Advancing Sustainability Through Land-Related Approaches: Insights from NRC (1999) and a Bold Call to Action

This paper investigates the critical role of land in advancing sustainability, drawing insights from the landmark report by the U.S. National Research Council, Our Common Journey: A Transition Toward Sustainability (hereafter referred to as NRC (1999)), and aligning them with the leverage points perspective on sustainability. Four key problem entries—land as a resource, land use and ecosystem services, land systems, and landscapes or regional scales—are identified as pivotal framings for addressing sustainability challenges, and are further elaborated with practical examples. Regretfully, despite decades of multidisciplinary research progress, land-related approaches remain fragmented. This paper contributes to the existing research by illustrating, for the first of time, how these multidisciplinary research traditions can be integrated cohesively using the four nested realms of sustainability leverage points—rebuilding capital stocks, redirecting interaction flows, reforming governance architectures, and re-/co-piloting sustainability transitions—to achieve nested transformations across varying timeframes. We hope that this hierarchical perspective fosters top-down and bottom-up collaborations among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to take transformative actions. To leave a legacy of sustainability for future generations, we must act collectively, boldly, and without delay to harness the transformative potential of all land-related approaches.