Applications for new GLP Working Groups are now open! If you have an idea and are considering applying, please contact Community and Development Officer Brigitte Portner to find out more about the requirements, process, and deadlines.

We want to expand our @GlobalLandP Twitter feed to include new perspectives from GLP Members who are active on the channel. If you are interested in posting for a few months from our account, please get in touch with Communications Manager Lauren Hertel.

If you don't already follow us on Twitter, please do so today @GlobalLandP so we can follow you as well and add you to our GLP Members list.

A new paper by Billie Turner with co-authors Patrick Meyfroidt, Tobias Kuemmerle, Daniel Müller, and Rinku Roy Chowdhury focuses on how land system science and affiliated research linked to sustainability require improved understanding and theorization of land and its change as a social-ecological system (SES).

The paper was stimulated by the workshop devoted to land theory held in Switzerland in March 2017, although the content of the paper is the product of the authors.

To date, most reports on the mobility effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have emphasized international migration flows. In a new blog post, Sébastien Boillat and Julie Zähringer focus instead on urban–rural migration flows triggered by COVID-19, and how they could affect the way land systems are used, understood, and governed in the future.

We have a new blog post that summarizes the insights from the GLP Telecoupling Working Group's second webinar, which featured presentations by COUPLED PhD students Joel Persson and Siyu Qin, with working group member Sébastien Boillat as a discussant. The post discusses the importance of looking at conservation through a telecoupling lens.

In addition, you can now view the slides and recording of the working group's third webinar, which discussed the progress and challenges of modelling telecoupled systems by presenting two different modelling attempts of simulating land use changes in Brazil and China through the flow of international soybean trade. Yue Dou (Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), introduced the agent-based model TeleABM developed to connect farmers’ land use behaviors from the soybean importing and exporting countries, and James Millington (King’s College London), presented the large-scale agent-based modelling framework CRAFTY used to investigate different drivers of Brazilian agricultural change in the telecoupled system. In addition, we were happy to have Birgit Müller (Department of Ecological Modelling, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ) as a discussant.

Rachael Garrett and Christoph Oberlack have received European Research Council Starting Grants, which are awarded to early-career scientists who have already produced excellent supervised work, are ready to work independently and have shown potential to be research leaders.

Garrett's project seeks to understand the conditions under which policies for managing supply chains by food companies can lead to improved forest conservation and livelihoods in the tropics. To address these circumstances, Garrett’s group will conduct replicated assessments of such policies in Brazil, Indonesia, and West Africa. Read more

Oberlack's project examines the role of environmental justice in enabling certification systems, inclusive business models, and solidarity-economy strategies to enhance the well-being of smallholder producers. In particular, it investigates the value chains of coffee and cocoa in Peru and Switzerland. Read more

This workshop by the GLP Archetypes Working Group will follow up on three successful workshops on archetypes held in Bern (2017), Berlin (2018) and Olomouc (2019). This time, the workshop will be held by the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Stockholm, Sweden, with the option of joining remotely. The workshop invites new as well as established members of the Archetypes of Sustainability network.

GLP members are working on a study titled “Policy making and spatial planning for reducing ecosystem services trade-offs in peri-urban landscapes”. They have extended the deadline for input to 9 October 2020.

Conceptualizing pathways to sustainable agricultural intensification
The first publication of the SIPATH project, a GLP Contributing Project, is now available in Advances in Ecological Research. The framework presented in it goes beyond earlier frameworks by considering multiple dimensions of intensity and sustainability, drawing from both natural and social science theories. Learn more

Mapping global patterns of land use decision-making
Žiga Malek and Peter Verburg used a collection of studies on local land use decision-making, and studied whether they can identify how socio-economic, climatic, and soil and terrain contextual conditions influence the spatial distribution of different decision-making modes. They found out, that (to a large extent) land use decision-making can be explained by local spatial contexts. The paper is open access in Global Environmental Change. Learn more

Private-land control and deforestation dynamics in the context of implementing the Native Forest Law in the Northern Argentinian Dry Chaco
A novel remote-sensing application can serve as an early-warning tool for deforestation. Learn more

Pitfalls of tree planting and why we need people-centered nature climate solutions
Forrest Fleischman and colleagues highlight ten pitfalls of tree planting, and discuss how a focus on people who manage landscapes will work in BioScience. Learn more

Cities: build networks and share plans to emerge stronger from COVID-19
A new comment by Harini Nagendra in Nature encourages leaders to enhance and empower the networks that have emerged in India's slums, Brazil's favelas and Africa's marketplaces in response to the pandemic. Learn more

Further explanation on the potential contribution of soil carbon sequestration on working agricultural lands to climate change mitigation
WRI's previous blog, Regenerative Agriculture: Good for Soil Health, but Limited Potential to Mitigate Climate Change, generated a spirited discussion. In a new post, they provide further elaboration on their conclusions. Learn more

