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Research projects 29
Decision Support for the Supply of Ecosystem Services under Global Change (DecisionES) is a Marie Curie Horizon 2020 - Research and Innovation Framework Programme (2021-2025). Pressures on forest ecosystems are very likely to increase as a consequence of socioeconomic and demographic trends. A growing population will demand more products (e.g., wood) to be extracted from forest ecosystems. At the same time, these harvesting activities and their interactions with global change drivers will impact the sustainability of the supply of a wider range of non-provisioning services (e.g., wildfire protection, water, and biodiversity). The integrity of ecosystems must be safeguarded when developing harvesting activities, and yet this is further complicated by the occurrence of natural disturbances such as wildfires and droughts, etc. New decision support approaches are needed that can cope with this challenge. European and the American experiences with the development and application of decision support approaches for the provision of ecosystem services (ESs), offer a solid base for continued improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of forest management in the context of global change (e.g., responding to changes in demographics, socioeconomics, and climatic conditions). This provided the rationale for a project that will help to strengthen research collaboration through active networking and staff exchange between 8 European organizations and 10 American organizations that are leaders in these fields. This project will build from the top-level multidisciplinary expertise (wildfire ecology and management, wildfire behaviour simulation, hydrology, process-based modelling, biodiversity, wildlife management, ecology, water services, operations research, management science, stakeholder engagement, forest ecosystem management planning methods, supply chain management methods and decision support systems) in these organizations to address the integration of operational, tactical and strategic forest ecosystem management planning levels and potentiate the supply of ecosystem services at various spatial and temporal scales.
Team
Jordi García-Gozalo
The designation of protected areas and of regions of special conservation interest has gained due relevance across the globe, particularly in the past three decades. Territories covered by protected areas are steadily expanding. Within this framework, numerous international strategies define the importance of Capacity Building and Training as the key challenge of the 21st century. The Training Masters in Ecosystem Services Management in Protected Areas (ECOSERVE) aims at developing an innovative practice-oriented MSc programme according to Bologna criteria in the field of protected areas management, and at meeting sustainable development and labour market needs through networking activities. ECOSERVE will be a qualitatively new MSc programme implemented in higher education institutions of the Russian Federation and Mongolia, strengthening their educational partnership with non-academic partners in the field of protected areas management and responding to demands for professionals of public services, private service providers and tourism businesses. It will contribute to adapt land management strategies to the actual changing natural drivers, such as climate, in alignment with global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The program knowledge base, materials and courses in Russian, Mongolian and English, will be continuously updated and disseminated through a network of resources centres of protected areas in Partner country HEIs, promoting inter-regional cooperation in environmental protection, nature and biodiversity conservation issues, and management.
Team
Cristina Vega
The project seeks to increase Mozambican research capacity on forestry, sustainable natural resource and land-use planning considering different aspects of impacts (ecological, social and economic). In addition to joint teaching activities, it includes collaborative research on environmental and socio-economic aspects of forestry and natural resources management. The fieldwork activities take place in Manica and Zambézia Provinces.
Team
Almeida Sitoe, Valério Macandza, Ana Monteiro, Luis Cristovão, Elisa Vallius, Anssi Lensu, Irmeli Mustalahti
Biomedical Robotics and Applications (BioRA) focused on the staff exchange between the partners of EU and China, and on the development of new technologies and applications in the field of biomedical robotics on the macro, micro and nano scales for biological cell detection, manipulation, test and injection. It met the objectives and requirements of the Marie Curie Action: International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES), by setting up multiple bridges between European and Chinese institutions.
Team
Pasi Kallio, Koivikko Anastasia, Seriola Veikko
The TAITASMART project, a research and development project of the University of Helsinki aims to develop a climate-smart landscape framework in Taita Taveta County, Kenya, to take into account both the needs of climate adaptation and mitigation, and sustainable agriculture supported by ecosystem services. For this purpose, the project will study land cover changes, land-atmosphere interactions, soil-crop system functioning, and climate smart landscapes for sustainable development, and build capacity in climate-smart practices.
Team
Petri Pellikka, Laura Alakukku, Timo Vesala
The EXTREME project will be analysing and comparing the sensitivity of ecosystem functioning in desert shrubs or steppes and managed boreal forest ecosystems to the foreseen climate change, climatic variability and weather extremes, with implications for carbon sequestration and biomass production of ecosystems. The project will carry out both experimental and model-based analyses at various temporal and spatial scales. The project is expected to generate new knowledge of how carbon sequestration and biomass production of the most sensitive ecosystems response to climate change scenarios.
Team
Peltola Heli, Kellomäki Seppo, Tianshan Zha
Mining consists of a long chain of actions starting from exploring suitable mineral deposits, building up the mine infrastructure and finally initiating and conducting the production. Every step has own environmental concerns. Besides the environmentally adverse effects, mine production may affect nearby population and pollute the working environment. The main categories of particles in mines are mineral dust, combustion products of explosives and diesel engine emissions. Both mineral dust and diesel engine emissions have serious health concerns. This project focuses on different issues in mining environments, which help in making the future mines more sustainable and environmentally sound.
Team
Jorma Keskinen, Topi Rönkkö, Panu Karjalainen, Sampo Saari, D.Sc. (Tech.), Antti Rostedt, Jenni Alanen Ernesto Gramsch Hilkka Timonen
The overall objective of the SuFoRUn project is to develop new models, methods and decision systems that may effectively integrate currently fragmented multidisciplinary knowledge to support forest management and policy development in a context of global change. The European and the American experiences with the development/application of models and tools to support forest management and develop innovative forest policies provide a solid base for continuous improvement of its efficiency and effectiveness in a context of global change (e.g. changes in forest policies, changes in forest owner structures, changes in climatic conditions).
Team
Heli Peltola, Timo Pukkala, Dr Jordi Garcia-Gonzalo ( Centre Tecnologic Forestal de Catalunya CTFC).
The overall goal of BIRDS is to establish a long term international network involving leading researchers in bioinformatics and information retrieval from four different continents, to strengthen the partnership through the exchange of knowledge and expertise, and to develop integrated approaches to improve current approaches in both fields. It will be implemented through staff exchanges, in addition to summer schools, workshops and conferences to facilitate knowledge sharing between members of the partnership. Research results will be disseminated to the market through a cooperation with an innovative SME software development company based in Europe.
Team
Simon J Puglisi, Susana Ladra, Luis M.S. Russo, Gillermo de Bernardo, Gonzalo Navarro, Diego Seco, Hideo Bannai, Andrew Turpin
The overall aim of the project is to strengthen the forest-related higher education system in Laos to improve domestic capacity to sustainably manage forests for the benefit of the people and the environment, while at the same time enabling Laos to effectively respond to the demands and opportunities of international processes such as the Agenda 2030 (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Team
Prof. Markku Kanninen; Nicholas Hogarth, Adrian Monge, Dipjoy Chakma