CONTENTS

+ News

• Fall Term 2014/15
• APCC Report
• Guest Professor: Laurence Lestel

+ Upcoming Events

• Premiere of the documentary film AFTERMATH
• New Book: Interdisziplinär und transdisziplinär forschen. Praktiken und Methoden.
• ZUG-Minisymposium: „At the Age of the Wild“
• Video link: IFF-Lecture with Morgan Grove, PhD

+ New Research projects

• HSRM Sustainable Development of the Danube
• BioTransform.at
• LTSER Concept
• Pasture Intensification
• Creating a Global MFA Database

+ Staff news

+ International Guests

+ New publications

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+ News

Fall term 2014/15: Course information online
Detailed information can be found on our website: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/socec/inhalt/255.htm
For further information please contact: wolfgang [dot] deutsch [at] aau [dot] at

APCC Report
Several researchers at the Institute of Social Ecology contributed to the Austrian Assessment Report 2014 published Sept 2014 by the Austrian Panel of Climate Change or APCC. Helmut Haberl acted as coordinating lead author for the chapter on climate-change mitigation and adaptation to climate change in agriculture, forestry, water management and biodiversity conservation; Veronika Gaube was lead author and Christoph Plutzar contributing author for the same chapter. Willi Haas and Ulli Weisz were lead authors for chapter climate change in Austria and impacts on anthroposphere.
For more information: http://www.apcc.ac.at/

Guest Professor: Laurence Lestel
Laurence Lestel, PhD is researcher at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique –CNRS in France. After having worked in the Chemical Science Department in CNRS (1988-1999), she changed her research interests towards Environmental History in order to investigate environmental impacts of increasing industrialization and urbanization in France during the 19th and 20th centuries. Her research mainly focuses on environmental degradation and its perception and management by several actors e.g. state, experts, media. Currently, she works on the Seine river basin, in which she deals with water quality related to the anthropogenic influences. In winter term 2014/15 Laurence Lestel will give a seminar on “Environmental History of European Cities and their Rivers“.

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+ Events in Vienna

Premiere of the documentary film AFTERMATH
AFTERMATH is a documentary film directed by Raphael Barth. Over a period of seven years Raphael Barth has followed the fate of the Nicobarese in the wake of aid and development after the Tsunami. The film is a high profile international co-production made in India, the Nicobar Islands, Austria, Germany, and UK. Approaching the 10th anniversary of the Tsunami, the film offers unique insights into the lost culture of the Nicobar Islands. In never before seen images, Scientist Simron Jit Singh takes us onto an emotional journey with his video recordings of this mysterious ancient culture. Together with his friends, Journalist Denis Giles and Nicobari Prince Rasheed Yusuf, he is soon confronted with the suffocating pressure of aid and development. They decide to help in a different way: They raise their own money, they start their own aid organisation and they train their own activists from within the Nicobar Islands. A 60-minute documentary of AFTERMATH was first broadcast on Austrian national television (ORF) in December 2009. The final 92-minute film version is now ready for launch to mark the 10th anniversary of the tsunami. Aftermath is produced by acclaimed Golden Girls Filmproduktion, Wien (“Everyday Rebellion”, “Mama Illegal”, “Exile Family Movie” etc.).
Tuesday 21. October 2014, 18h30, Weltmuseum Wien, Neue Burg Heldenplatz, 1010 Vienna.
Please reserve here: http://tinyurl.com/mqf8q7z

New Book: Interdisziplinär und transdisziplinär forschen. Praktiken und Methoden.
Societal problems, like demographic change, regional development, sustainable diet or energy safety are challenges, which can´t be solved within one discipline. Interdisciplinary research is important, but in order to find practicable solutions and a way to implement them partners from the relevant environment have to be involved. Each inter- and transdisciplinary team and project is confronted with the challenge to organise the research process in a way that ensures a good understanding as a fundament of cooperation.Based on thirty years of experience the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies published a book which concentrates on research practices and reflects, how projects start, proceed and end – in short: doing inter- and transdisziplinarity.
Dressel, G., Berger, W., Heimerl, K. Winiwarter, V. (Hrsg.) (2014). Interdisziplinär und transdisziplinär forschen. Praktiken und Methoden. Bielefeld: transcript.
Book presentation: 19.11.2014; 18–19:30 h, Planetarium Wien.
For more information: http://www.vhs.at/kurs-details/vhs-wien-kurse/Krankenh%C3%A4user-verbessern%2C-Inseln-von-Ziegen-befreien%2C-und-Slow-Food-Netzwerke-st%C3%A4rken-Kurs/292328020.html

ZUG-Minisymposium: „At the Age of the Wild“ by Harriet Ritvo
The analogy between artificial selection and natural selection powerfully introduces Darwin’s argument in On the Origin of Species. The parallel between wild species and domesticated breeds was and is far from complete, however, and the combination of similarity and difference that made Darwin’s juxtaposition of wild and domesticated animals both effective and ambiguous still persists. Indeed, as human impact on the environment has become increasingly pervasive, the reciprocal resonance of these categories has intensified; the animal wild has become more appealing as it has become less available. And as the valence of wildness has altered, the stakes around its definition have increased, with implications for such varied enterprises as livestock breeding and environmental conservation. This talk will explore the shifting understandings of wildness in animals and the practices that these understandings have inspired and shaped over the past three centuries, as well as the shifts in societal values that have had important consequences for people, for other animals, and for the environments that we all inhabit.
IFF, 1070 Vienna, Schottenfeldgasse 29, Wednesday, 22. October 2014, 18.00 c.t.
For more information: http://www.umweltgeschichte.aau.at/index,8717,Kopie+63.+Minisymposium+am+22.10.2014.html

