Another exciting research project, funded as part of the BMBF Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity (FEdA), has entered the implementation phase since October: ECO²SCAPE.

The project is coordinated by Prof. Anna Cord, holder of the Chair of Computational Landscape Ecology at TU Dresden. Prof. Björn Andres, holder of the Chair of Machine Learning for Computer Vision, as well as other experts from TU Dresden with a background in biogeography, environmental sciences, political science and computer science are also members of the project team. Project partners from science and practice are the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU), the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research e.V. (ZALF), the  Landscape conservation association Northwest Saxony e.V. (LPV) and Nationale Naturlandschaften e.V. (NNL).

The loss of biodiversity is progressing at a rapid pace - with hardly foreseeable consequences and high societal follow-up costs: Biodiversity is the basis for various ecosystem services and therefore essential for human well-being. The intensification of agriculture is considered one of the most important drivers of biodiversity loss in Germany. Despite some partial successes, there is a lack of broad implementation of measures to protect biodiversity. This is where ECO²SCAPE comes in: In the project, new, practical approaches and measures for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services are developed together with farmers in the model region “Vereinigte Mulde” near Leipzig, piloted and studied by an interdisciplinary research team. These measures will focus on the role of farmers in landscape management and the conservation of structurally rich cultural landscapes (beyond the production of agricultural products) and aim to achieve the broadest possible acceptance in society. The aim is to design ecologically effective and economically efficient measures, which – by means of newly developed monitoring methods – will be examined not only with regard to their effect on specific areas, but especially with regard to their effects at the landscape level. The underlying innovative research approach thus combines current methods from the fields of artificial intelligence, institutional economic instrument analysis, environmental economics, ecological-economic modeling and software development.

© Stephanie Roilo

After a one-year preparatory phase, the second project phase was launched at a kick-off event in Dresden on October 21st and 22nd. Among other things, the results of the first project phase were presented and reflected upon. The project’s advisory board also took part. This board includes members from science and practice who are not directly involved in the project and have an advisory role. The opening event was used by the project members for further networking and planning the next steps.