Research Session

Pandemics, armed conflicts, natural and anthropogenic disasters, and economic/financial collapses are types of systemic shocks that can manifest locally and then spread to region, to nation, to continent, to the inhabited planet. The recession that began in the United States in late 2007, manifested as a global recession in 2008 and 2009. is an example of an economic/financial shock. The COVID pandemic of 2020-21 is a more recent example of a shock to global systems. These shocks changed how households and institutions used financial resources, which then translated into impacts on financial flows and uses of funds, including land ownership, use, and management. Investigations of the incidence and subsequent impacts of shocks is important in an increasingly tele-entangled world. In this session we shall explore how shocks in one part of the planet can influence land use and land management decisions elsewhere. Topics include the lingering repercussions of the COVID-19 lockdown on agriculture and conservation, the push and pull of migration from Central America, how exogenous shocks influence land use, migration, remittances to rural communities in Kyrgyzstan and southern Romania, and how bilateral remittance dynamics reveal the diversity of international connections.

Research Session

Land and the benefits from it are unequally distributed and trends are anticipated to worsen over the course of the 21st century (Meyfroidt et al, 2022). The wealthiest 10% of rural populations capture approximately 60% of agricultural land value, whereas the poorest 50% capture only 3% (Anseeuw & Baldinelli, 2020). The implications for society and the environment of changing land distributions include food insecurity, climate change, human health, culture and identity, and concentration of resources and power. However, data, insights and understanding of the risks and rewards that come with changing size and distribution of land assets remain limited in several dimensions. First, we need better methods to map and monitor changes in land inequality or consolidation at local scales, and connect those to global drivers. Stemming from this challenge are few studies that map the consequences of land inequality to those who benefit versus those who lose out, or provide policy analyses of interventions that can redress land inequality, equalize benefits, or mitigate risks.Given the prevalence of land consolidation and its importance, this session aims to invoke opportunities for Land System Science to contribute new theory, methods, and praxis on the study of land inequality. This session will bring together emerging scholarships on the topics of land consolidation, its determinants, and consequences. We invite papers that investigate i) methods to uncover various dimensions of land inequality, monitor, or map metrics of land inequality; ii) analyses that characterize drivers of changes in land inequality; iii) investigations on the social or environmental consequences of land consolidation with attention to the distributional dynamics at play and iv) policy analyses that identify pathways to ensure benefits and risks of these transitions are addressed.

Research Session

Land is increasingly understood as relational and interdependent, raising questions of how best to understand changes wrought by climate change, policy shifts, markets, and environmental injustice. This session brings together emerging scholarship on the diverse and changing epistemologies of land, especially vis-à-vis fresh takes on mixed methodology. We are interested in papers that: 1) investigate the types of knowledge and data currently privileged in land management and policy, and the implications; 2) creatively use mixed methods to tell nuanced and/or more complete stories of land and socio-ecological change; 3) provide innovative frameworks for understanding multi-scalar relationships shaping land dynamics; 4) examine ethical and participatory considerations in research relations and knowledge production; 5) propose trajectories toward more livable land futures through collaboration and creative practice. While we particularly encourage research based in Mexico and that puts land matters in relation to forests, agriculture, conservation, water, cities, food, and/or infrastructure, we are open to papers from diverse settings.

Research Session

Rural-urban transitions and other processes may lead to the 'underuse' or complete abandonment of farmlands and settlements, and which become a widespread global phenomenon. Farmland and settlement abandonment can significantly impact the environment, landscape resilience, and societal well-being. However, the driving mechanisms of abandonment, the emergence of novel ecosystems, and landscape resilience in regions susceptible to abandonment remain unclear. Further, theories, methods, and toolboxes for measuring abandonment of farmlands are insufficient, which hampers understanding abandonment and its outcomes. Therefore, the session aims to highlight progress and discuss existing challenges in defining and measuring a great diversity of land transitions associated with abandonment, such as low-intensity, underused, or fully abandoned urban and rural landscapes. Presentations are welcome on:· Conceptualizing land transition processes associated with incomplete and complete abandonment, such as secondary forest regrowth and evolving novel ecosystems, as well as landscape resilience.· Coupling and decoupling of abandoned urban and rural landscapes.· Research methods and toolboxes to measure underuse, abandonment, and post-agricultural transitions of landscapes.· Development of theories and evaluation of the driving mechanisms of landscape change, telecoupling, and policy responses.· Implications of such transitions on the environment and societal well-being.· Emerging land uses in the post-abandonment period.This research session directly contributes to the activities of the Global Land Programme's "Agricultural Land Abandonment as a Global Land-Use Change Phenomenon." https://www.land-abandonment.org/

