Description
Land use limitations and establishment of environmentally protected areas are legislative approaches to help meet water quality objectives and reduce waterway pollution due to nutrient leakage, for example nitrogen and phosphorous stemming from fertilizer use. These actions typically target agricultural activities as they are the main source of water nutrient pollution, and may require fertilizer use reduction to a specific limit, a pesticide use ban and establishment of fringe zones along watersheds where no agriculture is permitted. Such measures are particularly important in areas with high ecological value, such as wetlands and forests, which contribute to improved watershed water quality, in addition to delivering a wide range of other water ecosystem services.
Implementation
Authorities in charge of environmental protection at national, individual state or provincial levels are usually responsible for creating protected areas and mandating land use limitations. This may require legislation and new regulations for agriculture and other activities that take place designated protected areas.
Educational campaigns and targeted outreach to local land users (i.e. farmers) are also important to educate stakeholders about the threats land use poses to water quality, in addition to outlining protected area and land use limitation benefits and ensuring buy-in. To facilitate compliance, economic incentives may also be introduced. Additional requirements for land users may include registering and submitting data regarding fertilizer use, pesticides, water use, etc. to authorities for monitoring purposes. Additional subsidization schemes may be necessary to make up for reduced productivity or loss of productive land resulting from these measures.
Environmental Benefits
- Reduces risks of nutrient and sediment pollution in surface and groundwater sources.
- Preserves other ecosystem services such as species habitat, carbon sequestration, sedimentation
control and pollutant trapping.
Socioeconomic Benefits
- Reduces the need for water treatment and related costs.
- Increases opportunities for more sustainable (also organic) agricultural activities, with potentially reduced costs and increased premium value.
Opportunities and Barriers
Opportunities:
- Land use limitations may provide an incentive for land users to adopt more sustainable land use practices, including organic agriculture
- Reduced fertilizer use also reduces costs of purchasing such inputs
Barriers:
- Land use limitations and introduction of protected areas can lead to reduced agricultural productivity and economic losses to farmers
- Public dissatisfaction - Farmers may view the measures as an infringement of their land rights
Implementation considerations*
Technological maturity: 4-5
Initial investment: 1-3
Operational costs: 2-4
Implementation timeframe: 2-4
* This adaptation technology brief includes a general assessment of four dimensions relating to implementation of the technology. It represents an indicative assessment scale of 1-5 as follows:
Technological maturity: 1 - in early stages of research and development, to 5 – fully mature and widely used
Initial investment: 1 – very low cost, to 5 – very high cost investment needed to implement technology
Operational costs: 1 – very low/no cost, to 5 – very high costs of operation and maintenance
Implementation timeframe: 1 – very quick to implement and reach desired capacity, to 5 – significant time investments needed to establish and/or reach full capacity
This assessment is to be used as an indication only and is to be seen as relative to the other technologies included in this guide. More specific costs and timelines are to be identified as relevant for the specific technology and geography.
Sources and further information
- UNEP-DHI Partnership- Protected areas and land use limitations
- Doering, C. (2015). Farm groups fuming over new EPA water rule. The Des Moines Register. Available at: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2015/05/27/epa…
- EPA (2016). Agriculture: Laws and Regulations that Apply to Your Agricultural Operation by Farm Activity. United States Environmental Protection Agency.
- Jensen, S.S. (2016). New agricultural legislative package announced. Plesner. Available at: http://www.plesner.com/~/media/plesnerdocuments/artikler/2016_04_12_agr…
- Salomon, E. and Sundberg, M. (2012). Implementation and status of priority measures to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus leakage, Summary of Country Reports. Baltic Compass. Available at: http://www.balticcompass.org/PDF/Reports/SummaryOfCountryReports.pdf
- Southern Forest Resource Assessment (2013). Land Use Impacts on Water Quality. United States Department of Agriculture. Available at: http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/sustain/report/aqua1/aqua1-11.htm
- Winterbottom, R., Reij, C., Garrity, D., Glover, J., Hellums, D., McGauhuey, M. and Scherr, S. (2013). Improving Land and Water Management. World Resources Institute.