Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management
Submitting Institution
Writtle CollegeUnit of Assessment
Agriculture, Veterinary and Food ScienceSummary Impact Type
EnvironmentalResearch Subject Area(s)
Environmental Sciences: Environmental Science and Management
Summary of the impact
The Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management is the product of six
years of international collaborative research and sector-based consultancy
between Writtle College and Eberswalde University for Sustainable
Development (Germany). Activities at the Centre include developing a core
body of internationally recognised research in the fields of
non-equilibrium thermodynamics, complex systems science and adaptive
management, and using the research to work with conservation organisations
around the World to resolve significant environmental problems. Our
sponsors include GIZ, Germany and WWF Germany, and our operations extend
from Central America to the Ukraine, Russia, South Eastern Europe, China
and Korea.
Underpinning research
The science of "econics" that is now the focus of research efforts in the
Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management is a coalescence of two main
strands of study carried out over the last six years under the supervision
of Dr P R Hobson at Writtle College and Professor P L Ibisch at
Eberswalde, University for Sustainable Development in Germany. At Writtle
Dr Hobson has been working with principles of non-equilibrium
thermodynamics to advance techniques in assessing the ecological status of
forests.
The first two years of a PhD project (2006-2007) were carried out in
collaboration with Oulanka Biological Station, Finland with funding
assistance from the Lapland Atmosphere-Biosphere Facility (LAPBIAT).
Initial findings of this PhD research by P Mickleburgh confirmed a link
between vegetation function and the thermodynamic attributes of a system,
and also a degrading in both factors brought on by direct and indirect
human disturbance (Hobson and Mickleburgh, 2008).
In Eberswalde, Professor Ibisch, together with a PhD student was
developing techniques for applying theories of complex systems and
ecosystems to adaptive conservation management. A first meeting between
the two scientists at a British Ecological Society conference in 2006 set
out a plan to establish a collaborative single body of scientific research
drawing on the complementary studies on non-equilibrium thermodynamics and
the theories of complex systems and ecosystems.
The opportunity to present the two complementary areas of research arose
in 2009 at a special topics seminar chaired by both Hobson and Ibisch
during the 2nd European Congress for Conservation Biology in Prague. In
that same year two more PhD students, Catherine Norris (Writtle) and Lisa
Freudenberger (Eberswlade), joined the team this time under the joint
supervision of Hobson and Ibisch. Both students were working with
principles of non-equilibrium thermodynamics and complex systems theory to
derive effective measures of assessing ecosystem function at different
scales of observation. In the case of Norris, empirical evidence was
gathered from study sites at landscape scale across a variety of
ecosystems in the UK, Germany and Ukraine. Whilst Freudenberger analysed
global metadata to assess the function of ecosystems and to use this data
to prioritise areas for conservation.
Alberto Vega, the German Secretary to the United Nations Congress for
Biological Diversity (CBD) attended the conference and later invited the
research team to publish their findings in the CBD technical Series and
also to present papers during a special seminar at the 2010 COP10 World
Congress in Nagoya, Japan explaining the relevance of their research to
global strategies of biodiversity sustainability. Subsequently, the theory
underpinning the emergent concept of "econics" was laid out in a
comprehensive series of papers in the CBD technical series 54
Interdependence of Biodiversity and Development Under Global Change (eds.
Ibisch, Vega and Herrmann, 2010). Shortly afterwards, in 2011 the Centre
for Econics and Ecosystem Management was launched by Dr Peter Hobson and
Professor Pierre Ibisch, www.centreforeconics.org.
In the inaugural year of the Centre a substantial piece of research on
thermodynamic measures in forest landscapes was published in Applied
Ecology (see Norris et al. 2011), followed in the next year by two related
papers on using measures of thermodynamics to assess global ecosystem
function (see Freudenberger et al. 2012; 2012). The joint efforts of both
research branches provided an appropriate framework on which to build the
theoretical platform underpinning a recently developed adaptive management
method for conservation called Adaptive Management of Risk and
vulnerability at Conservation sites (MARISCO). With support and funding
from the German agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale
Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), in 2013 the manual entitled, "Adaptive management of
Vulnerability and Risk at Conservation sites: A guidebook for risk-robust,
adaptive and ecosystem-based conservation of biodiversity" (Editors,
Pierre Ibisch & Peter Hobson), was published together with a short
website video on "MARISCO method" displayed on Vimeo and available here: http://www.centreforeconics.org/publications-and-products/adaptive-conservation-and-vulnerability-marisco/.
References to the research
1. Hobson,P and Mickleburgh, P. (2008) Ancient woodlands and climate
change: old growth structures matter. Quarterly Journal of Forestry
102(3) 95.
2. Ibisch, P.L., A. Vega E., T.M. Herrmann (eds.) (2010) Interdependence
of biodiversity and development under global change. Technical Series No.
54. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal
(second corrected edition) available at:
http://www.cbd.int/doc/publications/cbd-ts-54-en.pdf
3. Norris, C., Hobson,P. and Ibisch,P.L (2011) Microclimate and
vegetation function as indicators of forest thermodynamic efficiency. Journal
of Applied Ecology 49(3):562-570. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2011.02084.x.
