Future Earth at the Global Land Project Open Science Meeting

The 2nd Global Land Project Open Science will synthesize and discuss the role of the land system as a platform for human-environment interactions, connecting local land use decisions to global impacts and responses.

Main conference themes:
1. Rethinking land change transitions: drastic changes in land cover and subtle changes in land management.
2. Local land users in a tele-connected world: the role of human decision making on land use as both a driver and response to global environmental change.
3. Impacts and responses: land systems changes to mitigate global environmental change impacts and adapt to increasing demands for food, fuel and ecosystem services.
4. Land governance: the ways in which alternative approaches to governance of land resources can enhance the sustainability transition.

Future Earth will be represented in several sessions at the conference. During the opening plenary on Wednesday 19 March, Professor Frans Berkhout will give a keynote address entitled Future Earth as a platform for collaboration on sustainability science.

Later that day, Future Earth Science Committee vice-Chair Melissa Leach will chair a roundtable discussion on The Future Earth approach and its importance for understanding land use change in Africa. This will include presentations from Future Earth Science Committee member Cheikh Mbow,  Anette Reenberg, and Christine Fürst.