Inhaltspezifische Aktionen

11.03.2026 - SDGnexus Network Seminar Series - From agricultural expansion and forest loss to farmland contraction and forest gain: Revealing global patterns, drivers and implications

Wann

11.03.2026 von 13:00 bis 14:00 (Europe/Berlin / UTC100)

Wo

Online

Name des Kontakts

Termin zum Kalender hinzufügen

iCal

Land-use transitions take many forms, some of which may appear negligible yet have substantial environmental and societal consequences. Among these, farmland abandonment has emerged as a particularly significant global land-use change process, reflecting societal transitions, demographic change, economic restructuring, technological development, and changes in land governance. While global population growth continues to drive agricultural expansion in some regions, often with adverse impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity, many other regions are simultaneously experiencing farmland abandonment, albeit with diverging impacts on the environment and societies. In this talk, Alexander V. Prishchepov examines global patterns and drivers of farmland abandonment, and, more generally, farmland abandonment as a uniform term, through a land-system science lens, highlighting both what we already know and what remains poorly understood. He critically revisits whether abandoned farmland should be seen as a failure of land use, a passive outcome of social change, or a potential opportunity for biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation. The talk concludes with potential research directions and a more reflexive and societally grounded research agenda that should place farmland abandonment within broader processes of social and environmental transition.

 

Speaker: Alexander Prishchepov is a Professor at the Aarhus University at the Department of Environmental Science – Atmospheric Emissions & Modelling. Prof. Prishchepov is a leading expert in land system science, specializing in integrative research on the patterns, drivers, and implications of land-cover change and climate vulnerability, with a focus on agricultural expansion and decline, rural–urban transitions, human environmental impacts, and extralegal land-use activities. At the SDG Nexus Network, Prof. Prishchepov is a research group co-leader in the Land Use research area.

To learn more about Prof. Prishchepov and his research, please visit his webpage at: https://www.au.dk/en/alpr@envs.au.dk/ 

Date: 11.03.2026 13:00-14:00 CET