Further and especially larger conferences and meetings in which the RG Ecological Planning has played a major role can be found on the conference page of the ILÖK.

German-Brazilian workshop on resource use and environmental protection

As part of the BIOBRAS Summerschool 2024, a German-Brazilian workshop on resource use and environmental protection took place on 07.08.09.2024 at the CIAC (Centro de Interpretacao Ambiental do Cerrado) in Funilândia, MG (Brazil). Topics and speakers were:

1. Geology of the Iron Quadrangle (Jackson Campos - Amplo Engenharia)
2. Environmental Damage Diagnosis Programme on the Biotic Environment after the Brumadinho Dam Break (Mariana Moura / Tiago Dornas - Amplo Engenharia and Ricardo Solar - UFMG)
3. Landscape Planning and Public-Private Interaction (Tillmann Buttschardt - University of Münster)
4. Use of Monitoring Protocols and Environmental Education in Headwater Streams and Hydroelectric Reservoirs (Marcos Callisto - UFMG)
5. Technology and Innovation and Public-Private Interaction (Jan Lehmann - University of Münster, Germany)

Under the title "Climate Responsive Environments" (CRP 2022), the Muenster School of Architecture was organising an online symposium from 05-06 October 2022. At this symposium, Prof. Dr. Tillmann Buttschardt spoke about city development, urban systems, sealing and biodiversity from the perspective of applied landscape ecology. The core thesis was that the climate change that has already occurred and the future climate change that can no longer be averted must lead to a fundamental change in planning, architecture and urban development. Not in the future, but now. Immediately.
You can find more information here.

Mittwoch 22.06.2022, 18 Uhr (im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung „WasserWissen“ des Netzwerks Wasser

Flussgeschichten – Wasser in der Stadt

Referent: Dr. Benjamin Kupilas

Viele Städte sind historisch in Flussnähe entstanden: Sie bieten Trinkwasser, ermöglichen Transport und Energiegewinnung und dienen heute häufig als Naherholungsgebiete. Neben diesen Funktionen gehören Bäche und Flüsse zu den artenreichsten und zugleich am stärksten bedrohten Lebensräumen. Flüsse bilden
gemeinsam mit ihren Ufern die sogenannte „grün-blaue Infrastruktur“, die im urbanen Raum eine wichtige Rolle einnehmen kann: Sie federt Starkregen und Hitzephasen ab, stellt einen wichtigen Lebensraum für Tiere und Pflanzen dar und bietet den Anwohnern Möglichkeiten zur Naherholung. Wir gehen gemeinsam
auf Entdeckungsreise und thematisieren wie wir Menschen unsere Flüsse geprägt haben und wie wir sie nachhaltig entwickeln können, um klimatische Veränderungen abzufedern, die Artenvielfalt zu schützen und unsere Städte nach dem Motto „grün und blau statt grau“ lebenswerter zu gestalten.

Weitere Information s. hier

Für einen Wertewechsel im Sinne der Agrarökologie plädierte Prof. Dr. Tillmann K. Buttschardt vom Institut für Landschaftsökologie an der Westfälischen Wilhelmsuniversität Münster mit seinem Vortrag „Biodiversität in der Feldflur“. Aus agrarökologischer Sicht müssen grundlegende Veränderungen in der Landwirtschaft einsetzen, wie beispielsweise eine lokale und diversifizierte Bewirtschaftung, regionale Erzeugungs- und Weiterverarbeitungsnetzwerke, eine Agrobiodiversitäts- und Nützlingsförderung sowie geschlossene Nährstoff- und Wasserkreisläufe. Damit dieser Wandel gelinge, müsse sich u.a. der Umgang mit der Ressource Boden ändern: Düngung, Pflanzenschutz, Fruchtfolgen und Landtechnik müssten neu justiert werden. Nutztiere müssten wieder häufiger auf die Weide und Wiesen wieder zu Heuwiesen werden. Außerdem, so Buttschardt, bedürfe die Bedeutung der Landwirt:innen bei der Schaffung von Biotopen einer grundlegenden Wertschätzung.
Lesen Sie hier mehr über die Tagung und das Projekt.