Research Session

With the increasing focus on sustainable management of forests and using forested landscapes as carbon sinks to combat climate change, there has been a renewed research and political interest in the role that shifting cultivation may (or may not) play in securing sustainable management of complex mosaic landscapes. Moreover, despite decades of research on shifting cultivation, a rift between scientific communities studying shifting cultivation, development practitioners, and policy-makers remains about whether shifting cultivation has a role for safe-guarding livelihoods of local and indigenous people living at forest-agriculture frontiers. In order to address these challenges, and especially bringing the scientific evidence on shifting cultivation more into the development and policy spheres, this session aims at bringing the large amounts of research in the past decades together in unbiased analyses that take stock of the persistent presence of shifting cultivation in many parts of the tropics. In some contexts it might be a highly relevant solution to improving sustainable environments and livelihoods as the alternatives are considerably worse. In other contexts, shifting cultivation may indeed play a key role in environmental degradation and maintaining poverty. We therefore invite papers that take non-normative stances on how shifting cultivation may (or may not) contribute to the global sustainable development agendas.

Research Session

This session delves into the transformative impact of GeoAI and Big Data in land system science and remote sensing, aligning with the overarching theme of 'The State of the World'. It focuses on how these innovative technologies have revolutionized our understanding and monitoring of the Earth's surface. High-resolution satellite imagery and extensive data collection offer unprecedented insights into land cover changes, deforestation, and urban growth. By employing advanced GeoAI techniques, including machine and deep learning, we can efficiently process and interpret these vast data sets. This approach enables us to discern intricate patterns and trends in land systems, which were previously elusive with traditional analytical methods. Our session explores global research utilizing GeoAI and Big Data, particularly in sustainable land management and environmental conservation. We showcase how these technologies are redefining land system science and enhancing our understandings of land cover and use dynamics, the interplay between human activities and the environment, and the feedback mechanisms influencing decision-making and management strategies. This session not only invites papers focusing on the applications and challenges of GeoAI but also encourages contributions addressing data ethics and bias concerns within the realm of GeoAI and Big Data. We are particularly interested in discussions around how data requirements and AI approaches might inadvertently contribute to or mitigate the North-South divides, emphasizing the need for responsible and equitable advancements in this rapidly evolving field.

Research Session

Understanding how humans impact biodiversity - the diversity of life on earth - has become a new frontier in socio-ecological research. On the one hand, a wealth of new metrics and methods to monitor biodiversity change have become available in the past several years (e.g., global databases such as Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), or global indicators such as the Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII)). On the other hand, different research efforts are currently taking advantage of such developments to study the human impacts on biodiversity change or loss. In particular, because habitat loss is the primary driver of biodiversity loss, several recent studies aim to quantify and characterize agriculture-driven impacts from land-use change using a variety of approaches. These include life cycle analyses (LCA) or multi-regional input-output models (MRIOs) and the use of footprinting metrics, modelled biodiversity products, as well as other quasi-experimental set-ups that focus on impacts on specific species, or even pairing multidimensional biodiversity indicators with socioeconomic drivers.This session aims to spotlight recent, innovative research on these agriculture-driven impacts on biodiversity, specifically across the tropics, where biodiversity is highest. This may include improvements in LCAs or MRIOs, as well as impact assessments using new, multidimensional biodiversity indicators. We aim to discuss the questions: What do these new metrics tell us about agriculture-driven impacts on biodiversity? And, how do these impacts differ from what we know of land-use and land-cover studies? Moreover, we aim to discuss the causal implications of such featured approaches, as policies or interventions (e.g., the European deforestation regulation) may err in targeting footprints rather than the underlying mechanisms driving these. Overall, we hope to foster a discussion that moves beyond land-use/land-cover change towards deeper understanding of human-nature impacts, and the action points that can transform this relationship in the future.

