Transition to Sustainable Land Use, Agriculture and Healthy Diets

Land use is a large contributer of GHG-emissions but in addition to impacting the climate, agriculture and deforestation also create other challenges, as loss of biodiversity, waste and overconsumption of food, and unhealthy diets causing severe health problems globally. Europe is a continent with a dense population, scarcity of wild nature and pollution of food chains, and nature on land and in oceans. This chapter gives an overview of the European goals and legislation. The chapter gives a scientific view on the effects of human land use and the impacts from various food sources, as well as a description of the intense consumption of meat and industrialized food production in the old, industrialized countries. At the end this chapter highlights the positive and regenerative impacts from a holistic transition of agriculture, land use and food production, as part of the Climate Nexus.