The Center of Excellence for Sustainable Land Use (FutureScapes)
The Center of Excellence for Sustainable Land Use (FutureScapes) is a 7-year-project (2024-2030) that aims to identify the relationships between biodiversity and carbon fluxes and integrate this new knowledge with satellite data into machine learning models. This in addition can be used to implement informed land-use planning and decision-making for policy makers as well as landowners and land users.
FutureScapes focuses on developing innovative solutions to address biodiversity loss and climate change. The main goal is to identify complex interconnections and co-benefits of biodiversity and carbon stocks and fluxes and to integrate this new knowledge into large-scale spatial models to create decision-support tools for land use planning.
We will identify, analyze and link quantitatively the complex relationships between biodiversity patterns/functions, ecosystem carbon storage, sequestration and greenhouse gas emission from local to national level.
By using geospatial data (incl. satellite data) and machine learning based spatial modelling, we will upscale the knowledge and relationships to regional level and implement in spatially explicit land use planning and management, considering the socioeconomic fabric of landowners and land users.
Principal investigator: Evelyn Uuemaa, University of Tartu, Professor in Geoinformatics and Team lead for the Landscape Geoinformatics Lab
Team:
- Aveliina Helm, University of Tartu, Professor of Restoration Ecology and team lead for the Landscape Biodiversity Group;
- Kuno Kasak, University of Tartu, Associate Professor in Ecotechnology and team lead for the Environmental technology working group;
- Ivika Ostonen-Märtin, University of Tartu, Professor in Root Ecology and team lead for the Root Ecology Group;
- Kadri Runnel, University of Tartu, Research Fellow in Conservation Biology and team lead for the Sustainable Forest Management Group;
- Jan Pisek, Tartu Observatory, Associate Professor in Remote Sensing of Landscapes and team lead for the Landscape Remote Sensing Group;
- Eve Veromann, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Professor and team lead for the Agroecology Research Group;
- Ants-Hannes Viira, The Centre of Estonian Rural Research and Knowledge, Head of Agricultural Research Department and team lead for Agricultural Research and Policy Research Group.
Funding: Ministry of Education and Research / Estonian Research Council
Project volume: 7 000 000 euros
Duration: 01.01.2024–31.12.2030
See also the the project description in ETIS.
