Flächennutzung und Flächennutzungsansprüche in Deutschland

Agricultural land in Germany has continuously declined in recent decades. This was accompanied by an increase in settlement and transport areas as well as forest areas. This process continues. Even if the food supply in Germany is not endangered due to this development, agricultural land is a fundamentally scarce resource that is worth protecting. It must be taken into account that Germany has a global responsibility to use fertile arable land for food production and to protect it accordingly. In view of the fact that national and international sustainability goals are aimed at protecting soils and that the amount of arable land available per capita is decreasing worldwide, Germany should therefore provide an example in dealing with soil as a resource. In recent years, new land use for settlement and transport infrastructure has declined significantly. However, as a result of plans to increase construction of new housing and to expand renewable energies, especially ground-mounted photovoltaics, a sharp increase in new land use is expected by 2030. At the same time, from the perspective of biodiversity and climate protection, increasing demands are being made for the creation of near-natural habitats and carbon sinks. These are associated with land use changes (afforestation, planting of woodlands and hedges, rewetting of peatlands) or with an extensification of agricultural use. Given the numerous uncertainties, it is difficult to predict to what extent the utilised agricultural area will be allocated towards additional land requirements for affordable housing, the energy transition and natural climate protection. An estimate assuming that key goals are achieved by 2030 amounts to a decline of more than 300,000 hectares of utilised agricultural area by 2030. The increasing demands for land are exacerbating the already existing competition between land uses. In the future, land use requirements must be carefully weighed up more closely and synergies and multiple uses of areas should be realized as far as possible. Examples of such synergies include the expansion of photovoltaics (PV) on settlement and transport areas, on rewetted peatlands or in combination with agricultural use. However, governance of PV expansion on open spaces is currently only possible to a limited extent, as planning and approval are in the hands of the municipalities and new systems are increasingly being built outside of the Renewable Energy Act. The expanded privilege under building law for ground-mounted PV on corridors along motorways and railway lines is intended to accelerate expansion. However, it promotes the conversion of agricultural land without taking advantage of the aforementioned synergies. Given the high demands on land for biodiversity and climate protection, synergies must also be realised in this area. Balancing and controlling the various land requirements without slowing down the pace of the energy transition and the transformation towards more sustainable and climate-friendly land use is a major challenge for politicians. For this purpose, a cross-target land use policy must be developed.