IFF Social Ecology e-Newsletter Nr. 26 – July 2012
CONTENTS
+ News & RIO +20 Special
– Global Energy Assessment (GEA) Report presented in Rio
– Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5) launched in Rio
– UNCTAD Report urges Africa to avoid ‘grow now, clean up later’ approach
– Online platform “OpenScience4Sustainability” (German only)
– Rio+20: researchers and young people are taking stock
– Extinction debt of high-mountain plants in „Nature Climate Change“
+ Public Outreach (German only)
+ Staff news: open calls and congratulations
+ New publications
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We wish all friends, students, project and cooperation partners a fabulous summer!
All the best, Helmut Haberl
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+ NEWS & RIO +20 Special:
– Global Energy Assessment (GEA) Report presented in Rio
The Global Energy Assessment (GEA) was presented in Rio de Janeiro in June. The aim of this project which was coordinated by the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), was to evaluate and summarize the current state of research on global energy issues in a policy relevant document. The GEA report comprises chapters on questions such as energy resources, climate-change mitigation, risks, scenarios as well as policy options and recommendations.
The Institute of Social Ecology (SEC) contributed to the three chapters on energy resources, trade-offs land and water and urban issues. SEC researchers involved were Karl-Heinz Erb, Helmut Haberl, Fridolin Krausmann, Christoph Plutzar, Julia Steinberger and Helga Weisz. GEA will be published as a book from Cambridge University Press which will become available in the course of July 2012.
IIASA press release: http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Admin/INF/PR/2012/2012-06-19.html
– Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5) launched in Rio
UNEP press release: “The fifth edition of the Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5), launched on the eve of the Rio+20 Summit, assessed 90 of the most-important environmental goals and objectives and found that significant progress had only been made in four. These are eliminating the production and use of substances that deplete the ozone layer, removal of lead from fuel, increasing access to improved water supplies and boosting research to reduce pollution of the marine environment.”
GEO-5 prominently quotes from research at the Institute of Social Ecology (SEC). Marina Fischer-Kowalski contributed as Scientific Peer-Reviewer.
The report features in various parts results from our database on global patterns and trends of material use in the last century by Krausmann et al. (Krausmann, F., Gingrich, S., Eisenmenger, N., Erb, K.H., Haberl, H. and Fischer-Kowalski, M. 2009. Growth in global materials use, GDP and population during the 20th century. Ecological Economics 68, 2696–2705).
In the chapter “Land” a study on HANPP effects due to dryland degradation is discussed, which presents an innovative perspective on the important, but complex phenomenon of dryland degradation and desertification (Zika, M. and Erb, K.H. 2009. The global loss of net primary production resulting from humaninduced soil degradation in drylands. Ecological Economics 69, 310–318.)
Full report and materials: http://www.unep.org/geo/geo5.asp
– UNCTAD Report urges Africa to avoid ‘grow now, clean up later’ approach
UNCTAD press release: “Africa, a latecomer to establishing complex, modernized economies, should strive to do this in a way that uses the continent’s abundant natural resources in an efficient, „green“ manner that both raises living standards and protects the environment, a new UNCTAD report urges. The Economic Development in Africa Report 2012, subtitled Structural Transformation and Sustainable Development in Africa, was released on June 13th, 2012. It focuses on the dilemma of accomplishing much-needed economic growth while protecting the environment.”
The Team Social Ecology has contributed substantially to this report with a commissioned report on HANPP in Africa and is cited as:
UNCTAD (2012a). Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production in Africa: Patterns, trajectories, processes and policy implications. Written by Fetzel T, Niedertscheider M, Erb K H, Gaube V, Gingrich H, Haberl H, Krausmann F, Lauk C and Plutzar C. Alpen-Adria University. Paper commissioned by UNCTAD. Geneva.
