Increasing demand for natural resources combined with competing uses for land draws our attention to the need for sustainable land management practices in both the developed and developing world. Given that approximately 20% of carbon emissions come from land use change and that much of the world’s population relies on ecosystem services as a basis for their livelihood, there is a pressing need to develop policies that can deliver both environmental protection and sustainable development.
- Law and policy
- Economics and finance
- Social anthropology
- Politics
- Ecology and environmental assessment
Multi-stakeholder engagement
In order to ensure maximum relevance and impact of our work, we engage stakeholders from civil society, the private sector and public organisations (such as international institutions and governments).
In addition to academic study, we engage with communities and nations to build their institutional capacity so that they can better use our findings to create policies and programmes for conservation, development and sustainable land use. Wherever possible, we utilise internet-based tools to provide free public access to research and teaching materials.
Competing uses for land creates many challenges for policy-makers, particularly within the fields of conservation and development, where diverse and often-conflicting human aims impact land use. The academic field known as ‘land economy’ draws from a variety of different intellectual approaches to create both a multi-disciplinary perspective on land use challenges and a problem-solving framework for addressing them.
Our research ethos, values and vision
All research from the University of Cambridge is conducted and produced to the highest standards. All research conducted under the framework of the Programme for Conservation, Development and Sustainable Land Use aims to be:
- Independent and apolitical
- Methodologically unique and robust
- Relevant, in that we consult with and deliver results that will assist different stakeholders
- Open access and freely available
- Is the research likely to address a gap in existing knowledge?
- Will the results of this research assist in solving a practical problem?
- Do we have the implementation partners necessary to ensure that the research has a significant impact in the relevant field, be it conservation, development, sustainable land use or a combination of these?
View people specializing in this area
Related Projects
REDD+ Law Project: understanding and resolving issues critical to the long-term success of the REDD+ programme
Overcoming the Legal Barriers to REDD+ Implementation: resolving core challenges to on-the-ground REDD+ projects
Financing Climate Compatible Land Use (Kenya Focus): identifying and enabling solutions to finance of climate-smart agriculture in Kenya
Integrated Assessment: creating a linked suite of assessment tools in energy, economy, climate, land use and health to assess pathways to reduced climate risk
Developed-Developing Nations: using a reduced scale model of the carbon cycle, energy, population and land use systems to explore the impacts on atmospheric carbon resulting from changes to these systems.
Publications
Chapman, S. and Wilder, M., "Fostering REDD+ Investment through Legal Frameworks: Lessons from the Development of Early Forest Carbon Projects", Carbon and Climate Law Review, 1, 43-53, 2013.
Crawford-Brown, D., “Assessing the Sensitivity of Climate Change Targets to Policies of Land Use, Energy Demand, Low Carbon Energy and Population Growth”, Journal of Environmental Protection, 3, 12, 1615-1624, 2012.
Briefing Papers
International Human Rights Provision Under REDD+