Research Session

The impacts of armed conflicts on land systems through degradation and pollution, population displacement, and social upheaval are increasingly recognized around the world. It is crucial to monitor changes in land systems during armed conflicts to facilitate humanitarian aid, ecosystem recovery, and post-conflict rebuilding. The increase of spatially-explicit data such as Earth observation imagery, as well as social sensing has created new opportunities for monitoring changes in conflict zones where direct access is often limited. This session seeks the most recent research focused on comprehending the varied effects of armed conflicts on land systems. We encourage submissions that delve into changes in agriculture, forests, grasslands, urban environment, as well as other land systems during and after armed conflicts. We welcome submissions using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods on the topics below: 1. Real-time monitoring of damage and destruction of land systems during armed conflicts 2. The impacts of armed conflict and other confounding factors such as climate change and state policy on land systems 3. Development of novel approaches that integrate various sources to better monitor the impacts of armed conflicts 4. Short-term impacts and long-term legacies of the armed conflicts on land systemsThis session contributes to GLP’s theme “The State of the World” by advancing the understanding and monitoring of drastic changes in land systems that are caused by the armed conflicts.

Research Session

By 2050, over two thirds of the global population will live in urban settlements. Such rapid urbanization has the potential to transform rural-urban connections that include the flows of labor, economic development and food systems. Rapid urbanization is often coupled with changing demographic structures as young people migrate to cities in search of employment. Agricultural systems are transforming in response to the growing urban demands for food, fuel, and fiber, intensifying, expanding, and often changing in character. Alongside these dynamics, climate change poses a significant threat to rural agricultural production and urban livelihoods that can threaten economic security, leading to potential societal instability and conflict, especially when coupled with rapid demographic change. To understand and predict how these complex factors may influence socioeconomic development and political stability requires a detailed understanding of this nexus between climate, food, and urbanization (CFU).In this session, we seek to provide an overview of the state of the CFU system, the drivers behind rapid transformation, and identify possible future trajectories. We welcome interdisciplinary submissions from both natural and social scientists across a variety of regional, or global contexts. We encourage contributions that employ integrated human-environment systems approaches to assess elements of the CFU nexus, taking into account urbanization, economic, and demographic processes that drive changes and shape vulnerabilities within the system, as well as work that identifies possible interventions to promote sustainable development, resilient food systems, and stable political landscapes. We also seek submissions presenting new high spatio-temporal resolution datasets that can help analyze the CFU nexus.

Research Session

Agricultural land systems are influenced by the interaction between natural elements and human activities. Natural features such as soil, water, topography, and native vegetation serve as the basis for these land systems and have a significant impact on the feasibility of agricultural practices in specific regions. Moreover, human-made infrastructure, such as ridges, roads, canals, and other artificial facilities, not only directly modify the natural features but also alter the structure and functionality of land systems. Farmland infrastructure is present in both small-scale family farms and large industrial agricultural operations and exhibits a wide range of design and complexity. It can vary from simple, manually-operated structures to advanced, high-tech automated systems. Understanding the type, level, and quality of farmland infrastructure is crucial, as it shapes and provides feedback on the health and sustainability of agricultural land systems. This session aims to focus on key topics such as observation, simulation, and evaluation of farmland infrastructure and its impacts on agricultural land systems, while also fostering exchange and discussion within the GLP community.