Find the report as free pdf at: http://unctad.org/en/pages/PublicationWebflyer.aspx?publicationid=131
– Online platform “OpenScience4Sustainability” (German only)
Die Initiative „OpenScience4Sustainability”, kurz “OS4S”, wurde anlässlich des 20-jährigen Jubiläums der Rio Konferenz ins Leben gerufen. „OpenScience4Sustainability” ist eine Plattform, auf der Infos zum Thema Nachhaltigkeitsforschung angeboten werden. Im Vordergrund steht die Kommunikation zwischen Wissenschaft und Öffentlichkeit.
Neben Informationen zur UN Konferenz und Live Berichterstattung aus Rio, gibt es unter anderem eine digitale Galerie der Nachhaltigkeitsforschung mit Portraits von WissenschafterInnen. Interviews mit ForscherInnen des Instituts für Soziale Ökologie wie Helmut Haberl, Marina Fischer-Kowalski und Verena Winiwarter sind nachzulesen.
Viel Vergnügen mit „OpenScience4Sustainability”: http://www.openscience4sustainability.at/
– Rio+20: researchers and young people are taking stock
To mark the 20th anniversary of the pioneering United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the Federal Ministry of Research and Science will grant 365 young people the opportunity to gain insight into Austrian sustainability research. The four-week summer internships in Austrian research facilities are organised in the framework of the initiative „Rio+20 – Stocktaking by Researchers and Young People“. Together with scientists from prestigious research facilities, the pupils will learn more about successful and thrilling research results or product developments conforming to the objectives of Agenda 21.
Three pupils will visit the Institute of Social Ecology this summer and report on the research projects they find most interesting.
Details: http://www.youngscience.at/rioplus20/
– Extinction debt of high-mountain plants in „Nature Climate Change“
Quantitative estimates of the range loss of mountain plants under climate change have so far mostly relied on static geographical projections of species’ habitat shifts. In this paper a European research team used a hybrid model that combines such projections with simulations of demography and seed dispersal to forecast the climate-driven spatio-temporal dynamics of 150 high-mountain plant species across the European Alps. Alarmingly, species endemic to the Alps seem to face the highest range losses. These results caution against optimistic conclusions from moderate range size reductions observed during the twenty-first century as they are likely to belie more severe longer-term effects of climate warming on mountain plants.
Stefan Dullinger, Andreas Gattringer, Wilfried Thuiller, Dietmar Moser, Niklaus E. Zimmermann, Antoine Guisan, Wolfgang Willner, Christoph Plutzar, Michael Leitner, Thomas Mang, Marco Caccianiga, Thomas Dirnböck, Siegrun Ertl, Anton Fischer, Jonathan Lenoir, Jens-Christian Svenning, Achilleas Psomas, Dirk R. Schmatz, Urban Silc, Pascal Vittoz, & Karl Hülber. Extinction debt of high-mountain plants under twenty-first-century climate change. Nature Climate Change. Published online 06 May 2012. DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE1514
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1514.html
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+ Public Outreach / Media resonance (German only)
Die Donau – Eine Sendung über die historische Lebensader der Stadt Wien
June 2012
Die Donau ist nicht nur schön und blau. Sie war über Jahrhunderte auch wild, unberechenbar und bedrohlich. Die Donau war auch immer schon ein vielfältiger und abwechslungsreicher Lebensraum – für Mensch und Tier. Ö1 Dimensionen von Wolfgang Slapansky mit starker Beteiligung der IFF (Zentrum für Umweltgeschichte am Institut für Soziale Ökologie) bereichtet über das derzeit laufende FWF-Projekt „ENVIEDAN – Umweltgeschichte der Wiener Donau 1500-1890“. Interview u. a. mit Projektleiterin Verena Winiwarter, Martin Schmid, Michael Neundlinger, Sylvia Gierlinger u. v. a.
