Using land more sustainably and efficiently.

Land is a limited, immovable, and vital resource. We need it for agriculture and forestry, living space and transportation, industry, commerce, energy production, nature conservation, ecosystem services, and recreational space. Sustainability goals such as climate protection and the energy transition, the preservation of biodiversity, increasingly ecological agriculture, and a bio-based economy are leading to changes and conflicts. Yet, they are also opening up development potential in land use. Technological, ecosystem-based, and social innovations can accelerate this, especially if we combine them in novel ways.

Using our sustainability assessments and a land-based socio-techno-ecological model, we analyze how these innovations can help bring together societal goals and land use requirements in a sustainable fashion while reducing land use conflicts.

(Header: DLR/Anita D. Bayer)