To strengthen the resilience of the people living in high risk urban and semi-urban areas, this project concentrates on establishing an Early Warning System through the improvement of early warning services with the support of the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), in close cooperation with the National Meteorological Services (NMSs) of Malawi, government and other main stakeholders at various levels.

Team

RECLAIM project analyses the opportunities and challenges that emerge when climate change initiatives are introduced in the least developed countries, specifically herein Laos and Cambodia. The research examines whether it is possible to simultaneously pursue development, mitigation and adaptation and how this will affect to poor and vulnerable groups. The aim is to identify and analyse the drivers, actors and institutions that influence climate compatible development. The research addresses these questions through quantitative analysis of energy-economic systems and development pathways as well as qualitative research on the actors and forces shaping climate policies. The aim of the quantitative analysis is to provide useful information for future planning through defining a framework within which the future energy needs and related climate policies can be assessed.

Team

Jyrki Luukkanen (FFRC), Visa Tuominen (FFRC), Mira Käkönen (FFRC), Jarmo Vehmas (FFRC), Louis Lebel (USER), Dany Va (RUPP), Try Thuon (RUPP), Ponlok Tin (MoE), Khampone Nathavong (NUOL), Saykham Voladet (NERI), Noora Stenholm (FFRC)

SUCCEED is a capacity building project which seeks to enhance and promote climate change, environmental and renewable energy education, research, and development. The overall objective of SUCCEED is that the partner countries are able to train and educate national experts capable of advocating national and international climate change policy and renewable energy promotion from the perspective of the least developed countries, especially with regards to: climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, climate finance, energy policy and renewable energy technology. Other objectives include improved skills of teaching staff to ensure successful implementation of climate change and renewable energy education in energy, and environmental degree programmes, improved research and pedagogical skills, improved facilities at ITC, NUOL, RUPP & YTU and promotion of networking and cooperation with national and international institutions and stakeholders.

Team

Jyrki Luukkanen, Mika Korkeakoski, Visa Tuominen

The main innovation of this research project is to approach and analyse REDD+ not only as a climate change mitigation measure, but as a new environmental governance mechanism that can lead to major changes in the forest governance and through it, distribution of benefits, costs, risks and opportunities of land use and forest management between the actors and groups involved. The main interest in this research is on how the notion of responsive forest governance is addressed in the processes. In this case,the responsive forest governance is concerned with issues of negotiation power, participation in planning and implementation of REDD+ and allocation of costs and benefits among the stakeholders and groups involved. The research results are expected to assist in designing socially equitable and environmentally appropriate options for REDD+ and further developing selected approaches to sustainable forestry that can help to achieve the goals of REDD+. Internationally, this proposed research could contribute significantly to policy-relevant research and empirical knowledge as well as theoretical debates on the nexus of social, economic and environmental sustainability and responsive and deliberative forest governance in developing world.

Team

Irmeli Mustalahti, PI Salla Rantala ja Melis Ece (2012-2013), Post doc researchers Sabaheta Ramcilovic-Suominen (2015-2018), Post doc researcher Daniel Hinojosa Flores, PhD student (on-going) Bishnu Devkota, PhD student (on-going) Maija Hyle, PhD student (on-going) Dipjoy Chakma, PhD student (on-going, externally funded) Mathias Cramm, research assistant (periodical) Phetsamone Soulivong, research assistant (periodical)

Land-use changes through private agricultural investments have an impact on local communities and their adaptive capacity towards climate change in several ways. Changes in the use of forests change the livelihood possibilities and the availability of ecosystem services. In this project, the adaptive capacity of local communities to land use changes in Mozambique is studied by: - Mapping of private investments in Mozambique - Studying the changes in livelihood and availability of ecosystem services in the neighbourhood of selected investment sites - Evaluating the effect of selected private agricultural investment on the adaptive capacity of local communities to climate change - Estimating the change in carbon stocks as a result of land use change and the reallocation of local communities to new areas.

Team

Eshetu Yirdaw (UH), Markku Kanninen (UH), Adrián A. Monge Monge (UH), Paula Horne (PTT), Leena Kerkelä PTT, Matleena Kniivilä (PTT), Almeida Sitoe (UEM), Valerio Macandza (UEM), Benard Guedes (UEM)