Changes in land cover and land management that are driven by human activities (such as evolving agricultural or forestry practices) have a considerable effect on the global climate. However, these coupled effects receive limited consideration in land use decision processes due to uncertainties on the full implications for climate and ecosystem services, also due to a lack of dialogue between the relevant science and practice communities.

The goal of the LAMACLIMA project is to advance the scientific and public understanding of the coupled effects between land cover and land management and climate, and to inform the elaboration of sustainable land-based adaptation and mitigation measures. It will investigate the biogeophysical and biogeochemical effects of three key changes: re/afforestation, irrigation and wood harvest on climate, and their implications for several sectors (agriculture, water availability, biodiversity and economic productivity) as well as the resulting economic impacts.

This will allow for an analysis of their implications for both the mitigation and adaptation objectives of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero Hunger), 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 13 (Climate Action), and 15 (Life on Land).

The research outcomes will be synthesised into an open-access and user-friendly tool, allowing their appropriate dissemination to other researchers but also regional-level adaptation planners and development actors as well as international institutions, environmental organisations and relevant private actors during dedicated workshops and online collaboration. The tool will be an emulator, i.e. a simplified model displaying the interactions between land cover and land management, the climate system, food production, water scarcity and the economy uncovered by the LAMACLIMA research activities.

Continuous stakeholder engagement and knowledge brokerage will bridge the gap between scientists and stakeholders, thereby ensuring the usability of the emulator, and also fostering the co-design of future trajectories for land management as adaptation and mitigation measures that will complement the existing Shared Socio-economic Pathways. Stakeholders will be involved through a series of webinars and dedicated workshops that will also serve for the dissemination of the project results.

Climate Analytics is leading the LAMACLIMA project and is in charge of developing the emulator summarising the research findings of the consortium partners. Climate Analytics is also leading the stakeholder engagement efforts in the project, which are key to make the project findings useful to a broad audience.

The consortium otherwise includes experts on the interactions between land cover and land management and climate who will run a coordinated set of experiments with several Earth System models, economists who will integrate these results into a Computable General Equilibrium model and an agro-economic model. The project will complement on-going international research efforts such as the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6).

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Updates

Accounting for local temperature effect substantially alters afforestation patterns

In addition to modelling the CO2 sequestration from afforestation, this study looks at the localised biogeophysical cooling or warming by translating the biogeophysical temperature change to a CO2 equivalent.

Understanding the complex relationship between land and climate

Land-based solutions can help mitigate and adapt to climate change, but some could make it more difficult to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Scientists from our LAMACLIMA project explain what this means and how the project can improve our knowledge and implementation of land-based solutions.

MESMER-M: an Earth system model emulator for spatially resolved monthly temperature

This study extends the framework of an existing spatially resolved, annual-scale Earth system model emulator (MESMER) by a monthly downscaling module, providing local monthly temperatures from local yearly temperatures.

Overcoming global inequality is critical for land-based mitigation in line with the Paris Agreement

This report finds that overcoming global inequality is critical for land-based mitigation in line with the Paris Agreement. We show that if sustainable development in the land sector remained highly unequal and limited to high-income countries only, global agriculture, forestry and other land use emissions would remain substantial throughout the 21st century.

Global economic responses to heat stress impacts on worker productivity in crop production

The impacts of climate change on the food system are a key concern for societies and policy makers globally. But crop growth is not the only factor that matters for the food production. Climate impacts on the labour force through increased heat stress also need to be considered.

Webinar series — Interrelations between land cover, land management and climate change

This webinar series, devised by Climate Analytics, seeks to advance understanding of the relationship between climate change, land cover and land management as well as initiate discussion about issues affecting these sectors.

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Decarbonisation targets and 1.5℃ pathways

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Land management strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change