As well as modelling and understanding major land use change (for example from agriculture to forestry), how can we understand the effects of more subtle changes in land management across wide areas (for example changing tillage practice)?

Background

In the densely populated UK, competition for land between urban, rural, food, energy, recreation, environmental outcomes, industry and other uses is a fundamental issue. Our interaction with the natural environmental is often through our use of land.

We need to assess, in a changing society and climate, how best to sustainably use available land area as well as the full suite of natural environment considerations in that use.

Next steps

Get in touch with [email protected]

Source

This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:

DEFRA Research and innovation interests GOVUK

Related UKRI funded projects

  • PLUS Change (Planning Land Use Strategies: Meeting biodiversity, climate and social objectives in a Changing world)

    PLUS Change brings together 23 institutions from across Europe including 5 Universities, 5 research institutes, 3 stakeholder network organisations, 1 performing arts collective, and 9 practice partners representing regi...

    Funded by: Horizon Europe Guarantee

    Lead research organisation: SURREY COUNTY COUNCIL

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project directly addresses the question by focusing on understanding and modeling land use change, including subtle changes in land management, to meet climate, biodiversity, and human well-being objectives.

  • Joined-up land use strategies tackling climate change and biodiversity loss (MOSAIC)

    Urgent and concerted action can stop and reverse unsustainable land use and the over-exploitation of land resources. This will however require rapid, simultaneous and coordinated action by a diversity of land use decisio...

    Funded by: Horizon Europe Guarantee

    Lead research organisation: UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project aims to understand motivations and drivers behind land use decisions, future land use patterns, and support policy design for climate change, renewable energy, and biodiversity, aligning with the question's focus on understanding the effects of land management changes.

  • Programme Coordination Team, Landscape Decisions - Towards a new framework for using land assets

    The Strategic Priority Fund (SPF) programme 'Landscape Decisions: towards a new framework for using land assets' is delivering a new framework for land management decisions. It draws on social science, economics, natural...

    Funded by: SPF

    Lead research organisation: University of Leicester

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on understanding land management decisions and their effects, aligning with the question's scope.

  • Explainable AI for UK agricultural land use decision-making

    Agricultural land use dynamics and their associated driving factors represent highly complex systems of flows that are subject to non-linearities, sensitivities, and uncertainties across spatial and temporal scales. They...

    Funded by: SPF

    Lead research organisation: Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

  • UK Status, Change and Projections of the Environment (UK-SCaPE)

    The UK faces significant challenges in the 21st century due to mounting pressure on air and soil quality, water and food security, and the conservation of biodiversity. To provide effective solutions to these problems a ...

    Funded by: NERC

    Lead research organisation: NERC CEH (Up to 30.11.2019)

  • Mechanisms and consequences of tipping points in lowland agricultural landscapes

    Ecosystems provide a number of benefits to people, including food and timber production, areas for recreation, pollination of crops, fresh water, and the storage of carbon, which can help reduce the risk of climate chang...

    Funded by: NERC

    Lead research organisation: Bournemouth University

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on understanding tipping points in ecosystems due to various factors, including changing patterns of land use, which aligns with the question about subtle changes in land management.

  • New Science to Enable the Design of Agricultural Landscapes that Deliver Multiple Functions - AgLand

    The UK's land assets, and the goods and services they provide, are a finite and precious resource that is fundamental to our prosperity, and are intrinsically linked to our cultural heritage, and well-being. Over the nex...

    Funded by: SPF

    Lead research organisation: Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

  • Optimising multifunctional land-use decisions through robust combined models: a pollination-crop yield-landscape aesthetics case study

    Making land-use decisions is complicated because there are many competing demands (environmental, social and economic) placed on our landscapes. The decisions we make at small scales can have much larger and longer-term ...

    Funded by: SPF

    Lead research organisation: UNIVERSITY OF READING

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project addresses the effects of land management changes on multiple benefits and provides a modeling framework to assess them.

  • Working together to add value: Enhancing landscapes for biodiversity and multiple ecosystem services

    Managing landscapes for biodiversity and multiple ecosystem services is a current priority for researchers, policy makers, practitioners and other stakeholders. Several initiatives exist that encourage cooperative manage...

    Funded by: NERC

    Lead research organisation: UNIVERSITY OF READING

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project emphasizes cooperative management at the landscape level for biodiversity and ecosystem services, which is relevant to understanding the effects of subtle changes in land management across wide areas.

  • Land Allocation and Valuation Models Phase 2

    Land allocation models or Ecosystem service tools (ES tools) are simple descriptions of complex landscape processes which includes biogeochemical processes as well as demographic and socioeconomic influence. These ecosys...

    Funded by: SPF

    Lead research organisation: University of Aberdeen

Similar ARIs from other organisations

Delivering sustainable and regenerative agriculture and food systems How can we understand the interactions in the land system and agriculture in Scotland? Scottish Government Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, 2026
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