How can we balance the multiple needs of land use in the Nordic region? Nordic Agri Research (NKJ) and Nordic Forest Research (SNS) invite you to a conference where challenges and opportunities in land use will be discussed from both research and policy perspectives.

The Nordic Land Use Conference
– solutions for sustainable land use in the Nordic region
Place: Hótel Varmaland, Borgarnes, Iceland
Time: May 7, 2025
Programme: scroll down

The conference aims to engage researchers and civil servants in a dialogue on national policy needs related to land use. Therefore, participants from the political sector, research organizations, and other relevant stakeholders are welcome.

The program will begin with a presentation of the upcoming report “Changes to Agricultural Land Use in the Nordic Countries – and Future Prospects for Collaboration”, providing an overview of changes in land use and future opportunities for collaboration. This will be followed by keynote speakers who will delve into the conference’s overarching theme.

The conference will then continue with thematic sessions that delve deeper into current issues. These sessions will bring together research projects and policy examples from the Nordic countries, with discussions led by experienced moderators to foster a dynamic and constructive dialogue.

Don’t miss the opportunity to participate in this important conference and contribute to the development of more sustainable land use in the Nordic region!

Register here THE CONFERENCE IS CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE 
Registration fee is 1.500 SEK and includes lunch, conference refreshments and a three course dinner.

Target group
Developers or owners of concrete examples within the themes and current and potential users of them (this includes researchers, state officials, municipal workers, interest groups, intergovernmental organisations and private land owners, primarily in the Nordic region).

Preliminary program:

09:00–09.30 Registration

09:30–09:45 Opening statement

09:45–10.00 Presentation of report and purpose of conference

10:00–10:45 Keynote speaker 1

10:45–11.00 Coffee break

11:00–11:45 Panel discussion: The role of land use planning in preparedness

12.00–13.00 Lunch and networking

13.00–15:00 Thematic session 1 & 2 (parallel), see information below

15:00–17:00 Thematic session 3 & 4 (parallel) see information below

17.15 – 17.45 Conclusions & sum up

18:30 Networking dinner

Thematic sessions
Each thematic session will engage the participants in a discussion on solutions and challenges to get there within the chosen topic. The session will begin with 2-3 presentations of best practices, tools and models which will be followed by a workshop.

 Thematic session 1
Managing conflicting policy goals in land use management – Energy production

Description: The first two sessions will look into different tools, models and conclusions made from different parts of the Nordic region on how to handle conflicting policy goals and how various considerations and land-use interests can be balanced. This session will specifically focus on photovoltaics, how they can co-exict within landscapes, strategies and guidelines for handling the increased demand for photovoltaics.

Thematic session 2
Managing conflicting policy goals in land use management – functional landscapes

Description: The first two sessions will take a look into different tools, models and conclusions made from different parts of the Nordic region on how to handle conflicting policy goals and how various considerations and land-use interests can be balanced. This session will specifically focus on functional landscapes, for example the potentials of increasing biodiversity within a production landscape and steering instruments to prioritize between different national and international policy goals.

Thematic session 3
Spatial tools to support decision- and policymaking

Description: Spatial data, analysis and models can offer knowledge foundation to make decisions in high complexity situations. This session includes how to meet the challenge of data security, potentials of combinations of spatial data and sources and investigating how the establishment of the EU soil monitoring can be utilized for land use planning.

Thematic session 4
Multistakeholder dialogues in land use planning

Description: Dialogues can serve as a powerful tool to balance private and public interests in land use and to increase acceptance for land use changes amongst actors within a landscape. Improved cooperation between different stakeholders can also increase the likelihood that synergies in land use are exploited. This session explores local examples of stakeholder dialogues in the Nordic region and looks into the results and key learnings of them, to ultimately consider how these models and tools can be scaled or transferred to other parts in the Nordic region.

Organisers
Nordisk Kommitté för Jordbruks- och matforskning (NKJ) and SamNordisk Skogsforskning (SNS) / funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers

Background
During the Nordic Committee of Senior Officials for Fisheries, Aquaculture, Agriculture, Food and Forestry (EK-FJLS Agriculture and Forestry) meeting in Hardanger in April 2022, land use conflicts related to food production and agricultural land were discussed. The committee members recognised that agricultural and arable land is a limited resource, and that strategies and political guidelines to limit agricultural land loss and ensure food security while also ensuring that other national needs are met differ among Nordic countries. Following this discussion, Nordic Agri Research (NKJ) and Nordic Forest Research (SNS) were assigned to provide the committee with further knowledge on the situation of agricultural land and how agricultural land use disputes are handled in the Nordic countries. The results from this upcoming report form the foundation for this conference.

LECTURES further down

The nordic working group for agriculture is now creating a powerful front to make agriculture stand ready for a new climate. February 28th the group had their third meeting, and this time accompanied by Nordic and European experts in agriculture and food. The purpose of the meeting was to learn from each other, broaden the perspectives and develop methods and processes to cope with extreme weather events. And such extreme weather will occur more often as the climate is changing. We experienced it already last summer when drought and heat put severe pressure on agriculture and forestry in the Nordic countries.

Now it’s urgent not just to stop climate change, but also to make sure we can handle the new situations that the primary production unquestionably will face.

Networking is crucial

The meeting pointed out the importance of networking to be well prepared for the future climate. To learn from each other and share experiences makes everybody stronger, and we need to make cooperation smooth and effective.

The meeting also found it crucial to have the right perspective when trying to adapt agriculture to the changing climate. It is a matter for the whole society, not only for agriculture itself.

Water is a problem

There is a need for Nordic cooperation in the water issue (drainage, irrigation). What knowledge are we lacking? And how to make different disciplines cooperate in the best way? The working group wants mapping and analysis of the issue.

Plant breeding was also discussed as an important matter when the climate is changing. Maybe NKJ, Nordforsk and NordGen can make a joint effort to gather stakeholders to breed plants that can thrive in a climate with more extreme weather. There were a few thoughts about how to go on with a common effort.

To learn from experience and train for the unknown

The meeting asked for deepened discussions about parts of the issue, as well as discussions with more professions, stakeholders and authorities. They also talked about the need for strategies for different hypothetical scenarios. Common Nordic training and simulations could be useful.

Concrete suggestions to reach the goals were:

• seminars for evaluation of and to learn from the effects of the drought 2018
• a network and a series of seminars about the future management of water (for example irrigation and drainage) in the Nordic countries
• a conference for advisors with extreme weather in focus: what did we do? what could have been done?
• a call for funding of networks, for example with focus at management of water

During April the report on Nordic cooperation in extreme weather events will be completed. That will form the ground for future work with preparing the Nordics as a unified front to meet the future climate.

Lectures/Video

Klimatförändringarnas roll för matproduktionen – risker och möjligheter
Arne Bardalen, Specialrådgivare NIBIO, Norsk institutt for bioøkonomi
Arne Bardalen presentaion (PDF)

Extremväder och dess effekter på jordbruket – vad görs på EU-nivå för att hantera riskerna?
Bengt Johnsson, Enheten för handel och marknad, Jordbruksverket Sverige
Bengt Johnsson presentation (PDF)

Finansiell resiliens – torkans effekter ur ett företagsekonomiskt perspektiv
Torben Wiborg, Chefkonsulent Udvikling, LMO Future, Danmark
Torben Wiborg presentation (PDF)

Hur anpassar vi det nordiska jordbruket till klimatförändringarna? – växtforskningens roll
Lise Lykke Steffensen, CEO NordGen
Lise Lykke Steffensen presentation (PDF)