Ö1 – Dimensionen
Montag, 25. Juni 2012, 19:05
Verena Winiwarter
Vom Gebären, Bilden und Ausbilden
Falter, heureka 25/12, Seite 3
Werner Reiter
Die vielen kleinen Bausteine nachhaltiger Lebensstile
Biorama Nr. 18, Mai 2012, Seite 73-74
Eva Linsinger und Edith Meinhart
Gefährlicher Wahnsinn Auto
Profil, Nr. 20, 14. Mai 2012, Seite 21
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+ Staff News: Open calls and Congratulations
Open call for a three year PhD position within EU project, see
http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/socec/inhalt/1.htm
Open call for a teaching administrator, see
http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/career/inhalt/271_878.htm
Michael Neundlinger won research grant of the city of Vienna
Michael Neundlinger has won the „Research Grant“ awarded by the Cultural Department of Vienna (Förderungspreise der Stadt Wien – Kulturabteilung) due to his work on the Environmental History of the Viennese Sanitation System. Neundlinger and the SEC team (Fridolin Krausmann, Sylvia Gierlinger & Gudrun Pollack) have reconstructed grand phases of the development of Vienna´s Sanitation Regime from Roman to Modern Times. First results will be published in the internationally renowned series “A History of Water” (I.B. Tauris) in 2013.
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+ New Publications
Abadi, B., Gaube, V., and Shahvali, M. (2012): Agro-environmental systems and agent-based simulation: specific implications and an integrated baseline. In: Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences 3(1), pp. 54-62
Coelho, S.T., Agbenyega, O., Agostini, A., Erb, K.-H., Haberl, H., Hoogwijk, M., Rattan, L., Dos Santos Lucon, O., Masera, O., Moreira, J.R., Björklund, G., Krausmann, F., Msangi, S:, and Plutzar, C. (2012). Land and Water: Linkages to Bionenergy. In: Gomez-Echeverri, L., Johansson, T.B., Nakicenovic, N. and Patwardhan, A. (Eds.), Global Energy Assessment: Toward a Sustainable Future. Laxenburg, Cambridge, UK: IIASA and Cambridge University Press, pp. 1459-1526
Erb, K.-H., Mayer, A., Kastner, T., Sallet, K.-E., and Haberl, H. (2012): The impact of Industrial Grain fed Livestock Production on Food Security:an extended literature review. Vienna: IFF-Social Ecology (Social Ecology Working Paper; 136).
Erb, K.-H., Plutzar, C., and Haberl, H. (2012): Dependency of global primary bioenergy crop potentials in 2050 on food systems, yields, biodiversity conservation and political stability. In: Energy Policy 47, pp. 260-269.
Essl, F., Dullinger, S., Plutzar, C., Willner, W., and Rabitsch, W. (2011): Imprints of glacial history and current environment on correlations between endemic plant and invertebrate species richness. In: Journal of Biogeography 38(3), pp. 604-614.
Fetzel, T., Niedertscheider,M., Erb,K.-H., Gaube,V., Gingrich,S., Haberl,H., Krausmann,F., Lauk,C., and Plutzar,C. (2012): Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production in Africa: Patterns, trajectories, processes and policy implications. Paper commissioned by UNCTAD. Geneva: UNCTAD
Fischer-Kowalski, M., Haas,W., Wiedenhofer,D., Weisz,U., Pallua,I., Possanner,N., Behrens,A., Serio,G., Alessi,M., and Weis,E. (2012): Socio-ecological transitions: definition, dynamics and related global scenarios. Vienna, Brussels: Institute for Social Ecology – AAU, Centre for European Policy Studies
Grubler, A., Bai, X., Buettner, T., Dhakal, S., Fisk, D.J., Ichinose, T., Keirstead, J.E., Sammer, G., Satterthwaite, D., Schulz, N.B., Shah, N., Steinberger, J., and Weisz, H. (2012): Urban Energy Systems. In: Gomez-Echeverri, L. Johansson, T.B., Nakicenovic, N. and Patwardhan, A. (Eds.): Global Energy Assessment: Toward a Sustainable Future. Laxenburg, Cambridge, UK: IIASA and Cambridge University Press
Haberl, H., Steinberger, J., Plutzar, C., Erb, K.-H., Gaube, V., Gingrich, S., and Krausmann, F. (2012): Natural and socioeconomic determinants of the embodied human appropriation of net primary production and its relation to other resource use indicators. In: Ecological Indicators 23, pp. 222-231.