Distinguished Visiting Professor of UAEH

From April 24th to 29th, 2022, Prof. Dr. Tillmann Butschardt held a guest professorship at the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo in Pachuca (Mexico) on the topics of climate change and transformative approaches in landscape ecology. After a ceremonial lecture in the main building of the university on the topic "Impacto y evaluación de la contaminación ambiental" he was honored by the Rectorate as an honorary visiting professor. The guest professorship took place as part of the "Festival Internacional de la Imagen (XII Edición)".
An image slider can be found here.

Prof. Dr. Tillmann Buttschardt held lectures and workshops to the follwing topics:

• Introductory workshop: Spatial and environmental planning

• La necesidad de actuar ahora: Por qué no se puede retrasar más la protección del clima

• The concept of Water wise cities
• Impact and assessment of environmental pollution
• Transformative approaches in landscape ecology

A video of the "Acta de investidura" can be seen here.

Full title: Dynamic ecosystems in a changing world

Chairs: Sabine Fink, Kristin Ludewig, Tillmann Buttschardt, Harald Grote

The fate of dynamic ecosystems such as e.g. fire-prone habitat, storm water ponds, floodplains, coastal ecosystems remains unclear, since they are endangered due to human pressure and changing climate. Many global and national guidelines designate dynamic ecosystems as conservation priorities, but specific management methods are required to allow for human use (e.g. recreation) but still ensuring conservation of habitats as well as rare and adapted species in dynamic zones.

Common strategies for conservation management are frequently not applicable to dynamic ecosystems due to the stochastic nature of dynamic events. The lack of reference systems for natural processes in dynamic zones with or without human impact further creates scientific challenges - bonds can be obtained from the use and management of military areas, as dynamic living spaces have been preserved here for decades.

This session aims at contributing management strategies for dynamic ecosystems based on scientific studies, and practical experience such as the use and management of military sites. While we focus on the transition of results from scientific studies to practical conservation work and are interested in the role of stakeholders in nature conservation (e.g. military, farmers), we also welcome contributions investigating functioning of dynamic ecosystems per se.

German Congress of Geography (DGfG), 25 - 30 September 2019, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

Session L7-FS-181: Current Perspectives on the Nexus of Migration and Rural Development

Title: Future visions of young people about rural life - perspectives from four case studies in Latin America.

Authors:
Anne Cristina de la Vega-Leinert (Greifswald University), Cornelia Steinhäuser (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster), Julia Kieslinger (Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg) and Marcela Jímenez Moreno (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)

Session 18: The "new" agroecology

The Annual Meeting of the Society for Ecology of Germany, Austria and Switzerland is held in Münster under the motto: Science meets practice. On the so-called Practitioner's Day, the RG Ökologische Planung will hold a session on the subject of agroecology.

Title: The "new" agroecology: An approach for a sustainable agriculture?

Chair: Tillmann BUTTSCHARDT

Until the mid-1990s of the last century, agroecology was understood as the science of applying concepts derived from ecological research to the design and management of agroecosystems. At the beginning of the new millennium, this definition was expanded to include the entire food system. Thus a scientific definition emerged that went beyond pure natural science and became interdisciplinary. Questions of knowledge integration, education, smallholder agriculture, food sovereignty and circular economy were also emphasized more strongly. Different approaches still exist side by side: (1) The plot or field scale of "classical" ecology, as it is investigated in many large research projects (Biodiversity Exploratories, Jena Experiment). In these, management usually only plays a role as a diffuse "intensity variable", often indexed (e.g. LUI) and not very operable for agricultural practice. (2) In addition, there is the approach of the agroecosystem and the scale of agricultural enterprises. This integrates operational processes and balances (farm gate balance) as well as spatial configurations, semi-natural habitats or production-integrated nature conservation measures (PIK). Finally (3), a "new" agroecology considers the entire food system including the economic conditions, human-nature relationships and ongoing discourses. In short, international research today interprets agroecology in three dimensions: as science, as practice and as movement.
The session aims to discuss this topic with regard to the actual debates on topics such as insect shrinkage, pesticides, animal welfare, eutrophication, agricultural subsidies, nature conservation vs. agriculture.

Key questions are:

What contribution does classical agroecology make as a science?
How does interdisciplinary cooperation between natural sciences, social sciences and economics work in science?
What questions does practice have for science?
How is practice perceived, how are the movements interact with science?
Does the "new" interpretation as science, practice, movement provide solutions that lead to biodiversity and sustainable landscapes?

The session begins with an introductory statement by T. Buttschardt. This will be followed by four lectures with a general discussion at the end.

