Monitoring and modelling land changes in LTSER platforms: eLTER perspectives and challenges
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Edited by Simone Gingrich, Thomas Houet, Martin Schmid, Veronika Gaube
Land use and land cover changes (LUCC) are one of the most commonly used variables used to monitor trajectories of socio-ecological systems (SES). While past LUCC trajectories enable us to understand the respective / combined impact of anthropogenic and climate factors, modelling future LUCC allows us to evaluate the effect of land policies, environmental regulations or any other drivers affecting LUCC. Tracing how people in LTSER platform regions have used the land in the past and present, what has shaped their land-use decisions, and how these different land uses and LUCC have impacted ecosystem characteristics and might impact them in the future will illustrate how LUCC is a critical eLTER variable. By bringing together different methodological and empirical approaches (including, e.g., environmental history research based on archival sources, modelling tools and integrated socio-ecological participatory research), the session will explore, based on applied and methodological contributions, the potentials and challenges of inter- and transdisciplinary land-use research in LTSER platforms, and its contributions to the eLTER WAILS approach and community. Thus, this session aims at contributing to the design of standard protocol for LUCC variable adapted to the diversity of eLTER socioecosystems and related environmental issues.