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Land use is a major cause of the biodiversity crises and therefore also a potential solution. In a new paper in Conservation Letters, we discuss how land use is often oversimplified in conservation assessments, policy and planning – and how linking Land System Science and Conservation Science can overcome this and lead to a better representation of land use in conservation science and practice.

We propose a new method for integrating expert range maps in species distribution models using an ensemble approach called stacked generalization. Our approach helps to improve the mapping of species’ realized ranges and thus holds considerable potential for biogeographic research and conservation planning.

We used an integrated approach, combining human behavior and landscape structure, to map “coexistence landscapes” for pumas and people in the Argentine Dry Chaco. Our findings show that to sustain viable puma populations while minimizing local conflicts, we need to: (1) protect safe habitat and movement areas, (2) mitigate livestock predation in risky areas, and (3) restore connectivity in severed and matrix areas.

A new paper examines how forest-dependent people (Indigenous and Criollo peoples) in the Pilcomayo basin of the Gran Chaco have lost access to surface water (e.g., rivers, streams, ponds) over time due to the expansion of commodity agriculture.

La pérdida de biodiversidad es una crisis mundial que amenaza el bienestar humano, y el principal motor de esta crisis es cómo realizamos el uso de la tierra. El impacto del uso de la tierra puede producirse en forma directa, por ejemplo a través de la destrucción o degradación del hábitat, o indirectamente, por ejemplo cuando áreas remotas se vuelven más accesibles a los cazadores. Por lo tanto, la planificación y las medidas de conservación destinadas a proteger la biodiversidad y la naturaleza deben tener en cuenta las numerosas amenazas asociadas al uso de la tierra.

Biodiversity loss is a global crisis threatening human well-being, and the main driver of this crisis is how we use land. The impact of land use happens directly, for example through the destruction or degradation of habitat, and indirectly, for example when remote areas become more accessible to hunters. Conservation planning and action with the aim to protect biodiversity and nature must therefore address the many threats associated with land use.

Using a combination of Landsat and GEDI data, we compared disturbance regimes and forest structures across three European mountain ranges. We found higher (and increasing) disturbances in the Alps and Carpathians, and much lower disturbance rates in the Caucasus. However, the three regions had remarkably similar forest structures, although partly driven by different social-ecological drivers, suggesting strong attractors of structure in temperate mountain forests.

We map past and future land-system patterns in the Gran Chaco using scenarios based on policy narratives and agricultural expansion rates. We identify critical defor-estation hotspots and assess social-ecological impacts related to future land-system change. Urgent policy action is needed to mitigate adverse impacts, especially in areas following agribusiness-friendly pathways.

Land use is the major driver of the ongoing biodiversity crisis but is typically drastically simplified in conservation assessments. Similarly, land-use actors are among the people most heavily affected by conservation interventions but are often hardly considered in large-scale planning. To be more nuanced about land use in conservation, we identify land systems, focused on actors, that represent key threats and conservation opportunities. We involved 46 experts from various disciplines and regions of expertise across the tropical dry woodlands: the Argentine Gran Chaco dry forest, the Bolivian Chiquitano forest, the Mozambican Miombo-Mopane woodlands, the Indian Deccan dry forests, and the Cambodian dry forest.