Hauer, F., Gierlinger, S., Nagele, C., Albrecht, J., Uschmann, T., and Martsch, M. (2012): Die Wiener Verzehrungssteuer. Auswertung nach einzelnen Steuerposten (1830 – 1913). Vienna: IFF-Social Ecology (Social Ecology Working Paper; 134).
Luyssaert, S., Abril, G., Andres, R., Bastviken, D., Bellassen, V., Bergamaschi, P., Bousquet, P., Chevallier, F., Ciais, P., Corazza, M., Dechow, R., Erb, K.-H., Etiope, G., Fortems-Cheiney, A., Grassi, G., Hartman, J., Jung, M., Lathiere, J., Lohila, A., Moosdorf, N., Njakou Djomo, S., Otto, J., Papale, D., Peters, W., Peylin, P., Raymond, P., Rödenbeck, C., Saarnio, S., Schulze, E. D., Szopa, S., Thompson, R., Verkerk, P. J., Vuichard, N., Wang, R., Wattenbach, M., and Zaehle, S. (2012): The European CO2, CO, CH4 and N2O balance between 2001 and 2005. In: Biogeosciences Discussions 9(2), pp. 2005-2053.
Petridis, P. (2012): Perceptions, attitudes and involvement of local residents in the establishment ofa Samothraki Biosphere Reserve, Greece. In: eco.mont – Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research 4(1), pp. 59-63.
Rogner, H.-H., Aguilera, R. F., Archer, C. L., Bertani, R., Bhattacharya, S. C., Bryden, I., Charpentier, R. R., Dusseault, M. B., Gagnon, L., Goswami, Y., Haberl, H., Hoogwijk, M., Johnson, A., Odell, P., Wagner, H., Yakushev, V., Arent, D., Bryden, J., Krausmann, F., Schilling, C., and Shafiei, A. (2012): Energy Resources and Potentials. In: Gomez-Echeverri, L. Johansson, T.B., Nakicenovic, N. and Patwardhan, A. (Eds.): Global Energy Assessment: Toward a Sustainable Future. Laxenburg, Cambridge, UK: IIASA and Cambridge University Press, pp. 425-512.
Schmid, M. and Winiwarter, V. (2011): Umwelt Donau: Eine andere Geschichte. In: Der Donaulimes in Österreich (herausgegeben vom Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, Projektleitung Andreas Schwarcz, Redaktion Sonja Jilek). Wien, pp. 32-35.
Schulze, E.-D., Körner, C., Law, B. E., Haberl, H., and Luyssaert, S. (2012): Large-scale bioenergy from additional harvest of forest biomass is neither sustainable nor greenhouse gas neutral. In: Global Change Biology – Bioenergy [online first: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1757-1707.2012.01169.x.]
Singh, S. J. and Dudley, N. (2012): Ecosystem Services in Rural Areas and Natural Resource Management. In: Wittmer, H. and Gundimeda, H. (Eds.): The Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity for Local and Regional Policy Makers. London: Routledge, Earthscan, TEEB – Publication series, pp. 81-104.
UNCTAD, Niedertscheider, M., Gingrich, S., and Erb, K.-H. (2012): Changes in land use in South Africa between 1961 and 2006: an integrated socio-ecological analysis based on the human appropriation of net primary production framework. In: Regional Environmental Change, [online first: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10113-012-0285-6].
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Mag. Barbara Smetschka
Institute of Social Ecology Vienna (SEC)
Alpen-Adria Universitaet
Schottenfeldgasse 29
1070 Vienna, Austria
www.aau.at/sec
