Over the last decades, land use and land management change – urbanization, development of intensive agriculture, land abandonment, reclaiming of wetlands and floodplains… – have exerted significant influences on water systems and the broader environment and society. Recently, practitioners and academics are actively exploring innovative land use strategies, with a stronger reliance on natural processes. Their goal is to foster a more integrated management of water capable of addressing on-going global changes.

Supporting decision makers in the design of these strategies requires the use of interdisciplinary approaches, encompassing inter allia : i) the understanding of relationships between land use dynamics and water systems (surface and groundwater), ii) the description of social representations and perceptions surrounding these changes and iii) the assessment of economic, social and environmental impacts stemming from historical changes and prospective scenarios.

This scientific conference endeavours to showcase interdisciplinary contributions that integrate natural and social sciences and cover these different approaches. The objective is to provide valuable insights supporting the development of sustainable land management strategies.

This conference is organized by BRGM in the framework of the ABRESO project of the Belmont Forum and co-organized by the Groundwater team of the G-eau lab of Montpellier.

Conference information

The conference will take place at Montpellier, France (Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 71 rue du Professeur Henri Serre) on 19 June 2024 from 9 am to 5 pm. Participation in the conference is free, but upon registration and subject to availability. Participants will be responsible for covering transportation and accommodation expenses.

Abstract submission:

500 words in all, they must include a title, names and affiliations of the authors, the research context, the case study(ies), research questions, methods, and results, as well as three keywords. Abstracts must be sent in English before March 15, 2024 to the following e-mail address: p.lecoent@brgm.fr.

Scientific committee:

Philippe Le Coent (BRGM, France), Cécile Hérivaux (BRGM, France), Timothy White (Penn State University, US), Janet Swim (Penn State University, US), Bill Mc Dowell (University of New Hampshire, US), Jr-Chuan Huang (National Taiwan University, Taiwan), Herlin Chien (National Taiwan University, Taiwan), Osamu Saito (Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Japan) Lisa Sella (CNR-Italy), Maddalena Pennisi (CNR-Italy), Ilaria Baneschi (CNR-Italy), Yuichi Onda (University of Tsukuba, Japan), Adam Wymore (University of New Hampshire).