Effects of land use and land cover changes on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and carbon storage in Norway: A systematic map and decision support tool (Web of Science).

Abstract

Abstract Land Use and Land Cover Change (LULCC) is considered the dominant driver of recent biodiversity loss both globally and in Norway, and directly affects nature's ability to provide natural goods and services(Díaz et al., 2019; Malhi et al., 2020). LULCC also affects an ecosystem's ability to sequester and store carbon in the soil and biological material, and therefore directly affects an ecosystem's ability to assist in the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change. Quantifying, understanding, and communicating the dynamics of land change and its effects on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and carbon sequestration is therefore a premise for evidence-based land use policies. However, we currently lack systematic evidence on the topic from Norwegian ecosystems. Much of the public discourse at the national level is dominated by international global knowledge summaries, despite significant uncertainty around downscaling and transferring knowledge from global and regional syntheses to the local/national level, across ecosystems and taxonomic groups. Previous knowledge syntheses based on data from Norwegian ecosystems has either been following specific approaches (e.g. Ecosystem Assessment; (Nybø et al., 2017)), largely based on expert judgements (Artsdatabanken, 2021), or limited in scope. The lack of a comprehensive overview of research-based knowledge from Norwegian ecosystems also leads to different interest groups and sectors relying on different "facts," often leading to escalating conflicts and poor decisions. Therefore, there is a pressing need both for a summary of knowledge and the identification of real knowledge gaps. Politics and decision making related to land use and its effects on biodiversity and climate are currently among the most conflict-ridden and hotly debated political issues in Norway. The conflicts typically involve dilemmas between different societal concerns and interests supported by different sectors and actor groups (Guldbrandsen & Handberg, 2022; Skogen et al., 2021). Knowledge controversy is also often a central trait of the conflicts, involving disagreement on the status of knowledge and conflicting knowledge claims about the environmental effects of different options of land use (Aspøy & Stokland, 2022; Rusch et al., 2022). IPBES (2019, 2022a, 2022b) and IPCC (2018) have proposed governance approaches and measures, such as those related to transformative change and transformative governance, to enable the achievement of the SDGs, the 1.5°C limit, and the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity. Such approaches involve improved integration and interaction between societal goals, governance sectors, and multiple knowledge sources, and are thus highly relevant for Norwegian politics and decision making related to land use. However, the utilization and adaption of internationally recommended approaches and tools in a Norwegian context is currently hindered by the lack of a comprehensive understanding of national and local land use-related dilemmas and conflicts, as well as currently employed tools and approaches. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a knowledge synthesis and identification of knowledge gaps concerning these aspects of land use and its effects on biodiversity and climate.