The potential of European abandoned agricultural lands to contribute to the Green Deal objectives: Policy perspectives

The European Green Deal sets targets for biodiversity, climate change, sustainable farming, and rural develop-ment. For abandoned agricultural lands to contribute to these goals, specific policy measures to support appropriate land management are required. However, information is lacking on what these policies will mean for landowners and managers. This paper reviews the role of abandoned lands in European Union (EU) policies linked to the Green Deal. We interviewed 30 experts to identify the challenges faced by landowners in response to the identified policies and gather suggestions for future policy improvements. We found few explicit mentions of abandoned lands in policies. The potential of abandoned lands for alternative trajectories (beyond farming) was generally implicit. According to experts, landowners perceive the EU Common Agriculture Policy as the most influential to drive abandonment trajectories and support (or hinder) opportunities for re-management. The main challenges for landowners to (re-)use their lands included conflicting policies, lack of financial and tech-nical support, and a feeling of disconnection with policies defined at EU level. To address the gap between objectives and implementation, policies need to secure support for landowners and managers. We provide three recommendations to uncover the potential of abandoned lands to contribute to the Green Deal targets: (1) in-crease their visibility in policies, (2) rely on an integrating policy approach, and (3) careful spatial planning to account for biophysical, socioeconomic, and cultural variations across regions.

Automated summary

This paper reviews the role of abandoned lands in European Union policies linked to the Green Deal and identifies the challenges faced by landowners in response to these policies. The study found that explicit mentions of abandoned lands in policies were limited and their potential for alternative trajectories beyond farming was mostly implicit. Experts believe that the EU Common Agriculture Policy has the most influence on abandonment trajectories. The main challenges for landowners include conflicting policies, lack of support, and a feeling of disconnection with EU-level policies.