Land use
Research Topic
Language: English
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- What will be the ecological, economic, and social impacts of sea level rise? How effective are our current responses?
- What needs to be true of demand modelling for the estimates produced to capture long run changes in demand for road schemes that may change the spatial distribution of economic activity? To what extent do estimates from conventional user benefits approximate the total welfare impacts of transport schemes on users, considering the impacts of changing land use?
- How can we effectively use nature on our land to help provide the services we need (carbon uptake, flood defence, resilience through biodiversity, clean air and water, recreation for public health and so on) and balance the provision of these services?
- How can we build resilience of biodiversity and society to climate change through ecosystem restoration, better land management, and land use?
- What pressures will there be on global natural resources - especially energy, food, water and critical elements - in the short, medium and long term, and with what strategic policy implications for the UK in a changing world?
- As well as modelling and understanding major land use change (for example from agriculture to forestry), how can we understand the effects of more subtle changes in land management across wide areas (for example changing tillage practice)?
- How can we balance different interests at local and national levels, to provide the resources we need, reduce degradation of natural capital and improve the state of the environment?
- How can we understand better land/sea interactions?
- What are the trade-offs between primary resource extraction versus reclamation of resources from waste streams in the context of resource security? How circular can the UK economy become?
- Can other land-based approaches to greenhouse gas removal, such as enhanced weathering and biochar, help achieve net zero without negative environmental impacts?
- What land use change is needed to meet the UK’s policy objectives, targets and legal obligations, and where in the UK are there opportunities for multifunctional land use (as well as where are the potential areas for conflict)?
- What does the evidence say about the relationship between the environmental impact of development and public attitudes towards new development? In particular, is there evidence that greater transparency on the scale of impact and effectiveness of offsetting increases support for new development?
- What are the broader environmental consequences of changes to the housing and planning system, and what is needed to support a lower-carbon future?
- What is needed to enhance or create natural areas to provide nature-based solutions?
- How to measure ecological connectivity and design coherent ecological networks through nature restoration?
- How do we maximise the various benefits of nature-based solutions, and address any trade-offs and associated risks, through our plans for nature recovery, afforestation, peatland restoration, natural flood management, and improved water quality?
- What examples of environmental added value from other government funded infrastructure projects are there, either domestically or internationally? How could these help BDUK support government environmental goals, like those associated with tree planting and peatland restoration, alongside its primary target of fixed and mobile connectivity? How can we learn from these projects in terms of improving environmental reporting particularly regarding the supply chain for these projects?
- How can the UK protect and increase its standing stock of organic carbon: trees, peat, soil, and salt marshes? How can these habitats most efficiently be distributed spatially given limited land and other needs (for example urban space, food production, recreation)? How can increases in carbon stocks be achieved while maximising co-benefits such as biodiversity, clean water, and nutrient balance?
- How can the UK develop measurement of carbon fluxes from different habitats and farming systems which are in different conditions and using different management approaches? This is especially relevant for peatland and coastal habitats
- How can we develop pathways towards net zero that are socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable? What is the range of viable solutions, and what are the associated co-benefits and trade-offs? This includes developing spatially explicit models and tools to inform decisions at the landscape level, including prioritisation of conflicting land use demands
- What are the competing pressures, trade-offs, and synergies of different land-uses in relation to climate change in a post COVID-19 world?
- Develop innovative and improved abatement technologies for air pollutant emissions and noise generation across all sectors and sources
- We need to better understand the true value of plants and trees to society and deliver ongoing research to understand and prevent the introduction and spread of threats to UK plants – natural and crops. This include key threats such as Xylella, emerald ash borer, and other risks highlighted on the UK Plant Health Risk Register.
- How can the UK optimise sustainable growth of biomass for use in power generation (bioenergy) and, with appropriate storage, for removal of atmospheric CO2? How can the negative environmental consequences from biomass production and use (on soil quality, water quality, air quality, and biodiversity) be minimised? What’s the full life cycle analysis for different feedstock? What’s the scalability of different feedstocks within sustainable limits?
- What is the feasibility, desirability and viability for developing a comprehensive taxonomy for land use that meets the needs of UK land use decision making?
- Data science: Application of techniques, including AI and block chain, to unlock opportunities for improved and more efficient environmental monitoring, regulatory compliance, and land management
- What is the GHG emissions reductions potential from different land-based interventions per unit area per year, how will natural carbon sources and sinks evolve in the future, and what are their timeframes for delivery from implementation? For example, what levels of emissions reductions can be achieved by actions within the new Environmental Land Management Scheme’s outcomes framework, and from forestry, and over what time frames are these delivered?
- How can we better monitor and evaluate the impacts of road schemes, and other large-scale infrastructure projects, on the local environment and those who use and live in that that environment e.g., on cultural heritage sites in the area; on local residents, in terms of well-being and on local biodiversity?
- How to optimize the deployment of different nature-based solutions to realise their various benefits and avoid negative outcomes (for example some tree planting on peatland)?