Author/Contact:
Yuanzao Zhu; Karla E. Locher-Krause; Heidi Wittmer
UFZ; IST-ID; UniTrento; AAU; Comune Di Trento; Municipio De Mafra; CoKnow
Resource description:
This resource offers practical guidance for selecting, designing and implementing economic and financial instruments (E&FIs) to strengthen biodiversity outcomes in spatial planning. It presents a structured approach to identifying and integrating E&FIs—such as taxes, subsidies, user fees, offset schemes, and green bonds—within planning processes to better manage ecosystem-related issues and promote transformative change.
It adapts the Ecosystem Service Opportunities framework, developed by Rode et al. (2016), for spatial planning contexts. The adapted framework seeks to assist planning professionals in reflecting on how to address biodiversity and ecosystem-related issues and identify opportunities for biodiversity and ecosystem service enhancement in their planning practice. Guided by a transformative change framework, the adaptation focuses on two main aspects: i) integrating biodiversity explicitly through transformative change ambitions and by including interactions with environmental assessment instruments; and ii) aligning the ESO tasks with different stages of the generic planning process as outlined by Partidário (2024) and exploring potential interactions with spatial planning and management instruments. This resource is relevant for a range of audience, including:
- Policy-makers and regulators shaping legislation or implementation frameworks for green fiscal mechanisms.
- Urban and regional planners aiming to embed biodiversity-related interventions that reflect full social and environmental benefits and costs throughout land-use decisions.
- Environmental economists and consultants advising on instrument selection, design, and implementation, as well as stakeholder alignment.
International funders and conservation NGOs seeking coherent funding architecture for biodiversity support within planning systems.
DOI reference:
10.5281/zenodo.15606918