Research for more sustainable land use and land management in Europe First reflections of the EU-funded research project Europe-LAND

Land-use and the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to the management and use of land resources are considered one of the key drivers of climate change. Especially agriculture, but also forestry, contribute to about a quarter of total global GHG emissions. As arable farming land increases, habitats are destroyed, and biodiversity loss can be observed. Against this background, the EU-funded research project Europe-LAND works towards the development of more sustainable land use strategies in the context of climate change and biodiversity challenges, with a geographical focus on the EU. From 2023-2027, an interdisciplinary consortium made up of 13 partners from 12 EU member states aims to improve the understanding of the driving factors behind land-use decisions as well as European stakeholders' awareness and engagement related to climate change and biodiversity challenges in Europe. In other words, the project will explore why land-use actors take decisions on land-use, and how these decisions may be steered toward socially oriented benefits.

Selected upcoming works that bring added value to research and policymaking will be publicly accessible by the end of 2024:

• The consortium is collecting latest land-use data across Europe to form the basis for a to date lacking consistent analysis of agricultural land use - the result, a unique harmonized IACS database for European countries serving to reveal land-use-behaviour is expected by end of 2024.

• Europe-LAND's pan-European methodological framework for participatory stakeholder engagement as means to explore the decision-making behind land-use behavior is expected by end of 2024. This methodology allows to describe how land resources under current and future climatic conditions are used, which and whose interests are pursued, and what distinctive needs and requirements are to adopt different, more sustainable management practices in support of climate mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity conservation.

Forthcoming results beyond 2024 include, for example, an analysis of the EU's carbon rich wetlands to identify EU-wide greenhouse gas hotspots, an evidence-based foundation for mapping future expected land-use patterns, a dedicated Europe-LAND telecoupling framework to further investigate and disclose multi-layered connections between social factors and changes in land-use, bridging social and natural sciences, and an interactive toolbox that enables stakeholders to experiment with different land-uses and understand the hidden connections between their choices and possible development trajectories. A summer school and an open access Massive Open Online Course foster the wide dissemination of project results and interaction with the project consortium. Finally, by pursuing an open access policy, interested stakeholders can join the project's Community of Practice and capacity-building activities or access public deliverables anytime.

Europe-LAND is funded by Horizon Europe, the EU's key funding programme for research and innovation. It tackles climate change, helps to achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and boosts the EU's competitiveness and growth. The programme facilitates collaboration and strengthens the impact of research and innovation in developing, supporting and implementing EU policies while tackling global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Led by the renowned Research and Transfer Centre FTZ-NK at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany, 13 partners from 12 European countries (Germany, Greece, Denmark, Portugal, Estonia, Italy, Romania, Poland, Latvia, Slovakia, Austria, and the Czech Republic) are collaborating from 2023 to 2027 in this 6.8 Mio. EUR project. Project website: www.europe-land.eu.

Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
FTZ-NK
Franziska Wolf
Ulmenliet 20
21033 Hamburg
GERMANY

franziska.wolf@haw-hamburg.de

The Research and Transfer Centre Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management (FTZ-NK) of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences has over 16 years of experience in coordinating and supporting fundamental and applied research on sustainable development and climate issues, especially by conducting practice-oriented research projects.

This release was published on openPR.