Many land systems experience massive ecological pressure due to ongoing land use changes for the increasing demand for food, but also need to sustain essential ecosystem services. Computer-based model scenarios help to anticipate the consequences of different socio-economic future transition pathways for humans and nature and evaluate trade-offs between various demands on land. In many grassland ecosystems, the processes of agricultural abandonment in less attractive regions coexist with agricultural intensification in others. At the same time, the ecological value of natural grassland is rarely considered in decision making. By using the CLUMondo land use modelling framework I mapped the future composition of the land system of Orenburg province under five socio-economic scenarios with different ranges of food production intensification. The outcomes allowed me to identify hotspot areas for arable land expansion, grassland restoration, and agricultural abandonment. Most agricultural expansion is prevalent in three scenarios with high ambition for food production, and, without active policy interventions, some natural grassland areas in northern parts of the province are likely to be converted to cropland. In a scenario with low demand for food production, large areas in southern parts could be abandoned creating good opportunities for grassland restoration on former cropland, but possibly having negative socio-economic consequences, such as people’s migration to northern parts of the province. In a scenario with lesser ambition for crop production, but an increase in meat production, agricultural abandonment is less widespread and will even include some additional conversion of cropland to pasture. With appropriate policies aimed at supporting sustainable grazing practices (together with favourable global socio-economic conditions), such scenario can provide an opportunity for satisfying demands for food, providing livelihoods, and ensuring the flow of ecosystem services by grassland ecosystems.

The stories humans tell and are told about climate change matters in our understanding of the phenomena, and have an impact on how we act in relation to it. However, climate fiction video games are few in numbers. This project presents the development of “The Testing Bureau”; an interactive fiction game with a story inspired by climate research. The research used is that of the shared socioeconomic pathways: five scenarios that present different socio-economic and political movements and their impact on mitigating and adapting to climate change (O’Neill et. al 2015). The game has been created as a response to the lack of climate fiction within video games, as well as being a way to make climate change research visible outside of scientific circles. Playtests indicated that the game held the potential of spurring personal reflection and engagement on the topics of the policies and possible endings.