ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

Information about land cover, land use and the change over time is used for a wide range of applications such as nature protection and biodiversity, forest and water management, urban and transport planning, natural hazard prevention and mitigation, agricultural policies and monitoring climate change. Furthermore, high quality spatially explicit information on land cover change is an essential input variable to land use change modelling, which is increasingly being used to better understand the potential impact of certain policies. The amount of observed land cover change also serves as an important indicator of how well different regional, national and European policies have been implemented. However, outside Europe and outside the developed world in particular, information on land cover and land cover change in poorer countries is hardly available and no national or regional dense sample based monitoring approaches such as LUCAS exists which deliver sufficiently accurate land cover and land cover change information. Moreover in particular in developing countries, there is no or very little information on land-use and crop management. Only very limited data available from FAO and an incomplete coverage of sub-national statistics (e.g. IFPRI) are available. This research project will assess the potential of using crowdsourcing to close these big data gaps in developing and developed countries with a number of case studies and different data collection methods. The CrowdLand project will be carried out in two very different environments, i.e. Austria and Kenya.The overall research objectives of this project are to 1) test the potential of using social gaming to collect land use information 2) test the potential of using mobile money to collect data in developing countries 3) understand the data quality collected via crowdsourcing 4) apply advanced methods to filter crowdsourced data in order to attain improved accuracy.

1 397 200 €

Start date: 2014-04-01, End date: 2019-03-31

This project will apply two distinctly demographic concepts to research questions that go far beyond demography. The wellbeing indicators proposed here will be based on life table methods and the recently operationalized concept of Demographic Metabolism – modelling social change through the replacement of generations – will be used to get a quantitative analytical handle on the temporal dynamics of improving human wellbeing. The project will theoretically develop, empirically estimate, test and forecast indicators of human wellbeing that are based on life table methods and hence reflect the basic – but often overlooked fact – that being alive is a necessary prerequisite for enjoying any quality of life. But since mere survival is not sufficient as an ultimate goal for most people the person years lived at each age will be weighted with four different dimensions of empowerment: health, literacy, happiness and being out of poverty. These are four dimensions of an indicator tentatively called ELY (Empowered Life Years). ELY will also serve as the explanandum of a global level econometric estimation of the determinants of wellbeing considering human, manufactured and natural capitals as well as knowledge and institutions. The global level analysis is complemented by a set of strategically chosen in-depth systems-analytical case studies in Namibia/Western Cape, Nepal, Costa Rica and historical Finland modelling the population-development-environment (PDE) interactions including feed-backs e.g. from environmental degradation to wellbeing and taking the trends of ELY in different sub-populations as sustainability criteria. They will also include stake holder involvement and science-policy interactions. This innovative inter-disciplinary cross-fertilisation can potentially make an important contribution to the current discussions about operationalizing the criteria and end goal of sustainable development and developing better human wellbeing based metrics of progress.

1 819 250 €

Start date: 2017-11-01, End date: 2022-10-31

In natural and agricultural habitats, plants grow in organismal communities and therefore have to compete for limited resources. Competition between different crop plants and between crops and weeds leads to losses of potential agricultural product and requires heavy use of fertilizer and herbicides, with negative effects for the environment and human health. Plants have evolved various strategies to outcompete their neighbours and to secure their access to resources; one of them is the release of toxic chemical compounds into the soil that interfere with the growth of neighbouring plants. Many of today’s major crops, such as wheat, rye and maize, produce phytotoxins. Conversely, crop species also suffer from chemical attack by other plants growing in their vicinity. Although many of the chemical compounds applied in this biochemical warfare have been identified, we know little about how they act in the target plant; neither do we understand how some plant species are able to tolerate this chemical attack. FEAR-SAP studies the genetic architecture that underlies biochemical plant-plant interference and the evolution of weed resistance to crop-released phytotoxins. To this end it employs a comprehensive array of molecular genetics, genomics and metagenomics analyses, unprecedented in the research on plant-plant competition. The aims of FEAR-SAP are to uncover the molecular targets of plant-derived phytotoxins and to identify the genetic components that are essential for tolerance to these substances. Moreover, FEAR-SAP investigates how the microbial community that is associated with the plant might enhance efficiency of the donor and/or mediate tolerance of the target plant. Ultimately, we will use this information to explore intelligent engineering of more refined and competitive crops, which will be at the foundation of efficient and ecologically responsible weed control and improved crop rotation strategies.

1 500 000 €

Start date: 2018-01-01, End date: 2022-12-31

This interdisciplinary project (combining social and earth sciences) addresses a key gap in the knowledge of global assessments concerning the likely consequences of future climate change on future human wellbeing. More information about the determinants of future adaptive capacity is necessary for setting policy priorities today: Should the significant funds allocated for adaptation be invested in enhancing existing infrastructure or currently practiced agricultural strategies (some of which may not be tenable under future climates), or should they invest alternatively in enhancing human empowerment through education and health which in consequence will enable affected societies to better cope with whatever challenges the future will bring? This study is expected to bring significant progress in this difficult multidisciplinary, yet highly relevant, field through a combination of: (a) New global science-based, long-term projections of human capital (population by age, sex and level of education) as a key element of adaptive capacity; (b) Three empirical multi-national studies on key factors involved in past vulnerability and adaptations to the Sahelian drought, Hurricane Mitch and the Asian tsunami; (c) Three prospective case studies assessing future adaptive capacity for the Phuket region, Mauritius and the Nicobar islands; (d) All held together and put into perspective by the elaboration of a new demographic theory of long-term social change with predictive power. This rather complex project structure is necessary for reaching generalizable and useful results. All components have been designed to complement each other to maximize the chances of achieving path-breaking and at the same time tangible results in this highly complex, multidisciplinary field. All components of the study will build on previous work of IIASA and Wolfgang Lutz and hence minimize the need to acquire additional experience for the case study sites or for the methodology used.

2 438 402 €

Start date: 2009-03-01, End date: 2014-07-31