GRK 3072:  Competition for land: the role of the food, energy and materials nexus in tackling the climate and biodiversity crises

• Subject Area: Geography ; Atmospheric Science, Oceanography and Climate Research
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 531816782

C4LaNd addresses the ever-increasing demands on land and the negative consequences for people and the environment that arise from the over-exploitation of land resources. Integrated understanding is required to address what is a classical ‘wicked problem’: how to meet conflicting food, renewable energy, and materials demands without compromising biodiversity conservation and climate-change mitigation and -adaptation locally to globally. This need for an integrated understanding of the whole land system contrasts sharply with today's still rather fragmented knowledge base, which is mainly based on disciplinary studies; few studies so far have considered interactions between the elements of the land-use nexus (food, energy, materials). Complex systems cannot be studied in isolation and C4LaNd aims to overcome these shortcomings through an integrated, nexus-based approach. Focussing on answers to the “global land squeeze”, C4LaNd aims to provide the opportunity for novel, joint research and training activities of early career researchers to: 1) deliver high quality, coordinated research towards land-use becoming part of the solution to the climate and biodiversity crises, rather than a major cause; 2) educate the next-generation of researchers with a ‘nexus’ perspective, and the necessary advanced methodological skills, to address the scientific, societal, financial, and regulatory challenges arising from food-energy-materials demand and competition in the land-system in view of climate change and biodiversity loss. The collaboration between KIT, Hohenheim University and the University of Melbourne puts us in a unique position to integrate diverse scientific and regional perspectives in the land system to achieve C4LaNd's research and training goals. Key value-added aspects of this collaboration include: (i) diverse perceptions of land use and geographical challenges; (ii) complementary methodological expertise to address land use issues at different scales; (iii) interdisciplinary research experience of the PIs, supported by their robust research environments and access to additional expertise for PhD supervision; and (iv) successful previous collaborations and joint publications.

• DFG Programme: International Research Training Groups
• International Connection: Australia
• Applicant Institution: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
• IRTG-Partner Institution: The University of Melbourne
• Participating Institution: Universität Hohenheim
• Spokesperson: Professorin Almut Arneth, Ph.D.
• Participating Researchers: Dr. Susanne Benz; Professor Dr. Thomas Berger; Professorin Dr. Rafaela Hillerbrand; Professor Dr.-Ing. Stefan Hinz; Professor Dr. Peer Nowack; Professorin Dr. Ingrid Ott; Professor Mark Rounsevell, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr. Nadine Katrin Rühr; Professor Dr. Frank Schultmann; Privatdozentin Dr.-Ing. Rebekka Volk
• IRTG-Partner: Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Stephan Winter