Projects

Description: Kili SES 2 expands the research from Kili SES to  address the social and ecological potential for transformation within a Social Ecological System (SES). This broadening in focus to transformation recognizes the dynamic nature of a SES. Processes within SES are subject to constant change, driven for example by global climate change and population dynamics, as in the case of the Kilimanjaro SES. Thus, in face of constant change, an understanding of the resilience of a SES requires in-depth knowledge of the dynamics of change in the system. 

In SP4 we will expand our scope to study the willingness of individuals to make (transformative) changes in their patterns of interaction with nature. We aim to understand when changes in NCP supply induce a response from individuals, and the extent to which these responses have the potential to induce transformative change in human-nature interaction patterns within a community.

Duration: 2025 - 2029

Description: Across the world, human population growth and increasing demands for natural resources lead to the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, mostly driven by land-use, climate and governance change. A key global challenge is, thus, to develop sustainable relationships between people and nature. Addressing this pressing topic requires social-ecological research toward understanding major components of the feedback loop between nature and people, including biodiversity, nature’s contributions to people, human well-being, governance and indirect and direct anthropogenic drivers. However, such integrative social-ecological research approaches are still in their infancy. The research project “The role of nature for human well-being in the Kilimanjaro Social-Ecological System” (Kili-SES) addresses these challenges in order to  provide the scientific basis for political and societal decision-making that will facilitate transformation towards sustainable relationships between nature and people. 

The overall objective SP4 is to comprehensively assess the effects of multiple regulating, material and non-material NCP on the various constituents of human well-being. We will give a specific focus to the moderating role of three factors: (i) socio-economic factors, (ii) economic preferences and personality, and (iii) market access and market exposure.

Project Website: https://kili-ses.senckenberg.de

Duration: 2021 - 2025

Description: Small Island Development States (SIDS) are particularly threatened by the impacts of future climate change and associated triggered coastal processes. So far, island instability combined with human activities has often resulted in the proliferation of engineering-type hard-coastal protection systems to defend coastal areas up to a certain level of security from coastal hazards. There is significant evidence that traditional accommodation strategies gave way to modernization, but, in some cases, politically induced maladaptation seems to aggravate coastal management issues and induce additional problems. The overall objective of the project is to consider the challenges for formal and informal institutions and island societies of dealing with changes due to sea level rise and potentials and pitfalls of adaptive capacities.

Project Website:  https://www.spp-sealevel.de/research/phase-i/work-package-b/c-wp-b/c/dices

Duration: 2017 - 2021