Speakers
Description
Landscape Features (LF) – such as hedgerows, flower strips, ponds, tree patches, and terraces – are key elements of agricultural landscapes that mediate biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and land-use intensity. As semi-natural structures in human-dominated systems, they contribute to habitat provision, ecosystem service delivery, and landscape connectivity. In the context of biodiversity loss, climate change, and competing land-use pressures, LF restoration is emerging as an important strategy for enhancing multifunctional and resilient agricultural regions.
The EU Horizon project LAFERIA (https://laferia-project.eu) investigates pathways for reintroducing landscape features across European agricultural regions, where one of seven case studies concentrates on agricultural areas around Leipzig. The project adopts a transdisciplinary approach involving farmers, landowners, municipalities, policymakers, civil society, and researchers in co-developing transformation pathways.
This workshop aims to advance and test methodological approaches for participatory scenario development in socio-ecological research, jointly with scientists interested in ecological and socio-ecological transformations in agricultural areas. The workshop conceptualizes landscape transformation as a multi-scalar process linking biodiversity patterns, ecosystem functions, and land-use governance, aiming to strengthen scenario-based analytical frameworks.
Participants will be invited to evaluate and refine draft LF restoration scenarios which are currently being developed based on seven European case study regions. After a short introduction, participants will divide into small groups to assess alternative scenarios using criteria related to biodiversity outcomes, ecosystem service provision, socio-economic feasibility, and governance constraints. We will thereby together explore alternative pathways and identify priorities for LF protection and restoration.
The workshop is tailored to iDiv researchers whose expertise in biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services, landscape ecology, and human dimensions of biodiversity are essential for strengthening socio-ecological assumptions underlying our scenarios and improving assessments of LF restoration potentials. In return, the workshop provides access to a multi-country European project, insights into European policies and an opportunity to participate in developing policy-relevant scenario framework linking biodiversity research with EU land-use transformation under the Common Agricultural Policy and the Nature Restoration Regulation.
| Status Group | Senior Scientist |
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