Deliverable 2.1: Policy. A review of policies and practices throughout Europe on mineral resources and land use
Access to mineral resources in Europe is important for the economic development of Europe. At the same time, it is widely recognised that it is essential that minerals are responsibly sourced for the sustainable development of Europe. The question is how to balance societal interests, such as expanding cities, infrastructure development, agriculture and nature conservation with the exploration and mining of mineral resources. Land use planning is a key mechanism to balance various societal interests to guide sustainable spatial development. Therefore, the integration of mineral resources policies into land use planning at different levels is a key factor for achieving responsibly sourced minerals. This deliverable of MinLand assesses the current state of affairs on land use planning in relation to mineral exploration and the safeguarding of mineral resources. The deliverable reviews the issue of governance (e.g. the division of responsibilities between different levels) with a special emphasis on the coherence between existing mineral policies, legislation and land use planning. To analyse this, a survey was conducted amongst 18 participating countries (16 EU Member States plus Ukraine and Norway) to assess the current state of affairs. The mineral land use process has been further visualized for nine EU countries in section 2. In addition to the questionnaire and its updates, additional information has been gathered by contact through emails with consortium experts. Mineral land use processes are further analysed and scrutinized in Deliverable D4.2. D4.2 provides the reader with an evaluation of the interplay between the different parts of the land use processes and permitting procedures. The current deliverable is one in a series related to mineral policies and land use. This is a first step in describing how mineral raw materials relate to land use together with deliverables D2.3, D3.2 and D3.3. These land use issues will be further elaborated within WP4 (particularly D4.2) WP5, WP6 and WP7. The next step in this process building upon the gathered information is the D4.2.