Suchergebnisse

Gestionnaire de la majeure partie des dunes littorales de la côte atlantique française, l'Office national des Forêts a mis au point des techniques de contrôle souple de la mobilité des dunes bordières non boisées. Ces travaux sont modulés selon le contexte dynamique local et visent à répondre à une large gamme d'attentes sociales : protection de l'arrière-pays, conservation d'écosystèmes originaux, modération du recul des côtes.

Le CRPF Nord-Picardie, opérateur désigné pour l'élaboration du document d'objectifs (DOCOB) d'un site Natura 2000 majoritairement composé de forêts privées, s'est d'abord attaché à vaincre les réticences des propriétaires. A cette occasion, il a montré qu'on peut apaiser leurs craintes par la consultation préalable et le respect d'un minimum de formes. Les méthodes d'étude préalable aux aménagements forestiers ont montré un guand intérêt dans cette situation nouvelle. Elles permettent notamment de capitaliser les éléments de connaissance des habitats cartographiés pour élaborer des catalogues des stations et habitats forestiers. Sur ce site, la gestion qui est actuellement menée par les propriétaires est satisfaisante. Ce résultat était prévisible: la forêt est, en France et depuis plusieurs siècles, l'espace naturel le plus géré mais aussi le plus encadré.

This report synthesises the testing of the ecosystem service and natural capital concepts in real world applications. All 27 OpenNESS case studies shared their experiences, which they gained up to November 2014. In total over 160 researchers contributed to the work conducted in the case studies, while the people involved through stakeholder participation are 2-3 fold this number. In over half (15) case studies, the research was organised in sub-projects, where the spatial area or stakeholder group were specific to the problem or issue addressed (total 67 issues reported i.e. subprojects). Each case study provided three types of information: (i) a 2-5 page narrative describing the aims, process and results in their case study so far and links to other WPs; (ii) answers to 27 questions designed to provide information on rationale for the study, stakeholders involved, tools tested and work planned for the coming year; and (iii) a matrix with numerical scores of the tools used, policy areas addressed and joint research activities between case studies. WP coordinators and CS research leaders were all consulted on the structure and the questions of these 3 type of reports. The results of these three inputs are integrated and summarized to provide a comprehensive understanding of the testing of the ecosystem service and natural capital concepts in the OpenNESS project so far. In this report we test approaches to collate the data, which will be utilised to create the final synthesis deliverable of WP5 i.e. D5.4 'Review paper reporting the case study representative's and CABs assessment of the practical advantages and limitations of ES and NC assessment from the practitioners' perspective'. This report (D5.2) is structured to provide a summary of the work completed in 27 case studies and 67 sub-projects. Case study research leaders could not report full details for all 67 case studies as some were not sufficiently advanced (e.g. the selection of some tools were not yet finalised with the stakeholders), therefore the number of sub-projects varies depending on the answers received. This report is arranged in three parts: 1. Typology of real-world applications tested 2. Stakeholders involved and the case study advisory board (CAB) 3. Tools used 4. Lessons-learned from the case studies The majority of the work conducted in OpenNESS was judged by the case study research leaders to have an element of awareness rising with 46% of the stated sub-projects reporting that awareness rising was a key purpose of the integrated assessment and valuation and another 30% reporting it was relevant in their case study. Priority-setting to determine future land use was considered a key priority in a quarter of the subprojects and an additional 42% considered this aspect relevant. Litigation/natural damage assessment was considered to be the type of assessment which requires the highest reliability and accuracy, but was not the key purpose of many sub-projects in fact 79% specifically reported that this purpose as not relevant in their case study. The short-term goal of each sub-project was quite specific, but themes were identified utilizing the most frequently used terms to assign one short- term goal to each sub-project. This analysis revealed that the short term goal of the majority of the sub-projects (82%) were either to map the ecosystem services of an area (30%), test the utility of specific tools (30%) or more generally improve management or town planning (22%). Similarly, synthesis of the long-term goals of the case studies found 'long term sustainability of the case study area' was the most commonly concluded long-term goal of the sub-projects (45%). The second most common long-term objective was 'evaluation of the ES and NC concepts' (21%). Future reports will attempt to standardise reporting to ensure consistency of terminology. The key policy areas addressed were context specific to the case studies depending on the real world issue addressed. Across all the sub-projects reported the three most important policy areas were (i) Biodiversity 2020 strategy, (ii) Flora-Fauna Habitat Directive, and (iii) Green Infrastructure Strategy with 46, 35, and 41 sub-projects respectively reporting these policies or key or relevant policies. The Case Study Advisory Board (CAB) was designed to direct the research to real-world issues and problems and to evaluate the results of the research conducted in OpenNESS. Most case studies established a formal board which met and directed the researchers in the area of study, and who will be the primary user community when the evaluation of the research results. It was however, not always possible or indeed desirable for a single board to be established in some case studies, these case studies do however consult directly with local stakeholders (Case Studies 11, 14, 20, 22 & 25). More than half of the subprojects indicated that scientists and consultants (n=45), natural resources management authority (n=39) and municipality or local government (n=37) were involved in the case studies. Ten case studies indicated that all concerned stakeholders are represented in the CAB. When concerned stakeholders are not represented in the CAB, they are mostly local stakeholders (citizens, local farmers, local government, local NGOs, local stakeholders in general) and private businesses. Most common reasons for not including concerned stakeholders were: lack of interest from stakeholders' side, stakeholders are involved in another way in the project, lack of contacts, or "the area is too big" to include all stakeholders in the CAB. In three case studies not all stakeholders are identified yet. The Spreadsheet/GIS, Bayesian Belief Networks (BBN) and ESTIMAP are the most common tools being tested in of the sub-projects followed by QuickScan and INVEST, while State Transmission Models (STM) and Global/European overview datasets are currently not being tested widely. It is recognised that the STM models are data demanding, while the Global/European model has only recently been finalized and available for testing. In addition this model is only relevant for case studies where land-use is highly impacted by import and/or exported biological goods. ES-mapping was the most popular valuation and decision-support method tested , followed by preference assessment. A wide spectrum of models, tools and methods (in different combinations) will be used in all the subprojects. Different reasons for the use of a particular method have been mentioned. These will be used to formulate a consistent typology for future evaluation. A more detailed (participatory) evaluation of the models, tools and methods will be necessary afterwards (e.g. when results are available and have been presented to CAB and/or other stakeholders involved) in order to see if the tools used were indeed the most appropriate ones for the purposes mentioned and to see what feedback is given to the results. For most of the subprojects, it was too early to draw robust conclusions about the use of the tools/methods. In other cases, there were some preliminary reactions reported. Positive first reactions and/or rather sceptical or critical (first) impressions from OpenNESS case study partners that have been gathered are summarized fully in the this report. The formulation of the feedback offered in this reporting period will be used to formulate a more consistent typology of responses enabling a synthesis across all case studies and sub-projects in future reports. The 27 case studies provide an excellent testing ground to operationalise the ES/NC concept. A great diversity of issues are being tested with a wide range of tools. It is too early to draw conclusions, but is clear that the stategy adopted in this report is providing the basis to allow syntheis across all 27 case studies at the end of the funding period. ; This report synthesises the testing of the ecosystem service and natural capital concepts in real world applications. All 27 OpenNESS case studies shared their experiences, which they gained up to November 2014. In total over 160 researchers contributed to the work conducted in the case studies, while the people involved through stakeholder participation are 2-3 fold this number. In over half (15) case studies, the research was organised in sub-projects, where the spatial area or stakeholder group were specific to the problem or issue addressed (total 67 issues reported i.e. subprojects). Each case study provided three types of information: (i) a 2-5 page narrative describing the aims, process and results in their case study so far and links to other WPs; (ii) answers to 27 questions designed to provide information on rationale for the study, stakeholders involved, tools tested and work planned for the coming year; and (iii) a matrix with numerical scores of the tools used, policy areas addressed and joint research activities between case studies. WP coordinators and CS research leaders were all consulted on the structure and the questions of these 3 type of reports. The results of these three inputs are integrated and summarized to provide a comprehensive understanding of the testing of the ecosystem service and natural capital concepts in the OpenNESS project so far. In this report we test approaches to collate the data, which will be utilised to create the final synthesis deliverable of WP5 i.e. D5.4 'Review paper reporting the case study representative's and CABs assessment of the practical advantages and limitations of ES and NC assessment from the practitioners' perspective'. This report (D5.2) is structured to provide a summary of the work completed in 27 case studies and 67 sub-projects. Case study research leaders could not report full details for all 67 case studies as some were not sufficiently advanced (e.g. the selection of some tools were not yet finalised with the stakeholders), therefore the number of sub-projects varies depending on the answers received. This report is arranged in three parts: 1. Typology of real-world applications tested 2. Stakeholders involved and the case study advisory board (CAB) 3. Tools used 4. Lessons-learned from the case studies The majority of the work conducted in OpenNESS was judged by the case study research leaders to have an element of awareness rising with 46% of the stated sub-projects reporting that awareness rising was a key purpose of the integrated assessment and valuation and another 30% reporting it was relevant in their case study. Priority-setting to determine future land use was considered a key priority in a quarter of the subprojects and an additional 42% considered this aspect relevant. Litigation/natural damage assessment was considered to be the type of assessment which requires the highest reliability and accuracy, but was not the key purpose of many sub-projects in fact 79% specifically reported that this purpose as not relevant in their case study. The short-term goal of each sub-project was quite specific, but themes were identified utilizing the most frequently used terms to assign one short- term goal to each sub-project. This analysis revealed that the short term goal of the majority of the sub-projects (82%) were either to map the ecosystem services of an area (30%), test the utility of specific tools (30%) or more generally improve management or town planning (22%). Similarly, synthesis of the long-term goals of the case studies found 'long term sustainability of the case study area' was the most commonly concluded long-term goal of the sub-projects (45%). The second most common long-term objective was 'evaluation of the ES and NC concepts' (21%). Future reports will attempt to standardise reporting to ensure consistency of terminology. The key policy areas addressed were context specific to the case studies depending on the real world issue addressed. Across all the sub-projects reported the three most important policy areas were (i) Biodiversity 2020 strategy, (ii) Flora-Fauna Habitat Directive, and (iii) Green Infrastructure Strategy with 46, 35, and 41 sub-projects respectively reporting these policies or key or relevant policies. The Case Study Advisory Board (CAB) was designed to direct the research to real-world issues and problems and to evaluate the results of the research conducted in OpenNESS. Most case studies established a formal board which met and directed the researchers in the area of study, and who will be the primary user community when the evaluation of the research results. It was however, not always possible or indeed desirable for a single board to be established in some case studies, these case studies do however consult directly with local stakeholders (Case Studies 11, 14, 20, 22 & 25). More than half of the subprojects indicated that scientists and consultants (n=45), natural resources management authority (n=39) and municipality or local government (n=37) were involved in the case studies. Ten case studies indicated that all concerned stakeholders are represented in the CAB. When concerned stakeholders are not represented in the CAB, they are mostly local stakeholders (citizens, local farmers, local government, local NGOs, local stakeholders in general) and private businesses. Most common reasons for not including concerned stakeholders were: lack of interest from stakeholders' side, stakeholders are involved in another way in the project, lack of contacts, or "the area is too big" to include all stakeholders in the CAB. In three case studies not all stakeholders are identified yet. The Spreadsheet/GIS, Bayesian Belief Networks (BBN) and ESTIMAP are the most common tools being tested in of the sub-projects followed by QuickScan and INVEST, while State Transmission Models (STM) and Global/European overview datasets are currently not being tested widely. It is recognised that the STM models are data demanding, while the Global/European model has only recently been finalized and available for testing. In addition this model is only relevant for case studies where land-use is highly impacted by import and/or exported biological goods. ES-mapping was the most popular valuation and decision-support method tested , followed by preference assessment. A wide spectrum of models, tools and methods (in different combinations) will be used in all the subprojects. Different reasons for the use of a particular method have been mentioned. These will be used to formulate a consistent typology for future evaluation. A more detailed (participatory) evaluation of the models, tools and methods will be necessary afterwards (e.g. when results are available and have been presented to CAB and/or other stakeholders involved) in order to see if the tools used were indeed the most appropriate ones for the purposes mentioned and to see what feedback is given to the results. For most of the subprojects, it was too early to draw robust conclusions about the use of the tools/methods. In other cases, there were some preliminary reactions reported. Positive first reactions and/or rather sceptical or critical (first) impressions from OpenNESS case study partners that have been gathered are summarized fully in the this report. The formulation of the feedback offered in this reporting period will be used to formulate a more consistent typology of responses enabling a synthesis across all case studies and sub-projects in future reports. The 27 case studies provide an excellent testing ground to operationalise the ES/NC concept. A great diversity of issues are being tested with a wide range of tools. It is too early to draw conclusions, but is clear that the stategy adopted in this report is providing the basis to allow syntheis across all 27 case studies at the end of the funding period.

