New Publication: Klimaschutz auf kommunaler Ebene – ein Aufruf zum Handeln

As the year 2023 draws to a close, the illusion that the serious effects of man-made climate change can still be averted will also be lost. In 'Sozialethik konkret - Klimaschutz global gerecht gestalten' (Social Ethics in Practice - Shaping Climate Protection in a Globally Just Manner), a joint project by Akademie Franz Hitze Haus Münster, Akademie Die Wolfsburg and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, experts from various disciplines look at this crisis through the prism of social ethics. In the keynote speech that has now been published, Tillmann Buttschardt poses the question of "how we can live without destroying our livelihoods". The text is based on two assumptions: 1. it is certain that the climate system will heat up considerably, and 2. as humanity will increasingly live in cities and these are particularly at risk, climate protection in municipalities must be given special weight. The article then goes on to describe in the form of theses which changes, some of them radical, would have to be made in municipalities in order to cope with the new climate regime.

André Algermißen comments on Tillmann Buttschardt's article in his co-authored paper entitled: Climate protection at municipal level - Effective leverage for achieving climate neutrality?

The publication can be downloaded as an open access publication from the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung website.

We are delighted to welcome Dr Sherly da Costa and Arianne Flexa di Castro as guest researchers in the Ecoplanning working group. As similar as their surnames sound, the regions from which they have come to us and the topics they are working on are very different:

Dr Sherly da Costa comes to us as a postdoc from Indonesia and is researching the socio-ecological consequences of flood disasters, such as those that have occurred in East Timor or the Ahr valley. She is funded by the KAAD. She was previously a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Geography Study and Spatial Planning (CEGOT) at the University of Porto Portugal.

Arianne Flexa di Castro comes from the UFPA - Universidade Federal do Pará (Brazil) and is writing her doctoral thesis on "Detection and Monitoring of Invasive Species in Rehabilitating Mine Lands from Eastern Amazon". She will stay for a year, specialising in remote sensing methods and is being supported by a scholarship from the Fundação Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES.

The guest stays are based on our good relationships with Brazilian and Portuguese universities and research institutions, but also serve to strengthen the internationalisation of AG Ökoplan and the ILÖK and to deepen our connection to other (research) cultures.

Agroforst-Team wins research prize

Congratulations to the team from the "agroforst-monitoring" research project for outstanding scientific achievements in the application of citizen science! The Germany-wide award "Knowledge of the Many - Research Prize for Citizen Science" was presented for the first time this year by Wissenschaft im Dialog (WiD) and the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin as part of the "Citizens Create Knowledge" project. You can read all about the award ceremony here . The award-winning methodological guide took its starting point in a practical project in the M7 Landscape Ecology module.
The prize awarded in Freiburg is taking its place next to the "wissen.kommuniziert" award, the Münster University Society's prize for science communication (Uni-News). Julia Binder and Thomas Middelanis received this award together with Severin Halder (Stadtlabor) on 22 November 2023 at a ceremony in the university's Studiobühne. This prize is endowed with 10,000 euros and is awarded by the Executive Board of the University Society every two years.

Production-integrated nature conservation measures Implementation manual for practice - 3rd edition published

Nature conservation measures are implemented on agricultural land, can be integrated into agricultural production or the farm and achieve added value for nature. In the handbook, 24 PIN measures for 35 species are presented on 120 pages.  Questions about function, implementation and legal framework conditions are clarified. In addition, there are practical examples and cooperative projects between nature conservation and agriculture in which PIN has already been successfully implemented. The handbook is the result of cooperation between AG Ökoplan and the Westphalian Cultural Landscape Foundation.
The handbook was funded by Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank. You can order it here for a nominal fee of 6.50 EUR.

Book contribution "Ökologische Planung"

In a book contribution on applied geography, an overview of the field of activity or subject of "ecological planning" has been published. Especially in a time of rapid and erratic developments, sound environmental precautionary planning is more important than ever. Well-founded risk analyses form the backbone of planning, land use and investment decisions, which must be carefully balanced with other concerns in order not to leave a heavy mortgage for future generations. The article is published in the context of a book that sheds light on fields of work, activities and methods in professional geographic practice and is also worth reading for landscape ecologists.

Buttschardt T.K. (2023): Ecological Planning. in: Dziomba, M., Krajewski, C., Wiegandt, C. (Eds.): Angewandte Geographie Arbeitsfelder, Tätigkeiten und Methoden in der geographischen Berufspraxis. UTB volume no.: 5915. ISBN 978-3-8252-5915-0, pp. 259-272.

An overview of the contents in German language can be found here.