Agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU)

This chapter focuses on mitigation law for the AFOLU sector. Although emissions from AFOLU are a large contributor to climate change, and although this sector has the potential to sequester large quantities of atmospheric CO2, there are few legal and policy instruments in place that specifically target these emissions and this sequestration potential. At the international level, the most relevant instrument is REDD+, which, however, is still being developed and for which large scale implementation is still lacking. At the regional level, the EU’s LULUCF Regulation and its CAP offer some first legal measures aimed at reducing AFOLU emissions. The EU has embarked on an ambitious legislative process which will have a big impact on the AFOLU sector post 2030. Law seems especially relevant to safeguard food security under climate change mitigation policies, to advance climate smart agriculture and agroforestry, the steer consumers’ dietary choices and to increasing the role of forests.