{EM}INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF SCIENTIFIC UNIONS - ICSU{/EM}{/p} {P}{B}SCIENCE INTERNATIONAL Newsletter No. 69, December 1998{/B}{/P} {P}{B} Code Number:NL98004 {BR} Sizes of Files: {BR} Text: 145K {BR} Graphics: Line drawings (gif) - 32K{BR} Photographs (jpg) - 52K {/B}{P} {P}{B}WORLD CONFERENCE ON SCIENCE{/B}{BR} {I}Budapest, Hungary, 26 June - 1 July 1999{/P} {/I} {P}{B}Science for the 21st century: {I}A new commitment{/B}{/P} {/FONT}{P}{/P} {/I}{P}The main goal of this important meeting, which around 2,000 participants are expected to attend, is to bring together policy makers from both the political and the administrative world, and members of the scientific community at large, to reflect together on the future of scientific research, its impact on society and the demands of society on science.{/P} {B}{P}Vostok Lake, Antarctica{/P} {/B}{P}Dr Peter D. Clarkson Research,{BR} {P}A common perception is that Antarctica is a frozen continent and that is predominantly correct. In the more northerly coastal regions of the continent, particularly in the Antarctic Peninsula, summer temperatures may rise above 0C and, on warm sunny days, streams may flow from melting glaciers and snow fields. Not surprisingly, therefore, there are many small lakes and ponds that can lose their ice cover during the summer. What is surprising, however, is that the largest known lake in Antarctica is about twenty-five times the area of Lake Geneva in Switzerland (or somewhat smaller in area than Lake Ontario on the United States-Canada border, but it has a larger volume of water) and it is sandwiched between the bedrock of the continent and about 4 km of the overlying ice sheet.{/P} {P}{B}Harmful Algal Blooms{/B}{/P} {P}A new International Programme on Global Ecology and Oceanography{/P} {/B} {P}Elizabeth Gross,{/P} {P}The last two decades have been marked by an extraordinary expansion in the occurrence of the marine phenomenon we now call "harmful algal blooms". These blooms of toxic or harmful micro-algae, often inaccurately referred to as "red tides", represent a significant and expanding threat to human health and fisheries resources throughout the world. They take many forms, ranging from massive accumulations of cells that discolor the water, to dilute, inconspicuous populations that are noticed only because of the harm caused by the highly potent toxins these cells contain. The impacts of these phenomena include: mass mortalities of wild and farmed fish and shellfish; human poisonings and fatalities from the consumption of contaminated shellfish or fish; alterations of marine ecosystem structure through adverse effects on larvae and other life history stages of commercial fisheries species; and the death of marine mammals, sea birds, and other animals. On this last point, there is now a growing appreciation of the extent to which HABs impact resources other than shellfish and fish. Human illnesses and fatalities due to five syndromes associated with harmful algae are being recorded around the world in increasingly large numbers.{/P} {B} {P}The Fifth IGBP Scientific Advisory Council Meeting{BR} Nairobi, Kenya, {/FONT}{I}1 to 7 September 1998{/P} {/B}{/I}{P}Sheila Lunter, {/P} {P}Despite a postponement and a preparation that was marked by adversity, a successful Fifth Scientific Advisory Council (SAC-V) Meeting of IGBP was held in Kenya. Many African scientists attended the meeting, which had a total participation of some 170 scientists. SAC-V was hosted by the Kenyan National Academy of Science (KNAS), with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) generously offering the use of the conference facilities at their headquarters in Gigiri, just outside Nairobi.{/P} {P}{B}NEW RESEARCH PROJECT UNDERWAY{/P} {P}Health and the environment{/P} {/B}{/FONT}{P}Heike Schroeder, {/P} {P}Health has become one of the major new integrative global change research areas, and indeed the links between environment and health are becoming increasingly visible and complex. Extreme weather patterns highlighted by the recent El Niño cycle, emergent diseases, viral mutations and environmental degradation are all contributing to this development.{/P} {P}{B}DIVERSITAS/IBOY{/B} {br}An International Biodiversity Observation Year{/P} {P} H.A. Mooney, C.S. Adam, A. Larigauderie and J. Sarukhan.{/P} {P}{B}What is DIVERSITAS?{/B}{/P} {/B}{P}DIVERSITAS is an international programme of biodiversity science which was created in 1991. It is cosponsored by six international scientific organisations: the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS), the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS), the International Council for Science (ICSU), and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP).{/P} {B}{P}DIVERSITAS - START - WCRP - IGBP - IHDP{/P} {P}Chair & Directors Forum{/P} {/B}{P}Heike Schroeder,{/P} {P}Global Change System for Analysis, Research and Training (START) and the Global Environmental Change (GEC) programmes held their annual Chairs and Directors Forum on 14-16 August 1998, in Bonn, Germany. The purpose of this Forum is to provide an opportunity for the programmes' Executive Directors and Scientific Chairs to exchange information on an informal basis and discuss new and ongoing activities and ways for the programmes to enhance collaboration and streamline their research efforts.{/P} {P}{BR} {I}{B}Spotlights on science{/I}{/B} {/P} {P}{B}The International Union of Crystallography{/B}{/P} {/B}{P}M. Dacombe{/P} {P}The International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) was formed in 1947 and formally admitted to ICSU on 7 April in that year. Its main objects are: to promote international cooperation in crystallography; to contribute to the advancement of crystallography in all its aspects; to facilitate international standardization of methods, of units, of nomenclature and of symbols used in crystallography; and to form a focus for the relations of crystallography to other sciences. It does this primarily through its publications, the work of its Commissions and Sub-Committees, and its triennial Congresses.{/P} {P}{B}International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics {br}IUPAB{/P} {/B}{P}A.C.T. North,{/P} {P}Most biophysicists have probably had the same experience as me and been faced by a look of blank incomprehension after giving the answer "biophysics, "to the question "what is your subject?".{/P} {B}{I}Meeting reports{/P} {/I}{P}ICSU/CODATA{BR} 16th Biennial International CODATA Conference and General Assembly{/P} {I}{P}Habitat Center, New Delhi, India,{BR} Nov. 8 - 14, 1998{/P} {/B}{/I}{P}Report by Professor Paul G. Mezey, {P}{B}SATELLITE MEETINGS{BR} {/B}The Conference was preceded by two CODATA Task Group Satellite Meetings and Symposia, held at the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi. On November 6 and 7, 1998, the CODATA Task Group for Data Sources in Asia-Oceania held a Meeting and Seminar, whereas on November 7, 1998, the CODATA Task Group for Data/information and Visualization held a Study-Tutorial Workshop on "Information, Visualization, and Management of Heterogeneous Systems". Both meetings were well attended. The high scientific level and the special Tutorial feature of the Data/Information and Visualization Task Group Symposium provided inspiration for future, similar meetings.{/P} {P}{/P} {B}{P}Electronic Publishing in Science {br}Report on a joint AAAS/ICSU Press/UNESCO Workshop in Paris{/P} {/B}{P}D.F. Shaw, {BR} {P}Forty-three participants accepted invitations from the joint organising committee and represented an international range of interests covering the Universities, Learned Societies, National Science Academies, National and Institutional Libraries and STM Publishers, as well as commercial information brokers and consultants.{/P} {B}{P}Dairy Foods in Health{BR} International Conference, Wellington, New Zealand{/P} {/B} {P}Specialists from 22 countries as far apart as Canada, Finland, Japan and Thailand attended the International Dairy Federation's Nutrition Week from 9-11 March 1998. The New Zealand hosts, the Milk and Health Research Centre of Masey University and the New Zealand Dairy Research Institute, welcomed 191 participants to an ambitious programme with leading nutrition scientists from all around the world. A dinner cruise was arranged on Wellington Harbour for participants. The kind weather and the festival atmosphere in Wellington combined to make the event enjoyable for all.{/P} {B}{I}{P}Calendar{/P}{/B}{/I} Details of forthcoming events from 1 January 1999 - 25 March 1999 {B}{P}ICSU/IGFA{BR} Global Change Research{/B}{/P} {P}The International Group of Funding Agencies for Global Change Research (IGFA) is an informal body of representatives of agencies and ministries of 21 countries plus the European Union responsible for the funding of global change research.{/P} {B}{P}{I}Science and technology{/I}{/B}{/P} {P}{B}Identification of science and technology priorities for Asian Regional Cooperation{/B}{/P} {P}B. Babuji{/P} {P}The following topics were presented for discussion:{/P} {LI}Country presentations on S & T status {/LI} {LI}Current and emerging global S & T senario {/LI} {LI}Identification of priority areas for Asian regional cooperation {/LI} {LI}Modes of cooperation {/LI} {LI}Resource mobilisation and way forward{/LI} {/P} {P}{B}Easing the burden on young scientists{/B}{/P} {/B}{P}Daniel Schaffer, {/P} {P}Two of the principal aims of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) are to promote the careers of young scientists in the developing world and to help scientific institutions in the South to strengthen their decision-making and research capabilities. These two goals came together in the TWAS Prize for young scientists.{/P} {P}{B}South's Centres of Excellence{/B}{BR} {/B}(New volume published){/P} {P}Daniel Schaffer,{/P} {P}The Third World Network of Scientific Organizations (TWNSO), in collaboration with the South Centre and Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), has announced the publication of the second edition of Profiles for Scientific Exchange and Training in the South. With more than 430 entries, the book represents a unique inventory of the capabilities and accomplishments of the most prominent research and training centres in the developing world.{/P} {B}{I}{P}news in brief{/I}{/B}{/P} {P}{B}Fields Medal and the Nevanlinna Prize {br}International Congress of Mathematicians, Berlin 1998{/P} {/B}{P}In physics or literature they have the Nobel Prize, and in mathematics there is the "Fields Medal". This highest scientific award for mathematicians was presented at the opening ceremony of the "International Congress of Mathematicians" to Richard E. Borcherds, Maxim Kontsevich, William Timothy Gowers and Curtis T. McMullen. The International Mathematical Union also awarded the "Nevanlinna Prize" for outstanding work in the field of theoretical computer science to the mathematician Peter Shor.{/P} {B}{P}Food Security {I}{br}What have Sciences to Offer?{/P} {/B}{/I}{P}David Hall,{/P} {P}The author of this report was asked to examine what opportunities exist for the sciences to play in ensuring food security in the next century. In parallel to this, would there be a role for ICSU members and scientists of varied disciplines to play, which would be effective and not duplicate existing efforts?{/P} {B}{I}{P}Electronic Journal Publishing{/P} {/I}{P}A Reader{/P} {/B}{P}To further support our work in the strengthening and development of the dissemination of research results, we are in the process of bringing together a series of articles and Internet documents which we have found interesting and insightful.{/P} {/I}{B}{P}INASP adds new section to its web site{/P} {P}{/P} {/B}{P}INASP Links and Resources "Access to Information"{/P} {B}{P}Discovery of Polonium and Radium{/P} {P}{/P} {/B}{P}An International Conference on {I}The Discovery of Polonium and Radium: its scientific and philosophical consequences, benefits and threats to mankind {/I}was organized by the Polish Government in Warsaw in September 1998.{/P} {B}{P}TREASURER OF THE IUBMB RESIGNS{/P} {/B}{P}Dr R. Brian Beechey, the Treasurer of IUBMB, has tendered his resignation as from 31 December 1998, citing his wish to pursue other interests.{/P} {B}{I}{P}Book Marketing and Distribution:{/P} {/I}{/B}{P}A practical handbook for publishers in developing countries and related training programmes{/P} {B}{P}New edition of ICSU's blue book{/B} {br}UNIVERSALITY OF SCIENCE:{/P} {P}{/P} {P}A new edition of the handbook of ICSU's Standing Committee on Freedom in the Conduct of Science SCFCS has been printed.{/P} {B}{I}house news{/P} {/I}{P}New Environmental Science Officer appointed at ICSU{/B}{/P} {P}Anne Lorigouderie joined the ICSU Secretariat as Environmental Sciences Officer in September.{/P} {B}{P}Qiu Wei joins us from CAST{/P} {/B}{P}Qiu Wei succeeds Zhang Hong, on secondment from the China Association for Science and Technology for another period of six months as of November 1998. {/P} {B}{P}Catherine moves on{/P} {/B}{P}After four years at the ICSU Secretariat, Catherine Leonard left in December. During her time at ICSU, Catherine's responsibilities have included administering the ICSU Grants Programme and editing the ICSU Year Book. {/I}{P}{B}ICSU Grants Programme for 1999{/B}{/P} {P}ICSU is pleased to announce that around one million dollars has been awarded to ICSU bodies under the ICSU grants programme for 1999. Almost half that amount has been allocated to category I grants in the $50,000 - $100,000 range for new innovative projects of high profile potential.{/P} {B}{P}Looking ahead to the millennium{/P} {P}{/P} {/B}{P}For 2000, ICSU is opening up its Category I grants programme to all of ICSU's Joint Initiatives - as it did for the 1999 Programme- and to all ICSU Scientific Associates.{/P} {B}Obituary{/B}{/P} {/I}{P}Lars Ernster 1920-98{I} {/P} {/B}{/I}{P}Lars Ernster died in his 79th year in November. Although born in Budapest he spent almost all his working life in Sweden and most of his academic life at the University of Stockholm. He began a close and long association with ICSU in 1969 when he was appointed Secretary of the Swedish National Committee on Biochemistry and this led to greater demands on his organizational talents when shortly after this he took over the Chairmanship of the Organizing Committee for the highly successful 9th International Congress on Biochemistry, which was held in Stockholm in 1973.{/P} {B}{P}New Directions in Chemistry{/P} {P}15-17 July 1999, Hong Kong{/P} {P}{/P} {/B}{P}The first IUPAC Workshop on Advanced Materials: Nanostructured Systems (IUPAC-WAM-1) will be held on the campus of the Hong Kong University for Science and Technology from 15-17 July 1999.{/P} {P}Copyright 1998 ICSU Press

If each of us were to consider the food we had for lunch, we can probably estimate whether it was relatively healthy (e.g., did we go hungry, did it add to the variety of our diet, or consumption of five fruits and vegetables a day?). How easy is to make a similar judgement on whether our lunch contributed to a sustainable diet? For example, the carbon emissions associated with a simple sandwich can more than double, depending on the filling, where it is made, the packaging used and many more factors.1 Drawing on the past experiences of nutrition labelling on food products, we consider whether sustainability labelling can provide a practical route to encourage sustainable food choices, sustainable market changes, and a move towards sustainable and healthy food systems. Sustainability labelling on food products is most commonly associated with social and ecological certification schemes (e.g., USDA Organic Seal; Fairtrade mark; Friend of the Sea).2 More recently, an increasing number of labels have emerged which estimate the impact of a product on one or more environmental factor e.g., carbon foot-printing as a marker of greenhouse gas emissions or climate change.3 Research suggests there is a demand for these different types of sustainability labels; yet, it is uncertain if these labels will affect our everyday selections and purchases of food.4 Price, taste, brand, appearance, product familiarity and habits are still dominant reasons for our food choices; however, over 20 years' of research indicates nutrition labelling can drive healthy food choices and incentivise product reformulation.5 In 2019, a meta-analysis investigated the impact of nutrition labels on food products and menus (including a variety of nutrient content labels, claims, logos, or indices, such as warning labels and traffic light labels). They concluded a small impact of labels, which can reduce total energy and total fat consumption, increase vegetable intake, and positively impact industry reformulation for sodium and trans fat content.5 Further research is on-going regarding whether these impacts follow a social gradient and compound diet-related health inequalities (e.g., reformulated 'healthier' products are added to a range at a higher price point/available only in higher income countries; or numeracy skills are required to interpret health indicating labels).6 Food labelling has become part of the food system infrastructure, yet there are challenges with governing this sector. Voluntary recommendations and mandatory regulations are used to facilitate inter-/national trade (e.g., country of origin requirements by the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius food labelling standards), and signify quality assurance, safety and traceability standards (e.g., declaration of trans fatty acids content). Ensuring compliance with regulation requires considerable resources from those responsible for governing the food system. For example, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has been harmonising and adapting food labelling regulation since 2006 to keep pace with a proliferation of food labels in the market. EFSA now require a portfolio of evidence from each manufacturer to authorise the use of a health or nutrient claim on their food product. This is to protect fair competition within the food industry and also to monitor the validity of claims to protect the public from being misled. Producing and reviewing these portfolios has taken considerable resources for both EFSA and the food industry. It is worthwhile to consider whether existing regulation and regulatory resources are sufficient to monitor sustainability claims if they were to become more widespread. Trust and transparency in any labelling scheme is essential for it to be meaningful and motivate change in individuals or industries. We have seen confusion surrounding the use of the term 'organic' on food products. These products can be ascribed a 'health halo', yet there are limitations in the evidence indicating a superior nutrition quality of organic products and health benefits may be more associated with the social values attributed to organic production. The use of certification schemes can encourage transparent standards; however, this is less clear with schemes (e.g., Fair Trade) which have been brought in-house: where products are self-certified rather than part of an 'independent' certification scheme. It is difficult to discern the sustainability of a product at point of purchase and maintaining the trust and transparency of different sustainability indices or metrics, across inconsistent product categories, will be paramount to ensuring accountability for food fraud or the use of exploitative marketing techniques.7 A major challenge with sustainability labelling of food products is the complexity of the sustainability concept itself, as well as the food system within which it operates. Sustainability is multi-faceted and sustainable food systems represent not only environmental factors (ecology), they are also sensitive to the health of the population today and in the future (nutrition, food security), and society as a whole (ethics and social welfare). Food systems themselves are also dynamic and complex: involving a multitude of changeable and inter-related activities, actors, and infrastructure from the production to the consumption, recycling and/or disposal of food. At every point there can be multiple environmental impacts, related to biodiversity, green house gas emissions (carbon dioxide, methane etc.), land, water or other resource use (e.g., nitrogen or phosphorous management). All these factors complicate the ability to create a metric or index that can trace a product as it journeys through the food system in order to assess its environmental, health or social impacts. Creating food systems that provide healthy food to everyone today and in future generations without exploiting human or planetary resources is one of the greatest challenges of this century. The development and use of sustainability labelling has the potential to play a role in moving towards sustainable and healthy food systems and a sustainable future, as outlined in the aims of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The reach of food labelling is considerable and could increase public awareness of how food is produced and consumed. Nutrient labelling remains a popular public health intervention, with mandatory nutrition labelling in at least 50 countries worldwide, with highly processed and packaged foods making an ever greater contribution to the global diet (e.g., in a sample of sixteen countries approximately 85 % of packaged food carried a nutrient label, health/nutrition claim, or a health/nutrition marketing claim).8 9 Past experiences of nutrition labelling provide a number of cautions to the rise in sustainability labelling. First, sustainability labelling is unlikely to be a panacea for behaviour change in consumers. Instead it can target small incremental changes at different levels and actors in the food system, within both individuals and organisations. Second, there is the potential for confusion with sustainability concepts, which can be exploited for commercial or political use, particularly where competing interests are present. The media and public attention on climate change and rise in sustainability labelling of food products provides an opportunity to develop food system analytics and sustainability metrics. Using these metrics, actors within the food system will be better equipped to communicate the nuances and evaluate the risks and trade-offs of system-wide interventions, and ultimately contribute to the evolution of sustainable and healthy food systems. The authors declare no competing interests. KAB, FH, CK contributed substantially to the conception and drafting of this work; KAB, FH, FH, CK, CP revised the work critically for important intellectual content; all authors approved the final version to be published and agree to be accountable for the work. All authors receive funding from the Wellcome Trust's Our Planet, Our Health programme: KAB, FH, CK via the Sustainable and Healthy Food Systems (SHEFS) programme [grant number 205200/Z/16/Z], and CP via the Livestock, Environment and People (LEAP) project [grant number 205212/Z/16/Z]. This commentary does not necessarily reflect the views of the Wellcome Trust or its future policy in this area.

