BTU overview Close BTU overview
Homepage
Close
Faculty 2
Chair of Economics, in particular environmental economics Prof. Dr. rer. pol. Frank Wätzold

Current projects

NBS4Drought


The project investigates the benefits of using wetlands to reduce the impact of drought. To this end, NBS4Drought also considers the costs and economic implications of implementing and maintaining wetlands, as well as social acceptance and perceptions among local communities. Furthermore, the project aims to identify cost-effective methods of implementing nature-based solutions and demonstrate their financial advantages for local communities and the EU.

NBS4Drought will result in the development of tools, policies and practices for wetland management strategies.
The project involves seven wetland showcases located across five different bioclimatic zones in Europe. These differ in terms of their water properties, carbon sequestration, biodiversity and economic and social dimensions.

Citizen science initiatives and a multi-stakeholder approach are pivotal to the project, helping sites across Europe to make better use of wetlands for water management.

NBS4Drought is funded by the European Union (Grant No. 101181351) under the programme HORIZON.2.6 - Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment.

Website: https://nbs4drought.eu/ 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nbs4drought/


Involved Researchers:
 - Dr. Astrid Sturm
 - Caterina De Petris

Project duration: 2025-2029

Lil-Klibioto

Climate change poses new challenges for Lusatia. With increasing periods of heat and longer dry spells in summer, landscape development is being significantly affected. This primarily affects agriculture and cycling-related tourism, which is of particular importance due to the attractive themed cycle paths in the region.

Within the project, we are analysing the current landscape and land use in Lusatia with the help of drone images and satellite images. In doing so, we record temperature hotspots and coldspots in order to develop targeted action strategies. In addition to analysing land surface temperatures, agricultural and socio-economic conditions are also taken into account in order to identify practicable land use options for the region.
Another focus is on the economic evaluation of these options. We use surveys and choice experiments to determine the preferences of female farmers and cycle tourists for climate adaptation measures. In addition, their costs are calculated on the basis of the land use options developed. By estimating preferences and costs, targeted adaptation measures can be derived.

In order to promote the Lusatia region, LIL-KliBioTo supports the adaptation of the bioeconomy and cycle tourism to a changing climate through specific recommendations on:

  • Agricultural utilisation
  • Design of cycle paths adapted to climate change
  • Dissemination of the project results with the help of apps

Involved Researchers:

  • Charlotte Gerling
  • Tobias Nowakowski

Webseite:https://lil-klibioto.zalf.de/de/

Partners:

  • Leibniz-Zentrum für Agrarlandschaftsforschung (ZALF) e.V.
  • hyperworx Medienproduktionen

Funding:

  • BMBF („WIR! – Wandel durch Innovation in der Region)
IAWAK-EE

The project deals with the question of how the consequences of climate change can be mitigated by measures to improve the landscape water balance and the local climate. To this end, spatially explicit proposals for measure implementation for climate-stable land management were developed in the first phase of the project. The selected measures were evaluated in terms of both their cooling effect and their cost effectiveness. In the current 2nd project phase, synergy effects for the conservation of biodiversity and the handling of climate-related adaptation limits will be included in the analysis. The aim is to create a transferable framework for evaluating measures in drought-prone regions.

Involved Researchers:

  • Dr. Astrid Sturm
  • Dr. Nonka Markova-Nenova
  • Johanna Witt

Project Website:

GreenGrass

Innovative grassland utilization for sustainable agricultural intensification at the landscape scale

Involved Researchers:

  • Dr. Astrid Sturm
  • Karmand Kadir

Project duration: 2019-2028

Project website:

Partner:

  • Universität zu Köln
  • Universität Hohenheim
  • Feindt Humboldt Universität Berlin
  • Universität Kassel
  • Humboldt Universität Berlin
  • Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus - Senftenberg
  • Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
  • Agrargesellschaft Emsterland/Brandenburg
  • Grünlandzentrum Niedersachsen/Bremen
  • Horizont Group GmbH
  • Texas Trading GmbH

Funding: German Federal Ministry for Education and Science (BMBF) ("Agrarsysteme der Zukunft")

SAGE

Regional Centre for Sustainable Adaptation to Global Change in the Middle East (SAGE-Centre)

The SAGE-Center works on finding science-based solutions to adapt to climate change in the Middle East. This is based on interdisciplinary research that is relevant for decision-makers in the region. A large focus lies on capacity building and the empowerment of societies. More information on the SAGE-Centre can be found here: https://www.daad.de/en/information-services-for-higher-education-institutions/further-information-on-daad-programmes/sage-centre-middle-east/

At the Chair of Environmental Economics, two PhD students will be working on topics of climate and land use change in the Middle East.

Ahmed Shaqfa

Rangelands in Jordan have a valuable role from an economic, environmental, and cultural point of view. It’s a source for livestock products, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity, and they also serve as catchment areas that receive rainfall and surface water runoff. Rangelands also have a high cultural value for the Bedouin community. Climate change and water scarcity are two major challenges that threaten Jordan’s rangelands. Contour ridges, an on-farm storm water harvesting technique, are a promising adaptation measure in the region. In his PhD, Ahmed Shaqfa will conduct a cost-benefit analysis to assess the socio-economic impacts of using contour ridges as a tool to rehabilitate degraded rangelands in Jordan. Based on this research, in a second step a payments for ecosystem services (PES) scheme will be developed.

Mai Nusir

The management of common pool resources such as rangelands differs between different areas in Jordan. The differences lie, for example, in the management tools, outcomes, local community engagement and feedback. These differences were the inspiration for Mai Nusir’s research project: to investigate the management of common-pool-resources and institutional change that three chosen locations in Jordan went through, and to assign the institutional change to a framework to explain the process and the development of the common-pool-resources management options and policies in these locations.

Involved Researchers:

  • Ahmed Shaqfa
  • Mai Nusir
  • Dr. Charlotte Gerling
  • Prof. Dr. Frank Wätzold
Stormwater harvesting in a contour ridge
Landscape with contour ridges
Visiting Bedouin regions (all pictures by Charlotte Gerling)
During Mai Nusir's visit to the Jordan Valley, as well as the northern and southern regions of Badia (Jordan), Mai had the opportunity to engage in discussions with Bedouin communities. These conversations covered topics such as grazing land conditions and the irrigation water situation in the area.