Land Use In Germany Research Articles

How will an increase in organic agricultural area affect land use in Germany?

Organic agriculture is an attractive land use alternative to conventional farming in terms of environmental and biodiversity protection. The official German target is a 30% share of organic agricultural area by 2030, while German stakeholders consider 24% realistic and 44% desirable. It is unclear how such a shift may affect the food and land use system. We use data from a crop/pest model to estimate yield differences between conventional and organic systems, and the FABLE accounting tool to assess changes in indicators like calories available per person and day, and the extent of cropland, pasture and area where natural processes predominate. We investigate how an increase in organic agricultural area may affect these indicators up to 2050, and if adaptation measures may become necessary to ameliorate the potential pressure to expand cropland or raise import rates. The results show that if organic agricultural area is increased, there will be a calorie deficit of 7–80 kcal per person and day, corresponding to 1000–5000 km2 of missing cropland. The deficit will disappear without any changes to the system by 2045 at the latest due to demographic and technological development. No additional cropland at all would be required if crop productivity increased at a higher rate than observed today, and an additional 600,000 ha could be freed even with a 30% share of organic agriculture. A higher share of organic agriculture is thus a realistic target for Germany, but technological advancements should accompany the transformation to minimize cropland demand.

Fläche unter Druck: Sozial-ökologische Dimensionen der Flächennutzung in deutschen Wachstumsregionen

Deutsche Städte werden immer dichter bebaut ‐ zum Nachteil von vielen Stadtbewohner(inne)n. Damit eine hohe Lebensqualität gewährt werden kann, muss Stadtentwicklung öffentliche Räume stärken. Denn gemeinschaftlich genutzte Flächen wie Parks oder Plätze können wesentliche Bedürfnisse nach sozialem Austausch oder Naturerfahrungen befriedigen und die Städte so lebenswerter machen.The paper discusses the trend of ongoing land consumption in German cities and their implications for socially inclusive and ecological urban development models. Highlighting how land use in Germany has changed since 1990, we focus on housing and mobility ‐ the two sectors that have had the most impact on land consumption nationwide. Our analysis of ten demographically growing cities in Germany shows land consumption to be driven not only by demo-graphic growth itself, but also by modes of living and transportation that are exclusive to certain privileged groups. In the cities we studied, these developments would seem to benefit the few, but affect the lives of everyone. Based on these results, we sketch out various ideas and approaches that could support a socially inclusive and ecological urban development policy. Supporting a cultural shift from a private luxury model to one based on public welfare is crucial to reducing land consumption and ensuring that all members of the population can gain access to “the good life”.

The political economy of certificates for land use in Germany – experimental evidence

ABSTRACTCertificate trading schemes have been discussed as a cost-efficient means of reducing urban land consumption in Germany by capping and reallocating permissions to conduct building projects. However, in contrast to the established cap & trade systems for emissions, reputation-seeking politicians would be in charge of buying and trading certificates – an aspect not considered to date. We thus present a laboratory experiment that captures politicians’ incentives connected to electoral cycles in a cap & trade scheme for land consumption, whereby tradable certificates are auctioned and grandfathered in equal shares. We find the cap & trade system to be efficient at large; yet, there are several politically relevant distortions that are aggravated by self-serving incentives. We thus identify potential problems to a cap & trade system for urban land consumption that could substantially reduce both its assumed superior efficiency and its political feasibility.

The Political Economy of Certificates for Land Use in Germany Experimental Evidence

Certificate trading schemes have been discussed as a cost-efficient means of reducing land use in Germany by capping and reallocating permissions to conduct building projects. However, in contrast to the established cap & trade systems for emissions, reputation-seeking politicians would be in charge of buying and trading certificates – an aspect not considered to date. We thus present a laboratory experiment that captures politician’s incentives connected to electoral cycles in a cap & trade scheme for land use, whereby tradable certificates are auctioned and grandfathered in equal shares. We find the cap & trade system to be efficient at large, yet there are several politically relevant distortions that are aggravated by self-serving incentives. Prices show high volatility, initially by far exceed fair values and are substantially biased by the endowment effect. Further, the timing and location of land use projects and the heterogeneity in income across municipalities are sensitive to the specifics of the system and politicians’ interests. We thus identify potential problems to a cap & trade system for land use that could substantially reduce both its assumed superior efficiency and its political feasibility.

Historical soil erosion by water in Germany: Scales and archives, chronology, research perspectives

The published record of historical soil erosion by water in Germany as deduced from dated slope deposits ( n = 306), alluvial sediments ( n = 120) and lake sediments is summarized in this paper. The number of sediments investigated reflects the state of knowledge chronology of historical soil erosion and to a certain degree the intensity of the human impact on German landscapes during the Holocene. Even though few data of calculated historical soil erosion intensities exist, an estimation of historical soil erosion in Germany combining the available data has been calculated. Soil erosion in Germany occurred first locally during the Early Holocene, probably triggered by climatic variability. From the Neolithic onward, the record reflects the human impact according to agricultural land use. The observed variability indicates phases of weaker and regained intensity of agricultural land use in Germany. Few records characterise the early and middle Bronze Age (ca. 2000–1600 BC), and the migration period and the early Medieval Times (ca. 400–1000 AD). Surprisingly, for the Roman Emperor Times (ca. 1–400 AD) a decreasing number of soil sediments is recorded even when the data from southern Germany is examined separately. Phases characterised by an increase in soil erosion were the late Bronze Age and pre-roman Iron Age (ca. 1600 BC–1 AD), the high and late Medieval Times (ca. 1000–1350 AD) and the Modern Times (ca. 1500 AD until today). Some extraordinary heavy precipitation events (late 18th–early 19th, first half of 14th century, pre-roman Iron Age) topped the even high soil erosion intensities. Research gaps as well as potential for future research as derived from the available data are outlined.

Nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural land use in Germany— a synthesis of available annual field data

AbstractThe nations that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol must set up an appropriate national inventory on N2O emissions from agricultural land use, in order to report properly on the achievements made in reducing greenhouse‐gas emissions. The search for the appropriate method is a controversial topic as it is subject to high uncertainty in particular associated to the upscaling from site measurements. In this study, all available data from Germany on annual N2O‐emission rates derived from field experiments of at least an entire year are summarized. From each study, only differences in soil properties on N input qualified as an individual data set. Under these premises, 101 treatments from 27 sites were found equally spread across Germany. The annual N application ranged from 0 to 400 kg N ha–1 and the annual emission rates from 0.04 to 17.1 kg ha–1. Annual emission factors (EFs), uncorrected for background emission, varied considerably from 0.18% to 15.54% of N applied. There was no nationwide correlation found for the relationship between N2O losses and N application, soil C, soil N, soil texture, or soil pH. However, site‐specific trends in the relationship between emission factor and mean soil aeration status, as expressed by the soil type and/or mean climatic conditions, were revealed. Regularly water‐logged soils were characterized by low emission factors as were soils from the drier regions (<600 mm y–1), whereas well‐aerated soils from the frost‐intensive regions showed exceptionally high emission factors. Since purely physical and chemical parameterization failed to describe N2O emissions from agricultural land use on the national scale, there must be a biological adaptation to mean site conditions, i.e., different microbial communities react differently to similar actual conditions in terms of N2O dynamics. Regardless of the point of view, the chapter on N2O soil dynamics cannot be closed yet, and new additional model concepts, process studies, and field measurements are needed.