Marine ecosystems are facing difficult times as climate change and heavy exploitation lead to biodiversity loss, the need of advanced ecosystem services, and deliberate adjustments especially in the food production industry. Cod (Gadus morhua L.), as one of the most important species for human consumption worldwide, is the focus of the presented study along with herring (Clupea harengus L.) and sprat (Sprattus sprattus L.) in the Baltic, as the species' recruitment success oscillate according to environmental changes. The present study consists of three chapters that deal with the question of environmental and intrinsic indicators underlying recruitment success in marine fish species. Apart from Eastern Baltic (EB) (Chapter II) and Atlantic cod (Chapter IV), Baltic herring (Clupea harengus L.) and sprat (Sprattus sprattus L.) (Chapter III) were species examined in this study. The overall idea of the presented approach is to find, besides fishing pressure, key indicators per species, area and period of factors, that fundamentally affect recruitment success. In Chapters II and III, environmental indicators connected with recruitment success were obtained through a simple linear regression approach that can be applied in an easy and timesaving manner in other contexts. From these indicators, individual threshold values are derived by means of a 5-fold crossvalidation approach, that define the barrier between a "good" and "bad" recruitment environment for the analyzed species. As the response variable to recruitment success, the recruitment residuals (RecRes) gained from the recruitment – spawning stock biomass (SSB) relationship were used. By subtracting the threshold value of an environmental indicator, the degree of how "good" and how "bad" recruitment environment was in certain years was assessed. The standard deviation of the crossvalidation method serves as a range of uncertainty, where "good" and "bad" becomes neutral and hence gives more space for natural variability regarding recruitment success. In Chapter II, the main indicators found for EB cod were the depth of the 11 psu isohaline as well as the reproductive volume (RV) (water body [km³], that measures more than 11 psu and oxygen content exceeds 2 ml / l and therefore provides optimal condition for cod egg development) in the central Baltic and in the Gotland Basin. Derived indicators and their correspondent thresholds for EB cod indicate, that abiotic factors seem to be the main drivers affecting Baltic cod recruitment success, as ideal conditions for successful egg development and survival are the most important mechanisms influencing year class strength. The depth of the isohaline was considered to be the most important indicator as it showed the strongest correlation with recruitment. Therefore, it was used for the evaluation of the RecRes as a good measure of response to recruitment and for possible forecast scenarios. Chapter III is an evaluation paper of the method applied in Chapter II. Here, the same approach was conducted within the same area (Subdivisions of Central Baltic) but for different species (sprat and herring). Key indicators for sprat were found to be the depth at 11 psu isohaline in the Bornholm and Gotland Basin, cod recruitment, as well as temperature in the reproductive volume of the Bornholm Basin and prey abundance (Bosmina spp.) in summer. For the evaluation of the RecRes, depth of the 11 psu isohaline (Bornholm Basin) was used. For herring, the main indicators affecting recruitment were found to be Acartia spp. abundance in summer, the depth of the 11 psu isohaline in the Bornholm Basin, as well as cod SSB. Prey abundance (Pseudocalanus spp.) as well as the depth of the 11 psu isohaline in the central Baltic also showed a correlation with herring recruitment but were not used for further analysis as the standard deviation was high. In contrast to Chapter II, biotic factors were also found to affect recruitment success of the clupeid stocks in the Baltic. The method used to derive a suitable set of environmental indicators and their corresponding thresholds per species in both chapters generates the opportunity to use indicators selected for predictive scenarios (i.e. future recruitment success) if underlying mechanisms are well understood and always with the understanding in mind, that systems are continuously changing. Also, revealed recruitment mechanisms could be falsified due to the lack of independence between SSB and recruitment data (i.e. autocorrelation) and therefore must be handled very carefully if implemented in a management context. In Chapter IV the focus was put on physiological, and therefore, intrinsic indicators responsible for recruitment success. Here, the parental contribution to the successful offspring was investigated in an extensive laboratory set up. Intrinsic indicators affecting Atlantic cod recruitment success were found to be egg size (amount of yolk) and fitness of mothers (Fulton's condition factor K) that contributed significantly to decreasing mortality rate in the early life stage of Atlantic cod. The results of Chapter IV indicate that there are more mechanisms driving recruitment success other than field observations and data gained from assessment models, as the indicators found are of intrinsic and genetic nature (i.e. yolk supply, body size, fitness). An obvious conclusion could be stated, that it may be better to estimate recruitment success using length-/weight-at age data of females as female size and fitness contribute significantly to recruitment success. Findings serve as an enhancement to the indicators found in the previous chapters, as well as a cautionary reminder to handle data holistically, if predictions derived from this are to be reliable. ; Marine Ökosysteme sind weltweit schweren Zeiten ausgesetzt, denn durch klimatische Veränderungen und übermäßige Ausbeute kommt es allerorts zur Verringerung der Artenvielfalt, und die Notwenigkeit für sorgfältig durchdachte Ökosystemleistungen und Nahrungsproduktionen wird dringender. Einer der global bedeutendsten Nahrungsfische stellt der Dorsch/Kabeljau (Gadus morhua L.) dar, welcher zusammen mit Hering (Clupea harengus L.) und Sprotte (Sprattus sprattus L.) im Fokus der vorliegenden Arbeit steht, da der Erfolg der Anzahl der Nachkommen als Antwort auf Umweltveränderungen verstanden werden kann. Die vorliegende Arbeit besteht aus drei Kapiteln, welche sich mit der Frage nach den inneren und äußeren Einflüssen beschäftigt, welche im Zusammenhang mit dem Rekrutierungserfolg mariner Fischpopulationen beschäftigt. Äußere Einflüsse sind durch die Umwelt bedingt und können biotischer (z.B. Nahrungsverfügbarkeit, Räuberaufkommen) oder abiotischer (z.B. Salzgehalt, Temperatur) Natur sein. Innere Faktoren beziehen sich auf die Gesundheit und die genetischen Voraussetzungen der Population oder, im kleineren Zusammenhang, der Elterntiere. In den Kapiteln II und III wurden umweltbedingte Indikatoren, welche in unmittelbaren Zusammenhang mit dem Rekrutierungserfolg stehen, anhand von einfachen linearen Modellen erster und zweiter Ordnung berechnet. Diese Methode kann sehr einfach und zeitsparend in anderen Zusammenhängen mit entsprechenden Daten angewandt werden. Als Resonanzgröße auf die Rekrutierung wurden die Residuen aus dem Verhältnis von Rekruten- und Laicherbiomasse genutzt und als RecRes bezeichnet. Durch die Subtraktion der Grenzwerte von den identifizierten Indikatoren, wurde der jährliche Wert der "guten" oder "schlechten" Rekrutierungsvoraussetzung ermittelt. Die Standardabweichung der Vergleichsprüfung definiert einen Raum, in welchem "gut" und "schlecht" neutralisiert werden und so Möglichkeit für natürliche Schwankungen im Rekrutierungserfolg bieten. Die Hauptindikatoren für den Dorsch in Kapitel II waren sowohl die Tiefe der 11 psu Isohaline, als auch die Größe des 'Reproduktiven Volumen' (Wasserkörper [km³], welcher eine höhere Salzkonzentration als 11 psu aufweist und eine Sauerstoffkonzentration von über 2 ml / l misst. Die gefundenen Indikatoren wurde auch für die Evaluation der RecRes genutzt, um zu prüfen, ob sich die RecRes als Resonanzgröße für mögliche Vorhersagen eignen. Die in diesem Kapitel abgeleiteten Indikatoren und ihre entsprechenden Schwellenwerte für EB Dorsch weisen darauf hin, dass abiotische Faktoren die Hauptfaktoren für den Rekrutierungserfolg von Dorsch im Baltikum zu sein scheinen, da ideale Bedingungen für eine erfolgreiche Entwicklung und das Überleben der Eier die wichtigsten Mechanismen sind, die die Stärke der Jahresklasse beeinflussen. Im Kapitel III wurden die gleichen Methoden angewendet, allerdings wurde nun der Rekrutierungserfolg von Hering und Sprotte untersucht. Die Hauptindikatoren für die Sprottenpopulation waren hier ebenfalls die Tiefe der 11 psu Isohalinen im Bornholm und im Gotland Becken, die Größe des Rekrutierungserfolges des Dorsches, die Temperatur im 'Reproductive Volume' und die Nahrungsabundanz von Bosmina sp. im Sommer. Für die Evaluierung der RecRes wurde der stärkste Indikator, die Tiefe der 11 psu Isohalinen (Bornholm Becken) genutzt. Die Hauptindikatoren die das Rekruitment der Heringspopulation in der Zentralen Ostsee beeinflussen waren die Nahrungsabundanz (Acartia sp.) im Sommer, die Tiefe der 11 psu Isohalinen (Bornholm Becken) sowie die die Größe der geschlechtsreifen Dorschpopulation. Im Gegensatz zu Kapitel II zeigten sich hier auch biotische Faktoren, die den Rekrutierungserfolg der Bestände der Clupeiden beeinflussten. Die angewendete Methode zur Identifikation geeigneter Umweltindikatoren und ihrer entsprechenden Grenzwerte pro Art in beiden Kapiteln bietet die Möglichkeit, Indikatoren zu verwenden, die für Vorhersageszenarien (z.B. künftige Rekrutierungserfolge) ausgewählt werden können, wenn zugrundeliegende Dynamiken eines Systems gut verstanden und stets im Auge behalten werden. Außerdem kann die hier verwendete Testvariabel (RecRes) aufgrund der mangelnden Unabhängigkeit zwischen Laicherbestand (SSB) und Rekrutierungsabschätzung durch z.B. Autokorrelation verfälscht sein und muss daher sehr sorgfältig gehandhabt werden, wenn sie in einem Managementkontext implementiert werden soll. In Kapitel IV wurde der Fokus auf die intrinsischen Indikatoren gelegt, die zu einem erfolgreichen Rekruitment führen. In diesem Kapitel wurde der elterliche Beitrag zu einer erfolgreichen Nachkommenschaft in einem umfangreichen laboratorischen Experiment erforscht. Die intrinsischen Indikatoren, die den Rekrutierungserfolg des atlantischen Kabeljaus am meisten beeinflussen waren in dieser Studie Eiergröße und somit der Gehalt an Dotter, sowie die Gesundheit der Mutter. Hier liegt der Rückschluss nahe, dass für die Abschätzung des Rekrutierungserfolges auch die Längen-Gewichtsbeziehungen der Weibchen in Betracht gezogen werden sollten, da diese Merkmale maßgeblich zu dem Rekrutierungserfolg beitragen. Die Ergebnisse dienen als Erweiterung der Indikatoren aus den vorherigen Kapiteln und sollen daran erinnern, dass Daten jeglicher Art mit Vorsicht bearbeitet werden sollen, um nicht voreilige Rückschlüssen (z.B. Vorhersagen) zu ziehen, da nicht jede Dynamik der natürlichen Umstände in jedem Datensatz wiedergegeben ist.