This work was part funded (£45000) by a Writtle College Graduate Teaching
Assistant Award (2009-2012) to C. Norris
5. Freudenberger, L., Hobson,P., Schluck, M., Kreft, S., Vohland, K.,
Sommer, H., Reichler,S., Nowicki,C., Barthlott,W. and Ibisch, P. (2012)
Nature conservation: priority-setting needs a global change. Biodiversity
& Conservation 22:1255-1281.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-012-0428-6
6. P L Ibisch and P R Hobson (Eds) (2013) "Adaptive management of
Vulnerability and Risk at Conservation sites: A guidebook for
risk-robust, adaptive and ecosystem-based conservation of biodiversity"
GIZ (GmbH) (ISBN 978-3-00-043244-6).
Details of the impact
The Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management (www.centreforeconics.org)
was formally established in 2011 under a memorandum of understanding
between Writtle College and Eberswalde University. It operates from its
main office in Eberswalde University under the management of two
Co-Directors: Dr P Hobson and Professor P Ibisch, and is currently
supported by Foundations of Success for Europe (Mrs I Tilders), Nature
Conservation for Europe (Mr S Mueller-Kraenner), and the European
Conservation Coaches Network (ECNet). Recently, it has established a
memorandum of understanding with the Centre for International Development
and Training at Wolverhampton University and also with the Wilderness
Foundation.
The objectives of the Centre are to grow the specific brand of research
underpinning "econics" and to develop mechanisms for applying the theory
to meet the requirements of the sector. At the moment most of the
international activities of the Centre are sponsored by four key
collaborative partners all of which are based in Germany. They are the
German Government agencies: GIZ; The German Federal Agency for Nature
Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz, BfN); the German Academic
Exchange Service (DAAD); and German branch of World Wild Fund for Nature
WWF.
After the success of the tenth Conference of the Parties of the Bern
Convention (COP10) and the publication by Ibisch et al. edited by the
Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (see 2 on section 3
above) a number of high profile contracts were agreed with the German
Agency, GIZ to implement "MARISCO" (a method in vulnerability assessment
and adaptive management recently developed by the Centre) in the planning
process for protected area management. The first of the contracts was a
two year project (BIOMARC) working with national park staff from two of
the main marine reserves in Costa Rica. The task was to develop a MARISCO
model for managers to use in the planning process for both parks. The
successful outcome of the project prompted further discussions with GIZ on
ways to widen access to the MARISCO process for all the international
conservation partners working with GIZ. As a result a second contract was
signed for the production of a manual detailing the science and method of
MARISCO for the purpose of circulating to all the GIZ partner
organisations in conservation. The manual and accompanying video was
produced in 2013 (see 6 on section 3 above)
Raising the Centre's profile both through scientific publications and
activities with GIZ was a contributing factor to the development of a
working partnership with the Government agency, BfN. Two main projects
were launched in 2012. The first relates to the Centre's research
expertise in forest ecosystem function (see 3 on section 3 above),
and is a contract to co-ordinate a UNESCO World Heritage European Beech
Project. The goal is to establish by 2014 "World Heritage" status for a
network of prime sites for European beech across its entire range of the
continent. Identifying appropriate indicators of forest ecosystem function
that could then be used by scientific staff in the project team to select
priority sites for natural old growth beech was a key factor in the
process. The second contract is to apply MARISCO to the process of
planning for a UNESCO transboundary biosphere reserve in the Altai
Mountains across the Russian and Kazakhstan border.
The scientific robustness of MARISCO enables practitioners to use the
method to test and evaluate in detail existing practices in land use
management. MARISCO is being applied this way in a project funded by the
German branch of WWF to assess the effectiveness of FSC forestry schemes
operating in Russia. The successful completion of the first phase of the
project have simulated negotiations for a new four year contract to employ
the method in an assessment of certification schemes in oil palm
plantations in South East Asia and Argentina.
Providing training in specific skills directly related to the needs of
the sector is one of the key objectives of the Centre and at the moment
MARISCO is the main vehicle for delivering outcomes in this area. Many
organisations within the environmental sector recognize a gap in the
understanding and applied knowledge of complex cultural ecosystems amongst
both existing and prospective employees. Often, highly qualified students
and staff with academic knowledge in specific disciplines lack the
necessary skills to transfer and apply their understanding to problems
encountered within a multi-disciplinary environment. Using its knowledge
and research expertise in ecosystem science and complex systems theory the
Centre has, for the last two years, worked with the German Government
agency, DAAD, to deliver training in Ecosystem Diagnostics Analysis and
MARISCO to both postgraduate students and employees in the environmental
sector within Albania. After the successes of the first consultancy
project the Centre was encouraged to submit proposals for a larger,
regional programme of training for postgraduates and professional staff
across Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo. This latest contract will run for
two years.
Sources to corroborate the impact
- Costa Rica MARISCO, BIOMARC Project Director, Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Germany
- UNESCO World Heritage European Beech Project Director; Bundesamt für
Naturschutz (BfN), Germany
- Federal Officer, ; Bundesamt für Naturschutz (BfN), Germany 53113
- NABU/Forestry project :Conservation Officer
- Project Manager for Sustainable Development, Ebwersbalde University,
Germany
- WWF Germany, Russian FSC Project Director
- Federal Officer, BfN, Germany
- Natural Resources Officer (Forest) GIZ, Germany