Land use is a key human activity, which shapes socio-economic development and alters structures and processes in the environment. At the European level, land use policy making is committed to foster sustainable pathways of natural resource use and rural development.

Supporting social cohesion and decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation is a key target. Manifested with the idea of multifunctional land use, the environment is understood to provide a portfolio of functionalities, which, through proper land use management, can be exploited as goods and services to the benefit of society. To do so, tools are required that can provide anticipations of possible impacts of land use decisions for all dimensions of sustainable development.

Impact assessment is an emerging scientific field that includes a variety of tools and involves a wide range of scientific disciplines and methodological approaches. At the European Commission level, sustainability impact assessment is designed to integrate all single sector impact assessment types with the aim of better regulation and fostering sustainable development objectives.

The EU funded Integrated Project SENSOR develops ex-ante
Sustainability Impact Assessment Tools (SIAT) to support decision making on policies related to multifunctional land use in European regions. SENSOR is part of a family of comprehensive projects launched by the European Commission to build science based structures into the complex challenge of sustainability  impact assessment related to land
use. They include EFORWOOD (forestry wood chain), PLUREL (rural-urban linkages), SEAMLESS (agriculture). With this conference the projects will present overviews and details of their work. Especially we intend to: 

(a)  Trigger and consolidate a scientific community integrating
expertise in impact assessment, land use and landscape
research, environmental economics, rural sociology and the
science policy interface. 
(b)  Share ideas, approaches and innovative results on impact
assessment of land use and policy support for sustainable
development within a wider interdisciplinary forum.