At the Land Use and Water Quality Conference (LUWQ2019) in Aarhus, Denmark (3-6 June),  Biowater is organising a special session on: ‘Land and water management for a sustainable bioeconomy’ 

In a world with bioeconomy we will (increasingly) use renewable biological resources from land and sea – such as crops, tree biomass, fish, animals and micro-organisms.
This change will most likely mean that the current land use will be altered. We may use the forests in new ways, and the types of crops we grow may change. Also the future management practices in both agriculture and forestry can be different from today. Together with on-going climate change, this can have far-reaching effects on hydrology and water quality in both rural and downstream urban areas. How can a shift into a more bioeconomically-oriented world be made sustainable?

In this LUWQ Special Session, the first results from the BIOWATER project will be presented, but we have also invited other speakers to contribute to the session with oral or poster presentations. Biowater has secured a special issue of the journal AMBIO to publish several of these results. 

The Special Session will be held on Wednesday, June 5, 10-45-12.15 and 13.45-15.15, and will comprise the following presentations (subject to changes):

First author	Title of presentation
Skarbøvik	Introducing the session ‘Environmental effects of a green bio-economy’
Collentine & Futter	BIOWATERs Nordic bioeconomy scenario pathways: projected land use changes and water quality consequences in the year 2050
Kyllmar	Source apportionment of N and P in small agricultural monitoring catchments as a basis for improved classification of river basins
Vermaat	Applying ecosystem services as a framework to analyze the possible effects of a green bio-economy shift on Nordic catchments
Skarbøvik	Setting reference conditions for nutrients in Nordic surface waters: Methodologies, levels, uncertainty and management implications
Stutter	Typing catchments for risk and resilience factors in P pollution and waterbody impacts: Supporting landscape planning
Kaste	Counteracting effects of climate and land-use change on riverine element run-off? A combined analysis of Norwegian natural and agricultural headwater catchments and large rivers’ monitoring data
Stenrød	Glyphosate and the sustainability of cropping practices in northern climate
Dynes	Development of next generation farming systems using a multi-criteria decision making framework
Skarbøvik	Discussion, structured along the queries opened up in the introduction, using buzz groups.
Kronvang	Wrap-up

The following posters are related to this special session: 

First author	Title of presentation
Blankenberg	Bufferzones along streams: Good for environment but bad for food production?
Carstensen	Efficiency of measures reducing nutrient losses from agricultural drainage
Futter	Phosphorus mass balances in Swedish agricultural catchments
Hansen	Comparing various irrigation, plant, and turfgrass combinations to improve water conservation and quality in Florida’s urban landscapes
Hashemi	Analysis of mitigation measures at farm and landscape scales to obtain targeted nitrate reduction in a Danish catchment
King	Next generation farming systems: Transformation by design
Kronvang	A conceptual mini-catchment typology for analyzing eutrophication risks in surface waters in the Nordic countries
Marttila	Nordic bioeconomy and surface water quality, how do they interact?
Wenng	Effects of land use on nutrient losses from small agricultural catchments in Norway

Land use may change as a result of the green shift, and this can affect water quality and quantity. Our special session at LUWQ focus on these changes and how they will affect nature and society. Photo: E. Skarbøvik. 

Feature photo: Eva Skarbøvik