Land use regulations can go far to minimize environmental degradation, but are weak in many developing countries. With effective land use controls, ecologically vulnerable and vital areas can be protected, environmentally damaging activities can be restricted to locations where they do the least harm or where their effects can be mitigated more easily, and residential development can be kept apart from potential exposure to environmental hazards. However, even where elaborate urban and regional development plans and land use guidelines have been drawn up at substantial expense, implementation is often inadequate. Industrial locations - especially of small and medium enterprises - are typically haphazard; zoning regulations are weakly enforced; and supposedly protected areas often are not.
This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.
Agenda 21 recommends establishing appropriate national legislation to guide the implementation of public policies for environmentally sound urban development, land utilization and housing and for the improved management of urban expansion. It also recommends a review of the current regulatory framework, including laws, regulations and enforcement procedures, in order to identify improvements needed to support sustainable land use and management of land resources and restricts the transfer of productive arable land to other uses.