Research

The following is an overview on the research projects we are currently part of.

agri:change – A Future Through Change: Sustainability Transformation of the Agriculture and Food Sector in Lower Saxony

The five-year collaborative project agri:change aims to drive the transformation of agriculture toward a resilient, sustainable agri-food system. To this end, practice-oriented solutions are being developed and tested in four agrilabs. 

The “agri:lab X4 Integrated Agricultural Landscape Development” focuses on the transformation area of land use. The project addresses various socio-ecological challenges (such as water availability and biodiversity conservation) across three landscape types in Lower Saxony (intensively used moorland landscapes, extensively used moorland landscapes, and intensively farmed agricultural landscapes). Through a transdisciplinary research process, transformative impulses are developed in the form of real-world laboratory approaches. Particular emphasis is placed on landscape-related, relational values that recognize environmental justice, human-nature relationships, and diverse worldviews, and can thus serve as important levers for transformation. 

In addition, socio-ecological conflicts and the mental models of the stakeholder groups involved are examined to reveal differing perceptions, value orientations, and rationales for action, thereby creating a shared, transformation-oriented knowledge base.

The project is funded by the “Agenda zukunft.niedersachsen” program, a joint funding initiative of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture and the Volkswagen Foundation.

Website: agri:change

Contact: Jule Huber (jule.huber[at]uni-goettingen[dot]de), Prof. Dr. Tobias Plieninger (plieninger[at]uni-goettingen[dot]de)

Effects of tree-based agriculture on the supply, distribution, and access to ecosystem services in a rurban environment

The DFG-funded project A01 of FOR 5903: Sustainable Rurbanity - Resources, Society, and Regulatory Systems aims to investigate the potential of tree-based agriculture to promote sustainable rurbanity in urbanising regions of Morocco, serving as a social-ecological model system. By combining biophysical and sociocultural data at various scales, the project aims to provide a novel understanding of the impact of tree-based agricultural development on ecosystem service supply, distribution, and access, and its contribution to the formation of rurbanity. Furthermore, the project seeks to examine how tree-based agriculture has transformed the rurban landscape using remote sensing and field-level data. The project intends to develop a more comprehensive conceptualisation of multifunctional agricultural landscapes in rurban environments through this analysis of the social-ecological context and spatial-temporal dynamics.

Website: RurbanAgroforestry

Contact: Liene Hennig (liene.hennig@uni-kassel.de), Prof. Dr. Tobias Plieninger (plieninger@uni-kassel.de) 

WIN: Restoring the biodiversity and utility values of coppice forests

The importance of historical forms of forest use such as coppice forests for the development and conservation of biodiversity in need of protection is increasingly recognized in science and practice. Nevertheless, only a few stands of these forms of management remain today. The aim of the project is therefore to develop new management concepts that contribute to the preservation and reactivation of coppice forests. As part of the third sub-project, we will focus on local and regional stakeholders who are interested in the restoration of biodiversity and use values, who make decisions on coppice forests or who are affected by them. In a first step, we will identify all stakeholders potentially interested in and / or affected by the conservation and reactivation of coppice and coppice forest management. We will then describe the decision-making context of the stakeholders by mapping their knowledge, value and rules systems. Based on these results as well as on findings from the other sub-projects on economic and ecological values of coppice and medium sized forests, strategies for their conservation and re-establishment will be developed. The project is being carried out jointly with the Forest Nature Conservation Department of the Northwest German Forest Research Institute (NW-FVA) and the Chair of Forest Economics and Sustainable Land Use Planning at the University of Göttingen.

Website: WIN

Contact: Pia Lynn Jensen (pia.jensen[at]uni-goettingen[dot]de), Dr. Marion Jay (marion.jay[at]uni-goettingen[dot]de), Prof. Dr. Tobias Plieninger (plieninger[at]uni-goettingen[dot]de)

TransforMed: Transforming the Mediterranean Region through Agroforestry 

Based on the experiences of several agroforestry lighthouses in Morocco, Tunisia, and Türkiye, TransforMed aims to support and promote a large-scale adoption of successful agroforestry systems (AFS) in saline and degraded areas to restore soil health, increase biodiversity and productivity of the agroecosystems by overcoming the socioeconomic and sociocultural barriers.

The University of Kassel is leading Work Package 3 (WP3) of the project: "Socio-cultural drivers of Agroforestry Systems (AFS) implementation." Our focus is on identifying the awareness, motivations, and perceived values surrounding agroforestry systems, while also analysing existing knowledge and agency related to agroforestry. Additionally, we will explore solutions to challenges and conflicts associated with grazing and the establishment of agroforestry systems. Furthermore, through dialogue and collaboration with project partners and participants, we will contribute to local capacity building. 

The TransforMed consortium is highly interdisciplinary, comprising partners from seven different countries—Spain, France, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Portugal, and Germany. This diverse collaboration adopts a multi-actor approach to effectively design and implement solutions for each targeted context. The project is funded under the PRIMA program as part of the Farming System thematic area. The Beta Tech Center – UVIC, based in Spain, is coordination the project activities.

Website: TransforMed

Contact: Dr. Claudia Heindorf(claudia.heindorf[at]uni-kassel[dot]de)

Investigating the contribution of geographical indications (GIs) to sustainable development and optimizing support for newly established schemes

The main objective of the project is to enhance the design and implementation of the GI system to support sustainable agriculture, healthy and sustainable food, and sustainable food systems, in line with the objectives of the Farm to Fork strategy.

