Rational management of land that enables unhampered economic development on one hand and ensures environmental protection on the other must be the basis of a municipal land policy. National and local authorities have to make good use of spatial planning documents in order to properly manage land use and to prevent uncontrolled activities affecting the natural environment.
In the last century the population of the Municipality of Žužemberk has decreased by 40 %, which accelerated the overgrowing of arable land and, as a result, today more than 70 % of the municipality is covered with forest. Due to the fragmentation of ownership of agricultural land and wooded areas, agriculture on the municipal level is uncompetitive. Analyses show that in 2012 there were 66,86 ha of vacant construction land in the municipality, which would suffice for the next 75 years if taking into account the existing intensity of construction works. Local citizens who do not plan to build or sell their land because they are saving it for their descendants mainly own the relatively big number of vacant construction lands. On the other hand there are young people who would like to build houses and create jobs in their local environment but cannot do so due to the lack of construction lands. Therefore, they have to move away or look for work in neighbouring municipalities, which consequently turns their home towns into so called »dormitory towns«. As the municipality is responsible for the implementation of land policy it has to provide a sufficient number of developed construction lands while preserving the (rural) landscape. This is the only way to slow down the brain drain, as it will keep young people in their native municipality where they will have basic living conditions. They will have the chance to build a home, to create jobs and to contribute to a faster and better development of the Municipality of Žužemberk