Video link: IFF-Lecture with Morgan Grove, PhD
Developments in Long Term Social Ecological Research
Details: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/iff/downloads/iff-lectures_Grove_25.3.2014.pdf
Watch the IFF-Lecture here: http://video.aau.at/video.php?video=/Iff-Wien/IFF-Lecture-Grove_25.03.2014.mp4

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+ Research projects

HSRM Sustainable Development of the Danube Region
is a cooperation project of AAU with BOKU (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna) to further develop aspects of the Danube:Future Initiative, www.danubefuture.eu, a Flagship Project of Priority Area 7 of the EUSDR, the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region. AAU and BOKU together with the Universities of Trieste and Novi Sad, manage the initiative on behalf of the Danube Rectors Conference and the Alps-Adriatic Rectors Conference. In partnership with IDM, the permanent secretariat of the Danube Rector’s Conference, the project engages in capacity building for inter- and transdisciplinary sustainability research in the Danube River Basin. Verena Winiwarter is Project Coordinator.
Contact: verena [dot] winiwarter [at] aau [dot] at

BioTransform.at
BioTransform.at investigates the potential contribution of domestically produced biomass to the establishment of a low-carbon society in Austria. Using an integrated model, all types of current and potential biomass uses (food & feed, conventional material uses, advanced biomaterials and energy) are considered for the development of integrated biomass scenarios for Austria up to 2050. In the context of these scenarios, we analyze trade-offs and synergies resulting from competing and cascading uses of biomass, in particular related to greenhouse gas emissions related to land use and its mitigation. The societal dimension will be examined based on stakeholder interviews and a theoretical analysis of social and political implications of different transformation pathways.
Contact: christian [dot] lauk [at] aau [dot] at

LTSER Concept
Commissioned by „LTER Austria“, the Institute of Social Ecology is coordinating a process to conceptualise the research focus of the LTSER platform Eisenwurzen. A scientific board of researchers from various disciplines who are currently working in the region is holding a series of workshops. In these workshops, researchers present their current activities and identify the actual state of work being carried out in the region. This state of work is discussed in view of previous conceptual considerations on LTSER research in order to revise existing concepts and, based on an identification of current knowledge gaps, agree upon future research foci.
Contact: veronika [dot] gaube [at] aau [dot] at, martin [dot] schmid [at] aau [dot] at and simone [dot] gingrich [at] aau [dot] at

Pasture Intensification
The aim of the project is the assessment of output-intensification potentials for global pastures and meadows, e.g. by means of fostered cultivation of brachiaria sp. The project, commissioned by the World Resource Institute (Washington, USA), is conducted in close collaboration with the Chalmers University in Sweden, CSIRO in Australia, the International Livestock Institute in Kenya, IIASA in Austria, and the Colorado State University (USA). The role of the Institute of Social Ecology is to develop and provide global, spatially explicit information that allows to identify and assess areas suitable for intensification, compute land productivity (e.g. net primary production), and to estimate production increase potentials for ruminant livestock products. The overall goal of the project is to improve the understanding of option spaces for future developments in the livestock sectors, with a particular focus on land use competition and food security at the global scale. Contact: karlheinz [dot] erb [at] aau [dot] at

Creating a Global MFA Database
The purpose of this project is to form an international consortium of prime research institutes involved in establishing national material flow accounts with a global reach, to regularly report on material use and resource efficiency for the globe, for major world regions and for all countries, and to make data available online for academic researchers, government agencies and business leaders. An information base will be established on the history and state of global material use for all major natural resources – biomass, fossil fuels, metal ores and industrial and construction minerals – with a particular level of detail for specific materials and a set of high level indicators for policy planning and policy evaluation. The global material flow and resource productivity accounts will be institutionalized under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), to ensure regular updates and reporting on global trends for natural resource use. Contact: marina [dot] fischer-kowalski [at] aau [dot] at and nina [dot] eisenmenger [at] aau [dot] at

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+ Staff News

Ex SEC Staff member Helga Weisz, co-chair of PIK’s research domain Transdisciplinary Concepts & Methods, was appointed professor for Industrial Ecology and Climate Change at the Faculty for Humanities and Social Sciences in May. This professorship is assigned to both the Institute for Cultural Studies and the Institute for Social Sciences. “This unique combination of humanities, the social and the natural sciences, the latter being represented by PIK, in fact pursues a highly ambitious goal,” says Weisz. “It aims at understanding the role of natural resources for creating both the inertia and the transformation potential inherent in modern societies.”
A molecular biologist and cultural scientist by training, Weisz has held guest professorships at Yale University in the US and at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Before joining PIK, Weisz was associate professor at Alpen-Adria University in Vienna, where she is also habilitated in Social Ecology.

We welcome Stefan Nirschl, who started on June 16th in our finance department.

We welcome Nora Philadelphy, our student assistant for the winter term 2014/15

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+ International Guests

Thays Ricarte has complete an LL.M in Environmental Law and is currently a Ph.D candidate in Environmental Law at the University Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain. She has previously worked as a Judicial Assisted judge at State Court in Sergipe, Brazil. She has also an LLM in Procedural Civil Law in Brazil. Thays´s Ph.D thesis is on “Energy Transition as a Matrix to Sketch a New Global Governance”. She has been a Research Fellow for CEDAT with a specific focus on ecological debt, ecological economic, and environmental justice.
At our Institute, Thays pursues her interest in ecological economy, energy transition, energy democraticdeficit, social metabolism, the relation of energy poverty and natural resources, environmental justice with the focus of the institute.

Julian Fulton is a PhD candidate in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California Berkeley. His dissertation analyses recent historical trends in California’s water footprint, including direct use of local resources as well as indirectly via consumption of traded products such as food and energy. He has published on sustainability issues around California’s water footprint and more broadly on the topic of how embodied water in international trade relates to global water sustainability. At SEC he plans to further develop analytical and theoretical tools relating his work to social metabolism and sustainability transition studies.

