Studying Land-use Transitions: Revealing Patterns, Drivers and Implications of Global Farmland Abandonment

Studying Land-use Transitions: Revealing Patterns, Drivers and Implications of Global Farmland Abandonment

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October 24, 2025

The Earth Observation Research Cluster (EORC) invites you to a talk by Prof. Dr. Alexander V. Prishchepov from the University of Copenhagen (Section Geography) and Research Fellow at the University of Giessen, entitled “Studying land-use transitions: Revealing patterns, drivers and implications of global farmland abandonment“. The talk will be given in presence at the EORC (John-Skilton-Str. 4a) on Thursday, November 06th, at 03:00 p.m.

We look forward to seeing you and having an interesting joint discussion. Save the date!

 

About the EORC Talk:

 

Prof. Dr. Alexander V. Prishchepov with “Studying land-use transitions: Revealing patterns, drivers and implications of global farmland abandonment”

 

Summary: Land-use transitions take many forms, some of which may appear negligible but can have substantial environmental and societal impacts. Among these, farmland abandonment has emerged as a particularly significant process.. The world’s population continues to grow, and while further agricultural expansion contributes to increased food production, it can also lead to environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. At the same time, evidence indicates that farmland abandonment is becoming a widespread global phenomenon, driven by diverse factors with far-reaching implications for both the environment and societal well-being. In this talk, Alexander V. Prishchepov will provide an overview of the current state of knowledge on global patterns of farmland abandonment, discuss the challenges involved in studying this process, particularly from a remote sensing perspective, and explore whether abandoned farmland could serve as a panacea for conserving global biodiversity and reducing carbon emissions. Finally, he will outline potential directions for future research.

 

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