How Governance Shapes Sustainable Land Use in Europe: A Meta-Analysis of Case Studies

Unsustainable land use exerts substantial negative impacts on both the environment and society, contributing to climate change and biodiversity loss. In Europe, a wide array of policies and governance interventions across sectors and political levels seeks to mitigate these risks and foster more sustainable land-use practices. To design more effective future policies, it is crucial to understand how governance – encompassing policymaking, planning, and administrative decision-making – has historically influenced land-use change and under what conditions. However, existing research is dispersed across numerous case studies, limiting comprehensive insights into recurring governance-related patterns and outcomes. This study addresses this gap by conducting a meta-analysis of empirical studies on land-use governance in geographical Europe between 2005 and 2024. Using Scopus-indexed publications, we identifiy approximately 300 empirical case studies documented in 200 journal articles. Each case is independently reviewed and coded by two researchers for variables related to governance interventions, their land-use impacts, and relevant political, institutional, actor-related, societal, and biogeophysical contexts. Our meta-analysis aims to uncover patterns in how specific configurations of governance interventions address sustainability-related land-use challenges and the preconditions necessary for their success. By applying a causal framework developed within the EU-funded Horizon 2020 project “PLUS-Change – Planning Land Use Strategies: Meeting Biodiversity, Climate, and Social Objectives in a Changing World,” the study examines relationships between governance and non-governance variables, such as economic trends and societal dynamics, and their influence on land-use parameters. The findings highlight distinct patterns in governance attributes, including regulatory, economic, and participatory instruments, and their respective impacts on sustainable or unsustainable land-use changes. We use regression analysis to reveal functional relationships between governance variables and land-use outcomes, identifying factors that either exacerbated or mitigated land-use pressures related to climate change and biodiversity conservation. Key findings underscore the importance of multi-level governance, cross-sectoral collaboration, and participatory decision-making processes in achieving sustainable land-use outcomes. This research advances our understanding of governance-related causal pathways and provides a comprehensive, context-sensitive overview of the mechanisms linking policy instruments and governance strategies to sustainability goals. By synthesizing evidence from hundreds diverse case studies, it offers insights for policymakers and scholars seeking to design governance interventions that effectively address land-use challenges and contribute to broader environmental and social objectives.