Sustainability Assessment of trade-induced Land Transitions (SALT)

Inter- / Transdisciplinary Projects
2025

Sustainability Assessment of Trade-induced Land Transitions (SALT)

Mendoza’s wine region (Argentina)

Land systems transformation is often seen as a domestic process, with most studies linking land cover to domestic land use decisions. With globalization, however, local demand and perturbations are no longer the main pressures on sustainable land systems, as consumption in one part of the world increasingly drives land use changes elsewhere.

This project assesses how trade and trade policy shape land systems resilience in Mendoza’s wine region and explores the underlying mechanisms.

Specifically, the project (i) synthesizes agroecological studies to identify land-use change resilience metrics, (ii) analyses how these metrics respond to trade and trade policy dynamics, and (iii) assesses trade-induced innovations that enhance landscape resilience.

The analytical approach combines agroecology, remote sensing, and trade analysis. Local stakeholders include public and private organisations with interests in economic and territorial development, such as the Planning Department of Mendoza and the Argentinean Wine Corporation.

Vineyards in the Mendoza region:

Vineyards in the Mendoza region

Photo: Federico Framarini (@fedeframa)

Vineyards in the Mendoza region

Photo: Federico Framarini (@fedeframa)