ECAS-BALTIC (Ecosystem-supporting Coastal Adaptation Strategies on the German Baltic coast)
Our overall objective is to investigate nature-based adaptation strategies to protect people and ecosystems from the impacts of sea-level rise on the German Baltic Sea coast.
Within this collaborative project, my research focuses on the social acceptance of established (e.g. sand nourishment) as well as controversial measures (i.e. managed realignment: the planned removal or inland relocation of current coastal protection structures to restore natural coastal dynamics and buffers).
Together with colleagues and students, I develop an inventory of ecological restoration projects on the German Baltic coast, which (may) involve managed realignment, and carry out detailed case studies of projects in the State of Mecklenburg – Western Pomerania. The main goal is to better understand factors that enable nature-based coastal adaptation and promote consensual strategies.
The joint project is led by the Global Climate Forum. The project consortium also includes:
- Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research, Warnemünde
www.io-warnemuende.de - Ludwig-Franzius-Institute for Hydraulic, Estuarine and Coastal Engineering, Leibniz Universität Hannover www.lufi.uni-hannover.de
- Institute for Bioscience, Rostock University www.oekologie.uni-rostock.de
- Department of Geography, Coastal Risks and Sea-Level Rise Group www.crslr.de and Institute of Geosciences, Coastal Geology and Sedimentology www.sedimentologie.ifg.uni-kiel.de, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
- Centre for Materials & Coastal Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht www.hereon.de
Peasant farmer livelihood strategies as driver and outcome of socio-ecological transformations in Mexico and Bolivia
Peasant and indigenous farmer communities are undergoing complex and multi-faceted adaptation processes in frontier regions of Latin America, i.e. regions where primary forest is rapidly disappearing due to natural resource extraction and the expansion of agriculture.
External conditions (e.g. trade policy, conservation regulations) and peasant farmers’ resources (access to land, agricultural extension) strongly influence how local productive system and land use evolve. However, these changes are often overlooked in regional and global Land Use / Land Cover analyses, although they have profound implications for local populations and their environment.
In this project, my aim is to make micro-scale changes in land use trajectories visible based on detailed case studies in the Velasco Province (east Bolivia) and North Chiapas (Mexico).
Critical cartography and monitoring of oil palm cultivation in Mexico
Palm oil has become one of the most important oilseed crops worldwide, and global demand is increasing fast. However, oil palm is at the centre of a controversy, as its cultivation is associated with profound socio-ecological impacts, ranging from deforestation, reduction in biodiversity, environmental contamination, large-scale land acquisition and violation of local populations’ and workers’ rights.
Oil palm cultivation is a rapidly growing sector in Mexico, which is currently the 16th producer globally. Official governmental organisations regularly monitor and map areas under oil palm cultivation, however these data are not easy to obtain.
In this project, our goal is to establish an independent monitoring system of the progression of oil palm cultivation in South Mexico to provide freely accessible information and maps on where oil palm is actually being planted, where it is expanding to and which vegetation and land use it is replacing.