Land use is emerging as one of the most pressing and complex policy challenges in the Nordic region. Competing demands for food production, renewable energy, climate mitigation, biodiversity protection, and urban development increasingly converge on the same landscapes. At the same time, land-use decisions are largely made at local and regional levels, while their consequences extend far beyond municipal and national borders. This creates a growing need for coherent policy frameworks, effective governance arrangements, and shared learning across the Nordic countries.
Against this backdrop, the Nordic Land Use Conference was held in Alnarp, Sweden, on 10–11 December 2025. The conference brought together policymakers, researchers, public authorities, and practitioners to explore how land-use planning and governance can better address ongoing environmental change while supporting sustainable development objectives. The conference was organised by Nordic Agri Research (NKJ) and Nordic Forest Research (SNS), two organisations funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers for Fisheries, Agriculture, Food and Forestry, with the aim of contributing to Nordic policy dialogue and future cooperation on land use.
The conference programme combined strategic perspectives with concrete cases. Keynote presentations highlighted the scale and urgency of land-use transformation in the Nordic region, drawing on experiences from Denmark’s Green Tripartite Agreement and Norway’s soil protection policies. These contributions underscored the need for strong political leadership, clear national steering, and robust knowledge bases, while also pointing to the social and economic challenges involved in implementation.
The thematic sessions focused on three interrelated dimensions of land-use governance. The first explored how the expansion of solar energy can be reconciled with other land-use objectives, emphasising the role of policy design, planning instruments, and Nordic cooperation in reducing conflicts. The second and fourth sessions examined collaborative approaches to functional landscapes, highlighting how dialogue, trust-building, and long-term cooperation among stakeholders can support multifunctional land use and increase acceptance of land-use change. The third session addressed the role of spatial tools and data in decision-making, focusing on legitimacy, usability, and the balance between data requirements and timely policy action.
Each thematic chapter begins by presenting the case studies that framed the session discussions, illustrating how land-use challenges and solutions are addressed in different Nordic contexts. The case presentations are followed by a set of policy recommendations and a more detailed discussion reflecting the perspectives and experiences shared during the group discussions. Together, the chapters highlight both common challenges and promising approaches across the Nordic countries.
The report points to areas where Nordic cooperation can add value – through shared principles, mutual learning, and coordinated action – while respecting national and local contexts. The report is intended as a contribution to ongoing Nordic dialogue on land use and as a resource for policymakers, authorities, and organisations working to navigate the complex trade-offs shaping Nordic landscapes in the coming decades.