Visions of future land use in Europe Stakeholder visions for 2040	The Volante Roadmap Towards Sustainable Land Resource Management in Europe
The Volante visions of future land use in Europe	The Volante Roadmap Scientific basis

A PIONEERING APPROACH TO IMPROVING THE SCIENCE-POLICY INTERFACE IN LAND USE MATTERS

VOLANTE‘S EVIDENCE

In the VOLANTE project we observe that current trends lead to land use intensification in favoured areas in Europe, and extensification of marginal agricultural land, implying displacement of food production to other regions in the world. Land use intensity in general is still increasing in many European regions, although less than in the late 20th century, and hotspots of land use change occur in specific regions across Europe. To this background the VOLANTE Roadmap provides:

• three stakeholder-informed visions about future land use in Europe, with the associated characteristics of food, feed and fiber production, rural development and urbanisation;

• a set of pathways under a suite of external scenarios, to arrive at these visions;

• policy measures needed to achieve these visions, and identification of trade-offs for societal values; and

• mapping, quantification and qualitative interpretation of impacts and effects for key interests: farm income, provision of ecosystem services, hot spots of agricultural and forest production, emission of greenhouse gasses, flood protection, etc.

VOLANTE’S KEY MESSAGES

• A general consensus is emerging about major issues of future land use, emphasising the role of multifunctionality, resource efficiency and provision of services in rural areas.

• Current trends lead to unintended land use futures, including uncontrolled hotspots of change, land abandonment and urban sprawl.

• A broad range of land use policy options needs to be considered to select robust pathways towards feasible desired futures.

• Policy implications require cross-sectoral strategies for land use management and a clear visioning process.

For effective, relevant land use policies it is crucial that they be context sensitive and regionally differentiated across Europe, and that they balance trade-offs in a transparent and well-informed way. Under these preconditions land use management can offer huge opportunities for society, including socio-economic well-being and environmental improvement. The VOLANTE Roadmap  provides guidelines and recommendations to policymakers enhancing an effective science-policy interface in future land use matters in Europe.