Research Session

Livestock ranching is a dominant land use in Latin America, with nearly 400 million heads of cattle and 150 million heads of sheep and goats spread across all ecoregions and a wide range of social-ecological systems. Particularly the expansion of cattle ranching into tropical and subtropical forests and savannas is of major concern in terms of frontier advancement, as well as a driver of biodiversity loss and climate change, but the spatial patterns and dynamics of these impacts are poorly understood. Developing and transitioning to more sustainable modes of livestock ranching is urgently needed across Latin America, but hinges on detailed data on which livestock systems are found. This is important, as different livestock systems differ considerably in the type of forage used, the landscape composition, management practices, infrastructure, and intensification levels, among other properties. They are associated with diverse social benefits (e.g., food security, income) and social transformations (e.g., reshaping of local and regional labour markets, displacement of marginalized people), as well as environmental impacts (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions, vegetation degradation, biodiversity loss). This symposium aims to shed light on new approaches for assessing, mapping, and understanding the spatial patterns and dynamics of livestock ranching systems. The session will showcase a range of methods, including remote sensing and novelty datasets exploration spatial analyses, and bring together cases focusing on various scales, from local landscapes to ecoregion scales throughout Latin America. The symposium seeks to bridge gaps between land-system science, rangeland science, livestock science, and environmental history, to foster interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration, and to enhance our understanding of the complex and oftentimes misunderstood livestock ranching systems.

Research Session

Deforestation continues to be a significant issue across tropical regions, impacting both nature and communities. Past land-system-science research has mainly focused on understanding land-use and land-cover changes (LUCC) to identify the drivers and consequences of deforestation. This has spurred policies and commitments to prevent deforestation, thus knowledge on LUCC remains a cornerstone of conservation policy. However, most existing research is based on reconstructing land-cover changes over time - for example forest loss - and not variables that inherently describe land-use processes - for example fast vs. slow moving deforestation frontiers. In the era of previously unseen availability of satellite data and continuously increasing computation capabilities, we are now at a point where satellite data and derived land-cover products can be better used to directly develop indicators and variables describing land-use processes, such as agricultural frontier progress or land degradation, ultimately contributing to a better understanding underlying processes of land-use dynamics. In this session, we welcome presentations and discussions on the latest advancements, limitations, and ways forward in developing variables and indicators describing land use processes, using both remote-sensing based data but also ancillary data sources at the local, regional, and global scale. We further welcome presentations that link novel variables and indicators of land use processes to impacts on social-ecological systems, for example carbon stocks, biodiversity, but also rural communities, including Indigenous peoples. The session will provide a forum for discussing methodological and thematic advancements with respect to land change processes, particularly tropical deforestation frontiers, supporting theoretical advancements of the topic.

Research Session

The construction of the Tren Maya (Maya train) by the Mexican government has been a great point of contention for scholars and communities in the Yucatan region. Major points of disagreement are around conservation and agricultural land use, and its effects on land tenure, and the livelihoods of local communities. Studying the effects of the conflict of conservation and development on land systems is not new, however current public policy on land use (e.g. the productive federal program Sembrando Vida), large capital investment on infrastructure development and the shrinking of conservation practices has resulted in changes in land tenure and increased forest degradation and deforestation. This session brings together scholars addressing issues around the effects of the Tren Maya and public policy on current land cover change and tenure systems. We are interested in papers that: 1) investigate the effect of Sembrando Vida and Tren Maya on land use change; 2) assess the changes in public policy in the region; and 3) discuss the multiple effects and feedbacks of public policy, infrastructure development and conservation on how territory is shaped and affect current land tenure systems, land management, livelihoods, and social relationships.

Research Session

Much is being asked of the world’s land to meet ambitious climate mitigation and adaptation goals. For instance, land is expected to store carbon reliably in soils and biomass while continuing to feed a growing population and support diverse and resilient ecosystems under a warming and more extreme climate. Government climate change policies, as well as voluntary carbon markets, are already shaping land use and management decisions. Specifically, actors are undertaking a diverse suite of land-based “climate actions.” These include clean energy production to replace fossil fuels (e.g., wind, solar, hydro, bioenergy + carbon capture and storage), ecosystem carbon flux alterations in natural systems (e.g., afforestation, reforestation, reduced deforestation, fire management, peatland restoration) and agricultural systems (e.g., optimized N fertilizer application to croplands, reduced cropland tillage, alternate wetting-drying of rice paddies), and forest management to manage fire risk under climate change. A substantial literature is developing around the co-benefits and trade-offs between such climate actions and other sustainable development objectives (e.g., produce enough food to feed a growing population). Yet major gaps in our understanding of interactions between different land-based climate mitigation and adaptation measures remain. Thus, in this session, we welcome research that aims to evaluate how different land-based climate actions interact with (e.g., compete with or complement) each other across space and time. In the process of addressing this aim, we will tackle questions such as: Where is climate action on land currently happening or planned for the future? How will diverse climate actions perform under a changing climate? What are the equity and justice implications of different climate actions? This session is meant to complement the Interactive, Immersive, or Innovative Session named Climate Action on Land: World Café.

