Land Use Integrated Sustainability Assessment

As part of the definition, implementation and review of EU policies, legislation and other measures, the European Commission (EC) performs impact assessments to examine potential economic, social and environmental consequences and evaluate options and improve the effectiveness of the EU action.

The LUISA Territorial modelling platform supports the policy design of different services of the European Commission and provides a comprehensive, consistent and harmonised analysis of the impacts of policies and/or specific proposals.

In order to provide a coherent and harmonised framework for Impact Assessment procedures accompanying EC initiatives, the Land Use Modelling Platform has been configured to be consistent with the definition of the Reference Scenario, as given in the Climate and Energy package. The Reference Scenario is up-dated according to specific policy implementation, following a phased approach.

Contributions have already been provided by its predecessor LUMP (Land use modelling platform) in the Impact Assessments (formal and informal) related to CAP, Integrated Coastal Zone Management, Regional Policy, Energy (shale gas and energy package), EU Water Blueprint, and Resource Efficiency Roadmap.

One of the major milestones in the LUISA development plan is the implementation of a shared EC baseline scenario. The shared baseline scenario includes the full scope of relevant policies assuring coherence among them since it should inform on future prospects in all sectoral domains that are affected by EU policies. Because of its benchmark function, the correct definition and implementation of such a baseline scenario is essential to correctly evaluate EC proposals.

The medium/long term objective is the complete establishment and operation of the “Integrated Sustainability Assessment Platform” whereby models, methods of assessment and databases are further dynamically integrated, in a coherent framework.

The LUISA modelling platform supports the policy design of different services of the European Commission and provides a comprehensive, consistent and harmonised analysis of the impacts of policies and/or specific proposals.

The purpose for which LUISA is most suited for is ex-ante impact assessment of European policies that influence, directly or indirectly land use/cover change. The forecasted land use/cover changes are not only analyzed per se. Land use/cover is an important factor for many  services such as provision of food; fibre and timber; biodiversity; water flows and climate regulation; carbon sequestration; provision of recreational opportunities; accessibility and mobility etc.

Because of its multi-thematic dimension, LUISA allows the definition and implementation of scenarios (and their potential alternatives) in a consistent manner, ensuring cross-sectoral policy coherency.