Land use is very closely linked to the climate. At a global level, land use is a key driver of climate change, but is also strongly influenced by changes in climatic conditions. Global land use is particularly associated with unprecedented sustainability challenges, such as the maintenance of food security, the loss of biodiversity or the deteriorating state of ecosystems. On the other hand, ecosystems have relevant means for climate protection, e.g. through the ability of plants to secrete and store large amounts of CO2. The IPCC's 1.5 degree report (2018) argues that the development and implementation of such land-based climate protection strategies will be crucial for the future of socio-economic developments. In Austria, too, rural ecosystems are already being strongly influenced by climate change, e.g. through higher temperatures, changing precipitation patterns and more frequent extreme events.
In the APCC Special Report on Land Use and Climate Change in Austria, the current state of knowledge was systematically reviewed, summarised and evaluated. An open process was developed and pursued that enabled the entire Austrian community of researchers and experts in the field of land system research to actively contribute to it.
Austrian agriculture and forestry are particularly affected by the impacts of climate change. Different effects on productivity are known for both sectors, making self-sufficient food production increasingly difficult. One challenge here is to develop adaptation strategies that do not make climate protection more difficult or even lead to higher emissions. As part of the special report, the effects of climate change in Austria on land use - and vice versa - were presented. In addition, the future role of land use for climate change adaptation and climate protection was presented and mapped with relevant socio-economic and ecological contexts.
The course of the project was based on already established processes of the IPCC and the APCC. There were four main steps, which were organised based on the development of the drafts (from the zero-order draft to the final draft) and review processes. This was accompanied by author workshops and workshops with stakeholders. The APCC Special Report on Land Use and Climate Change was published in April 2024 Link: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-662-67864-0
Timetable
Project start: September 2019
Project end: December 2021
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