Aotearoa / New Zealand

I agree with your general point but I just want to add a caveat

land that has very little economic value in terms of agricultural potential

Native environment is also a good use of land.

I think globally we're just at the "and find out" stage of realizing that actually, there is a value in the earth being its natural self, and an economic price to pay if not enough of it is.

Yes very true. One reason I like wind farms, is they tend to be most profitable in areas where land is useful for little outside of forestry.