Research Session

South America’s Cerrado biome is a socio-ecological treasure at risk. Spanning 2 million km2, this tropical savanna ecosystem supports 5% of the world’s biodiversity and a rich array of traditional livelihoods - from quilombola communities to subsistence use by Indigenous Peoples and other traditional communities who have occupied the land for generations. Today, this biodiversity hotspot is also a hotspot of change due to growing pressures for agricultural development, conflicts over land and water, and afforestation projects anticipating global demand for carbon offsets.Like most tropical savannas, the Cerrado lacks the international attention and legal protections afforded to neighboring forests. There is growing evidence that efforts to protect carbon-rich Amazon forests have inadvertently accelerated land clearing in the Cerrado, triggering rapid land-use changes that replaced over 50% of the native vegetation with croplands and pastures. Such indirect land-use changes are fueled by invisible processes, including a global bias towards forests and a hyper-focus on carbon as the main currency for establishing ecological value. Nevertheless, the drivers underlying hot spots and hot moments of Cerrado land-use change are poorly understood and merit further examination.This session will convene global experts to discuss drivers and long-term impacts of change in the Cerrado, including complex teleconnections to global markets, local socioeconomic conditions and decision-making, and the historical context underpinning today’s conservation policies. We welcome contributions exploring how land-use dynamics vary across scale, as well as the implications of these changes for local livelihoods and future climate risk. Through a careful examination of the past and current dynamics in the Cerrado, this session aims to enhance understanding and identify pathways for building socio-ecological resilience in the face of ongoing land use and climate changes.

Research Session

Tropical forests hold most of the world’s biodiversity and various efforts have been made to curb deforestation and biodiversity loss. These efforts mainly focus on monitoring forest cover and carbon dynamics at local to global scale with the use of fine resolution to coarse resolution satellite data. The UN-Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) initiative, which aims to conserve carbon storage of tropical forests while safeguarding biodiversity also needs real-time information about change in forest cover. With the advancement of geospatial techniques, the quantification of the terrestrial ecosystem and their role in climate change mitigation has been widely studied. Deforestation and forest degradation contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Different from deforestation, which has established remote sensing data and methods for its monitoring, forest degradation monitoring is still challenging, especially with remote sensing. Recent conservation efforts have seen the result of forest recovery and enhancement, and yet monitoring forest recovery is also challenging on a larger scale. To increase forest cover and counteract climate change effects, forest plantation has been adopted by some countries as a strategy. Comparing with naturally regenerated forest, forest plantation has less biodiversity and limited capacity to provide ecosystem services. To assess the effect of reforestation and forest regeneration in mitigating climate change, multi-spatiotemporal data and improved mapping methods such as machine learning play a major role. It also demonstrates the effects of climate variability on forests and biodiversity and how stable forests respond to climate variability. The goal of this session is to invite papers that are able to (1) explore the role of geospatial techniques to quantify terrestrial ecosystems in climate change mitigation, (2) apply innovative multi-sensor approaches to analyze land use/land cover change, deforestation, and forest degradation, and (3) integrate remote sensing and ground-based observation to improve terrestrial ecosystem monitoring.

