Just transformation of food-farming systems: reconciling net zero and other land-use ambitions (JUSTLANZ)

JUSTLANZ aims to develop transformative pathways for a just transition to net zero for the UK farming-food sector, considering local, regional and national priorities. Working with farmers and their communities, farming-food sector experts, policy experts, academics, agricultural and conservation organisations, JUSTLANZ integrates their knowledge with that from different academic disciplines. Ultimately, JUSTLANZ tests how a participatory, transdisciplinary, holistic research approach can realise sustainable transitions. National policy requirements for achieving net zero by 2050, along with food security, biodiversity restoration and people's needs in agricultural landscapes, necessitate land use action to be implemented locally. However, local perspectives and perceptions of impacts of land use changes may not align with national priorities, potentially leading to inaction and a failure to reach net zero. Pathways for change that integrate priorities across spatial and socio-political scales, which the people impacted consider just, are crucial for a transition that minimises harm to people, increases agency and maximises success. The 2050 net zero target, plus the time needed to develop the political support and sector capacity for transition, mean it is urgent these pathways are identified now. JUSTLANZ will work in a focal pastoral landscape in each UK nation to explore how local, regional and national contexts shape options to achieve net zero land use trajectories. We will examine the impact of different scenarios on carbon stocks and greenhouse gas emissions, agricultural productivity, biodiversity and justice. We will develop top-down land use scenario models of plausible futures, informed by multiple policy drivers, climate impacts on land capability and improved greenhouse gas data. Meanwhile we will work with diverse stakeholders to understand just transition perspectives, and construct bottom-up future visions from farming-food communities. We will compare scenarios and visions, assess their various impacts and trade-offs, then explore capacity in the farming-food system to address potential gaps. In so doing we will co-create "preferred" scenarios for land use that attempt to reconcile net zero progression with other land-use demands. Finally, transformative pathways towards these "preferred" futures will be co-developed with farming-food communities and other stakeholders. This will ensure solutions and social innovations effect change throughout the whole farming-food system. JUSTLANZ will thus i) provide pathways enabling just transformation for pastoral livestock landscapes with different local, national, socio-political and economic contexts, ii) identify levers and interventions to support the just delivery of climate, food and biodiversity ambitions, co-designed and produced with stakeholders, iii) provide materials (e.g., policy briefs, papers) and dissemination routes to promote approaches and innovations to decision-makers, and iv) advance interdisciplinary science through peer-reviewed publications on research and methodologies to achieve just transformations. JUSTLANZ will transform current land use scientific knowledge through innovative research focused on tackling real-world societal challenges. It will provide transferable understanding of how to develop just transformative pathways across other farming landscapes (and other sector transitions). JUSTLANZ will lay the foundations for broader and sustained transformative change, leaving a legacy of exemplary livestock farming-food systems, with resilient, empowered farming communities, on positive trajectories to net zero in all four UK nations.