Dialogue
Exploring dilemmas on future land use for agriculture, forestry and nature in the EU
What dilemmas does the EU face when looking at future land use for agriculture, forestry and nature? What do certain choices mean for your field or sector? And how do we fulfil our role as researchers in the public debate on this? These questions are more relevant than ever at a time when complex issues are being flattened, and where polarising views often dominate the debate. As a follow-up to the 2024 Mansholt Lecture, we therefore invite all WUR employees to explore the dilemmas for agriculture, forestry and nature together.
In this session, you will hear which dilemmas for future land use exist at EU level, how they are connected and within which context choices have to be made. As choices never take place in isolation, the audience is also given a stage to explore together what effects certain choices can have. In this way, you will discover when, why and how thinking in dilemmas can be valuable. And how we can embrace complex issues integrally.
Context: Dilemma reports
Dilemma thinking is being used by policymakers, farmers' organisations, companies and banks in the debate on the future of agriculture, food and nature. In the past 1.5 years, two important reports have been published that highlight dilemmas in agriculture, food, forestry and nature for both the Netherlands and Europe. The first report formulated six different dilemmas that can form the basis for the conversation about the long-term perspective for agriculture, food and nature in the Netherlands. In the second report, the Dutch dilemmas were converted into dilemmas at the European level, with land use now and in the future being the common thread. Although the discussion this afternoon can focus on both the Netherlands and Europe, in the presentation we mainly focus on the European context, of which the Netherlands is part.