such policies. As such, rural living needs to be supported through financial measures and social services, they added.
Improved land planning is also needed to close the gap between EU targets and action, they continued, including landscape mapping of abandoned lands, alongside establishing their management potential.
As things stand, opportunities to rely on such lands to contribute to climate targets are uncertain, they noted, with a lack of support for restoring carbon sinks, and difficulties faced by landowners in reusing lands.
“The gap between policy objectives and implementation by land-use deciders needs to be reduced to more rapidly and effectively achieve the objectives defined in the European Green Deal for climate, biodiversity and rural development,” they concluded.
You can read the full report in Environmental Science & Policy.
