Achieving no net land take in Europe
Are we on the right track?

SURFACE Online Conference on Status and Challenges

Monday, November 16th , 10:00 am - 12:30 pm

On November 16th, about 150 participants from all over Europe joined this online event to discuss results from the SURFACE project and to contribute their own experiences – both personal and institutional – on how to best tackle land take in the EU. In particular, the following questions were raised and discussed: What are the drivers of land take in Europe and which impacts does land take have on the environment, the economy and the society? What are promising governance approaches to reduce land take in EU member states? Does the inclusion of 'land' as factor to be considered in Environmental Assessments (following the EIA-Directive) make a difference? Please find the presentations held during the conference as well as the welcome addresses and a summary of the whole conference below.



Presentations held during the conference:

What’s driving land take in the EU & which impacts does it have? (1.7 MB)
Dr. Eva Ivits, European Environment Agency

Governing land take in Germany & the research project SURFACE (1.2 MB)
Dr. Jana Bovet, formerly UFZ, now Saxon State Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture
Dr. Lisa Marquard, formerly UFZ, now Federal Environment Agency

Achieving ‘no net land take’ until 2050: Research insights and governance approaches in France (1 MB)
Prof. Dr. Maylis Desrousseaux, Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers


Welcome addresses

Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

Dr. Florika Fink-Hooijer, General Director of Directorate General Environment, European Commission



For questions regarding the conference please contact Dr. Sebastian Strunz.