Sara Bakhshaei is a PhD student in Agroecology at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. She is working in crop production and carbon footprinting of major crops in Iran. Apart from agricultural production, Sara is going to examine the whole supply chain including processing, storage and retailer facilities and transport.

International guests: SEC currently hosts two guest researchers from Nagoya University: Natsuko OKAZAKI develops a model of wood-biomass material flows in a Japanese region and investigates spatial patterns in carbon stocks in buildings and forest ecosystems. Shohei KURODA’s research focusses on global material stock distribution using nightlight data. In December and January Kento TAMURA from Ritsumeikan University will join the team at SEC. He investigates land constraints associated with future food and biofuel demands in Eastern and South Eastern Asia.

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+ New Publications

Arnold, Markus, Gaube, Veronika, and Wieser, Bernhard (2014): Interdisziplinär forschen. In: Dressel, Gert et al. (Eds.): Interdisziplinär und Transdisziplinär forschen. Praktiken und Methoden. Bielefeld: transkript Verlag, pp. 105-120.

Arnold, Markus and Schmid, Martin (2014): Science as Culture und Studium Integrale. In: Dressel, Gert et al. (Eds.): Interdisziplinär und Transdisziplinär forschen. Praktiken und Methoden. Bielefeld: transkript Verlag, pp. 287-296.

Balas, Maria, Baumann, Martin, Bruckner, Barbara, Gaube, Veronika, Haas, Willi, Kienberger, Stefan, König, Martin, Köppl, Angela, Kranzl, Lukas, Matzenberger, Julian, Mechler, Reinhard, Nakicenovic, Nebojsa, Omann, Ines, Prutsch, Andrea, Scharl, Arno, Steininger, Karl, Steurer, Reinhard, and Türk, Andreas (2014): Emissionsminderung und Anpassung an den Klimawandel. In: Österreichischer Sachstandsbericht Klimawandel 2014 (AAR14). Wien: Austrian Panel on Climate Change (APCC), Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Bd. 3, pp. 109-316.

Berger, Wilhelm, Winiwarter, Verena, Dressel, Gert, and Heimerl, Kathrina (2014): Methoden und Praktiken interdisziplinärer und transdisziplinärer Wissenschaft. In: Dressel, Gert et al. (Eds.): Interdisziplinär und Transdisziplinär forschen. Praktiken und Methoden. Bielefeld: transkript Verlag, pp. 17-28.

Bustamante, Mercedes, Robledo-Abad, Carmenza, Harper, Richard, Mbow, Cheikh, Ravindranath, Nijavalli H., Sperling, Frank, Haberl, Helmut, de Siqueira Pinto, Alexandre, and Smith, Pete (2014): Co-benefits, trade-offs, barriers and policies for greenhouse gas mitigation in the agriculture, forestry and other land use sector. In: Global Change Biology 20(10), pp. 3270-3290.

Dearing, John A., Wang, Rong, Zhang, Ke, Dyke, James G., Haberl, Helmut, Hossain, Sarwar S., Langdon, Peter G., Lenton, Timothy M., Raworth, Kate, Brown, Sally, Carstensen, Jacob, Cole, Megan J., Cornell, Sarah E., Dawson, Terese P., Doncaster, C. P., Eigenbrod, Felix, Flörke, Martina, Jeffers, Elisabeth, Mackay, Anson W., Nykvist, Björn, and Poppy, Guy M. (2014): Safe and just operating spaces for regional social-ecological systems. In: Global Environmental Change 28(September 2014), pp. 227-238.

Dressel, Gert, Heimerl, Kathrina, Berger, Wilhelm, and Winiwarter, Verena (2014): Interdisziplinäres und transdisziplinäres Forschen organisieren. In: Dressel, Gert et al. (Eds.): Interdisziplinär und Transdisziplinär forschen. Praktiken und Methoden. Bielefeld: transkript Verlag, pp. 207-212.

Fischer-Kowalski, Marina and Haas, Willi (2014): Exlporing the Transformation of Human Labour in Relation to Socio-Ecological Transitions. In: Beblavý, Miroslav et al. (Eds.): Let’s get to Work! The Future of Labour in Europe. Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies, pp. 56-84.

Fischer-Kowalski, Marina and Wiedenhofer, Dominik (2014): Policy Brief: An optimal policy mix for resource use. European Comission, pp. 1-21

Fischer-Kowalski, Marina, Pallua, Irene, Xenidis, Lazaros, and Singh, Simron J. (2014): Samothraki. Die Geschichte einer griechischen Insel, die sich aufmachte, ein UNESCO-Biosphärenreservat zu werden. In: Dressel, Gert et al. (Eds.): Interdisziplinär und Transdisziplinär forschen. Praktiken und Methoden. Bielefeld: transkript Verlag, pp. 239-246.

Fishman, T., Schandl, Heinz, Tanikawa, H., Walker, P., and Krausmann, Fridolin (2014): Accounting for the material stocks of nations. In: Journal of Industrial Ecology 18(3), pp. 407-420.

Haas, Willi and Hellmer, Silvia (2014): Differenzen wahrnehmen und erfahren. In: Dressel, Gert et al. (Eds.): Interdisziplinär und Transdisziplinär forschen. Praktiken und Methoden. Bielefeld: transkript Verlag, pp. 51-64.

Haidvogl, Gertrud, Lajus, Dmitry, Pont, Didier, Schmid, Martin, Jungwirth, Mathias, and Lajus, Julia (2014): Reconstructing historical changes of riverine fish: Typology of historical sources and the reconstruction of long-term historical changes of riverine fish: a case study of the Austrian Danube and northern Russian rivers. In: Ecology of Freshwater Fish 23/4 (October 2014), pp. 489-515.

