Agriculture is at the center of the climate and biodiversity crises as it is both a major contributor to GHG emissions and a driver of species loss, freshwater depletion and eutrophication while also being highly exposed to rising temperatures, water scarcity and extreme events. Nature-based solutions (NbS) in agricultural landscapes are increasingly considered multifunctional practices and transformative measures that can support climate change adaptation and mitigation, restore soil health and water regulation, and support biodiversity. Yet implementation remains uneven: trade-offs with food production and carbon stocks can emerge where agriculture expands into semi-natural land, practices must be tailored to local biophysical and socio-cultural contexts and scaled from field to landscape, and uptake depends on the knowledge networks and processes that connect farmers, science and policy. EU policies set binding targets for restoring degraded ecosystems and promote NbS as a means to reconcile food production with climate and biodiversity objectives, making scientific evidence on their effectiveness a research and policy priority. At the same time, critical perspectives caution against technocratic framings of NbS that overlook governance, equity and the role of indigenous and local knowledge systems in delivering transformative outcomes.
This session invites contributions that advance the process-based understanding, field- and landscape-scale implementation, and monitoring of NbS in agricultural landscapes for climate change adaptation and mitigation. We welcome studies on GHG, soil carbon and nutrient cycling, and water regulation under NbS practices such as agroforestry, conservation and regenerative agriculture, crop and landscape diversification, hedgerows, buffer strips, restored wetlands and silvopastoral systems. Particular attention will be made to studies on empirical data from active land transformations, farm conversions, and nature restoration initiatives. We also welcome experimental and modelling approaches quantifying synergies and trade-offs between production, climate and conservation objectives, as well as monitoring through long-term experiments, inventories, sensor networks, Earth observation, and participatory approaches assessing the persistence and scalability of NbS outcomes. Moreover, contributions addressing the socio-economic, governance and knowledge-transfer dimensions that shape adoption practices will be considered.