Rechtsvergleichende Studie zu Instrumenten eines nachhaltigen Landmanagements Comparative Law Analysis on Instruments for Sustainable Land Management

Abstract

This study provides a comparative legal analysis of how key governance requirements of sustainable land use development are accounted for by the environmental and planning law regimes of six selected countries (Germany, The Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Spain, USA). To that end, a set of key governance requirements for sustainable land use development were extracted from the available sustainability discourcse as comparative criteria, and on that basis, an extensive questionnaire was developed and answered by national experts.

The applied governance critiera includes regulatory provision of (1) a transparent sustainability concept and translation into concrete environmental quality objectives (2) a coordinated and integrated approach of land use management, (3) the constant generation and incorporation of to new sustainability knowledge and adaption of land-use decisions to best available knowledge and lastly (4) effective participation of the public and stakeholders. With regard to these criteria, the study is analyzing both cross-sectoral and sector specific steering approaches. Spatial planning is paid particular attention to as a most important cross-sectoral approach. The sectors analyzed include agriculture, river basin related water resource management, urban development and energy landscapes. The evaluation of the survey depicts how far the reported countries have advanced in “sustaining” their environmental and planning law and how, yet, diverse opportunities for improvement remain.

The comparative law analysis based on the mentioned governance criteria reveals a heterogeneous picture requiring differentiated appraisal. In very coarse view, however, it can be summarized that most notable sustainability deficits of the relevant legal regimes relate to the determination of clear environmental quality objectives and effective implementation instruments, while respectable advancements have been achieved in all analyzed legal orders with regard to integration, participation, generation of knowledge and adaptive design of land-use regulation schemes.