Suchergebnisse

Die biologische Vielfalt (Biodiversität) auf unserem Planeten ist nicht nur beeindruckend, sondern auch von existenzieller Bedeutung für das Leben und Wohlergehen der Menschheit. Die Erhaltung der Biodiversität stellt eine der größten globalen Herausforderungen für das 21. Jh. dar. Sowohl internationale Vertragswerke, wie die von über 190 Staaten ratifizierte Biodiversitätskonvention, als auch nationale Gesetze und Strategien setzen sich einen umfassenden Schutz der biologischen Vielfalt zum Ziel. Die Indikatoren-Sets Gefäßpflanzenvielfalt und Naturdistanz sind Beispiele, wie der Einfluss unterschiedlicher Landnutzungsformen auf die Biodiversität beschrieben und räumlich dargestellt werden kann. Diese Indikatoren wurden im Rahmen des transdisziplinären Projektes "Werkzeuge für Modelle einer nachhaltigen Wirtschaft" (2008-2011) erstmals flächendeckend für ganz Österreich berechnet und öffentlich zur Verfügung gestellt (www.landnutzung.at). In einem Folgeprojekt wurden diese Indikatoren dazu verwendet, die Auswirkungen von Klimawandel und Politikmaßnahmen auf die Biodiversität im Jahre 2040 zu bewerten. Hierfür wurde ein interdisziplinärer und integrativer Modellverbund geschaffen, der räumlich detaillierte Analysen unterschiedlicher Politik- und Klimaszenarien und der daraus resultierenden Landnutzung ermöglicht. Dabei zeigte sich, dass Auswirkungen regional sehr stark variieren und sich von den Ergebnissen auf nationaler Ebene beträchtlich unterscheiden können. Das unterstreicht die Bedeutung einer räumlich hochaufgelösten Betrachtung.

Land use is one of the main drivers of ecosystem service provision. The forest transition theory has provided a productive framework for the analysis of land use dynamics worldwide, based on development trajectories leading from contraction to expansion of national or regional forest area. We propose that a similar generic framework can be developed to analyze and predict changes in the delivery of multiple ecosystem services, going beyond the simple consideration of changes in area of different land cover types to consider changes in their qualities in terms of ecosystem service supply. This framework depicts trajectories of provisioning, regulating and cultural services, and the resulting trade-offs when moving from agrarian societies focused on self-sufficiency to resource-extraction economies and amenity seeking societies. We illustrate the framework in the case of mountain socio-ecological systems, as key multifunctional systems which have undergone and are expected to undergo large changes in land use and ecosystem services as a result of global change. The analysis of case studies selected to picture the global diversity of mountain socio-ecological systems reveals how the interplay between ecological constraints and changes in demand as a result of societal change and specific policy instruments underpins past, current and expected ecosystem services. Finally we discuss expected impacts of drivers of global change such as climate or policy, and how the framework can be applied to understand transformations of mountain coupled human-environment systems.

The temporal trajectory of ecosystem services (ES) is often driven by changes in land use and management caused by human activities. Land intensification has been a major reason for changes in land use and management in the last decades, resulting in increases in agricultural yields and decreases in biodiversity and most ES. Previous research and models have dealt with how biodiversity declines with land intensification but knowledge is scarce on the impacts of land intensification on ES. In this paper, we explore how changes in land-use intensity influences the production of bundles of ES, using mountain landscapes as examples. We review case studies of ES dynamics in mountain landscapes and combined concepts from existing frameworks to develop a simple model of the delivery of bundles of ES along a gradient of land-use intensity. We classify the selected case studies into three groups of mountain landscape dynamics, depending on the main land-use changes: the two first groups are characterized by an increase in land-use intensity with changes towards either croplands or forest plantations respectively. The third group includes cases of decreasing land-use intensity, in which landscapes can be abandoned, rewilded or transformed from productive to multifunctional landscapes. We propose a simple model linking land-use intensity in ecosystems dominated by trees or grass to the provision of eight groups of ES: three provisioning services (food, timber and energy wood, other products), two regulation services (soil conservation and water regulation, carbon sequestration) and two cultural services (spiritual values, recreation, heritage). The analysis of case studies in terms of land-use intensity helps identifying broad groups of mountain landscape trajectories with common features of ES dynamics and highlighting common trade-offs between ES.

If you want to know how the Alps area will look like in 2050 our ESPON project Alps 2050 is the best source of information. The project focused on the challenges the broader Alpine area is facing such as specific geographical position, globalisation, demographic trends, climate change and its impact on the environment, biodiversity, territorial pattern of activities and living conditions. The major challenge for the Alpine area is to balance economic development and environmental protection in a way that will ensure quality and sustainable living standards for its inhabitants.The Alps 2050 project developed a unique atlas, to project these challenges and develop spatial visions and perspectives for the Alpine region towards the year 2050. It visualises the existing data from the project that show structures, patterns and trends that contextualise the spatial development, to fuel the debate on territorial development in the Alps.What is evident when reading the Atlas is that the Alpine region is certainly a very dynamic region offering multiple opportunities for future development without focusing solely on growth dynamic. But the territorial development in the Alpine Region is complex and diverse. Different maps tell different stories as sometimes it is the morphological context that sets the picture, the contrast between urban and rural areas or the differences between North and South or East and West.This complexity underlines the fact that spatial development is not determined only by mountains and morphology, it is equally a political process open for political struggles, societal debates and democratic decisions.Policymakers should consider this reality in their designing of territorial strategies. From a transnational perspective, the parallels can be perceived as common challenges that stand in the heart of macro-regional strategy implementation. At the same time, regional and national differences can be a potential for diversity, best developed on political levels of the European multi-level system in ...

Context: Place-based transdisciplinary research involves multiple academic disciplines and non-academic actors. Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) platform is one concept with ~ 80 initiatives globally. Objectives: As an exercise in learning through evaluation we audited (1) the siting, construction and maintenance of individual LTSER platforms, and (2) them as a distributed infrastructure for place-based transdisciplinary research with focus on the European continent. Methods: First, we defined a normative model for ideal performance at both platform and network levels. Second, four surveys were sent out to the 67 self-reported LTSER platforms officially listed at the end of 2016. Third, with a focus on the network level, we analyzed the spatial distribution of both long-term ecological monitoring sites within LTSER platforms, and LTSER platforms across the European continent. Fourth, narrative biographies of 18 platforms in different stages of development were analyzed. Results: While the siting ofLTSER platforms represented biogeographical regions well, variations in land use history and democratic governance were not well represented. Platform construction was based on 2.1 ecological monitoring sites, with 72% ecosystem and 28% social system research. Maintenance of a platform required three to five staff members, focused mostly on ecosystem research, was based mainly on national funding, and had 1–2 years of future funding secured. Networking with other landscape approach concepts was common. Conclusions: Individually, and as a network, LTSER platforms have good potential for transdisciplinary knowledge production and learning about sustainability challenges. To improve the range of variation of Pan-European social–ecological systems we encourage interfacing with other landscape approach concepts. ; Peer reviewed