Author/Contact:
Lia Laporta
University of Trento; University of Lisbon – Instituto Superior Técnico; Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research.
Resource description:
This deliverable explores the different possibilities of Spatial Planning & Management instruments (SP&MIs) for biodiversity, highlighting the good practice examples found in our research.
Spatial Planning & Management Instruments (SP&MIs) for Biodiversity
In this deliverable, we have explored substantive SP&MIs - i.e., instruments that can support the actual operationalization of spatial plans and programs - looking at how they contribute to protecting or enhancing biodiversity, individually or combined, and how they may support transformative spatial planning. We have grouped SP&MIs into five categories that pertain mostly to its dominant intended form of application. We performed a contribution analysis at the instrument level using habitat quality, area of habitat and connectivity as assessment criteria. The categories are:
Enforcement Instruments: expropriation of land, mandatory easements, administrative possession, and preemption rights.
Regulatory Instruments: qualitative & technological requirements, quantitative targets, performance-based systems, compensations measures, conservation zones, and land-use zoning schemes.
Project or Action-based Instruments: Design-based projects, land acquisition, voluntary conservation easements, and stewardship agreements
Information-based Instruments: guidelines, recommendations, biodiversity monitoring, and ecosystem service assessments.
Incentive-based Instruments: density bonuses, transfer of development rights, fast-tracking approval processes, and interim use permits
Key messages for researchers, practitioners and policy-makers:
The array of SP&MIs analyzed in this deliverable represent potential solutions that can be used to operationalize spatial plans and programs in a way that can support biodiversity restoration, protection or enhancement. As explored in this project, they can be used individually, in combination, and even complemented with economic & financial instruments (e.g., tax reliefs, PES schemes, green bonds, etc.) or environmental assessment instruments (e.g. baseline assessments, tiering, monitoring evaluation, scenario development, etc.), for a truly transformative practice that acknowledges and safeguards natural values in decision-making. This deliverable provides further insights into how these different instruments can be implemented together, defining future pathways for a biodiversity-centered spatial planning practice.
Potential capacity gaps for implementing some of these SP&MIs have also been investigated in this deliverable, resulting from our work in close collaboration with local authorities and stakeholders in the Arenas for Transformation. Our findings can help practitioners and policy-makers to adopt the most appropriate SP&MIs for biodiversity that applies to their planning context.