BMBF-Förderschwerpunkt "Sustainable Landmanagement"

Objectives

This research project was developed in the context of reinforcing interactions between natural and socioeconomic systems and their significant impacts on our landscapes. This is particularly evident in land use, the impacts on which are directly affected by increasingly competing demands for its use.

The state government of Rhineland-Palatinate anticipates significant problems trigged by climate change in the field of agriculture and forestry, the high and low water, tourism and biodiversity.  The key to solving this challenge lies therefore in land use that is made sustainable through innovative management of all relevant systems.

Simultaneously, structural, especially economic and demographic changes in regions and municipalities present new challenges. In this context, land use is mainly concerned with the consideration of the efficient design of future material and energy flows for the sustainable supply of food to the population, as well as energy and other raw materials for material processing in commerce and industry.

Solving the conflict between food production, energy supply, urban habitat and ecosystem services requires, mainly in urban areas and regions, consistent restructuring and re-thinking. So far, it appears that such regions, as well as the selected Association of Municipalities Sprendlingen-Gensingen and Rockenhausen, due to a variety of segregated responsibilities and activities rather than well-organized or managed systems, continue to possess large amounts of untapped potential. The non-use or underutilization of regional potentials leads to unnecessary CO₂ emissions and other environmental impacts, as well as less economic power and innovation.

Thus, at the core of the fundamental reorganization of the overall project and systematic innovation management of the material and energy systems were local authorities with the aim of producing as few emissions as possible, conserving resources and generating regionally added value.