The emergence of land systems as the nexus for sustainability transformations This article belongs to Ambio's 50th Anniversary Collection. Theme: Agriculture land use

This perspective recognizes the seminal Ambio articles of Sombroek et al. (1993), Turner et al. (1994) and Brussaard et al. (1997), identifying their individual and collective role in laying the ground work for a global change research agenda on land and its human use through increased understanding of terrestrial ecosystem dynamics and global change, and furthering nascent interdisciplinary efforts within the global change science community to better understand the 'human driving forces' of change. From these efforts, land system science, as a systemic science focused on complex socio-ecological interactions around land use and associated trade-offs and synergies, emerges as an 'interdiscipline' challenged to better understand land systems as the 'meeting ground' for multiple claims on land for biodiversity, carbon, livelihoods, food production among others, and support pathways to sustainability for people and nature.

Automated summary

This perspective acknowledges the important contributions of Sombroek et al., Turner et al., and Brussaard et al. to laying the groundwork for a global change research agenda, as well as promoting interdisciplinary efforts to understand the human driving forces of change. Land system science emerges as an interdiscipline that aims to better understand land systems as a meeting ground for various claims on land, and to support pathways to sustainability for both people and nature.