Supervisors:

PI: Bernd Siebenhüner, Co-PIs: Helmut Hillebrand, Gabriele Gerlach

Projects and Research:

Coastal social-ecological systems provide multiple ecosystem services (ES) such as natural flood protection and water management, food and green energy production, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, cultural and recreational services. Particular institutional settings (e.g. resource management rules, conservation areas, distribution of property and user rights) in coastal land management decide on favoring a certain bundle of ESS over another bundle, and on the distribution of access rights to the provided ESS among the affected societal groups.

A range of international and national agreements and strategies such as the international Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) stress the necessity of maintaining biological diversity. Despite the political will, so far the degradation of the status of biodiversity could not be impeded.

Classic approaches to nature conservation to maintain biological diversity traditionally focuses on the protection of single sites, species or nature reserves. Not only nature conservation, but also forestry, agriculture, tourism and urbanization increase the demand for land. This is the reason why more and more researchers and decision-makers hold the view that the maintenance of biodiversity and the benefit that people gain from ecosystems need to be thought together. The ecosystem services approach combines both aspects and can reveal and help to investigate the complex relations of social-ecological systems. Thus the CBD but also the European Biodiversity Strategy 2020 refer to ES and require their maintenance and improvement.

This research project asks how already existing governance structures (e.g. governance instruments, institutions, …) deal with trade-offs between ES. An addition question is how existing structures have to be changed to impede a degradation of biodiversity and ES and in the same time to meet demands of various sectors like agriculture, tourism, nature conservation but also private users of ecosystems.

This research focuses on the coastal area of Lower Saxony where a multitude of interests exists. The region is not only economically, but also cultural and historical characterized by agriculture and tourism. Dairy and increasingly the protection of renewable energies shape the landscape. Parallel, the tourism industry but even more nature protection value the Wadden Sea as unique ecosystem.

This uniqueness of the region has lead to the fact that the Wadden Sea of Lower Saxony hold the title as German national park but also as UNESCO biosphere reserve. While the national park requires a strict nature conservation concept, the biosphere concept emphasizes the idea of sustainable development as interaction of protection of landscapes and ecosystems and the support of economic and human development. This PhD thesis examines how the concepts deal with trade-offs on various levels: trade-offs between ES, between different types of land use, between various preferences of users in the region and also between broader goals such as nature conservation an economic development.

Publications and Awards:

Previous publications of the candidate:

• Baumgärtner, S., Klein, A.M., Thiel, D. & K. Winkler (2014). Ramsey discounting of ecosystem services. Environmental and Resource Economics. doi:10.1007/s10640-014-9792-x.
• Hauck, J., Schleyer, C., Winkler, K. J. & J. Maes (2014). Shades of Greening: Reviewing the Impact of the new EU Agricultural Policy on Ecosystem Services. Change and Adaptation in Socio-Ecological Systems, 1, 51-62. doi:10.2478/cass-2014-0006.
• Hauck J., Winkler, K. J., & J. Priess (in press). Reviewing drivers of ecosystem change as input for environmental and ecosystem services modelling. Sustainability of Water Quality and Ecology. doi: 10.1016/j.swaqe.2015.01.003.
• Hauck, J., Schleyer, C., Winkler, K. J. & J. Maes (2014). Shades of Greening: Reviewing the Impact of the new EU Agricultural Policy on Ecosystem Services. Change and Adaptation in Socio-Ecological Systems, 1, 51-62. doi:10.2478/cass-2014-0006.

Publications of the candidate:

• Winkler, K. J. (2016). Governance von trade-offs zwischen Ökosystemleistungen im deutschen Küstenraum. in: Horn, H. and K. Bockmühl (Hrsg.). Treffpunkt Biologische Vielfalt XV - Interdisziplinärer Forschungsaustausch im Rahmen des Übereinkommens über die biologische Vielfalt. BfN-Skripte 436, Bonn - Bad Godesberg. ISBN: 978-3-89624-172-6. S.87 - 94.
• Baumgärtner, S., Klein, A.M., Thiel, D. & K. J. Winkler (2015). Ramsey discounting of ecosystem services.Environmental and Resource Economics, 61, 273-296. doi:10.1007/s10640-014-9792-x.
• Hauck J., Winkler, K. J., & J. Priess (2015). Reviewing driversof ecosystem change as input for environmental and ecosystem services modelling. Sustainability of Water Quality and Ecology, 5, 9-30. doi: 10.1016/j.swaqe.2015.01.003.
• Schleyer, C., Görg, C., Hauck, J. & K. J. Winkler (2015). Opportunities and Challenges for Mainstreaming the Ecosystem Services Concept in the Multi-level Policy making within the EU. Ecosystem Services, 16, 174-181. doi:10.1016/j.ecoser.2015.10.014

Awards:

• Wolfgang-Schulenberg scholarship 2015 (120€)
• Scholarship by the World Forum on Natural Capital, Edinburgh, Scotland (£ 665 - 925€)