How do land systems change and why are land-use changes happening?

We map where and when land use is changing, we simulate land systems, and analyses why land-use changes are happening.

This research theme explores where, when, and why land use changes. Key topics in this research theme currently include assessing patterns and drivers of deforestation frontiers, exploring changes in land-use intensity, understanding the impact of shock events on land use (e.g., conflict, economic crises), and identifying archetypical, recurrent patterns and pathways of land system change. Within this research theme, we also assess how land-system change translates into carbon emissions, and we develop methods to reconstruct land-system change across large spatial extents, using high-resolution satellite images.

Explore more of our research:

Drivers of land-use change
Agricultural abandonment
Agricultural intensification
Forest disturbance
Forest degradation
Tropical Deforestation
Future land use
Land use & warfare
Land-use change patterns