Heimerl, Kathrina, Zepke, Georg, Heller, Andreas, and Schmid, Martin (2014): Abschiede. In: Dressel, Gert et al. (Eds.): Interdisziplinär und Transdisziplinär forschen. Praktiken und Methoden. Bielefeld: transkript Verlag, pp. 193-206.

Heimerl, Kathrina, Dressel, Gert, Winiwarter, Verena, and Berger, Wilhelm (2014): Doing Inter- und Transdisziplinarität. In: Dressel, Gert et al. (Eds.): Interdisziplinär und Transdisziplinär forschen. Praktiken und Methoden. Bielefeld: transkript Verlag, pp. 297-312.

Jonas, Matthias, Ometto, J. P., Batistella, M., Franklin, O., Hall, M., Lapola, D. M., Moran, E. F., Tramberend, S., Lanza Queiroz, B., Schaffartzik, Anke, Shvidenko, A., Nilsson, S. B., and Nobre, C. A. (2014): Sustaining ecosystem services: Overcoming the dilemma posed by local actions and planetary boundaries. In: Earth’s Future 2(8), pp. 407-420.

König, M., Loibl, W., Steiger, R., Aspöck, H., Bednar-Friedl, B., Brunner, K. M., Haas, Willi, Höferl, K. M., Huttenlau, M., Walochnik, J., and Weisz, Ulli (2014): Der Einfluss des Klimawandels auf die Antroposphäre. In: Österreichischer Sachstandsbericht Klimawandel 2014 (AAR14). Wien: Austrian Panel on Climate Change (APCC), Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, pp. 641-704.

Krainer, Larissa and Smetschka, Barbara (2014): Ein Forschungsteam finden. In: Dressel, Gert et al. (Eds.): Interdisziplinär und Transdisziplinär forschen. Praktiken und Methoden. Bielefeld: transkript Verlag, pp. 65-78.

Krausmann, Fridolin, Richter, R., and Eisenmenger, Nina (2014): Resource use in small Island states: Material flows in Iceland and Trinidad and Tobago 1961-2008. In: Journal of Industrial Ecology 18(2), pp. 294-305.

Martinez-Alier, Joan, Anguelovski, I., Bond, P., Del Ben, D., Demaria, F., Gerber, Julien F., Greyl, L., Haas, Willi, Healy, Hali, Marin-Burgos, V., Ojo, G., Porto, M., Rijnhout, L., Rodrigez-Labajos, B., Spangenberg, Joachim, Temper, L., Warlenius, R., and Yanez, I. (2014): Between activism and science: grassroots concepts for sustainability coined by Environmental Justice Organizations. In: Journal of Political Ecology 21, pp. 19-60.

Neundlinger, Michael, Gierlinger, Sylvia, Pollack, Gudrun, and Krausmann, Fridolin (2014): An Environmenal History of the Viennese Sanitation System – From Roman to Modern Times. In: Tvedt, Terje and Oestigaard, Terie (Eds.): From Jericho to Cities in the Seas. A History of Urbanization and Water Systems. London: I.B. Tauris, A History of Water Series, pp. 325-350.

Schaffartzik, Anke, Sachs, M., Wiedenhofer, Dominik, and Eisenmenger, Nina (2014): Environmentally Extended Input-Output Analysis. Wien: IFF Social Ecology (Social Ecology Working Paper; 154).

Schmid, Martin (2014): The Environmental History of Rivers in the Early Modern Period. In: Knoll, Martin and Reith, Reinhold (Eds.): An Environmental History of the Early Modern Period – Experiments und Perspectives . Berlin, Münster, Wien, Zürich, London: LIT-Verlag, Austria: Forschung und Wissenschaft – Geschichte, Bd. 10, pp. 19-25.

Veselková, Marcela, Beblavý, Miroslav, Fischer-Kowalski, Marina, Haas, Willi, Wiedenhofer, Dominik, Weisz, Ulli, Pallua, Irene, Possanner, Nikolaus, Weis, Ekke, Behrens, Arno, Serio, Giulia, and Alessi, Monica (2014): Emerging megatrends and scenarios in the socio-ecological transitions. In: Beblavý, Miroslav et al. (Eds.): Let’s get to Work! The Future of Labour in Europe. Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies, pp. 14-28.

Weisz, Ulli, Karner, Sandra, Grossmann, Ralph, and Heintel, Peter (2014): Zwischen Welten. Transdisziplinäre Forschungsprozesse realisieren. In: Dressel, Gert et al. (Eds.): Interdisziplinär und Transdisziplinär forschen. Praktiken und Methoden. Bielefeld: transkript Verlag, pp. 121-137.

West, J., Schandl, Heinz, Krausmann, Fridolin, Kovanda, Jan, and Hak, Tomas (2014): Patterns of change in material use and material efficiency in the successor states of the former Soviet Union. In: Ecological Economics 105(September 2014), pp. 211-219.

Winiwarter, Verena and Haidvogl, Gertrud (2014): Danube:Future. Herausforderung für interdisziplinäre Geisteswissenschaften. In: INFOEuropa.Informationen über den Donauraum und Mitteleuropa 04(2014), pp. 16-17.

Winiwarter, Verena (2014): Die Donau als Umwelt. Neue Blicke auf die Geschichte eines europäischen Stroms. In: INFOEuropa.Informationen über den Donauraum und Mitteleuropa 04(2014), pp. 14-15.

Winiwarter, Verena (2014): Ein historischer Blick auf die Gegenwart. In: VIEL.FALT / Jugend & Wort.Die brandneue Schulzeitung für ganz Kärnten Schwerpunkt: Intelligenz&Fleiß(Juni 2014), pp. 12-12.

Winiwarter, Verena (2014): Land Use and Agrarian Knowledge as Topics of Early-Modern Environmental History. In: Knoll, Martin and Reith, Reinhold (Eds.): An Environmental History of the Early Modern Period: Experiments and Perspectives. Wien-Berlin: LIT Verlag, pp. 55-60.

