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Diversity of Insects in Nature protected Areas (DINA): an interdisciplinary German research project
(2021)
Insect declines and biodiversity loss have attracted much attention in recent years, but lack of comprehensive data, conflicting interests among stakeholders and insufficient policy guidance hinder progress in preserving biodiversity. The project DINA (Diversity of Insects in Nature protected Areas) investigates insect communities in 21 nature reserves in Germany. All selected conservation sites border arable land, with agricultural practices assumed to influence insect populations. We taught citizen scientists how to manage Malaise traps for insect collection, and subsequently used a DNA metabarcoding approach for species identification. Vegetation surveys, plant metabarcoding as well as geospatial and ecotoxicological analyses will help to unravel contributing factors for the deterioration of insect communities. As a pioneering research project in this field, DINA includes a transdisciplinary dialogue involving relevant stakeholders such as local authorities, policymakers, and farmers, which aims at a shared understanding of conservation goals and action pathways. Stakeholder engagement combined with scientific results will support the development of sound policy recommendations to improve legal frameworks, landscape planning, land use, and conservation strategies. With this transdisciplinary approach, we aim to provide the background knowledge to implement policy strategies that will halt further decline of insects in German protected areas.
The article contributes to understanding the political economy of implementation of social protection programmes at local level. Current debates are dominated by technocratic arguments, emphasizing the lack of financial resources, technology or skills as major barriers for effective implementation. Describing how chiefs, assistant-chiefs and community elders are routinely at the centre stage of core implementation processes, including targeting, enrolment, delivery, monitoring, awareness and information, data collection or grievance and redress, this study on Kenya argues for the need to look more closely into the local political economy as an important mediating arena for implementing social policies. Implementation is heavily contingent upon the local social, political and institutional context that influences and shapes its outcomes. These processes are ambivalent involving multiple forms of interactions between ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ institutional structures, which may support initial policy objectives or induce policy outcomes substantially diverging from intended policy objectives.
Green infrastructure improves environmental health in cities, benefits human health, and provides habitat for wildlife. Increasing urbanization has demanded the expansion of urban areas and transformation of existing cities. The adoption of compact design in urban planning is a recommended strategy to minimize environmental impacts; however, it may undermine green infrastructure networks within cities as it sets a battleground for urban space. Under this scenario, multifunctionality of green spaces is highly desirable but reconciling human needs and biodiversity conservation in a limited space is still a challenge. Through a systematic review, we first compiled urban green space's characteristics that affect mental health and urban wildlife support, and then identified potential synergies and trade-offs between these dimensions. A framework based on the One Health approach is proposed, synthesizing the interlinkages between green space quality, mental health, and wildlife support; providing a new holistic perspective on the topic. Looking at the human-wildlife-environment relationships simultaneously may contribute to practical guidance on more effective green space design and management that benefit all dimensions.
New approaches in securing more sustainable urban food futures: case from Cologne-Bonn region
(2018)
In January 2015, German retail and industry jointly started a sector-wide initiative ("Initiative Tierwohl" - ITW) to improve animal welfare standards. The principle of the ITW is communicated mostly via the websites of ITW and its participating companies. However, uncertainty remained whether or not these websites provide the necessary information consumers need on the ITW products. Based on Schwartz's basic human values, different types of consumers were identified by a cluster analysis (ward-method, k-means). The results showed that depending on expressed meta‐values (Self-Transcendence/Openness to Change Self-Enhancement or Conservation), respondents had different specific information sources and needs. Online sources were rarely mentioned, the majority of consumers referred to brochures, flyers and interpersonal contacts.
Argentina substantially contributes to the global organic agriculture and food sector due to its large areas of organically managed agricultural land. However, most of the organic production is intended for export. Overall, food supply for the domestic organic market is hardly tapped. Based on this, we investigate the current importance of organic agriculture and food production as well as consumption attitudes and behavior within the country. The novelty of the study also lies in the observation, documentation and analysis of latest stakeholder‐driven developments towards organic agriculture and food. Furthermore, the publication allows the Argentinean organic market to be significantly more visible for the international audience.
Urban food systems consist of many stakeholders with different perspectives, different interests and different governance tools. This study aimed at developing potential future scenarios for the food system of Cologne by analysing the system with a Delphi approach. In our research-design, the suitability of the Delphi-method was evaluated not only as a tool for future modelling and scenario design, but also as a communication tool among the group of participants on a multi-stakeholder-platform. As a case study, the Food Policy Council of Cologne, Germany was used. Cologne can be seen as a forerunner among German cities in the development of a new urban food policy. Some of the successful steps to re-envisioning food as an urban system include joining the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, the decision of the City Council to become an edible city and the establishment of a Food Policy Council. For the study it was important to capture participants’ visions of a common goal regarding the governance of the urban food system and also to identify mental ‘silos’. It was obvious that the municipality of Cologne together with the Food Policy Council made great efforts towards participatory processes to build a vision for a sustainable and regional food supply. However, many stakeholder-groups in the process still work exclusively among themselves and do not actively practice the confrontation with the viewpoints of other relevant groups. This supports the maintenance of ‘silos’ and leaves little room for face-to-face discussions. Therefore, the primary aim of this study is to explore key components of food provisioning in the future for Cologne while confronting all stakeholders (municipal administration and politicians, farmers and food activists) with the perspectives of all group members. We used a multi-stakeholder Delphi approach with 19 panellists to find out essential components of the municipal regional food provisioning system in Cologne. Unique in this Delphi study is the bringing together of municipal administration, regional urban farmers and food activists. The research is still on-going, but preliminary results show that more communication among all relevant actors, especially horizontally among different city departments, in the urban food system is needed.