Key Science Questions

The LCLUC research program focuses on these components in addressing the following key land-use science questions:

• Where are land-cover and land-use changing, what is the extent and over what time scale and how do the changes vary from year to year? (Variability)
• What changes are occurring in global land-cover and land-use, and what are their causes? (Forcing)
• What are the impacts of climate variability and changes on LCLUC and what is the potential feedback? (Responses)
• What are the consequences of changing land-use activities for ecosystems and how do they respond to and affect global environmental change? (Consequences and Responses)
• What are the consequences of land-cover and land-use change for human societies and the sustainability of ecosystems? (Consequences)
• How will land-cover change on time scales from years to centuries? (Prediction)
• What are the projected changes in land-cover and their potential impacts? (Prediction)