Land Use Change Topic Advisory Group

Achieving ‘Net Zero’ and nature recovery requires transformational land use change (LUC), which involves a very wide range of sectors, involving people and organisations with different objectives, resources, expertise and experience. This Topic Advisory Group aims to gather people involved across that range to enable discussion of the issues in, and potential ways forward, to achieve that transformation. Present priorities are:

• Bringing together expertise and experience spanning the widest range of the LUC
  topic.
• Foster collaboration between LUC-related disciplines.
• Identifying and addressing knowledge gaps and barriers to LUC implementation.
• Supporting the three LUNZ Hub work-packages and relevant ‘call-down requests’
  with LUC insight and expertise

Recent work has involved focussed discussion through a ‘reading group’ of a range of recent reviews and reports on land use change plans, policies and research, and a knowledge gap workshop in June 2024 investigating LUC Adoption, Management and Design Strategies. Work being discussed and planned for this year includes:

• Exploring multifunctional landscapes
• Managing demand for both climate change adaptation and mitigation
• Can historic land use change efforts inform current net zero strategies?

This TAG is led by Chris Lee (University of Exeter) and James Morison (Forest Research)
and has over 40 members from a wide range of non-governmental and governmental
organisations, research institutes and consultancies. Together we consider a wide range of
aspects, including farming, forestry, nature, natural capital, water resources, bioeconomy,
renewable energy, recreation, and rural livelihoods.