Research Session

Mountain socio-ecological systems are very distinctive in biophysical and social characteristics. Land use, for example, is characterized by little mechanized agriculture, expanding recreational and conservation uses, and specific types of urbanization. Provision and regulation of water for both highland and lowland populations, high biodiversity and endemism, and elevation-dependent climate change add to the complexities and particular needs for research and monitoring, which must include an integrated and interdisciplinary perspective. The Andean Network of Socio-ecological Observatories (ROSA), a collaborative initiative started in 2023, seeks to integrate long-term monitoring efforts to identify, characterize, and quantify processes that influence the dynamics of mountain socio-ecosystems. ROSA aims to gather, systematize, and integrate existing monitoring efforts, facilitate efficient sharing of monitoring, management experiences, and conceptual approaches, and connect the knowledge derived from integrated monitoring to decision-making processes and the sustainable management of Andean SES. The objectives of this session are: 1) to share experiences of integrating biophysical and social monitoring systems into land systems observatories in mountains; 2) To understand reasons for success and failure of integrated monitoring systems in other regions of the world; and 3) to discuss a common agenda for the co-design of monitoring strategies and integration of knowledge between key stakeholders ( academia, decision-makers, civil society). For this, we propose a research presentation session including the following topics: 1) Description, creation and current status of the ROSA initiative, 2) Advances in key ROSA’s nodal observatories, 3) Participatory monitoring: place-based socioecological and transdisciplinary research. Experiences and insights from Latin America; 4) Synthesis of mountain social-ecological systems monitoring in Asia, Africa, and Europe; insights on infrastructure, data sharing, capacities, and governance, 5) open for public invitation. Based on the presentations and discussion we will produce a policy brief of good/successful practices for the integration of socio-ecological monitoring with land system observatories in mountains.

Research Session

The growing spatial footprint and role of conservation suggests conservation will be a central component of many land systems, with far-reaching but often weakly understood social-ecological implications. Similarly, conservation increasingly interacts and competes with other land uses, creating opportunities and challenges. In this session we explore the role of conservation in land systems and the opportunities of seeing conservation as a land use (e.g., as a strategy, as a policy, as an activity, as a land-use type) and addressing and studying it through concepts and methodologies of Land System Science. We also discuss the limitations of such a framing. We invite both conceptual or empirical contributions addressing these issues, including changes in the extent and intensity of area-based conservation, cross-scale interactions, feedbacks and trade-offs between conservation and other land uses, and the opportunities and risks of seeing conservation as a land use. As an example, the footprint of area-based conservation has grown rapidly over the last decades and is expected to keep expanding, given the ambitious conservation policy goals and targets formulated under the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework. The latter include targets to conserve 30% of terrestrial and inland water areas (i.e., “30x30”, Target 3) and to restore 30% of all degraded ecosystems (Target 2), but also to place all lands under biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning and land management (Target 1). What are the social-ecological impacts of implementing these ambitious goals? How could conservation be mainstreamed to be integral to land management and governance? How will area-based observation feed back on other land uses and the trade-offs among them? We suggest that cross-fertilizing between Land System Science and Conservation Science has considerable potential to better address and answer such questions.

Research Session

The growing spatial footprint and role of conservation suggests conservation will be a central component of many land systems, with far-reaching but often weakly understood social-ecological implications. Similarly, conservation increasingly interacts and competes with other land uses, creating opportunities and challenges. In this session we explore the role of conservation in land systems and the opportunities of seeing conservation as a land use (e.g., as a strategy, as a policy, as an activity, as a land-use type) and addressing and studying it through concepts and methodologies of Land System Science. We also discuss the limitations of such a framing. We invite both conceptual or empirical contributions addressing these issues, including changes in the extent and intensity of area-based conservation, cross-scale interactions, feedbacks and trade-offs between conservation and other land uses, and the opportunities and risks of seeing conservation as a land use. As an example, the footprint of area-based conservation has grown rapidly over the last decades and is expected to keep expanding, given the ambitious conservation policy goals and targets formulated under the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework. The latter include targets to conserve 30% of terrestrial and inland water areas (i.e., “30x30”, Target 3) and to restore 30% of all degraded ecosystems (Target 2), but also to place all lands under biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning and land management (Target 1). What are the social-ecological impacts of implementing these ambitious goals? How could conservation be mainstreamed to be integral to land management and governance? How will area-based observation feed back on other land uses and the trade-offs among them? We suggest that cross-fertilizing between Land System Science and Conservation Science has considerable potential to better address and answer such questions.

