As human population increases, a decline in ecosystem services becomes evident and seemingly inevitable. The lack of policies promoting the efficient use of land have contributed to rapid losses of important ecosystem services. Land use planning is a key strategy to balance environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development. However, in many cases, frameworks require large amounts of data which results in their limited implementation in developing countries. This paper examines these issues by first conducting a literature review (n= 21) using land use planning criteria that are typically associated with each of the previously stated dimensions; we then ground-truth our findings by implementing a national survey of experts in Paraguay (n=27) - in order to assess perceived barriers and challenges to collecting critical data. We identify and classify existing land use planning models based on dimensionality of scope (e.g. integrated multidimensional models vs one dimensional), as well as degree of practical implementation – based on data requirements and access to data in developing countries. These classifications and assumptions were empirically assessed in the current Paraguayan data context.
Results/Conclusions
Our findings identify two categories of land use planning models: 1) the business-as-usual models which fail to include all three dimensions (i.e. environmental, social, economic); we classify these as either environmental, environmental-economic, or environmental-social – each representing 5%, 33%, and 33% of total reviewed studies, respectively; and 2) the integrated models that include all three dimensions (29%). Our survey results indicate that 93% of Paraguayan experts agree with our assertion that multidimensional frameworks are needed to address sustainability challenges in their country. However, the overwhelming consensus among respondents indicated a high degree of difficulty surrounding the practical implementation of existing models. Namely, respondents identified four main barriers to developing these frameworks: 1) lack of data (mentioned by 70% of sample); 2) lack of resources (63%); 3) lack of expertise to create data (>53%); and 4) lack of interest amongst decision makers and stakeholders (~50%). Overall, our findings suggest a need to develop more practical frameworks that are generalizable to most contexts - including places where few data are available. Such integrated approach would benefit decision-makers who are interested in crafting sustainable development policies that can ensure the provision of ecosystem services, while also accounting for important social welfare and economic development.