Worldwide, cold regions are undergoing significant alterations due to climate change. Snow, the most widely distributed cold region component, is highly sensitive to climate change. At the same time, snow itself profoundly impacts the Earth's energy budget, biodiversity, and natural hazards, as well as hydropower management, freshwater management, and winter tourism/sports. Large parts of the cold regions in Europe are mountain areas, which are densely populated because of the various ecosystem services and socioeconomic well-being in mountains. At present, severe consequences caused by climate change have been observed in European mountains and their surrounding areas. Yet, large knowledge gaps hinder the development of effective regional and local adaptation strategies. Long-term and evidence-based regional studies are urgently needed to enhance the comprehension of regional responses to climate change. Earth Observation (EO) provides long-term consistent records of the Earth's surface. It is a great alternative and/or supplement to conventional in-situ measurements which are usually time-consuming, cost-intensive and logistically demanding, particularly for the poor accessibility of cold regions. With the assistance of EO, land surface dynamics in cold regions can be observed in an objective, repeated, synoptic and consistent way. Thanks to free and open data policies, long-term archives such as Landsat Archive and Sentinel Archive can be accessed free-of-charge. The high- to medium-resolution remote sensing imagery from these freely accessible archives gives EO-based time series datasets the capability to depict snow dynamics in European mountains from the 1980s to the present. In order to compile such a dataset, it is necessary to investigate the spatiotemporal availability of EO data, and develop a spatiotemporally transferable framework from which one can investigate snow dynamics. Among the available EO image archives, the Landsat Archive has the longest uninterrupted records of the Earth's land surface. Furthermore, its 30 m spatial resolution fulfils the requirements for snow monitoring in complex terrains. Landsat data can yield a time series of snow dynamics in mountainous areas from 1984 to the present. However, severe Landsat data gaps have occurred across certain regions of Europe. Moreover, the Landsat Level 1 Precision and Terrain (L1TP) data is scarcer (up to 50% less) in high-latitude mountainous areas than in low-latitude mountainous areas. Given the abovementioned facts, the Regional Snowline Elevation (RSE) is selected to characterize the snow dynamics in mountainous areas, as it can handle cloud obstructions in the optical images. In this thesis, I present a five-step framework to derive and densify RSE time series in European mountains, i.e. (1) pre-processing, (2) snow detection, (3) RSE retrieval, (4) time series densification, and (5) Regional Snowline Retreat Curve (RSRC) production. The results of the intra-annual RSE variations show a uniquely high variation in the beginning of the ablation seasons in the Alpine catchment Tagliamento, mainly toward higher elevation. As for inter-annual variations of RSE, median RSE increases in all selected catchments, with an average speed of around 4.66 m ∙ a−1 (median) and 5.87 m ∙ a−1 (at the beginning of the ablation season). The fastest significant retreat is observed in the catchment Drac (10.66 m ∙ a−1, at the beginning of the ablation season), and the slowest significant retreat is observed in the catchment Uzh (1.74 m ∙ a−1, at the beginning of the ablation season). The increase of RSEs at the beginning of the ablation season is faster than the median RSEs, whose average difference is nearly 1.21 m ∙ a−1, particularly in the catchment Drac (3.72 m ∙ a−1). The results of the RSRCs show a significant rise in RSEs at the beginning of the ablation season, except for the Alpine catchment Alpenrhein and Var, and the Pyrenean catchment Ariege. It indicates that 11.8 and 3.97 degrees Celsius less per year are needed for the regional snowlines to reach the middle point of the RSRC in the Tagliamento and Tysa, respectively. The variation of air temperature is regarded as an example of a potential climate driver in this thesis. The retrieved monthly mean RSEs are highly correlated (mean correlation coefficient "R" ̅ = 0.7) with the monthly temperature anomalies, which are more significant in months with extremely low/high temperature. Another case study that investigates the correlation between river discharges and RSEs is carried out to demonstrate the potential consequences of the derived snowline dynamics. The correlation analysis shows a good correlation between river discharges and RSEs (correlation coefficient, R=0.52). In this thesis, the developed framework signifies a better understanding of the snow dynamics in mountain areas, as well as their potential triggers and consequences. Nonetheless, an urgent need persists for: (1) validation data to assess long-term snow-related observations based on high-resolution EO data; (2) further studies to reveal interactions between snow and its ambient environment; and (3) regional and local adaptation-strategies coping with climate change. Further studies exploring the above-mentioned research gaps are urgently needed in the future. ; Weltweit erleben kalte Regionen signifikante Veränderungen durch den Klimawandel. In kalten Regionen ist der Schnee die am weitesten verbreitete Komponente, welche sehr sensibel auf Klimaänderungen reagiert. Zugleich beeinflusst der Schnee selbst das Energiebudget der Erde, die Biodiversität, Naturgefahren sowie Wasserenergiegewinnung, Süßwassergewinnung, Wintertourismus und Wintersport. Große Teile der kalten Regionen in Europa sind Gebirgsregionen. Diese sind dicht besiedelt, da Gebirgsregionen verschiedenste Ökosystemservices bereitstellen und sozioökonomisches Wohlbefinden ermöglichen. Heute kann man schwerwiegende Konsequenzen in Europäischen Gebirgen und deren angrenzenden Gebieten wahrnehmen. Dennoch verhindern große Wissenslücken die Entwicklung effektiver und regionaler/lokaler Anpassungsstrategien. Um regionaler Auswirkungen durch den Klimawandel besser verstehen zu können, ist es enorm wichtig Langzeitstudien und beweisorientierte regionale Studien durchzuführen. Erdbeobachtung (EO) bietet durchgängige Langzeitaufzeichnungen der Erdoberfläche. Dies ist eine großartige Alternative und/oder Ergänzung zu konventionellen in-situ Messungen, welche meist zeitaufwändig, teuer und logistisch herausfordernd sind – vor allem in kalten Regionen, die schwer zugänglich sind. Mit der Hilfe von Erdbeobachtung können Oberflächendynamiken objektiv, wiederholt, synoptisch und kontinuierlich aufgenommen werden. Dank freier und offener Datenpolitik, Langzeitmissionen wie Landsat und Sentinel sind diese Daten inzwischen ohne zusätzliche Kosten zugänglich. Durch die oben genannten Rahmenbedingungen, besteht die Möglichkeit aus hoch bis mittel aufgelöste Satellitenbilder erdbeobachtungsbasierte Zeitreihen zu erstellen, die die Schneedynamiken in Europäischen Gebirgen abbilden. Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen, muss die räumliche und zeitliche Verfügbarkeit von Erdbeobachtungsdaten überprüft werden und ein Rahmenwerk geschaffen werden (übertragbar in Zeit und Raum), um Schneedynamiken aus Erdbeobachtungsdaten großflächig ableiten zu können. Unter den verfügbaren Erdbeobachtungsarchiven bietet das Landsat Archiv die längsten und kontinuierlichsten Aufzeichnungen der Landoberfläche. Zudem erfüllt die räumliche Auflösung von 30 m die Anforderungen, Schnee in komplexem Terrain zu monitoren. Basierend auf Landsat L1TP Daten (z.B. terrainkorrigiert) ist es möglich, Zeitreihen von Schneedynamiken in Gebirgsregionen zwischen 1984 und 1991/1999 zu erstellen. Des Weiteren ist Landsat L1TP in hohen Breitengraden seltener verfügbar (bis zu 50 % weniger) als in Gebirgsregionen der gemäßigten Breiten. Basierend auf den oben genannten Fakten wurde die Regionale Höhe der Schneefallgrenze (RSE) ausgewählt um Schneedynamiken in Gebirgsregionen zu charakterisieren, da diese Wolken in optischen Szenen bewältigen kann. In dieser Arbeit wurde ein fünf-Stufen Rahmenwerk geschaffen, um RSE-Zeitserien in Europäischen Gebirgen abzuleiten und zu verdichten. Die Prozessierungskette besteht aus (1) Vorprozessierung, (2) Schneedetektion, (3) RSE-Ableitung, (4) Zeitreihenverdichtung und (5) Erstellung einer regionalen Schneegrenzen-Rückgangsfunktion (RSRC). Die Ergebnisse der intra-annuellen RSE Variationen zeigen eine einzigartige hohe Variation im Beginn der Abschmelzsaison im alpinen Einzugsgebiet Tagliamento, meist in höheren Gebieten. Wie für die inter-annuellen Variationen des RSE, steigt auch der Median des RSE in allen ausgewählten Einzugsgebieten mit einer durchschnittlichen Geschwindigkeit von 4.66 m ∙ a−1 (median) und 5.87 m ∙ a−1 (zum Beginn der Schmelze). Der schnellste signifikante Rückgang kann im Einzugsgebiet Drac (10.66 m ∙ a−1, Beginn der Schmelze) beobachtet werden, der langsamste Rückgang im Einzugsgebiet Uzh (1.74 m ∙ a−1, Beginn der Schmelze). Der Anstieg des RSE zu Beginn der Schmelzsaison ist schneller als der Median des RSE, dessen mittlere Differenz 1.21 m ∙ a−1 beträgt. Insbesondere für das Drac Einzugsgebiet (3.72 m ∙ a−1). Die Ergebnisse des RSRC zeigen signifikante Anstiege des RSE zu Beginn des Schmelzsaison, ausgenommen davon sind die alpinen Einzugsgebiete Alpenrhein und Var und das Einzugsgebiet Ariege in den Pyrenäen. Dies lässt darauf zurückschließen, dass 11.8 °C und 3.97 °C Grad weniger pro Jahr nötig sind für Tagliamento und Tysa, damit die regionalen Schneegrenzen den Mittelpunkt des RSRC erreicht. Zudem wird die Variation der Lufttemperatur als beispielhafter Treiber des Klimas in dieser Thesis gesehen. Die monatlich abgeleiteten mittleren RSE korrelieren stark (mittlerer korrelations Coeffizient R ̅ = 0.7) mit monatlichen Temperaturanomalien. In Monaten mit extrem hohen/tiefen Temperaturen ist die Korrelation am stärksten. Ein anderes Fallbeispiel untersucht die Korrelation zwischen Abfluss in Flüssen und RSE, um die potenziellen Konsequenzen der abgeleiteten Schneefallgrenzendynamiken zu ermitteln. Die Korrelationsanalyse weist eine gute Korrelation auf (R=0.52). Das in dieser Arbeit entwickelte Rahmenwerk ist nur ein Beginn, um das Wissen über Schneedynamiken in Gebirgsregionen zu verbessern und potentiell auslösende Faktoren und Konsequenzen zu verstehen. Dennoch wird folgendes dringend benötigt: (1) Validierungsdaten für schneebasierte Langzeitbeobachtungen aus hochaufgelösten Erdbeobachtungsdaten; (2) weitere Studien zu Interaktionen zwischen Schnee und der umgebende Umwelt; und (3) regionale und lokale Anpassungsstrategien, um Auswirkungen des Klimawandels zu meistern. Weitere Studien in den oben genannten Punkten werden in der Zukunft stark frequentiert sein, damit Wissens- und Forschungslücken geschlossen werden können.

