IAMO Land System Group

Pictogram showing a cow and a horse on a balance scale tilted toward the horse, illustrating horsemeat’s advantages. Around the scale are key facts comparing cattle and horse: greenhouse gas emissions, land and water use, and nutrient content.

Beef: time to stop horsing around… or time to start? 🐎
Horsemeat could be a more sustainable and nutritious alternative to beef and other red meats. Lower emissions, less land & water use, and nutrient-rich.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ag...

Crop Water Consumption in Central Asia Climate Change has Increased Crop Water Consumption in Central Asia Despite Less Water-Intensive Cropping

The results highlight growing pressure on scarce water resources and clear limits to adaptation without rapid emissions reductions. See the study in action with this Storymap: arcg.is/1DuW1u1

Climate change has increased crop water consumption in Central Asia despite less water-intensive cropping - Communications Earth & Environment Total crop water consumption increased by 10% from 1987 to 2019 in Central Asia’s Amu Darya Basin, mainly driven by climate change as less water-intensive crops were adopted, according to analyses of ...

Climate change is increasing agricultural water demand across Central Asia. Rising temperatures and higher evapotranspiration are the main drivers, outweighing the effects of changes in cropping practices. 🌾💧
Publication: doi.org/10.1038/s432...

Links unten: Abgebrannter Wald im Forstgebiet Serebrianka, Oblast Luhansk; rechts: Schadensausmaß in den Oblasten Luhansk (A) und Cherson (B) (Foto: Alina Slavska, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0)

In den Ukraine-Analysen dokumentieren wir mit Satellitendaten die massiven Kriegsschäden an ukrainischen Wäldern: Nahe der Front wurden von 2021 bis 2025 38% der Bestände beschädigt oder zerstört – mit gravierenden Folgen für #Klima, #Biodiversität und #Landwirtschaft: doi.org/10.31205/UA....

Grazing Fire Changes in grazing patterns explain post-Soviet fire trends on the Eurasian steppe better than climate

Very nice storymap on our paper on fire and grazing in Kazakhstan --> storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/fc91...

A new study maps global “human–nature archetypes,” helping guide biodiversity, land-use, and food policies worldwide. Daniel Müller (@danielmu11er.bsky.social) from our working group contributed to this work.
👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.on...

Just published 🌱:
We dug into 16 million+ field records across Central Europe to find out what drives farmers’ crop rotation choices.
Turns out past cropping, agronomic advice, and legume prices matter a lot and legumes are likely to play a much bigger role in the future👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.ag...

Climate change affects the location of treelines Climatic determinants of the Carpathian treeline and its projected upward shifts in response to climate change

How will the Carpathian treeline respond to a warming climate?🏔️🌲 Discover the potential shifts under different climate scenarios in our interactive StoryMap: arcg.is/11Lfe02

🦋 The Land System Group is now on Bluesky!
We're excited to share some interesting insights from our research group at IAMO. Keep up to date by following us.