With the need for policies regulating the efficiency and sustainability of ecosystems, intended impacts could be compromised due to unanticipated reactions to regulations in the market. Because of the partial coverage of policies, there is a possibility that leakage effects occur and with that the concept of conservation efforts are undermined. This should be considered when generating and evaluating policies. There is a need for a broad and international accounting scheme to evaluate the influence they have on sustainability and efficiency on a global scale and to achieve conservation goals (Lim et al, 2016; Murray et al., 2004).

Reduction in land use for agricultural purposes is considered to be a step forward in reducing environmental pressure. However, reducing them in one system, could implement more agricultural production in another region to meet the global demand. It is difficult to find the connection and consequences between the effects of one system on another system, looking at different geographical scales (Henders & Ostwald, 2014).

For a comprehensive efficiency assessment it is therefore essential to define a wide boundary setting to determine possible leakage effects and to evaluate the influence they have on sustainability and efficiency on a global scale. They should be considered in soil management strategies.

Leakage effects have to be evaluated on a wide system boundary or even up to a global scale to include all potential impacts. It has become more unclear on how national policies could affect land use and agricultural intensification. The consequences could lead to cropland expansion instead of reduction (Lambin & Meyfroidt et al., 2011).

Several studies examined the evaluation of the impact of leakage effects, including different assessment methods. Henders & Ostwald (2014) review assessment methods to quantify leakage effects as unintended consequence of policies. It examines methods such as equilibrium modeling, statistical correlations and causal-descriptive methods and illustrates their applicability, their strengths and weaknesses and what results can be expected with each method. Top-down approaches such as Computable General Equilibriums (CGE) and Multi-Regional Input-Output Analysis (MRIO) models are suggested for a global overview and for determining the drivers and the occurrence of leakage. To find the connection between consumption and production across regions extended Material-flow Analysis (MFA) methods, representing bottom-up assessments, have a better resolution and can be used to cover the national level or to compare several countries. For more detailed information on suitable assessment methods see Henders & Ostwald (2014).

Another approach to detect the negative feedback of policies is given by Lim et al. (2016) who demonstrate how conservation management and planning can be designed to minimize the risk of negative consequences, including legal restrictions such as protected areas and agricultural intensification. They developed a framework based on market feedbacks to apply it to several policies and to discuss how they could be modified to avoid negative impacts.

To overcome the negative impacts and to diminish leakage effects there is a need for a better information system regarding land use decisions on a global scale and the effort to adopt new land use practices. An additional important step is to include and motivate agents with the provision of appropriate incentives. Another potential can be found in a more efficient land management to overcome a global shortage of productive land. Taking these implementations into account, there has been a shift in a few developing countries which have managed to navigate towards a more efficient land use, with the help of different combinations of strategies. For minimizing the trade-off between forest and agriculture tools like spatial management and degraded or low competition lands should be considered (Lambin & Meyfroidt, 2011).