The aim of land use policies on the European level is to support regional rural development and social cohesion, and to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation. In order to do so, policy makers require tools that allow an assessment of potential impacts of land use policies on all sectors. Over the last five years the EU has invested substantial funding in the development of a suite of computer-based models to support policy-making for different sectors and at different strategic levels and spatial scales.

One of the most innovative and ambitious of these initiatives is ‘SENSOR’ (‘Tools for Environmental, Social and Economic Effects of Multifunctional Land Use in European Regions’), a four year project, which has brought together teams of researchers from 36 institutes in 15 European countries, as well as China, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. The aim is to develop ‘Sustainability Impact Assessment Tools’ (‘SIAT’) that support ex ante assessment of new policies on six land use sectors: agriculture, forestry, nature conservation, transport infrastructure, energy and tourism. By integrating cross-sector knowledge at a European level, the project will provide decision makers with scientifically sound information on regional impacts of land uses changes and policy effects on sustainable development.

The project is based on three key assessment streams:

1. European-wide, indicator-based driving force and impact analysis of land use policy scenarios,
2. region specific problem, risk and threshold assessment making use of spatial reference systems, land use functions and participatory processes,
3. case study based, exemplary sensitive area studies in mountains, islands, coastal zones, post-industrial areas using detailed information on specific sustainability issues, and engaging with stakeholders at the local level.

For each policy area, the outputs of the tool are being validated with local stakeholders in six regions throughout Europe, and a methodology for future stakeholder engagement is being developed for use alongside the tool. As additional policy areas become modelled within SIAT, it will be of value to an increasing range of policymakers as a decision-support tool, but also as a ‘discussion-support’ tool by providing a common platform for critical engagement between policymakers and stakeholders. In doing so, SIAT may help to identify potential conflicts between interest groups, and resolve them at the policymaking stage rather than 10 years down the line.

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SENSOR short description - SENSOR Brochure III(pdf, 0,3 MB)

The SENSOR project is structured into seven interrelated modules. Each module consists of several work packages. To ensure full integration of research components particularly with regard to sectors and disciplines, the structure follows a procedural approach. The modules are:

M1: Scientific co-ordination and project management
M2: European land use scenario assessment and forecasting
M3: Regional sustainability problems, risks and thresholds
M4: SIAT integration and end user tool
M5: Integrated data and indicator management
M6: Sustainability issues in sensitive regions
M7: Stakeholder participation and institutional analysis
M8: SENSOR TTC: Transferability test to China and MERCOSUR

Detailed information about the tasks in each module are given here

Background
Sustainability of land use in European regions is a central point of policy and management decisions at different levels of governance. Implementation of European policies designed to promote and protect multifunctional land use requires the urgent development of robust tools for the assessment of different scenarios' impacts on the environmental, social and economic sustainability in European regions.
SENSOR will build, validate and implement Sustainability Impact Assessment Tools (SIAT), including databases and spatial reference frameworks for the analysis of land and human resources in the context of land use policies for Europe.