reSyst

The Potential and limitations of the resilience concept and other system theoretic approaches for the anticipation of uncertainty in nature conservation and forest management

Status:              current

Project begin: 01.07.2022

Project end :    30.06.2025

Keywords

Resilience, Forest Ecosystems, Nature Conservation, Forest Management, Climate Change, Uncertainty, Social-ecological Systems, System Dynamics, Adaptive Management, Tipping points

Description

With its stark implications on structure and functioning of socio-ecological systems, climate change strongly challenges conservation and management efforts in forest ecosystems. The agency of stakeholders to predict and steer system dynamics is strongly hampered by accelerating ecological change and perturbations. While concepts of adaptive management aim to promote resilience of ecosystems through dynamically evolving management, their practical implementation remains challenging.

This project assesses the capacity of decision makers to intentionally shape and anticipate system dynamics in nature conservation and management of forests. We analyse the congruency of decision makers perception of system dynamics and associated management efforts as opposed to measured system dynamics.

We aim to develop recommendations for bolstering resilience in conservation and management of forests, informing decision making under accelerating uncertainty.

Involved Persons

M.Sc. Olef Koch

Prof. Dr. Andreas H. Schweiger

Involved institutions

Dept. Plant Ecology, Institute of Landscape and Plant Ecology

Chair of Forestry Economics and Forest Planning, University of Freiburg

Sponsors

Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) through the REFOPLAN 2022