Climate change and land-use change are essential environmental challenges to society that are also inseparably linked: the climate shapes the way people use land, by affecting food and water supplies; land-use change contributes to global and regional climate change by affecting land biogeochemical and biophysical processes. In addition to the direct impacts of climate change on ecosystems, management practices for climate change adaptation or mitigation (for instance avoiding deforestation, or promoting the use of bioenergy) also affect the supply of ecosystem services, and impact on other important societal goals (such as energy security or trade balances).

The interplay between land use and climate change is therefore fundamental in understanding land-based climate mitigation options and how societies will adapt to climate change in the future. LUC4C aims to provide progress towards quantitative understanding of impacts and feedbacks in the coupled human-land-climate system, and the role people play.

Time frames: 2014 to 2018

Funder: The European Union 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (EU-FP7)

Partners: Large number of partners, see website: http://luc4c.eu/project/consortium

For further details: See the website http://luc4c.eu/ or contact Dr Chris Lennard