“LandShift represents a bold step toward transforming how we manage land use across Europe. By combining advanced technologies with community collaboration, we aim to create solutions that not only restore ecosystems and combat climate change but also empower communities to thrive in harmony with nature.”

Ioannis Varvaris – Scientific Coordinator, Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence

The alarming decline in net removals within the LULUCF (Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry) sector presents a significant challenge to advancing climate mitigation efforts. However, the sector offers considerable untapped potential for driving climate action through integrated strategies. By harnessing the diverse dimensions of land use and management, co created solutions can be developed to enhance carbon sequestration and strengthen ecosystem resilience.

To address these challenges, our LandShift project was created!

Specifically, the project aims to support climate neutrality in the land-use sector by 2035 through innovative, evidence based strategies that promote balanced trade-offs in land use among objectives such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, food and biomass production, and biodiversity protection.

It introduces a comprehensive framework aimed at supporting the co-development of regional strategic roadmaps that effectively balance socio-economic and environmental objectives. Through a synergistic and cohesive approach, LandShift aligns with all relative European Union key policies, such as the European Green Deal and New European Bauhaus (NEB), working to achieve climate neutrality and assist in the EU’s goal of removing 310 million tons of CO2 by 2030 through land-based actions and community collaboration.

The project was officially launched at the kick-off meeting in November 2024 in Paphos, Cyprus. All project partners, coming from 9 countries (Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, and Ukraine) were present at the meeting, where they were able to present themselves, learn about each other, and build connections to facilitate collaboration in the context of the project. There was a strong emphasis on aligning vision, outlining goals, and grounding activities in the wider objectives of the project and overarching goal of fostering sustainable development. Now, the project is in its implementation phase, focusing on gradually testing solutions in its Living Spaces and engaging local communities through workshops and co-creation activities.

For three days earlier this year, from March 17th to 19th, the city of Paphos in Cyprus was host to the “Eleventh International Conference on Remote Sensing and Geoinformation of Environment” (RCSy2025). It was an essential event to network with leading experts from across Europe and the world in the field of remote sensing and geoinformation.  Topics included 3D remote sensing, application to agriculture, earth observation, environment and climate, environmental monitoring and protection, and many more.

The LandShift project was proudly present at this event, and even co-organised the workshop on “Advancing Climate Action, Environmental Sustainability and Food Security through Synergies”. During the workshop, four partners from three partner organisations presented not only the project but also which elements of the project relate to the workshop as well as the conference as a whole.

Notably, coordinator Ioannis VARVARIS (Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence) presented the project, emphasising its integrated, transdisciplinary approach to sustainable land-use planning through co-creation with stakeholders, as well as the use of digital tools, and the implementation of Nature-Based Solutions that are aligned the New European Bauhaus principles.

Representing our Italian partners from the Politecnico di Milano, M. GABRIELE contributed to the workshop by presenting on the implementation of the land use, land use change, and forestry framework (LULUCF – see Glossary) monitoring platforms in the context of the agriculture, forestry, and other land-use (AFOLU) sector and regenerative agriculture. She very much highlighted the potential of advanced monitoring systems to support climate mitigation and land restoration efforts within the land-use sector.

One of the key aspects of attending such events is also to engage in fruitful discussions with other projects and participants present to learn more about other research but also examine the possibilities of future synergies together. The LandShift team present at RCSy2025 did just this, specifically with fellow attendees working on the topics of land-use monitoring, ecosystem restoration, and climate-resilient development. Engaging in such synergies further solidified the LandShift project’s position within the broader network of initiatives tackling land degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate adaptation through collaborative innovation.

In the future, LandShift and LandShift partners will continue to attend and/or present in conferences/events related to the project, and lay the foundation for future synergies to come with a wide array of stakeholders.

For more information on the RSCy 2025 event, please take a look at the link here: https://rscy2025.com/

One of the core methodologies of the LandShift project is to engage in Multi-Actor Approaches (MAA) as a cornerstone for cross-collaborative exercises and project output development. Indeed, utilising an MAA focuses on seizing opportunities and finding solutions to real needs, problems, and challenges faced by a wide range of stakeholders that are facing a similar, if not the same, challenge. In MAA projects, there is a strong collaboration of partners as well, especially those that have complementary expertise (scientific, practical, or any other) to ensure a holistic approach and maximise inclusivity in addressing specific challenges.

A few months ago, Polish partners from the European Rural Development Network engaged in an MAA and platform workshop to set the stage for collaboration and synergies across the project’s five living labs in France, Greece, Poland, and Ukraine.

This is an important step forward for the project as these living labs/living spaces will serve as a real-world testing grounds to tackle land-use challenges, balance competing demands, as well as foster co-creation, trust, and innovation in the long term. Indeed, through a structured co-creation process, from the co-planning stage to establishing co-governance, all stakeholders present will play a crucial in role in shaping sustainable land-use solutions to combat climate change.

Here it is very important to highlight not only the importance of the Living Spaces as testing grounds and also, both figuratively and literally, real-life applications, to understand the difference in approaches across 5 regions/countries, but also building connections across the spaces themselves.

Indeed, it is not only about the 5 spaces to act independently, but it is also about establishing a structure to share best practices, differences, common challenges, and key takeaways to foster shape sustainable land-use solutions in mitigating and adapting to climate change effects.

Learn more about such workshops in our methodology and our approach section.