• The impacts of human-forced climate change will continue to be felt for millennia, irrespective of our success or failure to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. • Therefore, climate change adaptation must be understood as a ‘forever’ activity and mainstreamed in policy, planning and decision-making. • In parallel, we are witnessing unprecedented land use change in terms of extent and intensification that is transforming the land surface, together with subsurface processes, in ways as profound as climate change. • Policies and programs that aim to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from the land sector will continue to be a key component of Australia’s response to its Paris Agreement commitments. • We have the data and information to address these emerging pressures; however, we lack the public understanding, political will and national policy to require their use.