Land use changes have substantial impact on rural landscape and biological diversity. The thesis analyses the changes in rural landscapes that have occurred in Hiiumaa since 1950s focusing, in particular, on the transformation of open and half-open semi-natural farmlands. The correlation between the agricultural land use dynamics and biota is analysed from both ecological aspects, i.e., how the land use changes in recent decades have influenced the local numbers and distribution of autumn staging Eurasian Cranes (Grus grus) in Estonia, and, from the viewpoint of bioindication, i.e., whether certain soil bioindicators can be used for evaluating the effectiveness of agri-environmental (AE) measures as well as the level of human pressure at field level. In addition, the spatial distribution of topic-based monitoring networks is analysed to combine and integrate data from different monitoring sets and to achieve more coherent geographical coverage of monitoring data for the surveillance of agricultural landscapes. The detailed spatial land use analysis in Hiiumaa enabled the exploration of the transformation of the former diverse and mosaic land use patterns that are characteristic of extensive agriculture to more uniform patterns of intensive agriculture. The greatest change in landscape pattern took place by the 1980s as a result of the intensification of farming, land reclamation and marginalisation. From 1956 to 1998 the area of agricultural lands decreased mainly because of semi-natural grasslands by approximately 43%, and the area of forests increased by approximately 44%. The remarkable changes in agricultural land use intensity, which included a sharp decline in the 1990s and a remarkable revival since 2000, have not yet caused any significant changes in developed simplified landscape pattern. The study enabled to elucidate the origin of the larger ameliorated field systems and to track the transformation of the once widespread open and half-open semi-natural grasslands to forests and other land use types. For instance, by 1998, only approximately 3% of pastures and 12% of grasslands that were present in 1956 were maintained and classified as open grasslands. The study also enabled to analyse the changes in wooded meadows and pastures. The area of half-open land use types, such as grasslands and pastures that were sparsely covered with trees and shrubs, decreased significantly by more than 10 times from 1956 to 1984. The slight increase from 1984 to 1998 is most likely related to the abandonment of agricultural areas. The simplification of land use patterns has controversial impacts to biota. The disappearance of traditional land use patterns and the sharp decline in half-open farmlands has decreased the spread of species-rich habitats; however, the huge agricultural areas (cultivated grasslands and cereal fields) have become important feeding and staging habitats for migrating birds. The following study found significant correlations between the cropping areas of certain field crops and the count numbers of autumn staging Eurasian cranes. In Hiiumaa the correlation was strongest with the cropping area of winter rye (rs = 0.58, p < 0.05, n = 21) and winter wheat (rs = 0.58, p < 0.05, n = 21) and in Matsalu with the cropping area of all cereals combined (rs = 0.56, p < 0.05, n = 28). Then correlations between land use change and biota were also studied from the viewpoint of bioindication. The pilot project, that was performed for testing the effects of AE measures to soil biota, could not detect statistically significant differences between the AE pilot areas and their reference areas in the same regions. The study demonstrated that the short-term application of AE measures cannot have significant effects on soil biota, but the soil biota indicators could have considerable potential as early indicators of soil degradation or improvement when integrated in long-term monitoring programs of agricultural landscapes. The study found statistically significant (p < 0.05) differences in the hydrolytical activity of the microbial community between Palamuse (intensive) and Saaremaa (extensive) pilot areas. However, in this study, it was impossible to separate the impacts of farming intensity and contrasting natural conditions on soil biota. For improvement the monitoring concept for agricultural landscapes and for integrating complementary monitoring data, the distribution of different independently developed topic-based monitoring networks were analysed by Estonian landscape regions, CORINE land cover classes and soil types. The patterns of monitoring networks were studied by neighbourhood analysis, characterised by the nearest neighbourhood index and Ripley's K-function, and the density analysis in the search radius of 50 km. The analysis covered in total 14 different landscape, biodiversity and environmental monitoring sub-programs. ; Maakasutusmuutustel on oluline mõju maapiirkondade maastikulisele ja bioloogilisele mitmekesisusele. Käesolev doktoritöö analüüsib viimasel poolsajandil (1956–2005) Hiiumaa põllumajandusmaastikus toimunud muutusi, keskendudes eeskätt muutustele avatud ja poolavatud maakattetüüpides. Käsitlemist leiavad ka põllumajandusliku maakasutuse ja elustiku vahelised seosed, s.o viimaste aastakümnete maakasutusmuutuste mõju sügisesel läbirändel Eestis peatuvate sookurgede (Grus grus) arvukusele ja mulla bioindikaatorite sobivus põllumajandus- ja keskkonnameetmete tõhususe ning inimmõju taseme hindamiseks. Põllumajandusmaastiku seirekontseptsiooni ja -võrgustiku arendamiseks ning täiendavate seireandmete lõimimiseks analüüsiti Eesti teemapõhiste seireprogrammide andmestike territoriaalset jaotumust erinevate maastikutunnuste järgi. Detailne maastikuanalüüs võimaldas uurida traditsioonilise, s.o ekstensiivsele põllumajandusele iseloomuliku mitmekesise ja mosaiikse maakasutusmustri olulist lihtsustumist ning polariseerumist Hiiumaal. Suurim muutus maastikumustris leidis aset juba 1980. aastateks, peamiselt uute intensiivseks põllumajanduseks sobivate maade raadamise ja sobimatute marginaliseerimise tõttu. Ajavahemikul 1956–1984 vähenes põllumajandusmaa valdavalt looduslikku tüüpi rohumaade arvel kokku umbes 43%, samal ajal suurenes metsade pindala umbes 44%. Järgnevad suured muutused põllumajandusmaa kasutuses: järsk vähenemine 1990. ja elavnemine 2000. aastatel ei ole seevastu toonud kaasa suuri muutusi juba väljakujunenud lihtsustunud maastikumustris. Uuring aitas selgitada praeguste põllumassiivide päritolu ning kunagi laialt levinud heina- ja karjamaadega toimunut. Näiteks 1956. aasta heina- ja karjamaadest oli 1998. aastaks üle poole kaetud metsaga, kusjuures ainult 3% karjamaadest ja 12% heinamaadest olid säilitanud oma varasema ülesande. Valitud metoodika võimaldas kaudselt hinnata ka muutusi liigirikaste puisniitude ja -karjamaade levimuses. Kui 1956. aastal olid poolavatud põllumajandusmaad, s.o nii puude kui ka põõsastega hajusalt kaetud heina- ja karjamaad levinud kokku 7492 hektaril, siis 1984. aastaks oli taoliste maade pindala kahanenud enam kui kümme korda 695 hektarile. 1998. aastaks oli poolavatud alade pindala suurenenud 1072 hektarile, kuid seda peamiselt hüljatud põllumajandusmaade renaturaliseerimise arvelt. Maastikumuutuste mõju elustikule on vastuoluline. Traditsioonilise maakasutusmustri kadumine ja poolavatud põllumajandusmaade oluline vähenemine on kahandanud liigirikaste elupaigatüüpide levimust, samas on suured põllumassiivid saanud tähtsaks toitumis- ja peatuspaigaks paljudele läbirändavatele linnuliikidele. Järgneva uuringuga leiti statistiliselt olulisi korrelatsioone teatavate põllukultuuride külvipindade ja sügisel Eestis peatuvate sookurgede loendusandmete vahel, kusjuures Hiiumaal oli nimetatud seos kõige tugevam talirukki (rs = 0,58, p < 0,05, n = 21) ja talinisu (rs = 0,58, p < 0,05, n = 21) külvipindadega ning Matsalus kõigi teraviljade (rs = 0,56, p < 0,05, n = 28) koondkülvipinnaga. Maakasutusmuutuste ja elustiku vahelisi seoseid uuriti ka bioindikatsiooni aspektist. Katseprojekt, mis viidi läbi põllumajandus- ja -keskkonnameetmete mõju uurimiseks mullaelustikule, ei tuvastanud statistiliselt olulisi erinevusi katsealade ja võrdlusalade vahel ning näitas ilmekalt, et lühiajaline põllumajandus- ja keskkonnameetmete rakendamine ei avalda mullaelustikule suurt mõju. Juhtuuring tuvastas statistiliselt olulise (p < 0,05) erinevuse mullamikroobide hüdrolüütilises aktiivsuses intensiivselt ja ekstensiivselt majandatud katsealade vahel. Arvestades katsealade kontrastseid loodustingimusi Palamusel Jõgevamaal ja Kihelkonna-Lümandus Saaremaal, tulenes nimetatud erinevus mitte ainult majandamise erinevast intensiivsusest, vaid suurel määral ka erinevate loodustingimuste mõjust, kuid selle uuringu raames ei olnud võimalik nende kahe peamise teguri mõju eristada. Uuring näitas, et põllu tasemel võivad mulla teatud bioindikaatorid (vihmaussikoosluste parameetrid ja mullamikroobide hüdrolüütiline aktiivsus) anda tähtsat teavet mulla seisundi ja inimmõju kohta, kui need on lõimitud pikaajalisse põllumajandusmaastike seiresse. Põllumajandusmaastiku seirekontseptsiooni arendamiseks ja sellesse täiendavate seireandmete lõimimiseks analüüsiti Eesti teemapõhiste seireprogrammide andmestiku territoriaalset jaotumist erinevate maastikutunnuste, näiteks Eesti maastikurajoonide, CORINE maakattetüüpide ja mullatüüpide järgi. Seirevõrgustike ruumilist paiknemist iseloomustati ka naabrusanalüüsi, s.o lähimnaabruse indeksi ja Ripley K-funktsiooni ning tihedusnäitajate abil. Analüüs hõlmas kokku 14 erinevat maastiku-, elustiku- ja keskkonnaseire alamprogrammi. ; The doctoral studies and the publication of this thesis were supported by the Estonian University of Life Sciences and by the Doctoral School of Earth Sciences and Ecology created under the auspices of European Union Social Fund.

The Ministers of the Environment from the Baltic Sea Countries and the High Representative of the European Commission in November 2007, within the framework of HELCOM, adopted the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) concerning the Baltic Proper, the Gulf of Riga and the Gulf of Finland. The goal of the action plan is to achieve good environmental status by 2021. The action plan consists of around 150 different activities in four main segments; eutrophication, hazardous substances, biodiversity and nature conservation including fisheries, and maritime activities. At the Ministerial Meeting in Moscow 2010 it was recognised that there is a need to support activities agreed in the BSAP and to follow up the implementation of the Russian NIP with regard to e.g. the eutrophication and hazardous substances segments (mainly heavy metals) and to do that it is most important to have reliable monitoring and assessment.In the Copenhagen Ministerial Meeting 2013 the ministers decided on further actions and recommendations adding to the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan including updated country-allocated nutrient reduction targets (CART). It further agreed to monitor and evaluate regularly the progress in implementing the measures to reduce the nutrient inputs and to develop and deliver operational assessments of pressures of e.g. nutrient and hazardous substances inputs (PLCs). In the review of the fifth Pollution Load Compilation (PLC 5.5) for the 2013 HELCOM Ministerial Meeting the PLC data sets were updated and for several countries also corrected and gap-filled. The Russian data were partly estimated due to serious gaps and uncertainties in data reported from the Russian Federation. The present document is a report from a joint co-operation project between Sweden and the Russian Federation "Capacity for Compliance with Baltic Sea Action Plan", named RusNIP II. The aim of the activities in RusNIP II is to contribute to the harmonisation of assessment methods in the Russian catchment area of the Baltic Sea in order to produce comparable and reliable data on pollution loads, mainly nutrients and selected hazardous substances. Such data are needed for use within HELCOM PLC assessments and the follow-up of measures taken to fulfil the BSAP requirements concerning nutrient reduction targets (CART). The project started in 2012, but the RusNIP II project has awaited the outcome of the EU BaltHazAR project before starting some of the RusNIP activities in order not to do any double work. The BaltHazAR II project was finalized 30 June 2012At the 2013 HELCOM Ministerial Meeting it was decided on new nutrient reduction targets for all HELCOM countries including both waterborne and airborne inputs to the Baltic Sea. Based on these figures new input targets (Maximum Allowable Inputs, or MAI) for waterborne nitrogen and phosphorus to sub-basins from Russia were calculated in order to estimate the distance o targets and the reductions required. Reduction targets for Russia are especially strict for phosphorus, and inputs has to be reduced by 50–60 % both for Gulf of Finland and Baltic Proper, as compared with the mean load during 1997–2003. For nitrogen a reduction of 11 % is required for Gulf of Finland and 19 % for Baltic Proper.Nitrogen waterborne load from Russia to Gulf of Finland is at present about 70,000 tons per year and it has not changed much during the period 1994 – 2010. The distance to target during 2008–2010 is about 5,000 ton/yr. For phosphorus a considerable reduction has occurred since 2005–2006, corresponding to about 1,500 tons of P/yr. or about half-way to the input target. The load development to the Baltic Sea from Kaliningrad area is uncertain due to lack of data.A main task of the project has been to assess if the Russian monitoring and assessment system can deliver data and information to HELCOM, in compliance with HELCOM PLC requirements. The overall conclusion is that this is not the case. Russia has not yet fulfilled the HELCOM requirements for annual reporting of PLC data. The main gaps are: a) loads from point sources are given in aggregated form, b) not all obligatory parameters are measured in monitored river, c) unmonitored areas are not reported. In perennial reportings (every 6 years) Russia has reported discharges from coastal point sources and the total riverine inputs, but no source apportionment of inland nutrient sources has been performed. The project has identified three main reasons for the above mentioned deficiencies: The first is that the organisational structure for collecting and compiling data for HELCOM PLC is very complicated and includes a large number of communication steps, from the regional up to the federal level. To simplify and improve the efficiency of data collection and reporting it is proposed that the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation develops and approves legal documents that establish obligations for executors at all levels with regard to participation and submission of data and information to the Helsinki Commission on a regular basis. A second reason is insufficient funding. It is necessary to allocate additional funding from the federal budget, as well as to make necessary changes in the legislation of the Russian Federation. The latter refers specifically to regulatory documents and /or regulations that defines how the flow of information and timing regarding submission of the data to HELCOM, and specify the responsibilities of all levels of performers. A third reason is a lack of methodological basis and responsible authorities for the calculation and assessment of loads from unmonitored areas, diffuse sources, background load and retention. Such a basis is needed in order to be able to make complete source apportionments of loads from the Russian part of the Baltic Sea catchment rivers to the relevant Baltic Sea sub-basins. The project proposes several new methods in this respect. In order to be able to regularly perform calculations of source apportionment of nitrogen and phosphorus loads to the Baltic Sea, it is recommendable to use numerical models. A system for regular data collection, as part of the state monitoring, is needed to supply the models with indata and to update this information regularly. Specifically, we propose that the FyrisNP, or a similar model, should be set up for long-term use in all monitored rivers; Neva (downstream Ladoga), Luga, Narva and Pregolya. For Narva River this issue must be negotiated with Estonia. However, many of the challenges concerning river monitoring have been dealt with successfully. From now on Russia is able to fulfill HELCOM requirements for monitored rivers. Russia has also taken part in an inter-calibration exercise on chemical analyses of wastewater and river water within the HELCOM PLC 6 project.Within the project we have worked with test cases for modelling using the Swedish FyrisNP model and the Russian ILLM model. Advantages and disadvantages with these two numerical models were identified as well as information needed in order to use the models. A three day training course on the FyrisNP model was arranged at SLU, Uppsala in May 2012. In the course 12 Russian experts from authorities and institutions were present. Before the training course started a number of manuals were made available in Russian language. Further, the project has formulated a number of more detailed conclusions and recommendations in order to improve monitoring and assessments of pollution load from the Russian catchment area of the Baltic Sea. The different reports elaborated within the project have been discussed in working group meetings with responsible authorities and institutions which have given valuable comments and amendments to the final report and its annexes.

The Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) was first introduced in all commercial forest reserves in Sabah in 1997. This policy gives hope to the state government to manage the forests in a sustainable manner following the forest development phase of revenue oriented timber exploitation, which has contributed to the decline in forest resources; the increase in forest degradation and the decrease in state income earned from the forestry sector. Under the SFM concept, the forest of the state was divided into Forest Management Units (FMUs) managed by FMU holders under different institutional arrangements of state, state enterprise and private sector. This study was conducted to investigate the corporate-stakeholder interrelation under the SFM concept implemented by the FMU holder in Sabah, Malaysia. The research was based on the 'Triple Typology Perspective of Stakeholder Theory', which encapsulates three different perspectives of 'conceptual', 'corporate' and 'stakeholder' centric. The 'conceptual' perspective explores the overall SFM concept and its relation to the FMU holder – stakeholder interaction. The 'corporate' view investigates how the FMU holders as the corporate part of the SFM concept deals with their stakeholders; and the 'stakeholder' perspective analyses the relation between stakeholders, the FMU holders and SFM implementation. Stakeholder analysis was used to gather information with the application of methods incorporating literature reviews, expert interviews, focus groups, meetings and discussion, questionnaire surveys and Q methodology. Four FMUs were selected as study areas, which managed by the state, state enterprise and private sector. The respondents were encompassed personal of Sabah Forestry Department (SFD), FMU managers and FMU workers, various governmental and non-governmental agencies, and local communities of eight villages located within and in the fringe of FMU areas involved in the study. Under the 'conceptual centric', different groups of stakeholders were identified based on SFM documentation, which also provide the normative basis for the SFM concept. The contemporary implementation of SFM was assessed based on stakeholders' perspective, which indicated that the overall SFM contribution entailed mainly on satisfaction of environment objectives, followed by economic and, to a lesser degree, social objectives. Different categories of stakeholders were identified based on their perceptions of various issues under SFM implementation. These include the level of cooperation or conflict; degree of stakeholder participation; views of specific individuals and a thorough comparison of individual subjectivity. There is, however, an agreement to the statements on the influential factors towards effective SFM implementation, which include the administration and leadership of SFD, and good collaboration between SFD and the FMU holders. Other consensuses were related to the roles of participation in promoting learning about synergy and the importance of various forest uses, and that it should be able to influence the decision-making during the consultation process. The implementation of SFM was agreed in influencing towards investment in the forestry sector and the development of the rural area in the state. The 'corporate centric' indicates the different approaches of stakeholder management under the different arrangements of FMU holders. The SFM operations with a high level of stakeholder involvement were identified as community forestry programme followed by forest conservation, forest protection, development and preparation of plans, administration, human resource development, and research and development. The important stakeholders, according to their degree of involvement in SFM operations were the internal stakeholders of FMU workers, followed by external stakeholders of the staff of SFD, contractors, local communities, local authorities, consultants, businessmen/traders and researchers/scientists. Other stakeholders were various state government agencies, manufacturers, shareholders, NGOs (local), international agencies, NGOs (international), donors, federal government agencies and other FMU holders. The 'stakeholder centric' identifies the various stakeholders interests and claims associated with SFM implementation that depend on stakeholder affiliation. The main groups in this study were multi-interest stakeholder groups (n=104) and the local community groups of the selected villages (n=332). The interests and claims of the multi-interest stakeholder group were related to SFM objectives such as good management of the forest, protection and conservation of environment and biodiversity, and protection of water catchment areas. The local community groups, on the other hand, were mainly concerned with the importance of the forest as a source for foods, land for agriculture and other livelihood purposes. There are various approaches for stakeholder relation management (SRM) that are employed by the FMU holders and stakeholders. These may consist of management quality system, CSR program, the community forest development project; inter agency meetings and dialogue; and collaboration and cooperation with other agencies and institutions. SRM can assist in balancing conflicts that arise, promoting cooperation, and advancing the knowledge and understanding on the SFM concept among the stakeholders. The SRM approaches under the SFM implementation can augment participation by the stakeholders, which in turn will promote effective and efficient implementation of SFM. The mutual relation of the SFM concept and SRM is advancing stakeholder participation in promoting effective implementation of SFM at the FMU level. The inter-relation of the 'triple perspective typology of stakeholder theory' was integrated as new contexts to achieve objectives for sustainability under SFM policy, with the business case of corporate sustainability, and the wider scope of the ecosystem approach and the sustainable development. ; Das Konzept Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) wurde erstmals in allen kommerziellen Waldreservaten in Sabah, Malaysia, im Jahr 1997 eingeführt. Mit dieser Politik verbindet die Landesregierung die Hoffnung, dass die Wälder nun in einer nachhaltigen Art und Weise bewirtschaftet werden können, nachdem die fast ausschließlich auf Einnahmen orientierte Holznutzung zum Rückgang der Waldbestände, zur Zunahme der Waldzerstörung und damit letztendlich auch zum Rückgang der Staatseinnahmen aus der Forstwirtschaft beigetragen hat. Zur Umsetzung des SFM-Konzepts wurde der Staatswald in Forest Management Units (FMU) unterteilt, die von FMU Haltern aus verschiedenen Staatsinstitutionen, Staatsunternehmen und der Privatwirtschaft verwaltet werden. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht das Verhältnis zwischen Unternehmen als FMU-Bewirtschaftern und Stakeholdern im Konzept nachhaltiger Waldbewirtschaftung, das von FMUs in Sabah, Malaysia implementiert wurde. Die Arbeit basiert auf der "Triple-Typology Perspective of Stakeholder Theory", welche drei verschiedene Perspektiven beinhaltet, die konzeptionell, unternehmensbezogen oder Stakeholder-zentriert sind. Dabei untersucht die konzeptionelle Perspektive SFM-Konzepte und die daraus resultierenden Beziehungen zwischen FMU-Bewirtschafter und ihren jeweiligen Stakeholdern. Die unternehmenszentrierte Sicht legt den Schwerpunkt darauf, wie FMU-Bewirtschafter als Teil des SFM-Konzeptes mit Stakeholdern interagieren. Die Stakeholder-Perspektive analysiert das Verhältnis zwischen Stakeholdern, FMU-Bewirtschafter und der SFM-Implementierung. Die Daten wurden mit Hilfe der Stakeholder-Theorie unter Anwendung quantitativer und qualitativer Methoden wie Literaturrecherche, Experteninterviews, Fokusgruppen, informellen Treffen und Diskussionsrunden, schriftlichen Befragungen und der Q-Methodologie erhoben. Als Untersuchungseinheiten wurden vier FMUs ausgewählt, die durch den Staat, den staatlichen Forstbetrieb und den privatem Sektor bewirtschaftet werden. Die Befragungsteilnehmer setzten sich aus Personal der Forstverwaltung Sabah (Sabah Forestry Department, SFD), den FMU-Bewirtschaftern und –Mitarbeitern, verschiedenen Regierungs- und Nicht-Regierungsorganisationen und lokalen Gemeinschaften in acht Dörfern innerhalb sowie im Randgebiet der FMUs zusammen. In Bezug auf die konzeptionelle Perspektive wurden, basierend auf der SFM-Dokumentation, verschiedene Stakeholder-Gruppen identifiziert, die die normative Basis für das SFM-Konzept liefern. Dessen Implementation wurde aus Sicht der Stakeholder analysiert. Es zeigte sich, dass der gesamte Beitrag zum SFM vornehmlich umweltbezogene Zielsetzungen erfüllt, gefolgt von ökonomischen und, zu einem noch geringeren Grad, sozialen Zielen. Mehrere Kategorien von Stakeholdern wurden auf Grundlage ihrer Wahrnehmung verschiedener Aspekte im Zuge der SFM-Implementation identifiziert. Diese umfassen die Kooperations- oder Konfliktebene, den Grad der Stakeholder-Beteiligung sowie individuelle Betrachtungen. Es gibt eine Übereinstimmung zu Äußerungen, welche Einflussfaktoren hinsichtlich effektiver SFM-Implementierung entscheidend sind. Dabei wurden vor allem das Management und die Führung der, der SFD sowie gute Zusammenarbeit zwischen dem SFD und den FMU-Bewirtschaftern genannt. Weitere Übereinstimmung besteht darin, die Weiterbildung über die Bedeutung unterschiedlicher Waldnutzungen und deren Ausbalancierung zu stärken, um die Entscheidungsfindung im Konsultationsprozess beeinflussen zu können. Auch herrschte Einigkeit darin, durch Investition in den Forstsektor und Entwicklung ländlicher Regionen die Implementation von SFM zu stärken. Der unternehmensbezogene Fokus konzentriert sich auf die verschiedenen Ansätze des Stakeholder-Managements unter unterschiedlichen Charakteristika der FMU-Bewirtschafter. SFM-Maßnahmen mit einem hohen Grad an Stakeholder-Beteiligung sind Gemeinschaftsforstprogramme (community forestry programmes), gefolgt von Waldnaturschutz, Waldschutz, Entwicklung und Vorbereitung von Plänen, Verwaltung, die Entwicklung von Humanressourcen sowie Forschung und Entwicklung. Die wichtigsten Stakeholder, bezogen auf ihren Beteiligungsgrad in SFM-Maßnahmen, waren intern die Mitarbeiter der FMUs und extern die Mitarbeiter der SFD, Vertragsnehmer, lokale Gemeinschaftsgruppen und Verwaltungen, Berater, Geschäftsleute/Händler und Forscher/Wissenschaftler. Weitere Stakeholder waren verschiedene Regierungsorganisationen, Produzenten, Aktionäre, internationale Behörden, lokale und internationale NGOs, Behörden der föderalen Regierung und andere FMU-Bewirtschafter. Die Stakeholder Perspektive identifiziert verschiedene Interessen und Forderungen der Stakeholder, die sich auf die SFM-Implementation beziehen und von der Stakeholder-Zugehörigkeit abhängen. Die Hauptgruppen in dieser Studie waren sogenannte Mehrinteressen-Stakeholder-Gruppen (n=104) und lokale Gemeinschaftsgruppen (n=332). Die Interessen und Forderungen der Mehrinteressen-Stakeholder-Gruppen waren bezogen auf SFM-Ziele wie gute Waldbewirtschaftung, Schutz und Erhaltung der Umwelt und Biodiversität sowie Schutz von Wassereinzugsgebieten. Andererseits stand der Wald als Quelle für Nahrung, landwirtschaftliche Flächen und andere Aspekte des Lebensunterhaltes im Mittelpunkt des Interesses lokaler Gemeinschaftsgruppen. Es gibt zahlreiche Ansätze für das Management von Stakeholder-Beziehungen (Stakeholder Relation Management, SRM), welches durch FMU-Bewirtschafter und Stakeholder genutzt wird. Der SRM-Ansatz besteht aus dem Bewirtschaftungsqualitätssystem, CSR-Programm, dem Gemeinschaftswaldentwicklungsprojekt, multilateralen Treffen und Dialog zwischen den Behörden, und Zusammenarbeit und Kooperation mit anderen Behörden und Organisationen. SRM kann dazu dienen, mögliche Konflikte auszubalancieren, Kooperation zu begünstigen sowie das Wissen und Verständnis von SFM zu fördern. Die Einbindung von SRM in die Implementation von SFM erweitert die Beteiligung der Stakeholder, was wiederum zu einer effektiveren und effizienteren Implementation von SFM auf FMU-Ebene führen kann. Die Wechselbeziehungen zwischen der "Triple-Perspective Typology of Stakeholder Theory" und dem Ökosystemansatz, der unternehmensbezogenen Nachhaltigkeit und dem Konzept des Sustainable Forest Management bilden die Grundlage, um das Ziel einer umfassenden Nachhaltigkeit zu erreichen.

Als Reaktion auf die fortschreitende, anthropogen bedingte Veränderung und Zerstörung der Ökosysteme fand 1992 die Konferenz der Vereinten Nationen über Umwelt und Entwicklung in Rio de Janeiro statt. Die Konferenz markiert aus heutiger Sicht einen Startpunkt multilateraler Umweltschutzbemühungen, da offiziell formuliert wurde, dass die lokal auftretenden Umweltprobleme durch globale Veränderungen hervorgerufen werden und nur durch gemeinsame Bemühungen auf internationaler Ebene zu bewältigen sind. Ergebnis dieser Konferenz war die Verabschiedung verschiedener internationaler Abkommen zum Umweltschutz. Wälder spielen dabei in ihrer Funktion als Kohlenstoffspeicher und als terrestrischer Lebensraum mit der höchsten Artenvielfalt eine zentrale Rolle. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellen sich für die Waldinventur neue Aufgaben, sowohl bezüglich der zu erfassenden Zielgrößen als auch hinsichtlich der Rahmenbedingungen, da die erhobenen Informationen nicht mehr nur auf Betriebsebene für die Planung der Bewirtschaftung verwendet werden, sondern auch für die Erfüllung der internationalen Berichtspflichten. Als zentrale Größe des Waldmonitorings muss die Waldfläche gesehen werden, da sie die Grundlage für die meisten Berechnungen ist. Daneben wird die Waldfragmentierung, also die Form und räumliche Verteilung der Waldflächen, häufig als Indikator für die Biodiversität diskutiert. Die fernerkundliche Erfassung der Waldfläche und die Beschreibung der Waldfragmentierung mit Landschaftsstrukturmaßen (LSM) im Kontext der internationalen Umweltabkommen ist Gegenstand der vorliegenden Arbeit. Zielsetzung ist es, kritische methodische und technische Aspekte, welche die Schätzung der Waldfläche und die Berechnung der LSM beeinflussen, zu identifizieren und ihre Wirkungen zu analysieren. Anhand einer Literaturrecherche wurden zunächst vier kritische Faktoren identifiziert: i) die Walddefinition, ii) die Waldranddefinition, iii) der Beobachtungsmaßstab und iv) das Landschaftsmodell, welches für die Berechnung der LSM verwendet wird. Die Effekte und Wechselwirkungen zwischen den vier genannten Faktoren wurden im zweiten Teil der Arbeit auf Grundlage einer Simulationsstudie untersucht. Dafür wurden Kronenkarten und Geländemodelle auf Basis von Gauß'schen Zufallsfeldern in verschiedenen Auflösungstufen simuliert. Durch Variation der Mindestüberschirmung und der Größe der Referenzfläche, auf der die Überschirmung gemessen wird, konnten aus den Kronenkarten Waldkarten mit unterschiedlichen Wald- und Waldranddefinitionen erstellt werden. Zusätzlich wurde der Einfluss des Landschaftsmodells auf die Berechnung der LSM untersucht. Dies geschah mit Hilfe eines neuen Verfahrens, das die Berechnung der LSM im dreidimensionalen Raum ermöglicht. Die Ergebnisse der Simulation zeigen, dass alle vier Faktoren einen wesentlichen Einfluss auf die Waldflächenkarten haben können. Dabei ergeben sich besonders für die Kronenüberschirmung und die Referenzflächengröße spezifische Wechselwirkungen, die sich teilweise mit einem einfachen geometrischen Waldrandmodell theoretisch erklären lassen. So zeigt sich, dass besonders für Walddefinitionen mit einer Mindestüberschirmung, die stark von 50 % abweicht, die Referenzflächengröße einen erheblichen Einfluss auf die Waldfläche und Fragmentierung hat. Basierend auf den Ergebnissen der Simulationstudie wurde im 3. Teil der Arbeit ein Klassifikationschschema entwickelt, das es ermöglicht spezifische Kriterien einer Walddefinition in den Auswertungs- und Klassifikationsprozess von Fernerkundungsdaten zu integrieren, um standardisierte Waldkarten zu erstellen. Beispielhafte Grundlage war die Walddefinition der Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), die Wald als eine Landnutzungsform beschreibt. Im Gegensatz zu Landbedeckungsformen können Landnutzungsklassen nicht direkt in Fernerkundungsdaten beobachtet werden. Zur Erstellung einer Landnutzungskarte müssen daher neben den Landbedeckungsklassen weitere Kontextinformationen berücksichtigt werden. Dafür wurde in der vorliegenden Arbeit ein hierarchischer Klassifikationsschlüssel entwickelt, der ausgehend von einer Landbedeckungskarte, eine Landnutzungs- und eine Waldkarte generiert. Die benötigten Kontextinformationen werden dabei mit Hilfe von Entscheidungsbäumen, die auf eine fixe Referenzfläche angewendet werden, berücksichtigt. Dieses Verfahren ermöglicht es, Waldkarten zu erstellen, die einer bestimmten vorher festgelegten Walddefinition entsprechen. Insofern kann das Verfahren zur Standardisierung der Waldflächenerfassung beitragen. Darüber hinaus bietet es die Möglichkeit die Walddefinition durch Änderung der Kriterien oder der Schwellenwerte flexibel anzupassen, sodass es als wissenschaftliches Werkzeug zur Analyse des Effektes verschiedener Walddefinitionen verwendet werden kann. Im letzten Teil der Arbeit wurde eine Fallstudie durchgeführt, die untersucht inwieweit sich das entwickelte Verfahren operational für die Waldflächenerfassung einsetzen lässt. Da der Fokus der internationalen Umweltabkommen auf den tropischen Waldgebieten liegt, wurden für die Fallstudie zwei unterschiedliche tropische Waldlandschaften in Costa Rica ausgewählt. Zur Klassifikation der Landbedeckung kamen Satellitenbilder des RapidEye-Systems mit einer räumlichen Auflösung von 5 m zum Einsatz. Für die Klassifikation der Landbedeckung wurde zunächst eine Software entwickelt, welche atmosphärische und topographische Korrekturen, Bildverbesserung, nicht-parametrische Klassifikationsverfahren und den, im dritten Teil der Arbeit entwickelten hierarchischen Klassifikationsansatz für die Erstellung der Landnutzungskarten, implementiert. Die