Climate Change and Land Degredation
Papers sought for a special issue of Land Degradation & Development. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 January 2021. Learn more

Infectious diseases as emergent properties of land systems
A new call for submissions to the Journal of Land Use Science is seeking original submissions, which can range from full-length research articles to short communications. Authors are also welcome to serve as guest editors, and organize a group of papers toward a special issue or section. Learn more

iDiv Annual Conference 2020
This is the most important annual iDiv event that brings together experienced and young iDiv scientists. The conference will be held virtually on 8-9 October, and provides an interactive forum for scientific exchange as well as for establishing new contacts and collaborations within the iDiv consortium. Learn more

GEO Week 2020
Join organizers for a week-long showcase on the impact of open Earth observations from
2-6 November. Learn more

Future of Synthesis in Ecology Workshop
Explore future directions and opportunities for synthesis in ecology and environmental science and help set a research agenda for synthesis ecology in the next decade. The event will be held virtually 17-18 February 2021. Learn more

LTER Request for Proposals 2020
LTER synthesis working groups organized through the LTER Network Office (LNO) are intended to support collaboration on many types of questions informed by the data produced at LTER sites. In the 2020 competition, the LNO expects to award 2-4 synthesis working groups at a funding level of up to $55,000 per year for up to two years. Proposals are due at 14 October. Learn more

IG Award for papers relevant to work of international organizations
This award of CHF 5’000 is for is for authors at Swiss universities who have published their papers in the domain of international studies whose findings are accessible to a wider audience and relevant to the work of international Organisations. Deadline is 15 October. Learn more

Call for nominations for three international science awards in agriculture and food
The Agropolis Fondation - Louis Malassis International Scientific Prize for Agriculture and Food was created in 2009 by Agropolis Fondation as a tribute to Professor Louis Malassis, founder of Agropolis. Every two years, three awards are presented in his name: Renowned Scientist; Young Scientific Talent; Outstanding Career for Agricultural Development. Deadline 11 January. Learn more

Assistant Professor in Sustainability and Complex Adaptive Systems
The Department of Governance and Technology for Sustainable Development (CSTM), University of Twente (UT), the Netherlands, invites applications for an Assistant Professor to join the thematic group on Social Complexity of Climate Change and be embedded within Resilience Research Program of the Behavioural, Management and Social sciences Faculty. Deadline: 16 October 2020. Learn more

Assistant Professor Environmental and Sustainability Governance
Utrecht University has opened a new faculty position at Assistant Professor level (tenure track) in the field of environmental and sustainability governance. Deadline: 23 October. Learn more

Assistant Professor in Environmental Data Science
The Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UC Santa Barbara invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in Environmental Data Science at the rank of Assistant Professor, to start July 1, 2021. Apply by 26 October to ensure full consideration by the committee. Learn more

Assistant Professor in Geodata and Earth Observation
The Institute of Geography at the Faculty of Science of the University of Bern invites applications for a professorship in Geodata and Earth Observation starting August 2022. Deadline: 1 December 2020. Learn more

Assistant Professor of Earth System Science
The Graduate School of Geography at Clark University invites applications for a tenure track, Assistant Professor of Earth System Science to join their internationally recognized program in Geography. The position begins August 2021. Preference will be given for applications received by October 30, 2020. Learn more

Two Postdoctoral researcher position, for 1.5 years, on remote sensing mapping and analyzing land use and labor dynamics in smallholders and large-scale farming in Sub-Saharan Africa
Two research positions with SSC Member Patrick Meyfroidt are open at the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) to improve the understanding of farm, land use and labor dynamics in particular in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), to develop land governance strategies that foster sustainable land use in emerging frontiers. Deadline: 6 October. Learn more

3 Postdoctoral Research Associates on Smart Forests
The Department of Sociology in the University of Cambridge is seeking to appoint 3 full-time Postdoctoral Research Associates to join the 5-year ERC-funded project, Smart Forests: Transforming Environments into Social-Political Technologies. Deadline: 11 October. Learn more

Earth Institute Postdoctoral Research Program Now Accepting Applications for 2021
The Earth Institute Postdoctoral Research Program in Sustainable Development is now seeking applications from innovative doctoral candidates or recent Ph.D., M.D., J.D. or Sc.D. recipients (within 5 years of degree receipt) who are interested in a broad range of issues in sustainable development to join its fall 2021 cohort. The Institute is especially interested in qualified candidates from historically underrepresented groups for its Diversity Fellowships. Deadline: 28 October. Learn more

Science Lead for the Earth Commission Secretariat
Future Earth is looking for a scientist to drive the scientific synthesis of the Earth Commission, hosted by Future Earth at its Global Hub in Stockholm, Sweden. Deadline: 9 October. Learn more