Private land conservation is becoming a popular policy approach, given the constraints of increasing public protected areas, which include reduced availability of land for purchase, insufficient budgets for acquisition, and escalating management costs of small, isolated reserves. Conservation covenants represent a common policy instrument, now prominent in the United States, Canada and Australia, employed to compliment the protected area network.

Studies to assess the relationship between agriculture production and biodiversity conservation usually focus on one gradient ranging from a natural reference land cover type (typically forest) to an intensive productive land use. However, many semi-arid ecoregions such as the dry Chaco are characterized by a mosaic of different land covers, including natural grasslands and woody vegetation with different degrees of transformation, frequently aimed at meat production.

Greenhouses are a typical example of peri-urban land-use, a phenomenon that many planning systems find difficult to address as it mixes agricultural identity with urban appearance. Despite its urban appearance, greenhouse development often manages to evade urban containment policies. But a ban on greenhouse development might well result in under-utilisation of the economic value of the sector and its potential for sustainability. Specific knowledge of the urban and rural character of greenhouses is essential for the implementation of planning strategies.