4 Transformative governance for solidarity-based land stewardship
developing personal norms of action. Education is also important as a resource for obtaining information (knowledge about alternative products) and the critical examination of information sources – or knowledge of trustworthy information sources. Beyond school education, the mainstreaming of new practices requires the adaptation of training plans (e.g. in the construction trade or catering) and the rapid availability of training opportunities.
Promote gender equality as a cross-cutting issue of land-use transformation at the federal level The political mainstreaming of gender equality should be promoted to ensure that the German Federal Government’s contribution to the global transformation of land use is gender-equitable and successful; in particular, structural power differences and drivers of gender inequality in Germany and its institutions should be reduced. Economic and political inclusion are key to this. They could be promoted by gender-sensitive social policy, political and economic representation based on gender parity, and anti-discrimination training for management personnel (Röhr et al., 2018). Promote interdisciplinary research into the nexus of gender and environmental issues and develop multilateral indicators involving monitoring With the aim of strengthening the 2030 Agenda and the Rio Conventions by means of gender-environment indicators and corresponding monitoring, existing drafts (such as UNEP and IUCN, 2018) should be built upon, taking into account not only women* but also other discriminated gender groups. The issue of gender equity in OECD countries requires more scientific attention, not least in the context of the European Green Deal. Social-science approaches, such as feminist political ecology, can make an important contribution here (Röhr et al., 2018) and should be promoted more widely.
4.2 Proactive state: create framework conditions for solidarity-based land stewardship
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The room for manoeuvre available to change agents (Section 4.1), and for land stewardship as a whole, is determined by effective state measures and decisions at various levels of governance: at the local or municipal level, at the level of the Länder or regions, and at
the national, supranational and international level. The challenge for states and their actors is to develop a consistent system of different instruments to support a land-use transformation and to dismantle blockages. Starting points for public frameworks (Fig. 4.2-1) that promote sustainable land stewardship are manifold and include, in particular, the creation of sufficiently strong price signals or financial incentives against degradation or destruction and for the conservation of ecosystems (Section 4.2.1), sustainability standards in the form of voluntary or obligatory certifications, up to and including statutory rules or prohibitions (Section 4.2.2), and planning approaches in spatial and landscape landuse planning (Section 4.2.3). Indicators and monitoring that document both the management of land and biogenic products and the implementation of the most important land-related strategies provide basic data and orientation for this purpose (Section 4.2.4). All these instruments are well-known in principle, and there are already a large number of partial regulations and incentives (also from non-governmental initiatives) at various levels of governance that are applied in individual countries, directed, for example, at certain sectors such as agriculture, or at individual uses of specific types of biomass. However, at least three overarching challenges arise when designing a consistent and effective governance system (Section 4.2.5): (1) its reach across sectors and different land areas and types of use should be increased, (2) individual instruments should be coordinated with each other in the process, and (3) administrative and planning hurdles should be removed to avoid evasive reactions by actors – which can lead to counterproductive relocations of land-use effects between land areas and sectors – and to promote the use of synergies in multifunctional land use (Section 4.2.5.1). Furthermore, the existence of foreign-trade relations and cross-border ecosystems make it necessary to internationally harmonize framework conditions and goals in sustainable land stewardship (Section 4.2.5.2). Socio-economic distribution effects of changes in land-use options and overall frameworks should also be taken into account (Section 4.2.5.3) in order to reduce barriers to a transformation towards sustainable land stewardship and to stabilize this in the long term. States exert direct influence on the use of land and ecosystems not only as designers of framework conditions, but also as owners of large areas of land and as major resource consumers (e.g. as builders). In addition to the framework conditions outlined in this section, states should act as role models for sustainable land stewardship.