Innovative and Immersive Session

The tropics are experiencing dramatic changes as a result of climate and land-use change. Tropical forests will respond with shifts in carbon flux dynamics, water cycling, and species composition, resulting in feedbacks with globally important consequences for the people who depend upon them. However, the generalizability of different tropical forest responses remains highly uncertain. In addition, community engagement in tropical forest research is critical for positioning communities from the tropics to inform, participate in, and benefit from research about the region. Community engagement also has the potential to support the training of the next generation of scientists from the tropics. Ensuring that community engagement is equitable demands thoughtful research practices. We invite you to participate in an interactive session to learn about a recent effort to scope one of two possible options for NASA's next Terrestrial Field Ecology Campaign and discuss community engagement best practices. This session will comprise two sections: 1) The co-organizers will report on a white paper that outlines a multidisciplinary effort to address knowledge gaps in tropical forest regions’ responses to climate change that centers capacity building and equitable engagement with international collaborators. 2) We will facilitate space for the GLP community to express their needs and interests related to tropical forest research and develop action items based on these needs-with an emphasis on community members and researchers from the tropics. A structured roundtable discussion and breakout groups will address: Similarities and differences across tropical regions in forest structure, function, biodiversity, biogeochemical cycling, social-ecological systems, and disturbance processes, Understanding of the vulnerability and resilience of tropical forest ecosystems to global change. The scientific and regionally specific basis for informed decision-making to guide societal responses to climate change mitigation and adaptation and biodiversity conservation,Practices for fair and just community engagement and equitable collaborations, and existing barriers

Innovative and Immersive Session

Extralegal activities, such as armed conflicts and illicit economies, are increasingly recognized as drivers of land system dynamics and are among the most pressing challenges for sustainable development and social justice in many regions of the world. Laws and social norms are often suspended under conditions of armed conflict or actively defied through illicit activities, and the two contexts can catalyze or reinforce one another. Whether it is international disputes, internal armed conflicts, criminal violence, or the production or trafficking of illicit crops, land issues are often at the core, and agrarian communities suffer the consequences of these struggles. As researchers, we credit our in-country or community partners, but in many ways our fundamental reliance on them for our research is obscured through the publication process This panel or roundtable discussions with stakeholder participation will center the importance of in-country partners for conducting research in land systems affected by extralegal activities. While transdisciplinary, participatory, or similar co-production approaches have been prominent issues on the Land System Science agenda, more attention is needed to understand the specific challenges associated with conducting land system research with in-country or community partners in extralegal contexts. Relevant topics might include, but are not limited to, land system research approaches to participatory methodologies, personal and professional risk, research ethics, or best practices/lessons learned in the context of extralegal activities. We invite presentations on the above topics from researchers, non-profit organizations, community members, or other stakeholders. The session will also provide an opportunity for dialogue and exchange among the participants, who are invited to share their own experiences and perspectives on this topic.

Innovative and Immersive Session

This session will focus on addressing the gap between research findings and policy implementation in the context of land-use/cover change (LUCC) studies in Latin America. LUCC presents a dynamic landscape shaped by diverse socio-economic, environmental, and political forces. The region is experiencing rapid transformation, with significant shifts in land-cover types driven by urbanization, agricultural expansion, deforestation, and natural resource extraction. These changes have profound implications for biodiversity, ecosystem services, climate resilience, and socio-economic development. Understanding the drivers, patterns, and impacts of LUCC in Latin America is essential for informed decision-making, sustainable land management, and addressing pressing environmental challenges. Although several national and international funding agencies have sponsored multiple projects over the region, there is a gap between research findings and informing policy, with many studies failing to translate scientific knowledge into actionable recommendations. Bridging this gap requires stronger communication between researchers, policymakers, and practitioners. This session will explore strategies for translating scientific knowledge into actionable recommendations and fostering improved communication between researchers, policymakers, and practitioners. The session aims to facilitate discussion on the challenges, opportunities, and best practices for bridging this gap to promote more effective and sustainable land-management practices in the region. Some of the questions specific to LUCC and to be addressed include: - How can researchers effectively communicate their findings to policymakers and practitioners in a way that promotes understanding and informs decision-making processes? - What are the key barriers preventing the translation of scientific knowledge into actionable recommendations, and how can these barriers be overcome? - What role can interdisciplinary collaboration play in bridging the gap between research and policy? What are some successful examples of research that has led to the development and implementation of evidence-based policies and interventions? - What mechanisms exist for fostering ongoing dialogue between researchers, policymakers, and practitioners beyond the duration of specific research projects?