Evidence Synthesis Report 13: Role of Public Lands in Delivering on the Government’s Objective of Improving Socioeconomic, Climate, Biodiversity and Water...
Authors: David Styles and Jill McGettigan
Summary: This report is one of a number of evidence synthesis reports funded by the EPA that are intended to support and inform the National Land Use Review. The second phase of the Land Use Review commenced in October 2023, being co-led by the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
The Review sought to identify the key demands on land (both public and private) to inform policies for land use across key government objectives, improving socioeconomic, climate, biodiversity, water, and air quality outcomes.
This report was carried out under the EPA’s Fast Track to Policy scheme, which supports the rapid generation of evidence to inform the design and implementation of effective and robust environmental policy. The funding stream is designed to deliver quick-turnaround evidence reviews that address urgent policy questions.
Led by the University of Galway the project addresses key policy questions regarding the role of public lands in achieving environmental and socioeconomic goals. It explores:
- What are the managers’ mandates for the management of their public land banks and resources?
- How are government objectives of improving socioeconomic, climate, biodiversity, and water and air quality outcomes incorporated, or how could they be incorporated, into those mandates?
- What barriers and opportunities can be identified?
- How can natural capital and ecosystem services and their enhancement be recognised, valorised and duly reported by public landowners?