Project overview
As our understanding of the implications of large-scale land use change has increased, it has been recognised that there is an urgent need to balance demand for land across multiple competing factors. Over the coming decades changing socioeconomic conditions and shifting diets, coupled with population growth, will place increasing pressure on land resources for food and feed production. Allied to this, pathways that are consisted with goals of limiting climate change to below 2C project a substantial role for land intensive bioenergy. Finally, land is required to support biodiversity and provide the natural capital and ecosystem services on which human wellbeing depends. Understanding how to reconcile these three competing demands on the land system represents a Grand Challenge, the resolution of which is central to achieving a sustainable future for society. This project will quantify global land use associated with agricultural production and a decarbonized energy system, and examine the implications for biodiversity conservation.
