(Number of projects = 36)
Ecosystems are frequently subject to strong (local) utilization pressure for instance due to intensive agriculture. At the same time, ecosystems are influenced by global processes like climate change. The question arises, how conflicts that are based on different demands on the ecosystem services can be avoided or reduced. This research project investigates the dynamics of land use changes and their impacts on ecosystem services and biodiversity.
This research project investigates normative conflicts which potentially arise when using biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The research project investigates the relationship between natural and societal processes. The resulting social-ecological dynamics are considered in particular in the context of the Anthropocene discourse.
The research project develops inter- and transdisciplinary concepts and methods that enable a dialogue on biodiversity and ecosystem services as well as on the impacts of human interventions on ecosystems and on the role of climate change.
In cooperation with the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), ISOE is investigating what reduced biodiversity means for the provision of ecosystem services to society.
The research project will develop a transfer program for Geisenheim University (HGU) that will strengthen biodiverse and multifunctional viticulture in the Rheingau. Together with regional actors, new and innovative formats of knowledge transfer will be used to develop solution strategies for a much needed system change in agriculture. Here, viticulture and the cultural landscape shaped by it is going to serve as an example.
In the transport sector there is growing pressure for action to make substantial contributions to climate protection goals. Against this background, the research association transform-R aims to sensitize actors in the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main metropolitan region to the mobility transition and to identify new options for action. In four large-scale real-world laboratories, social innovations and new organisational processes in the field of sustainable mobility are to be tested over several years. The basis is a guiding concept developed jointly with all actors in the region.
The aim of the gwTriade project is to develop an integrated assessment concept for groundwater ecosystems based on an ecotoxicological characterisation, chemical analysis and the monitoring of faunal diversity. Through the social-ecological analysis, the criteria for groundwater assessment developed in the project will be tested and prioritised with a view to to societal objectives.
This research project investigates the influence of social transformation processes – for example demographic change, digitalization or changes in values and norms – on cultural landscapes and their biodiversity. As a result, possible development paths of cultural landscapes can be identified. These paths are developed jointly with the local population.
The project is aiming to improve the knowledge base with regard to municipal climate adaptation in Germany, to strengthen municipal climate adaptation activities, and to identify leverage points for municipal climate adaptation activities that can be used to advance effective transformation processes towards climate resilient municipalities.
Drought and aridity, fires and pests: Climate change is threatening Germany’s forests. To make them resilient for the future, the German government is promoting forest conversion from conifers to mixed and deciduous forests. But what exactly should this “forest of the future” look like and who will be allowed to use it? There is a great deal of controversy about this. After all, the forest plays a variety of roles: For recreation, timber production, hunting, as a place for wind power or for climate protection.
The junior research group ‘regulate’, led by ISOE, investigates current challenges to Europe’s groundwater management against the background of acute drought conditions, ongoing pollution, increasing conflicts and complex institutional settings. The team of researchers from natural and social sciences develops strategies for sustainable management of groundwater on different governance levels.
Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plant growth. Currently, most of the phosphorus fertilizers used in agriculture are imported. However, wastewater remains unused as an important source of phosphorus, although the potential for the recovery of phosphorus from wastewater is great and the necessary technology is available. The BMBF project P-Net is investigating possibilities for establishing regional networks to process precipitated phosphorus with the aim to produce phosphorus fertilizers such as struvite. This process is a sustainable method of phosphorus recycling which also makes an important contribution to the regionalization of resource cycles.
The transfer project AquaticPollutantsTransNet accompanies 18 projects funded by the European Union that address risks to human health and the environment from pollutants and pathogens in water resources. The aim is to promote the transfer of knowledge from research results to the public and administrative sectors, politics, industry and business.
How can train stations in municipalities be designed in such a way that they become attractive interfaces for sustainable multimodal mobility and at the same time can be experienced as diverse, lively places to stay? This is what ISOE is investigating on behalf of the German Centre for Rail Transport Research at the Federal Railway Authority and in cooperation with designated partners. The aim is to develop a modular catalogue of measures for the design of railway stations.
The research project SLInBio is investigating how the perception and valorization of insects can be increased in Frankfurt am Main and what contribution cities can make to the conservation of insect diversity. Therefore, social-ecological interactions between lifestyles and everyday practices of city dwellers and urban insect diversity are being analyzed.
Much of the plastic pollution in the oceans occurs on land. This is where the international research project “SCIP Plastics: Sustainable Capacity Building to Reduce Irreversible Pollution by Plastics” comes in. The research project is developing a master plan for the city of Khulna (Bangladesh) to sustainably transform the municipal waste management system. But a broad knowledge base is crucial for the success of the master plan in practice. Therefore, an inter- and transdisciplinary Knowledge Transfer Hub will be established, even beyond the project duration.
The three-year research project aims to investigate what kind of knowledge needs and barriers exist among municipal decision-makers and how the latter can then be addressed by means of better knowledge transfer. The intention is to support climate adaptation in Hessian municipalities.
We are currently observing a dramatic decline of biodiversity. The common focus on maintaining the status quo poses the risk of protecting landscape areas that are too small in the medium term. Superordinate ecosystem functions, which represent the natural basis of life for humans, animals, plants, fungi, microorganisms, meadows, waters, and forests, are thereby lost from sight. Using an interdisciplinary approach, RobustNature identifies the characteristics that determine the robustness of ecosystems and guarantee their functionality in the event of disturbances by means of dynamic compensation.
The joint project CapTain Rain aims to develop appropriate climate services for assessing and forecasting flash floods and to identify measures for the adaption to climate change and the mitigation of disaster damages. This includes measures to collect and drain water during heavy rainfall events.
Together with aquabench GmbH, ISOE is developing a master plan for “Future-proof Drinking Water Supply in Saarland 2040”. This will create a state-wide framework for the long-term securing of the drinking water supply in Saarland. The master plan primarily addresses the water supply companies (WVU) and water authorities in Saarland.
Building on the previous project SuPraStadt, the research project SuPraStadt II investigates in three real laboratories how the needs of residents in the fields of housing, open space usage and mobility can be reconciled with the ecological requirements of sustainability. ISOE is supporting the real laboratory in Kelsterbach: together with residents from the Mainhöhe district, sufficiency practices in the areas of food and mobility are being developed, tested and evaluated. The focus is on the question of how the dissemination of such practices can be supported and promoted in urban neighbourhoods.