A. HOPF: Optimisation and consolidation of large nature conservation projects through approaches of "new" agroecology
G. WICKE: Nature Conservation Consulting in Agriculture - An Opportunity for the Efficient Implementation of Support Programmes and the Transmission of Ecological Objectives
J. HORN: Perspectives of innovative technologies in an integrative approach for more sustainable pasture management
S. PALTRINIERI: GrünSchatz - Possibilities for Increasing Biodiversity within Economically Oriented Agricultural Crops

The session will take place on Thursday, 10.09.2019 at the Fürstenberghaus (F041). The session will be held in German.

Name: Cornelia STEINHÄUSER

Affiliation:
1 – Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, Heisenbergstr. 2, 48149 Münster, Germany

Key Theme:
Sustaining Rural Systems: Rural Vitality in an Era of Globalization and Economic Nationalism

Session 4:
Agricultural Transitions

Abstract:
Diverse research has shown how modes of life shape valuable cultural landscapes and create identity. This case study in rural communities of Sierra Santa Victoria, Argentina, and Alta Badia, Italy, points to the intimate relation between collective imaginaries of liveable landscapes, routines and practices for the vitality of agro-biodiversity and resilient social ecological systems. However, in both research sites interviewees expressed their concern about the subsistence of the current traditional rural landscape in approximately 15 years due to migration and changing lifestyles. On the other hand, focus group discussions, participant observation and walking interviews with young people (16-30 years old) in these communities revealed a self-determined projection towards the future that, though reflecting a multiplicity of visions, does not coincide with a more resigned vision of the elder generation. The study opens questions for future participative research about structures that could foster the success of the observed transition to agroecology, co-creation and intergenerational exchange of different forms of knowledge, as well as integration with transformative movements in cities.

Name: Benjamin KUPILAS, Nikolai FRIBERG

Affiliation:
1 – Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, Heisenbergstr. 2, 48149 Münster, Germany; Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Gaustaallen 21, 0349 Oslo, Norway;
2 – Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Gaustaallen 21, 0349 Oslo, Norway

1. Preferred sefs11 session:
SS5. Understanding cross-habitat linkages between streamand riparian zones to optimize management of biodiversity and ecosystem services

Abstract:
We investigated fish communities in 35 stream sites in an urban setting (Oslo, Norway) and specifically addressed the effects of riparian buffers as part of the Biodiversa CROSSLINK project. Twenty of the sites were paired with and without forested riparian buffers at the scale of the sampling reach. Paired reaches were always relatively close together (25 –300 m) with the upstream reach not having a riparian buffer. The additional sites were situated along the river continuum in the same systems, from headwaters to they entered the sea. A 30 m reach was electrofished and a total of 5 fish species were caught with brown trout (Salmo trutta) being dominant. Presence of a vegetated riparian buffer had a significant (p<0.05) and positive effect on fish densities at low to moderate levels of environment stress, while the highly polluted streams had no fish present in either of the two typesof reaches (n=6). Likewise, stream size had little influence on fish community composition as it is predominantly influenced by the level of environmental stress. Our results suggest that riparian buffers have the potential to mitigate the effects of land-use, in this case urbanization, on fish communities to a certain degree of environmental impact, after which the positive influence is de-coupled when habitat conditions become to degraded, both in terms of water chemistry and physical conditions.

Estrategias de desarrollo rural de jóvenes agricultores en comunidades rurales de la Sierra Santa Victoria (Argentina), y Alta Badia (Italia).

Name: Cornelia STEINHÄUSER

Affiliation:
1 – Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, Heisenbergstr. 2, 48149 Münster, Germany

Session:
Old and new futures’ visions for rural youths in Latin America

Abstract:
Exploramos la relación íntima entre formas de vida y la constitución de paisajes rurales agrobiodiversos en comunidades rurales de la Sierra Santa Victoria (Argentina) y Alta Badia (Italia), donde la agricultura tradicional está amenazada por la migración y los cambios en estilos de vida. Discusiones grupales y ‘walking interviews’ con jóvenes (16 a 30 años) revelaron una proyección autodeterminada hacia el futuro que refleja una multiplicidad de visiones. Ilustramos la necesidad de investigar cómo fomentar la co-creación del futuro en comunidades rurales a partir del intercambio intergeneracional sobre diferentes formas de conocimiento y la integración con movimientos transformadores urbanos.