A new blog post reports on two presentations held in a webinar organised by the Telecoupling Research Towards Sustainable Transformation of Land Systems Working Group in April 2021. The first presentation by Nicolas Roux provided thoughts on which functions of land should be shared, and how international trade of agricultural commodities affected the share of land between humans and other species over the last few decades. The second presentation by Abdullah Shaik discussed the fair share of cropland between producing and consuming countries constrained by planetary boundaries.

Wednesday, 16 June
16:00-18:00 Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
Online

The Socio-Ecological Land Systems of Latin America Working Group is holding a special virtual meeting. Get ready to share your opinions and talk among peers about land science, SELS, projects, crazy hypotheses, anything. The idea is to promote interactions among members and exchange thoughts beyond our everyday research, through a mix of break-out rooms and plenary sessions.

Thursday, 17 June
14:00 Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
Online

The Integration of Rural and Urban Land Systems Working Group is pleased to invite you to their ongoing Young Speakers Series featuring:

• Prof. Shiquian Du, "Floodplain development: interactions between rural and urban"
• Melaku Bogale Fitawok, " Modeling the Impact of Urbanization on Land-Use Change in Bahir Dar City, Ethiopia: An Integrated Cellular Automata–Markov Chain Approach"
• Dr. Dario Domingo Ruiz, " Effect of zoning plans on urban land-use change: A multi-scenario simulation for supporting sustainable urban growth"

Friday, 18 June
15:00-16:00 Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
Online

In this webinar, the Telecoupling Research Towards Sustainable Transformation of Land Systems Working Group aims to start a conversation on transdisciplinary research designs in complex settings in relation to telecoupling research and in the wider land system science community. The webinar will include three short inputs from GLP members, as well as cross-cutting discussions. Andreas Heinimann will provide inputs from the long-term experience of the CDE with North-South research partnerships and the work on setting up the Wyss Academy for Nature, Jonas Østergaard Nielsen brings experiences from transdisciplinary collaboration through the ITN-COUPLED, and Allison Thomson will present insights from her many years of experience at the science-business interface and work at the organisation Field to Market.

The joint GLP/AIMES Working Group on Large-scale Behavioural Models of Land Use Change held its second webinar in April 2021 to discuss exciting new advances in social simulation and computational modelling that can support better representation of human behaviour in the land system. Robert Axtell presented new work on large-scale agent based models in social science, Brian Mac Namee described the use of machine learning and ABM in computer game design, and Thomas Clemen presented a simulation platform capable of modelling vast multi-agent systems.

The Social-Ecological Land Systems of Latin America Working Group held its third webinar in May 2021. Ignacio Gasparri talked about “Trade, development and poverty in South America”, followed by Graziano Ceddia’s presentation on “The ecology of capitalism: learning from Gran Chaco”.

27-29 September 2021
Online

The conference will discuss the issues of water-, energy- and food security in light of increasing demand for these commodities, due to population growth and urbanization in the Mediterranean region. Particular attention is being paid to partnerships between policy makers, practitioners and scientists are essential to identify best practices and solutions across this nexus, to be shared and used across borders in the Mediterranean region.

50th Anniversary Collection of Thematic Articles in Ambio
One of the main activities of Ambio for their 50th volume is to highlight some of their most influential papers over the years in a collection of anniversary articles on ten themes. The section on Agricultural land-use was edited by Angelina Sanderson Bellamy and includes an article by her as well as another by GLP Fellows Billie Turner, Eric Lambin, and Peter Verburg. In addition, a paper by GLP Executive Officer Ariane de Bremond looks at connecting the past to the future of land systems science. We would like to thank Angelina for her work editing this section, and we encourage all of you to read the rest of the issue. Read more

Co-production of knowledge and sustainability transformations: a strategic compass for global research networks
A new article in Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability looks at how GLP and other projects, programmes and partner organizations belonging to Future Earth engage in co-producing knowledge and action. It goes on to evaluate the evolution of the field and the characteristics of global research networks that currently hinder further gains. Read more

Land systems’ asymmetries across transnational ecoregions in South America
A new paper in Sustainability Science looks at how transnational socio-ecological land systems highlight the influence of institutions under different governance regimes in defining the spatial configuration and ecological properties of regions. Read more

Large-scale collective action to avoid an Amazon tipping point - key actors and interventions
A new paper in Current Research in Environmental Sustainability applies a collective-action lens to the problem of Amazon deforestation and identifies six key variables that interventions may target. Read more

Revealing the intentions of farmers to recultivate abandoned farmland: A case study of the Buryat Republic in Russia
A new paper in Land Use Policy looks at farmers' behavioral intentions regarding recultivation of abandoned farmland, finding younger farmers were more likely to do so despite perceived corruption. Read more

Scientists' warning on extreme wildfire risks to water supply
A new piece in Hydrological Processes advocates for a more proactive approach to wildfire-watershed risk governance in an effort to advance and protect water security. Read more

The Politics of Bioeconomy and Sustainabillity (Springer, 2021)

Dynamic vulnerability of smallholder agricultural systems in the face of climate change for Ethiopia (Environmental Research Letters)

Synthesizing multiple ecosystem service assessments for urban planning: A review of approaches, and recommendations (Landscape and Urban Planning)

Forests and Sustainable Development in the Brazilian Amazon: History, Trends, and Future Prospects (Annual Reviews)

Drivers of peri-urban farmers’ land-use decisions: an analysis of factors and characteristics (Journal of Land Use Science)

Large-scale land acquisitions, agricultural trade, and zoonotic diseases: Overlooked links (One Earth)

Drivers and mechanisms of forest change in the Himalayas (Global Environmental Change)

ARSET - Using Google Earth Engine for Land Monitoring Applications, 16, 23, & 30 June, online from NASA Earth Science Applied Sciences Program

Confronting Issues of Scale in Socio-Environmental Systems (SES) Modeling, 28 & 29 June, online from The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC)

LANDac Annual International Conference 2021, 30 June-2 July, online 

Linking Human and Earth System Models for Global Change Analysis, 19-21 July, online from the Aspen Global Change Institute

2021 Participatory Modeling Field School, 16-19 August, online from Michigan State University

Summer Course on Senses of Place/Place Sensing, 23-25 August, online from Viva Plan

Transformative research for global social-environmental challenges, 20 September-1 October, Wageningen, Netherlands

Landscape2021 - Diversity for Sustainable and Resilient Agriculture, 20-22 September, online from ZALF