Land Use, Food, Water & Ecosystems

What land is used for is a major piece of the sustainability puzzle. Agriculture for instance is a part of the problem but also a pivotal part of the solution to mitigate climate change, if managed smartly. Land is a scarce resource – it is needed to produce food for a growing world population, while at the same time forests and peatlands need to be preserved so they can fulfill their role in the earth system. Understanding multiple ecosystem services helps to understand the trade-offs involved in land-use and land-use change. In many cases it is a matter of “how” – how farmers contribute to and suffer from climate change and what can be done about it; how forests are used and protected; how freshwater is managed.