The land footprint of the EU bioeconomy: Monitoring tools, gaps and needs

• Published in: Land use policy Vol. 47; pp. 235 - 246
• Main Authors: O’Brien, Meghan, Schütz, Helmut, Bringezu, Stefan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2015
• Subjects: Accounting; Agricultural products; Bioeconomy; Boundaries; Consumption; Environment; European Union; Global land use accounting; Land; Land footprints; Land use targets; Land utilization; Risk; Safe operating space; Consumption; Global land use accounting; Safe operating space; Land use targets; Land footprints; Bioeconomy
• ISSN: 0264-8377; 1873-5754
• DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.04.012

•Research to account for land footprints has increased recently.•Between 2000 and 2011, cropland area within the EU-27 decreased (by 6.6%).•Cropland requirements associated with imports and exports increased (by 2.9% & 10%).•The EU required 20–27% more cropland than domestically available to meet demand.•Results are generally in the same order of magnitude as other studies. The bioeconomy is gaining growing attention as a perceived win-win strategy for environment and economy in the EU. However, the EU already has a disproportionately high global cropland footprint compared to the world average, and uses more cropland than domestically available to supply its demand for agricultural products. There is a risk that uncontrolled growth of the bioeconomy will increase land use pressures abroad. For that reason, a monitoring system is needed to account for the global land use of European consumption. The aim of this paper is to take a closer look at the tools needed to monitor global cropland footprints, as well as the targets needed to benchmark development. This paper reviews recent developments in land footprint accounting approaches and applies the method of global land use accounting to calculate the global cropland footprint of the EU-27 for the years between 2000 and 2011. It finds a slight decrease in per capita cropland footprints over the past decade (of around 1% annually, reaching 0.29ha/cap in 2011) and advocates promoting a further decrease in per capita cropland requirements (of around 2% annually) to reach global land use targets for keeping consumption within the safe operating space of planetary boundaries by 2030. It argues that strategic land reduction targets may still go hand in hand with the growth of a smart, innovative and sustainable bioeconomy by reinforcing the need for policies that support greater efficiency across the life-cycle and reduce wasteful and excessive consumption practices. Recommendations for further improving land footprint accounting are given.