Pathways from research to sustainable development: insights from ten research projects in sustainability and resilience

Drawing on collective experience from ten collaborative research projects focused on the Global South, we identify three major challenges that impede the translation of research on sustainability and resilience into better-informed choices by individuals and policy-makers that in turn can support transformation to a sustainable future. The three challenges comprise: (i) converting knowledge produced during research projects into successful knowledge application; (ii) scaling up knowledge in time when research projects are short-term and potential impacts are long-term; and (iii) scaling up knowledge across space, from local research sites to larger-scale or even global impact. Some potential pathways for funding agencies to overcome these challenges include providing targeted prolonged funding for dissemination and outreach, and facilitating collaboration and coordination across different sites, research teams, and partner organizations. By systematically documenting these challenges, we hope to pave the way for further innovations in the research cycle

Re-imagined and re-defined meanings : The complexity of land abandonment, identity and place in the quest for sustainable and biodivers rural and regional landscapes

Bringing together theoretical and empirical research from 22 countries in Europe, North America, Australia, South America and Japan, this book offers a state-of-the-art survey of conceptual and methodological research and planning issues relating to landscape, heritage, and development. It has 30 chapters grouped in four main thematic sections: landscapes as a constitutive dimension of territorial identities; landscape history and landscape heritage; landscapes as development assets and resources; and landscape research and development planning. The contributors are scholars from a wide range of cultural and professional backgrounds, experienced in fundamental and applied research, planning and policy design. They were invited by the co-editors to write chapters for this book on the basis of the theoretical frameworks, case-study research findings and related policy concerns they presented at the 23rd Session of PECSRL - The Permanent European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape, organized by TERCUD - Territory, Culture and Development Research Centre, Universidade Lusofona, in Lisbon and Obidos, Portugal, 1 - 5 September 2008. With such broad inter-disciplinary relevance and international scope, this book provides a valuable overview, highlighting recent findings and interpretations on historical, current and prospective linkages between changing landscapes and natural, economic, cultural and other identity features of places and regions; landscape-related identities as local and regional development assets and resources in the era of globalized economy and culture; the role of landscape history and heritage as platforms of landscape research and management in European contexts, including the implementation of The European Landscape Convention; and, the strengthening of the landscape perspective as a constitutive element of sustainable development.Paper presented at PECSRL – Permanent European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape. Landscapes, Identities and Development, Lisbon, Portugal, 1 - 5 November, 2008.</p

Ecosystem services provided by semi-natural and improved grasslands – synergies, trade-offs and bundles

Although grasslands have an extensive global coverage and are important contributors to fodder production, they have received less attention as providers of multiple ecosystem services (ES). In this paper, we investigate the utility of the ES framework for grassland management in Europe. We focus on semi-natural grasslands (SNG) and improved grasslands (IG); both are widespread in Europeanagriculture. We present an overview of the ES delivered by these two grassland types and their potential synergies, trade-offs and bundles. We show that SNG are able to generate a wider range of ES than IG, and that trade-offs between ES exist in both grassland types. For example, SNG are good in providinghabitat for biodiversity, pollination, biological control and cultural services, but are poorer in biomass production and for increasing water infiltration, whereas IG produce higher quantities of biomass for fodder but contribute less to cultural services. Both IG and SNG are likely needed for the long-term sustainability of food production, but a larger effort towards landscape-scale management is needed to balance the provision of ES. Applying the ES concept to grasslands in farming systems could be valuable if used in an informed way, leveraging ecologically and economically grassland management for sustainablelivestock farming systems in Europ

Pathways from research to sustainable development: Insights from ten research projects in sustainability and resilience.

Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the editorial team and anonymous referees. Stockholm University supports open access publishing by covering article-processing charges.Funder: Stockholm UniversityDrawing on collective experience from ten collaborative research projects focused on the Global South, we identify three major challenges that impede the translation of research on sustainability and resilience into better-informed choices by individuals and policy-makers that in turn can support transformation to a sustainable future. The three challenges comprise: (i) converting knowledge produced during research projects into successful knowledge application; (ii) scaling up knowledge in time when research projects are short-term and potential impacts are long-term; and (iii) scaling up knowledge across space, from local research sites to larger-scale or even global impact. Some potential pathways for funding agencies to overcome these challenges include providing targeted prolonged funding for dissemination and outreach, and facilitating collaboration and coordination across different sites, research teams, and partner organizations. By systematically documenting these challenges, we hope to pave the way for further innovations in the research cycle