What Is Telecoupling

The authors provide an overview of the telecoupling concept and framework as well as their applications to land system science. First, the authors clarify different interpretations of the framework such as it being structured versus processual, active versus passive roles of sending and receiving systems, comprehensiveness and flexibility, feasibility and entry points, system dynamics and boundaries, and scale dependencies. Second, they illustrate the framework’s utility for systematically understanding and managing telecoupled land use. Third, they highlight ongoing efforts to operationalise the framework and apply it to telecoupled governance by shifting from place-based to flow-based approaches. In conclusion, the authors present a glimpse of an extended framework (metacoupling) that is applicable across local-to-global scales for systematic analysis to address Sustainable Development Goals and other global challenges.