About LAMASUS

Why LAMASUS is important?

The EU has set itself a binding target of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. The land use sector plays a key role as it is the only sector readily available to compensate unabated greenhouse gas emissions through carbon sequestration. The land use sector is also expected to contribute to climate change mitigation and other sustainability targets by providing biomass for energy supply and reversing the trend of biodiversity loss. It is unclear whether existing policies are sufficiently improving the land use sector as a carbon sink as the trend in carbon absorption has stagnated and improved policies are necessary to achieve the European target.

The LAMASUS Project is about the relationship between land use and policy objectives in agriculture and forestry. By studying how land is used and managed at the EU, country, and local levels, we can develop a joint modelling system for land use. This system will be used in a modelling toolbox to anticipate how policy objectives will be met and what changes in land use may occur. Our research will help to create a more sustainable future by ensuring that policy objectives are met while also preserving the land.

What are the expected key results of LAMASUS?

LAMASUS project will provide open access to the following key output related to land-use and -management:

• A geodatabase and area estimates of changes in land use
• An EU policies and payments database for agriculture, forest, and other land-use and land-management related drivers
• Open-source code and documentation of statistical, ex-post models at EU, country, NUTS-2, and regional scale
• Response functions for land-use and -management changes and maps of climate change mitigation potentials, biodiversity impacts and economic effects
• The LAMASUS Toolbox for ex-ante policy support will bring together datasets, the lessons from ex-post models, response functions. This will be done using established forward-looking modelling tools already in use for land-use policy decisions within the EU.

The project will release several policy briefs and papers, including:

• Policy brief on environmental impacts of land-use and -management changes
• Econometric ex-post land-use and -management policy impact assessment across scales
• White paper on innovative governance of policies that affect land use decisions
• An integrated view on agriculture, land use and climate policies for the land use sector