The focus of the conference is on the future of land use decisions and their effects on the global climate system. Land use decisions are considered to be “Tough Choices” in the context of climate change as land resources play an increasingly important role in the interaction with the climate system. Manifold research activities involve studying the question of how to cope with the various phenomena of climate change and which options for mitigation and adaptation in the case of land use are to be considered.

However, the impacts of climate change vary significantly from region to region. Matters of both mitigation and adaptation are, therefore, closely related to the respective regional forms of land use. Since land resources are finite and the decisions related to their use are usually determined at the local level, the aspect of coordination at the regional and global levels becomes increasingly important.

In addition to this regional aspect of land use decisions, options for both mitigation and adaptation are constrained by human demands such as settlement, food and fibre production, or ecosystem services. To meet these demands, land resources are used by human activities such as agriculture, forestry, urbanisation and industry. Relying completely on limited land resources, human activities alter the ‘metabolism’ of these resources, which are at the same time increasingly coming under stress by the impacts of global climate change. Therefore, land use decisions are in considerable conflict with varying options and demands since they inevitably affect future climate developments.

The complexity and multiplicity of these issues affect the research activities conducted beyond the traditional boundaries of scientific disciplines. Therefore, it is crucial to scrutinise the scientific basis for the options of both mitigation and adaptation and to develop new approaches and instruments to improve land use with respect to global climate change.

The “Tough Choices” conference picks up the baton at this point and brings together a selection of prominent researchers from a broad range of disciplines. To underline the eminence of the issue, Dan Brown (University of Michigan, USA) and Wolfram Mauser (Munich University, Germany) have put together a high profile programme in order to deal with demanding questions concerning both mitigation and adaptation. A special importance regarding the content is put on agricultural land use, renewable energies, human settlement and ecosystem services on land. In order to bring German and American research approaches closer together, these issues will be handled in a comparative manner. Furthermore, issues like integrative studies, global modelling as well as selected hotspots will be dealt with in case studies.