Ergebnisse der Fallstudie zeigen, dass das entwickelte Verfahren geeignet ist, Waldkarten für stark fragmentierte tropische Landschaften zu erstellen. Die Waldkarten entsprechen einer zuvor festgelegten Walddefinition (z. B. FAO), in der die einzelnen Kriterien (u. a. Mindestüberschirmung, Mindestgröße, vorherrschende Landnutzung) während der Klassifikation explizit geprüft werden. Die vorliegende Arbeit zeigt theoretisch, empirisch und auch in der praktischen Anwendung, dass eine Vielzahl von Faktoren die Erfassung der Waldfläche beeinflusst. Einer der wichtigsten Faktoren ist dabei die Walddefinition. Die übliche Praxis bei der fernerkundlichen Erstellung von Waldkarten, die Klasse "Wald" ohne expliziten Bezug auf geeignete Kriterien direkt auszuweisen, führt zu großen Unsicherheiten bei der Waldflächenschätzung und ist im Rahmen von international verbindlichen Abkommen kaum akzeptabel. Die Entscheidung welche Walddefinition verwendet werden soll, wird in politischen Verhandlungen bestimmt. Aufgabe der Waldinventur muss es dann sein, diese politischen Vorgaben umzusetzen. Die hier vorgestellten Methoden können insofern zur Standardisierung der fernerkundlichen Waldflächenerfassung beitragen, als das sie transparente Entscheidungsregeln implementieren und somit konsistente Waldkarten erzeugen. ; In reaction to the ongoing anthropogenetic changes of the earth' ecosystems the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was hold in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. This conference was an important starting point in environmental negotiations as it was recognized that locally observed problems are caused by global changes in the ecosystems and thus global actions are required. The conference resulted in the agreement on different international environmental conventions including the Convention on Biological Diversity (UN-CBD) and the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN-FCCC) which in turn led to the Kyoto protocol. Forests play a significant role in both conventions either as being a carbon pool or as host to greater biodiversity. In this context forest monitoring faces new challenges regarding the target variables as well as the usage of the information which will no longer only be used for forest management decisions but also to fulfill international reporting obligations. The forest area and its fragmentation are the most fundamental variables of the required monitoring then. The topic of this work is the remote sensing based assessment of forest area and characterization of its fragmentation by means of landscape metrics in the context of international environmental conventions with the specific objective to identify and analyze critical methodological and technical aspects and their relevance for forest cover monitoring systems. Based on a literature review four critical factors were identified: i) forest definition, ii) forest edge definition, iii) scale of observation, and iv) the landscape model used to derive the landscape metrics. The effects and interactions of these factors were analyzed in the second part of the study using a spatial simulation based on artificial landscapes. Therefore tree crown maps and elevation models were simulated with different spatial resolutions using Gaussian random fields. By varying the minimum crown cover threshold and the reference area on which crown cover is determined, forest maps with different underling forest and forest edge definitions were generated. To analyze the effects of the landscape model on the calculation of landscape metrics a new approach which enables the calculation of landscape metrics in the three dimensional space was taken. The simulation results showed that all of the studied factors have an influence on the forest area estimates and the derived landscape metrics. Significant interactions between crown cover and the size of the reference area were found and could be explained partly by the analysis of a simple geometric forest edge model. A major finding of the simulation study is, that if the crown cover threshold is different from 0.5, significant effects are to be expected from the size of the reference area. Based on the findings from the simulation a classification framework was developed in the third part of the study which allows the integration of a specific forest and forest edge definition into the analysis of remote sensing data. The FAO forest definition is most widely used in the context of international environmental conventions and defines forest as a land use class. Land use can not be observed directly in remote sensing data without the integration of context information. Therefore a hierarchical classification key which allows the generation of land cover, land use and forest cover maps was developed. The required context information was collected by applying the concept of a fixed reference area. This approach allows the implementation of specific criteria of forest definitions and separates the process of image classification form the application of a forest definition. Thus forest definitions can easily be adopted to the user requirements and forest maps with different forest definition can be generated, which makes the framework an interesting research tool. In the last part of the work the operational practicability of the developed approach was tested in a case study. Therefore two tropical highly fragmented forest landscapes in Costa Rica were selected. For both study sites land cover maps were generated from RapidEye satellite images. Therefore a software was programmed which implements the 6-S atmospheric correction, topographic correction, image enhancement and the Random Forests classifier. The results of the case study demonstrated that the developed approach is capable of producing forest cover maps for highly fragmented tropical landscapes. The forest maps are in line with the current forest definitions (e.g. FAO) as the criteria (e.g. crown cover, minimum area, predominantly land use) are evaluated individually during the classification. The study at hand shows theoretically, empirically and also practically that a number of factors influence the assessment of forest cover and fragmentation. The most important factor is the forest definition. The widespread practice to generate forest maps without the implication of specific forest definitions leads to large uncertainties of the forest area estimates which are hardly acceptable in the context of international conventions. The decision on criteria and thresholds of forest definitions are negotiated in a political debate. The forest inventory will be responsible to transcript the political guidelines into an operational monitoring system. The proposed approaches can contribute to the standardization of forest cover monitoring as they implement transparent definitions to generate consistent forest cover maps.

Seit Beginn des Ackerbaus hat sich eine an die Kulturarten angepasste Ackerbegleitflora und -fauna entwickelt. Intensivierungsprozesse der landwirtschaftlichen Produktion führten in den letzten Jahrzehnten zu einer stetig voranschreitenden Umstrukturierung vieler Agrarlandschaften und einer Abnahme der Habitatdiversität. Diese Entwicklung war verbunden mit einem dramatischen Verlust der Artenvielfalt und einem drastischen Rückgang der Populationsgrößen von Segetalarten. Eine Reihe von Studien zeigt aber, dass eine artenreiche Segetalflora eine entscheidende Rolle bei der Erhaltung der Funktionsfähigkeit von Agrar-Ökosystemen spielt, z.B. durch Förderung höherer trophischer Ebenen oder durch die Bereitstellung von Ökosystemdienstleistungen. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Auswirkungen der ackerbaulichen Intensivierung auf die Segetalvegetation in Mitteldeutschland sowohl auf Landschafts- als auch auf Populationsebene. Die Ergebnisse dieser Untersuchungen wurden zur Evaluierung bestehender Projekte zur Förderung der Segetalflora genutzt und liefern eine Grundlage für zukünftige Schutzstrategien. Die Ergebnisse der Untersuchungen zeigen eine dramatische Verarmung der Segetalvegetation auf allen wichtigen Hierarchiestufen. Auf europäischer Ebene konnte für alle europäischen Länder nachgewiesen werden, dass ein höherer Weizenertrag auch mit einer erhöhten Zahl gefährdeter Segetalarten einhergeht. So hatte jede zusätzlich produzierte Tonne Weizen/ha eine Gefährdung von etwa zehn weiteren Segetalarten Ländern zur Folge. Dabei scheinen die an bestimmte Kulturarten angepassten Spezialisten am stärksten vom Aussterben bedroht zu sein. Die Untersuchungen belegen, dass der verstärkte Einsatz von Herbiziden in den EU-Mitgliedstaaten in Mittel-und Nord-Westeuropa zu einer Selektion ausgewählter Segetalarten geführt hat, die an die heutigen nivellierten Standortbedingungen angepasst ist. Auf Gesellschaftsniveau, zeigen unsere Untersuchungen deutlich, dass die Intensivierung der Nutzung von Agrar-Ökosystemen zu massiven Verschiebungen in der Zusammensetzung von Segetalgesellschaften geführt hat. In den 1950er/60er Jahren konnte die Mehrzahl der Vegetationsaufnahmen noch auf Assoziationsebene zugeordnet werden, während sich aktuelle Vegetationserhebungen oft nur noch auf der Ebene höherer Syntaxa wie Verband, Ordnung, Klasse oder als floristisch stark verarmte Fragment-Gesellschaften einstufen ließen. In diesem Zusammenhang kann in den letzten fünf Jahrzehnten auch eine Verringerung des regionalen Artenpools um 23 %, ein dramatischer Artenverlust auf Plot-Ebene (mittlerer Verlust von 17 Arten pro Aufnahme) sowie stark zurückgehende Populationsgrößen kennzeichnender Arten belegt werden. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen auch, dass die Intensität der Veränderungen in der Vegetationszusammensetzung zwischen den unterschiedlichen Böden variierte, wobei sandige Standorte weniger stark betroffen waren. Des Weiteren hat sich der mittlere Deckungsgrad der Segetalarten drastisch auf ein Zehntel des früheren Wertes reduziert, wohingegen der Deckungsgrad der Kulturpflanzen anstieg und die Kulturpflanzenvielfalt abnahm. Archäophyten, Neophyten und die meisten Grasartigen zeigten zum Teil starke Frequenzverluste ähnlich denen von einheimischen krautigen Pflanzen, aber nur geringe Veränderungen in ihrem Anteil an der Gesamtdeckung der Segetalarten. Der beobachtete Anstieg der "Ellenberg-Zeigerwerte" für Stickstoff und Bodenreaktion deutet darauf hin, dass die höhere Düngergaben in Kombination mit der heute üblichen Anwendung von Herbiziden und den sehr dicht stehenden Kulturpflanzenbeständen als Hauptursachen für Veränderungen in der Segetalvegetation angesehen werden können. Der beobachtete Trend einer Vereinheitlichung der Gesellschaftstrukturen von Segetalarten, bei der Spezialisten und diagnostisch wichtige Arten zurückgehen und die Anzahl und Abundanz der Generalisten zunimmt, spiegelt die Vereinheitlichung von Anbausystemen und der Optimierung des Nährstoffangebotes in den letzten Jahrzehnten wider. Der beobachtete Rückgang der Populationsgröße, insbesondere bei selten gewordenen Arten mit geringer Populationsgröße (Adonis aestivalis L. und Consolida regalis S.F. Gray), wirkten sich auf die genetische Vielfalt dieser Populationen aus. Da die genetische Struktur zwischen den Arten und Populationen variiert, ist in diesem Zusammenhang auch die Komplexität der Landschaftsstruktur entscheidend. Anders als erwartet war die genetische Diversität innerhalb einzelner Populationen in weniger stark strukturierten Landschaften wesentlich höher als innerhalb von Populationen in strukturreichen Landschaften. Populationen aus strukturreichen Landschaften unterschieden sich genetisch zudem stärker voneinander als Populationen strukturärmerer Landschaften. Darüber hinaus wurde bei der fremdbefruchtenden C. regalis eine höhere Diversität innerhalb der Populationen festgestellt, während die selbstbefruchtende A. aestivalis eine geringere Diversität innerhalb der Populationen aufwies. Allerdings zeigten weder A. aestivalis noch C. regalis eine signifikante "Isolation-by-Distance" unabhängig von der Landschaftsstruktur. Zusammenfassend zeigt die vorliegende Arbeit, dass auf allen Hierarchiestufen von der kontinentalen Ebene, über die Phytocoenosen bis hin zu Populationen einzelner Arten starke Veränderungen in den Segetalgesellschaften stattgefunden haben. Um das nationale Ziel der Erhöhung der Populationsgrößen der Mehrzahl der Arten in landwirtschaftlich genutzten Ökosystemen bis 2015 zu erreichen, sind neue, effektive und innovative Maßnahmen dringend erforderlich. Um den fortwährenden Biodiversitätsverlust in der Agrarlandschaft entgegenzuwirken ist vor allem eine entsprechende Ausgestaltung der Gemeinsamen Europäischen Agrarpolitik (GAP) für die Förderperiode 2014-2020 von zentraler Bedeutung. ; Since the first creation of arable land a crop-adapted flora and fauna has developed as a byproduct of low-intensity agriculture. Intensification and economic optimization of agricultural production during the last few decades have led to simplified agricultural landscapes and a decrease in spatial heterogeneity, resulting in a dramatic loss of species diversity and population decline of arable plants. In this context, numerous recent studies have pointed out that a diverse arable flora plays a key role in the functioning of agricultural systems, acting to maintain beneficial ecological functions (e.g. support of higher trophic levels or provision of ecosystem services). The aim of this thesis is to provide insights into the influence of agricultural intensification processes on shifts in arable vegetation from the continental to the population level for evaluating existing arable plant conservation schemes and proposing future strategies. Within the framework of this thesis, all observational studies were carried out in Central Germany. This study demonstrates a dramatic impoverishment of the arable vegetation on all major organisational levels. At the continental European scale, we found a positive relationship between national wheat yields and the numbers of rare, threatened or recently extinct arable plant species in each European country. It was found that for every extra tonne/hectare of wheat produced approximately ten more plant species become nationally threatened. Specialist species adapted to certain crops were among the most threatened. The results from this study showed that the increased use of agro-chemicals, especially in the EU Member States in Central and North-Western Europe, has selected against a larger group of arable species adapted to habitats with intermediate fertility. Moving to finer scale on the community level, this study clearly demonstrates that the European-wide intensification of arable habitat use has led to massive shifts in the arable plant community composition. In the 1950s/60s, most of the relevés could be easily assigned on association level, while the recent relevés could often only be classified at the level of higher syntaxa such as alliance, order, class or 'fragmental' floristicallyimpoverished communities. In this context, our analysis revealed a reduction of 23% in the number of species in the regional species pool during the 50-yr period, dramatic losses in plot-level diversity (median loss of 17 species per relevé) and decreasing population sizes of rare and diagnostic species. The results also indicate that vegetation changes depended on geological substrate, with sandy sites being less severely affected. Furthermore, the average cover of arable plants has dramatically decreased to a tenth of its original extent, while crop cover generally increased and crop diversity decreased. Archaeophytes, neophytes and most Poaceae (including some highly competitive weeds) showed large frequency losses similar to that of indigenous herbarceous plants, but only modest changes in their share of total arable plant cover. The observed increasing Ellenberg indicator values (EIV) for nitrogen and pH indicate that N-fertilisation may, in combination with increasing usage of herbicides and denser crop stands, act as a major driver of change in the arable vegetation. Consequently, the reported clear trend towards homogenization in community structure, where specialists and diagnostic species have disappeared and generalists increased is reflecting the growing uniformity in crop management schemes and soil fertility levels in recent time. The reported decreasing population sizes, especially in rare species with small populations (in this case Adonis aestivalis L. and Consolida regalis S.F. GRAY), are shown to affect their genetic diversity. In this context, also landscape complexity plays an important role because genetic structure varies among species and populations. However, contrary to expectation, within-population diversity levels of the species were significantly higher in populations located in monotonous landscapes than in populations of structurally diverse landscapes. Populations from diverse landscapes differed more significantly from each other than those from monotonous landscapes. Furthermore, we observed high within-population diversity for the outcrossing C. regalis, but low within-population diversity for the self-pollinating A. aestivalis. However, neither A. aestivalis nor C. regalis showed a significant isolation-by-distance regardless of landscape structure. In conclusion, the present study shows that arable plant communities are under dramatic threat, affecting all major organisational levels from the European scale to the population level. The rapid shifts in the highly dynamic agro-ecosystems within the last few decades have strongly influenced community structure, plant diversity, population sizes and genetic variation. To achieve the defined target of increasing the population size of the majority of species in agricultural ecosystems by 2015, new, effective and innovative schemes and programs are urgently required. Especially the design of the Common agricultural policy (CAP) after 2013 will be of major importance for the task to halt the loss of arable plant biodiversity in the agricultural landscape.