Winiwarter, Verena (2014): Nichts ist so zuverlässig falsch wie Prognosen. In: Klima- und Energiefonds (Ed.): energy2121. Bilder zur Energiezukunft. Bad Vöslau: omninum, pp. 32-38.

Winiwarter, Verena (2014): Von Ewigkeitslasten und Nebenwirkungen. Der Beitrag der Umweltgeschichte zu einer vorsorgenden Gesellschaft. In: Soziale Technik 03(2014), pp. 2-4.

Winiwarter, Verena (2014): Wege finden, beteiligt zu sein … In: Dressel, Gert et al. (Eds.): Interdisziplinär und Transdisziplinär forschen. Praktiken und Methoden. Bielefeld: transkript Verlag, pp. 11-12.

Winiwarter, Verena and Groß, Robert (2014): Winteralpenglück? Umweltgeschichte des Schitourismus. In: Bergauf – Das Magazin des Österreichischen Alpenvereins 02(2014), pp. 10-12.

 

For free downloads of some of our current publications have a look at our publication download

area: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/socec/eng/inhalt/254.htm

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To unsubscribe simply reply to this email with „unsubscribe“ in the subject line.

 

Seit 1. März 2006 gilt das neue Telekommunikationsgesetz in Österreich. Es bestimmt, dass E-Mail-Aussendungen an mehr als 50 EmpfängerInnen nur dann legitim sind, wenn diese von dem/der EmpfängerIn so erwünscht sind. Falls Sie ungewollt diese Nachricht erhalten haben, möchten wir uns entschuldigen und bitten Sie, uns Ihre E-mail-Adresse mit dem Betreff *Entfernen“ zu senden.

 

Mag. Gabriela Miechtner
Institute of Social Ecology Vienna (SEC)
Alpen-Adria Universitaet Klagenfurt, Wien, Graz (AAU)
A-1070 Vienna, Schottenfeldgasse 29, Austria
http://www.aau.at/sec

CONTENTS

+ News

• New curriculum
• New book out now: Ester Boserup’s Legacy on Sustainability
• Job offer: Senior scientist positions at the Institute of Social Ecology
• GAIA masters student paper award
• New publication: Changes on land system dynamics in Germany despite drastic political changes stable since 1883
• New publication: Climate Change: Management boundaries
• IPCC report: Climate Change 2014
• It’s launch time! Global Atlas of Environmental Conflicts
• Greening history: Studying the environment across disciplines, past, present and future – Call for papers

+ Public outreach / Media resonance

+ New publications

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+ News

New curriculum
The master program in Social Ecology has been established in 2005 and it has been a success in many respects. Student numbers have been growing rapidly in the last years with currently c. 180 students enrolled. After almost a decade of experience with the initial curriculum, an evaluation of the program and new developments in the field of sustainability science, we have started a process to thoroughly revise and update the curriculum last year. The new curriculum, which is in effect as of fall 2014, emphasizes inter- and transdisciplinary methods and approaches even stronger, integrates internships and offers a range of thematic specializations in the broad field of Social and Human Ecology. Most courses are currently offered in German, but the share of courses held in English shall be further increased in the future.
For more information: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/socec/inhalt/5240.htm

 

New book out now: Ester Boserup’s Legacy on Sustainability
It is with great pleasure we can announce the release of our book „Ester Boserup’s Legacy on Sustainability. Orientations for Contemporary Research“. This book is the fourth volume in the human-environment interactions series which provides a broad scope of the research on the pervasive impact that human activities have on the earth system. Within this series, the book at hand has a unique focus as it proposes a re-evaluation of Ester Boserup’s pioneering work in the field of sustainability science by tracing her impact on current research. Boserup’s theories on the role of women in development, first published in 1965 and followed by a second book in 1970, and on the interplay between population dynamics, agricultural growth and the environment, as outlined in her most comprehensive book in 1981, continue to resonate in many fields of research and in the current discourse on sustainability.
Fischer-Kowalski, Marina, Reenberg, Anette, Schaffartzik, Anke, and Mayer, Andreas (Eds.). (2014): Ester Boserup’s Legacy on Sustainability – Orientations for Contemporary Research. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer (Human-Environment Interactions; 4).
To the full version of the book: http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-017-8678-2

 

Job offer: Senior scientist positions at the Institute of Social Ecology
The Institute of Social Ecology at the School of Interdisciplinary Studies & Continuing Education (IFF) of Alpen-Adria-Universitaet Klagenfurt (Vienna campus) announces five positions of senior scientists. Deadline of applications: 27^th of August and 10^th of September 2014.
Details: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/career/inhalt/269.htm

 

GAIA masters student paper award
Opportunity to publish in GAIA: The international journal GAIA – Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society invites Master students to participate in the GAIA Masters Student Paper Award. Master students are encouraged to publish their results from research-based courses or Master Theses in the field of transdisciplinary environmental and sustainability science.
Details: http://www.oekom.de/zeitschriften/gaia/student-paper-award.html

 

New publication: Changes on land system dynamics in Germany despite drastic political changes stable since 1883
Germany is an especially interesting case study for land system dynamics due to fundamentally changing economic and institutional conditions: the two World Wars, the separation into East and West Germany, the accession to the European Union, and Germany’s reunification. A team of researchers of the Institute of Social Ecology in Vienna show, that land system change in Germany was surprisingly gradual, indicating high resilience to the drastic socio-economic and institutional shifts that occurred during the last 125 years.
Details: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378014001113

 

