Agriculture land abandonment is a prominent driver of landscape change in Europe and leads to both positive and negative outcomes depending on spatial and contextual conditions. This research aims at creating more knowledge on how possible land trajectories, in different contexts, can provide sustainable pathways that contribute to societal and environmental challenges. The potential of alternative abandonment trajectories needs further investigation to identify the conditions that would lead to significant contributions to current environmental and societal objectives including climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity preservation, protection of cultural heritage and benefits for people while mitigating trade-offs associated with these different alternatives. Little is known about the current trajectories of abandonment, the drivers of these different trajectories and the potential and barriers to develop them in different contexts. The overall objective of this research is therefore to identify the conditions under which land planning can align with both local and European objectives, allowing a well-informed decision-making based on knowledge of the synergies and trade-offs in a given context.