Currently biofuels have strong political support, both in the EU and Sweden. The EU has, for example, set a target for the use of renewable fuels in the transportation sector stating that all EU member states should use 10% renewable fuels for transport by 2020. Fulfilling this ambition will lead to an enormous market for biofuels during the coming decade. To avoid increasing production of biofuels based on agriculture crops that require considerable use of arable area, focus is now to move towards more advanced second generation (2G) biofuels that can be produced from biomass feedstocks associated with a more efficient land use. Climate benefits and greenhouse gas (GHG) balances are aspects often discussed in conjunction with sustainability and biofuels. The total GHG emissions associated with production and usage of biofuels depend on the entire fuel production chain, mainly the agriculture or forestry feedstock systems and the manufacturing process. To compare different biofuel production pathways it is essential to conduct an environmental assessment using the well-to-tank (WTT) analysis methodology. In Sweden the conditions for biomass production are favourable and we have promising second generation biofuels technologies that are currently in the demonstration phase. In this study we have chosen to focus on cellulose based ethanol, methane from gasification of solid wood as well as DME from gasification of black liquor, with the purpose of identifying research and development potentials that may result in improvements in the WTT emission values. The main objective of this study is thus to identify research and development challenges for Swedish biofuel actors based on literature studies as well as discussions with the the researchers themselves. We have also discussed improvement potentials for the agriculture and forestry part of the WTT chain. The aim of this study is to, in the context of WTT analyses, (i) increase knowledge about the complexity of biofuel production, (ii) identify and discuss improvement potentials, regarding energy efficiency and GHG emissions, for three biofuel production cases, as well as (iii) identify and discuss improvement potentials regarding biomass supply, including agriculture/forestry. The scope of the study is limited to discussing the technologies, system aspects and climate impacts associated with the production stage. Aspects such as the influence on biodiversity and other environmental and social parameters fall beyond the scope of this study. We find that improvement potentials for emissions reductions within the agriculture/forestry part of the WTT chain include changing the use of diesel to low-CO2-emitting fuels, changing to more fuel-efficient tractors, more efficient cultivation and manufacture of fertilizers (commercial nitrogen fertilizer can be produced in plants which have nitrous oxide gas cleaning) as well as improved fertilization strategies (more precise nitrogen application during the cropping season). Furthermore, the cultivation of annual feedstock crops could be avoided on land rich in carbon, such as peat soils and new agriculture systems could be introduced that lower the demand for ploughing and harrowing. Other options for improving the WTT emission values includes introducing new types of crops, such as wheat with higher content of starch or willow with a higher content of cellulose. From the case study on lignocellulosic ethanol we find that 2G ethanol, with co-production of biogas, electricity, heat and/or wood pellet, has a promising role to play in the development of sustainable biofuel production systems. Depending on available raw materials, heat sinks, demand for biogas as vehicle fuel and existing 1G ethanol plants suitable for integration, 2G ethanol production systems may be designed differently to optimize the economic conditions and maximize profitability. However, the complexity connected to the development of the most optimal production systems require improved knowledge and involvement of several actors from different competence areas, such as chemical and biochemical engineering, process design and integration and energy and environmental systems analysis, which may be a potential barrier. Three important results from the lignocellulosic ethanol study are: (i) the production systems could be far more complex and intelligently designed than previous studies show, (ii) the potential improvements consist of a large number of combinations of process integration options wich partly depends on specific local conditions, (iii) the environmental performance of individual systems may vary significantly due to systems design and local conditons. From the case study on gasification of solid biomass for the production of biomethane we find that one of the main advantages of this technology is its high efficiency in respect to converting biomass into fuels for transport. For future research we see a need for improvements within the gas up-grading section, including gas cleaning and gas conditioning, to obtain a more efficient process. A major challenge is to remove the tar before the methanation reaction. Three important results from the biomethane study are: (i) it is important not to crack the methane already produced in the syngas, which indicates a need for improved catalysts for selective tar cracking, (ii) there is a need for new gas separation techniques to facilitate the use of air oxidation agent instead of oxygen in the gasifier, and (iii) there is a need for testing the integrated process under realistic conditions, both at atmospheric and pressurized conditions. From the case study on black liquor gasification for the production of DME we find that the process has many advantages compared to other biofuel production options, such as the fact that black liquor is already partially processed and exists in a pumpable, liquid form, and that the process is pressurised and tightly integrated with the pulp mill, which enhances fuel production efficiency. However, to achieve commercial status, some challenges still remain, such as demonstrating that materials and plant equipment meet the high availability required when scaling up to industrial size in the pulp mill, and also proving that the plant can operate according to calculated heat and material balances. Three important results from the DME study are: (i) that modern chemical pulp mills, having a potential surplus of energy, could become important suppliers of renewable fuels for transport, (ii) there is a need to demonstrate that renewable DME/methanol will be proven to function in large scale, and (iii) there is still potential for technology improvements and enhanced energy integration. Although quantitative improvement potentials are given in the three biofuel production cases, it is not obvious how these potentials would affect WTT values, since the biofuel production processes are complex and changing one parameter impacts other parameters. The improvement potentials are therefore discussed qualitatively. From the entire study we have come to agree on the following common conclusions: (i) research and development in Sweden within the three studied 2G biofuel production technologies is extensive, (ii) in general, the processes, within the three cases, work well at pilot and demonstration scale and are now in a phase to be proven in large scale, (iii) there is still room for improvement although some processes have been known for decades, (iv) the biofuel production processes are complex and site specific and process improvements need to be seen and judged from a broad systems perspective (both within the production plant as well as in the entire well-to-tank perspective), and (v) the three studied biofuel production systems are complementary technologies. Futher, the process of conducting this study is worth mentioning as a result itself, i.e. that many different actors within the field have proven their ability and willingness to contribute to a common report, and that the cooperation climate was very positive and bodes well for possible future collaboration within the framework of the f3 center. Finally, judging from the political ambitions it is clear that the demand for renewable fuels will significantly increase during the coming decade. This will most likely result in opportunities for a range of biofuel options. The studied biofuel options all represent 2G biofuels and they can all be part of the solution to meet the increased renewable fuel demand.

Currently, the effect of human impact on the environment is becoming increasingly apparent. The encroachment of human activity has inevitably resulted in the loss or impairment of ecological goods and services (EG&S) around the globe as well as in our own backyard. EG&S include features such as wildlife habitat, biodiversity, soil renewal, or nutrient cycling. The loss of such features has become a sobering reality for Manitobans in the face of the eutrophication of Lake Winnipeg as a result of practices contributing to nutrient loading into the lake. Since EG&S are very important to Manitobans, efforts are being made to explore different vehicles to encourage their provision. In order to address some of the environmental issues transpiring in Manitoba, there has been discussion on the usefulness of Market Based Instruments (MBIs). In the past, a number of programs focused on the environment in agriculture have been put forward and administered, however these have not been overly successful in incenting producers or providing significant levels of EG&S. This report will provide a summary of a series of workshops developed to bring awareness to stakeholders on an MBI known as a conservation auction (which may also be referred to as reverse auction, procurement auction, or tender). The purpose of this series of workshops was to create awareness of the conservation auction process and how it applies to the provision of EG&S by producers in Manitoba; moreover it was an opportunity to receive feedback on the applicability of auctions in Manitoba. The objectives for this series of workshops are as follows: 1) Determine the opinions of relevant stakeholders in regards to the relevance of auctions in Manitoba 2) Investigate auction design features such as payment type, competition, and communication 3) Conduct an economic analysis of the results of the auction simulations provided in the workshops for educational purposes. EG&S are the positive environmental benefits arising from healthy ecosystems. They are fundamentally complex and have no associated market value, which makes it difficult to develop relevant policy. Environmental programs typically use fixed payment or cost sharing agreements to procure EG&S but they have been found to be unsuccessful partly because of inadequate levels of compensation. An alternative approach is to use MBIs to deliver EG&S programs. MBIs are policy instruments that use market forces, prices, or other economic variables to change behaviour. They can eithe create a market, where no market is currently operating, or improve a market if there is market failure. These tools utilize trading mechanisms, direct payments, price signals, or auctions to capture value that may have been overlooked under the present policy scheme. This is a key feature that makes MBIs appropriate to use in the context of EG&S since their value is unknown. Therefore, through the use of MBIs we can gain more knowledge and understanding of the costs and benefits of EG&S. In the case of EG&S procurement, conservation auctions are a viable option as a method to purchase EG&S from producers in a cost effective way. Auction mechanisms use market forces in the face of information asymmetry (where two parties both hold private information that is not known to the other party, in this case the parties are government and producers) and act as a price discovery system for EG&S. With competition as the driving force, participants are induced to reveal their compliance costs through the bidding process (Latacz-Lohmann & Schilizzi 2005). This is because participants must face tradeoff related to the probability are revealing some of their own cost information while receiving a payment adequate to cover their costs. Conservation auctions are a unique type of procurement auction where participants place bids for providing EG&S. Like a conventional procurement auction, participants submit bids indicating the price they are willing to accept/willing to sell their good or service for. The bids are then ordered from lowest to highest (can be either $/unit or whole price). Unlike conventional procurement auctions, typically, multiple winners are selected from lowest to highest until either a budget is exhausted or a unit target is met. Auction design is an important factor in maintaining economic efficiency in conservation auctions. Since conventional auction theory cannot be used to guide design, auction experiments in an economic laboratory have been utilized to test different designs to understand their efficiency capability as well as their ability to act as a cost discovery tool (Lohmann & Schilizzi 2005). Important design measures to consider are: the method of payment; use of target versus budget constraints; is information revealed or hidden; the use of a reservation price or target; and bid evaluation systems. In total 13 workshops were completed between the dates of March 8, 2010 and March 19, 2010. Originally 15 sessions were scheduled; however due to limited attendance participants from two sessions were scheduled; however due to limited attendance participants from two sessions were rescheduled to other sessions. Four treatments were used during the series of workshops; two payment structures (discriminatory (D) and uniform(U)) and two bid ranking structures (maximize coverage (MC) (or acres) and maximize kg phosphorous abatement (MP)): 4 MCU, 3 MCD, 3 MPU, and 3 MPD. Light economic analysis of the auction simulation results was conducted. As these workshops were being used more as an information tool to stakeholders, the results of the auctions most likely do not reflect real behaviour; therefore caution and scrutiny should be used when interpreting the results. Despite discrepancies, lessons may still be learned from the results. Profit maximizing, or rent seeking, behaviour was apparent in almost all auction simulations. This is mostly attributed to the low rate of competition in some rounds. Where there was low competition the cost effectiveness of the auction would ultimately decrease and could not be used as a cost discovery mechanism. It was difficult to see any major differences between the two payment methods, however on two occasions the uniform payment yielded negative rent, in other words people were bidding below their costs on average. At the conclusion of each auction simulation, participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire asking for their opinions on the workshop itself, as well as more detailed questions pertaining to environmental programming in Manitoba and opinions about the conservation auction mechanism. Overall, there was a positive response to the mechanism. There was a distinct divide between producers and other groups (e.g. government, NGOs, and academia) according to the recorded responses. In the discussion that followed each workshop, similar concerns were brought to the table regardless of demographics. These encompassed how the auction would be implemented down to details about administration and monitoring; producer concerns related to the estimation of costs, fairness to the producer, the competitive nature of the auction, and contract lengths; as well as discussions about environmental programming in general that were not specifically related to the conservation auction process. Taking time to think through auction design will also be necessary in order to have an auction that caters to the public and producers, and will be cost effective. While it may be too soon to be discussing details surrounding the implementation or design of an auction in Manitoba, more thought may be required on related issues such as development of an Environmental Benefits Index (EBI) and associated extension program. These workshops were developed to allow stakeholders to become aware of the conservation auction, and learn more about the process and why they are implemented around the world. It was also a platform of discussion amongst stakeholders to gauge how acceptable an auction would be in Manitoba to procure EG&S from producers: a lot of information and ideas were shared from all sides of the story. Overall, it was a very positive experience for those involved and a positive reaction to the auction process was encountered. However, some still remain apprehensive and skeptical of the mechanism in terms of its application in Manitoba.