New publication: Climate Change: Management boundaries
Changes in the management of existing agricultural land can warm the local climate to an extent similar to that resulting from the conversion of natural vegetation to farmland, according to research published in Nature Climate Change. These findings demonstrate the challenges of meeting growing food demand without exacerbating climate change. A team of scientists, including Karlheinz Erb of Institute of Social Ecology in Vienna found out, that the net effect — when all cooling and heating influences were accounted for — was localized warming of around 1.7 degrees Celsius. Consequently, the intensification of agriculture to meet growing food demand will have direct climatic implications that should be considered alongside greenhouse gas emissions when weighing up different policy options.
Paper preview: http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v4/n5/full/nclimate2196.html

 

IPCC report: Climate Change 2014
Concluding four years of intense scientific collaboration by hundreds of authors from around the world, this report responds to the request of the world’s governments for a comprehensive, objective and policy neutral assessment of the current scientific knowledge on mitigating climate change. The report has been extensively reviewed by experts and governments to ensure quality and comprehensiveness. The quintessence of this work, the Summary for Policymakers, in which Helmut Haberl of the Institute of Social Ecology in Vienna was involved, has been approved line by line by member governments in April at the 12th Session of IPCC WG III in Berlin, Germany. The Working Group III contribution to the AR5 deals with the mitigation of climate change. It sets out the technological, economic and institutional requirements and associated risks of climate change policies at the global, national and sub-national level, investigates mitigation measures for all major sectors, and assesses investment and finance issues.
For more information: http://mitigation2014.org/

 

It’s launch time! Global Atlas of Environmental Conflicts
The Environmental Justice Organisations, Liabilities and Trade (EJOLT) project launches today its Global Atlas of Environmental Justice, a visually attractive and interactive online mapping platform detailing around 1000 environmental conflicts (and growing). It allows users to search and filter across 100 fields and to browse by commodity, company, country and type of conflict. With one click you can find a global snapshot of nuclear, waste or water conflicts, or the places where communities have an issue with a particular mining or chemical company. Click on any point to find the actors and a conflict description with the outcome and sources. Featured maps will focus on issues ranging from fracking to conflicts over mega-infrastructure projects to maps on violent targeting of activists (and more).
The Atlas is a product of the EU-funded EJOLT project. Over 100 people from 23 universities and environmental justice organisations in 18 countries plus dozens of independent collaborators from all around the world have joined forces to create this huge and valuable resource. The project is coordinated by Professor Joan Martinez-Alier and his team of ecological economists from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (ICTA-UAB).
For more information: http://ejatlas.org/

 

Greening History: Studying the Environment across Disciplines, Past, Present and Future – Call for Papers
The European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) is pleased to invite proposals for sessions, individual papers, roundtables, posters and other, more experimental forms of communicating scholarship for its 2015 biennial conference „Greening History: Studying the Environment across Disciplines, Past, Present and Future“. The University of Versailles St-Quentin-en-Yvelines will be hosting the conference in Versailles, France, from 30 June to 3 July 2015. Deadline for submissions: Proposals are due no later than October 1, 2014. For more information: http://eseh.org/event/upcoming-conference/call-for-proposals/

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+ Public Outreach / Media resonance

 

„Climate Change: Global Development Model on Trial“
Helmut Haberl in BRIDGES
See: http://ostaustria.org/bridges-magazine/item/8232-climate-change-global-development-model-on-trial

 

People in the Spotlight: Austrian Scientist of the Year 2013, Environmental Historian Verena
Verena Winiwarter in BRIDGES
BRIDGES is the free, online magazine of the OSTA published since April 2004. Bridges – and their association with connection and communication – reporting on European, American or Canadian science, technology and higher education policy.
See: http://ostaustria.org/bridges-magazine/item/8171-austrian-scientist-of-the-year-2013

 

For more media resonance, see:
http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/socec/inhalt/3602.htm and http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/socec/inhalt/3234.htm

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+ New Publications

 

Bartels, Esther Lara (2014): Socio-Ecological Impacts of Land Grabbing for Nature Conservation on a Pastoral Community: A HANPP-based Case Study in Ololosokwan Village, Northern Tanzania. Wien: IFF Social Ecology (Social Ecology Working Paper; 149)

 

Erb, Karl-Heinz, Niedertscheider, Maria, Dietrich, Philipp J., Schmitz, Christoph, Verburg, Peter H., Rudbeck Jepsen, Martin, and Haberl, Helmut (2014): Conceptual and Empirical Approaches to Mapping and Quantifying Land-Use Intensity. In: Fischer-Kowalski, Marina et al. (Eds.): Ester Boserup’s Legacy on Sustainability. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer, Human-Environment Interactions, Bd. 4, pp. 61-86

 

Fehlinger, Julianna (2014): Teilweise waren Frauen auch Traktorist. Geschlechtliche Arbeitsteilung in landwirtschaftlichen Betrieben Ostdeutschlands heute – Unterschiede in der biologischen und konventionellen Bewirtschaftung. Wien: IFF Social Ecology (Social Ecology Working Paper; 150)

 

Fetzel, Tamara, Gradwohl, Markus, and Erb, Karl-Heinz (2014): Conversion, intensification, and abandonment: A human appropriation of net primary production approach to analyze historic land-use dynamics in New Zealand 1860–2005. In: Ecological Economics 97, pp. 201-208

 

Fischer-Kowalski, Marina, Krausmann, Fridolin, Mayer, Andreas, and Schaffartzik, Anke (2014): Boserup’s Theory on Technological Change as a Point of Departure for the Theory of Sociometabolic Regime Transitions. In: Fischer-Kowalski, Marina et al. (Eds.): Ester Boserup’s Legacy on Sustainability – Orientations for Contemporary Research. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer, Human-Environment Interactions, Bd. 4, pp. 23-42

 

Fischer-Kowalski, Marina, Krausmann, Fridolin, and Pallua, Irene (2014): A Sociometabolic Reading of the Anthropocene: Modes of subsistence, population size and human impact upon Earth. In: Anthropocene Review 1(2014), pp. 8-33

