Telecoupling: exploring land-use change in a globalised world

This text presents a comprehensive exploration of the emerging concept and framework of telecoupling and how it can help create a better understanding of land-use change in a globalised world.

Land-use change is increasingly characterised by a spatial disconnect between its main environmental, socioeconomic and political drivers and the main impacts and outcomes of those changes.

The authors examine how this separation of the production and consumption of land-based resources is driven by population growth, urbanisation, climate change, and biodiversity and carbon conservation efforts.

Identifying and fostering more sustainable, just and equitable modes of land use and intervening in unsustainable ones thus constitute substantial, almost overwhelming challenges for science and policy.