In the project, the role of the University of Kassel will be to cluster the main groups of GIs agri-food systems across Europe, and mapping of good sustainability practices. This will lead to a set of transition pathways for stakeholders of geographical indications who want to achieve greater sustainability and better value and valorisation of the sustainable outcome. Further, University Kassel will be responsible for developing and carrying out case studies in Germany and Austria.

The GI Smart consortium is made up of 17 public and private partners from 8 European Member States (France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain), from UK and Switzerland. It will be coordinated by INRAE – National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (France).

Website: GI SMART

Contact: Dr. Lukas Flinzberger (flinzberger[at]uni-kassel[dot]de) & Prof. Dr. Tobias Plieninger (plieninger[at]uni-kassel[dot]de)

Nature’s Contributions to People in Restoration Landscapes in Western Rwanda

Subproject six (SP6), "Nature's contributions to people in restored landscapes in western Rwanda," aims to capture the multiple tangible and intangible values that people attribute to ecosystems in restored landscapes. We will also explore the extent to which different kinds of knowledge and the plural values and rules of local and distant (inter)national actors shape and guide nature's contributions to people. To capture nature's contributions to people, we will develop valuation approaches from three different perspectives: an ecosystem perspective, a landscape perspective, and a cross-scale perspective. To this end, we will combine socio-cultural assessment methods (e.g., photovoice, photo elicitation, and narrative assessment) and participatory, spatial survey methods.

Website: RESTORE

Contact: Dr. Laura Kmoch (laura.kmoch[at]uni-goettingen[dot]de), Gaelle Ndayizeye (gaelle.ndayizeye[at]uni-goettingen[dot]de) & Prof. Dr. Tobias Plieninger(plieninger[at]uni-goettingen[dot]de)

RECONNECT – Reconciling fragmented and contested landscapes

RECONNECT is a three-year project funded through the European Biodiversity Partnership “BiodivERsA+”. To help stopping the ongoing biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation the recent agreement on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework as well as the European Biodiversity Strategy have set, among others, a clear target of 30% of protected terrestrial areas to be achieved by 2030. While this target has been welcomed by many, fragmentation, contestation, and disconnection between biodiversity conservation and other aspects of contemporary landscapes and societies still mostly prevail, leading to tensions between conservation, equity, and production goals, and to clashing governance priorities and land use practices.

In RECONNECT we interrogate social and ecological fragmentations of protected areas in multifunctional landscapes with the aim to identify key points for reconnection interventions. Our group combines governance and institutional analysis, biodiversity and ecosystem service modelling, participatory value mapping and geo-design stakeholder processes in protected areas in France, Germany, South Africa and Sweden. We work with an interdisciplinary team of research centres and universities such as the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the French CNRS lab of alpine ecology, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and local stakeholders.

Website: RECONNECT

Contact: Dr. Marion Jay (marion.jay[at]uni-goettingen[dot]de) & Prof. Dr. Tobias Plieninger (plieninger[at]uni-kassel[dot]de)

Biodiversity Exploratories as Biocultural Landscapes: Past, Present and Future

Biocultural landscapes have rich cultural and biological diversity, and are threatened by agricultural intensification. The aim of this project is to build a comprehensive picture of past, present and future biocultural diversity across three regions in Germany: Schorfheide-Chorin, Hainich-Dün, and the Swabian Alb. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, including oral history interviews, photo-elicitation and scenario workshops, we will investigate local people’s perceptions of land-use change and expectations for the future of nature in their region. This project is led by Prof. Tobias Plieninger and Dr. Emmeline Topp and comes under the umbrella of the Biodiversity Exploratories, a flagship long-term biodiversity research program funded by the DFG.

Website: Biodiversity Exploratories

Contact: Dr. Emmeline Topp (topp[at]uni-kassel[dot]de) & Prof. Dr. Tobias Plieninger (plieninger[at]uni-kassel[dot]de)

Promoting biodiversity at the landscape level

Against the background of agricultural intensification and biodiversity losses, the KOOPERATIV project aims to develop and test a participatory and integrative approach for the landscape-scale implementation of Agri-environmental measures.
Based on the example of perennial flower strips, ideal area proportions as well as spatial configurations will be analyzed, and biodiversity and ecosystem services will be improved in the most cost-efficient way. KOOPERATIV aims to support collaboration of actors in the context of agricultural management and protection. Within the socio-ecological part of the project, supervised by Prof. Tobias Plieninger and Dr. Stefan Schüler, PhD student Jule Huber will analyze relevant framework conditions that could support or hamper the joint implementation of perennial flower strips at landscape level.
This project is funded by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN).

Website: KOOPERATIV

Contact: Lucia Hoffmann(lucia.hoffmann[at]uni-goettingen[dot]de), Prof. Dr. Tobias Plieninger(plieninger[at]uni-kassel[dot]de)

The PhD project, titled “Stewardship of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in the Drylands of Southeast Asia,” is funded by DAAD and the ATSAF Academy. The project investigates the reciprocal relationships between local and Indigenous farming communities and plant species in dryland agricultural systems. Focusing on case studies in central Myanmar and eastern Indonesia, the research examines how local stewardship practices toward bioculturally important plant genetic resources contribute to food system transformations under environmental and socioeconomic changes. Through in-depth qualitative interviews and photo-elicitation methods, the study explores the motivations, barriers, and outcomes associated with local stewardship.

Kontakt: Khant Sandar Htet (khant.sandar.htet[at]uni-kassel[dot]de); Prof. Dr. Tobias Plieninger (plieninger@uni-kassel.de)