 

Fischer-Kowalski, Marina and Hausknost, Daniel Hg. (2014): Large scale societal transitions in the past. The Role of Social Revolutions and the 1970s Syndrome. Wien: IFF Social Ecology (Social Ecology Working Paper; 152)

 

Fischer-Kowalski, Marina and Reenberg, Anette (2014): Conclusions: Re-Evaluating Boserup in the Light of the Contributions to this Volume. In: Fischer-Kowalski, Marina et al. (Eds.):  Ester Boserup’s Legacy on Sustainability – Orientations for Contemporary Research.  Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer, Human-Environment Interactions, Bd. 4, pp. 259-265

 

Fischer-Kowalski, Marina, Reenberg, Anette, Schaffartzik, Anke, and Mayer, Andreas (Eds.). (2014): Ester Boserup’s Legacy on Sustainability – Orientations for Contemporary Research. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer (Human-Environment Interactions; 4).

 

Fritz, S., See, L., You, L., Justice, C., Becker-Reshef, I., Bydekerke, L., Cumani, R., Defourny, P., Erb, Karl-Heinz, Foley, J., Gilliams, S., Gong, P., Hansen, M., Hertel, T., Herold, M., Herrero, M., Kayitakire, F., Latham, J., Leo, O., McCallum, I., Obersteiner, M., Ramankutty, N., Rocha, J., Tang, H., Thornton, P., Vancutsem, C., van der Velde, M., Wood, S., and Woodcock, C. (2013): The need for improved maps of global cropland. In: Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union 94, pp. 31-32

 

Haberl, Helmut (2014): Climate Change: Global Development Model on Trial.  In: Bridges – the Office of Science and Technology’s Publication on S&T Policy. 40(July 2014)

 

Haberl, Helmut, Erb, Karl-Heinz, and Krausmann, Fridolin (2013): Global human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP). In: Victor, P. A. (Ed.):  The Costs of Economic Growth.  The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics, Elgar Research Collection, pp. 304-319

 

Haberl, Helmut, Erb, Karl-Heinz, Lauk, Christian, and Plutzar, Christoph (2013): Menschliche Aneignung von Nettoprimärproduktion in Europa: Schlussfolgerungen für Bioenergiepotentiale. In: Stellungnahme: Bioenergie, Möglichkeiten und Grenzen. Halle and der Saale: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften, pp. 116-132

 

Hausknost, Daniel (2014): Decision, choice, solution: ‚agentic deadlock‘ in environmental politics. In: Environmental Politics 23(3), pp. 357-375

 

Hausknost, Daniel and Haas, Willi (2013): The Role of Innovation in a Socio-Ecological Transition of the European Union. Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)

 

Kastner, Thomas, Schaffartzik, Anke, Eisenmenger, Nina, Erb, Karl H., Haberl, Helmut, and Krausmann, Fridolin (2014): Cropland area embodied in international trade: Contradictory results from different approaches. In:  Ecological Economics 104(August 2014), pp. 140-144

 

Kastner, Thomas, Erb, Karl-Heinz, and Haberl, Helmut (2014): Rapid growth in agricultural trade: effects on global area-efficiency and the role of management. In: Environmental Research Letters 9, pp. 034015 -(10pp.)

 

Krausmann, Fridolin (2014): Gesellschaftlicher Stoffwechsel, Biomasse und Nachhaltige Entwicklung. Eine globale Perspektive auf Potenziale und Limitationen der Nutzung von Biomasse. In: Soziale Technik 1, pp. 2-4

 

Krausmann, Fridolin, Gingrich, Simone, Eisenmenger, Nina, Erb, Karl-Heinz, Haberl, Helmut, and Fischer-Kowalski, Marina (2013): Growth in global materials use, GDP and population during the 20th century. In: Victor, Peter A. (Ed.):  The Costs of Economic Growth. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics, pp. 421-430

 

Loy, Christian (2013): The rise of the semi-periphery: A physical perspective on the global division of labour. Material flow analysis of global trade flows (1970-2005). Wien: IFF Social Ecology (Social Ecology Working Paper; 147)

 

Luyssaert, Sebastiaan, Jammet, Mathilde, Stoy, Paul C., Estel, Stephan, Pongratz, Julia, Ceschia, Eric, Churkina, Galina, Don, Axel, Erb, KarlHeinz, Ferlicoq, Morgan, Gielen, Bert, Grunwald, Thomas, Houghton, Richard A., Klumpp, Katja, Knohl, Alexander, Kolb, Thomas, Kuemmerle, Tobias, Laurila, Tuomas, Lohila, Annalea, Loustau, Denis, McGrath, Matthew J., Meyfroidt, Patrick, Moors, Eddy J., Naudts, Kim, Novick, Kim, Otto, Juliane, Pilegaard, Kim, Pio, Casimiro A., Rambal, Serge, Rebmann, Corinna, Ryder, James, Suyker, Andrew E., Varlagin, Andrej, Wattenbach, Martin, and Dolman, A. J. (2014): Land management and land-cover change have impacts of similar magnitude on surface temperature. In: Nature Clim.Change 4(5), pp. 389-393

 

Mayer, Andreas (2014): 40 Jahre globaler Ressourcenverbrauch: Ein Überblick aktueller Debatten. In: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft 01(2014), pp. 55-72

 

Meyfroidt, P., Lambin, E. F., Erb, Karl-Heinz, and Hertel, T. W. (2013): Globalization of land use: distant drivers of land change and geographic displacement of land use. In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 5, pp. 438-444

 

Niedertscheider, Maria, Kuemmerle, Tobias, Müller, Daniel, and Erb, Karl-Heinz (2014): Exploring the effects of drastic institutional and socio-economic changes on land system dynamics in Germany between 1883 and 2007. In: Global Environmental Change 28(2014), pp. 98-108

