Project aims to benefit net zero targets, soil health, biodiversity and agriculture

Researchers from the University are part of the £4million OpenLAND initiative
group of people holding plants growing out of soil. getty image
The University of Plymouth is part of a major new research project designed to steer the UK towards its net zero targets while benefitting soil health, biodiversity and revolutionising agricultural practices.
OpenLAND is a three-year project supported by £4million funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and government partners, through the Land Use for Net Zero, Nature and People (LUNZ) programme.
It aims to provide decision makers with the insights they need to put the UK on a path to deliver net zero emissions by 2050, while also delivering climate resilient soil, food security, and biodiversity net-gain.
Through a series of initiatives, the project team will identify intervention scenarios for land uses that exploit synergies between climate mitigation, adaptation, and biodiversity.
They will create a validated, UK-wide, spatially explicit integrated modelling framework, called OpenLAND, to evaluate potential net zero pathways.
The project will extend the capability of the OpenCLIM modelling framework, developed with previous UKRI funding, by ground-truthing soil carbon and soil health using empirical data and by developing and trialling robotic monitoring for measuring and verifying soil carbon and health.
In Plymouth, the project team includes Professor of Catchment Science Professor Will Blake , Senior Research Fellow Dr Claire Kelly , and Associate Professor in Ecological Genetics Dr Jennifer Rowntree .
Building on the University’s expertise in soil science and sensor technologies, they will work on ways of using autonomous platforms to evaluate soil health while also speaking to farmers and land managers to gauge their opinions on such innovations.

Soil is a part of our planet we regularly take for granted.

However, it provides essential ecosystems services that we rely on such as supporting food security, biodiversity, flood management and capture of carbon that we put into the atmosphere. In the OpenLAND project, we will develop applications for our cutting edge sensor technologies that will generate a deeper understanding of our soils and the most effective ways to ensure they stay healthy, and help the planet to do the same.

Will BlakeProfessor Will Blake
Professor of Catchment Science

The OpenLAND project is being led by the Tyndall Centre and School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia (UEA), with partners – including universities, industry, charities and government organisations – right across the UK.
Professor Rachel Warren, of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change at UEA, said:
“OpenLAND will use computer models to look at how the way land is managed in the UK can contribute to net zero. It will map out plans for land use management that combine carbon storage, restoration of biodiversity and sustainable agriculture. We will use the computer models to quantify and map the relative merits and effectiveness of alternative land management plans with stakeholders to assist them with their decision making.”

OpenLAND

OpenLAND aims to provide decision makers with the insights needed to put the UK on a path to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, while also delivering climate resilient soil health, food security, and biodiversity net gain.

Read more about our role in this major new project
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