 

Niedertscheider, Maria and Erb, Karl-Heinz (2014): Land system change in Italy from 1884 – 2007: Analysing the North-South divergence on the basis of an integrated indicator framework. In: Land Use 39(July 2014), pp. 366-375

 

Nwakeze, Ngozi M. and Schaffartzik, Anke (2014): Revisiting Boserup’s Hypotheses in the Context of Africa. In: Fischer-Kowalski, Marina et al. (Eds.):  Ester Boserup’s Legacy on Sustainability – Orientations for Contemporary Research, Human-Environment Interactions. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer, Human-Environment Interactions, Bd. 4, pp. 175-188

 

O´Brian, Karen, Reams, J., Caspari, C., Dugmore, A., Faghihimani, M., Fazey, I., Hackmann, H., Manuel-Navarrete, D., Marks, J., Miller, R., Raivio, K., Romero-Lankao, P., Virji, H., Vogel, C., and Winiwarter, Verena (2013): You Say you want a Revolution? Transforming Education and Capacity Building in Response to Global Change. In: Environmental Science and Policy 1145(28), pp. 48-59

 

Pallua, Irene (2013): Historische Energietransitionen im Ländervergleich. Energienutzung, Bevölkerung, Wirtschaftliche Entwicklung. Wien: IFF Social Ecology (Social Ecology Working Paper; 148)

 

Peters, M., Herrero, M., Fisher, M., Erb, Karl-Heinz, Rao, I, Subbarao, G. V., Castro, A., Arango, J., Chará, J., Murgueitio, E., Hoek, R. v. d., Läderach, P., Hyman, G., Tapasco, J., Strassburg, B., Paul, B., Rincón, A., Schultze-Kraft, R., Fonte, S., and Searchinger, T. (2013): Challenges and opportunities for improving eco-efficiency of tropical forage-based systems to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. In: Tropical Grasslands – Forrajes Tropicales 1, pp. 156-167

 

Petridis, Panos (2013): From economism to autonomy: A Greek economic emergency and the transformative vision of degrowth. Greek Politics Specialist Group

 

Petridis, Panos (2013): Potentials of the debate on de-growth for socio-ecological transformation and climate change policy. Wien: TrafoReview – Transformation Review

 

Plutzar, Christoph, Hejjas, F., Zika, Michael, and Kohler, B. (2013): Linking the wilderness continuum concept to protected areas Mittersill, Salzburger Nationalparkfonds

 

Ringhofer, Elisabeth, Singh, Simron J., and Fischer-Kowalski, Marina (2014): Beyond Boserup: The Role of Working Time in Agricultural Development. In: Fischer-Kowalski, Marina et al. (Eds.): Ester Boserup’s Legacy on Sustainability – Orientations for Contemporary Research. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer, Human-Environment Interactions, Bd. 4, pp. 117-138

 

Schaffartzik, Anke, Mayer, Andreas, Gingrich, Simone, Eisenmenger, Nina, Loy, Christian, and Krausmann, Fridolin (2014): The global metabolic transition: Regional patterns and trends of global material flows, 1950-2010. In: Global Environmental Change 26(May 2014), pp. 87-97

 

Schaffartzik, Anke, Plank, Christina, and Brad, Alina (2014): Ukraine and the great biofuel potential? A political material flow analysis. In: Ecological Economics 104(August 2014), pp. 12-21

 

Smetschka, Barbara, Gaube, Veronika, and Lutz, Juliana (2014): Working Time of Farm Women and Small-Scale Sustainable Farming in Austria. In: Fischer-Kowalski, Marina et al. (Eds.): Ester Boserup’s Legacy on Sustainability. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer, Human-Environment Interactions, Bd. 4, pp. 221-238
L.Turner II and Fischer-Kowalski, Marina (2014): Ester Boserup: An Interdisciplinary Visionary Relevant for Sustainability. In: Fischer-Kowalski, Marina et al. (Eds.): Ester Boserup’s Legacy on Sustainability – Orientations for Contemporary Research. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London, Human-Environment Interactions, Bd. 4,: Springer, pp. 3-11

 

Weisz, Ulli, Karner, Sandra, Grossmann, Ralph, and Heintel, Peter (2014): Zwischen Welten. Transdisziplinäre Forschungsprozesse realisieren.  In: Dressel, Gert et al. (Eds.):  Interdisziplinär und Transdisziplinär forschen. Praktiken und Methoden. Bielefeld: transkript Verlag, pp. 121-137

 

Winiwarter, Verena and Bork, Hans R. Hg. (2014): Geschichte unserer Umwelt. Sechzig Reisen durch die Zeit. WBG Verlag

 

Winiwarter, Verena (2013): The 2013 DIAnet International School, its aims and principles against the background of the sustainability challenges of the Danube River Basin Trieste: EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste

 

Winiwarter, Verena and Bork, Hans R. Hg. (2014): Umweltgeschichte: Ein Plädoyer für Rücksicht und Weitsicht. Picus Verlag

 

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Seit 1. März 2006 gilt das neue Telekommunikationsgesetz in Österreich. Es bestimmt, dass E-Mail-Aussendungen an mehr als 50 EmpfängerInnen nur dann legitim sind, wenn diese von dem/der EmpfängerIn so erwünscht sind. Falls Sie ungewollt diese Nachricht erhalten haben, möchten wir uns entschuldigen und bitten Sie, uns Ihre E-mail-Adresse mit dem Betreff *Entfernen“ zu senden.

 

Mag. Gabriela Miechtner
Institute of Social Ecology Vienna (SEC)
Alpen-Adria Universitaet Klagenfurt, Wien, Graz (AAU)
A-1070 Vienna, Schottenfeldgasse 29, Austria
http://www.aau.at/sec